Book Review- Noelle Crooks' Under the Influence

Thank you to Gallery Books for a copy of Noelle Crook’s debut novel, Under the Influence.

Harper is a recent graduate who is struggling to make ends meet in New York City. She is approached with an almost too-good-to-be-true job offer working for social media superstar, Charlotte Green. The job involves moving to Nashville, a huge change that will take Harper away from her best-friend, Poppy, with whom she has been sharing an apartment. However, in Nashville, Harper will be housed in a company apartment and for the first time, she can see herself able to save money and plan for the future. Poppy is supportive.

Harper is not given much time to decide if she’d like to take the job, as things move fast in Charlotte’s world. Upon accepting the offer, Harper is thrust into the intensity of Charlotte’s company and office space, which is called the Greenhouse. Employees are expected to give everything to help Charlotte succeed and to constantly stroke her fragile ego. She pits coworkers against each other and constantly has them fighting for her favor.

Although Harper recognizes the toxicity of the work culture, she can’t help but be charmed by Charlotte and is soon, drinking the proverbial company kool-aid. What will it take for Harper to realize that both her career and mental health are on a collision course?

I really enjoyed Under the Influence. I think it speaks to much of the current work culture, where employees are expected to give so much with gaining little in return. Such as the way perks are used in place of more important things, such as salary. Company Swag is not salary! Mandatory company retreats or parties are not salary!

The story plays with the perception of power and what power influencers really yield. Charlotte has built a company on branding herself and as it has grown quite large, she is now in a cycle of needing to keep up appearances. Everything in her life is curated and even her young children play along with their mom’s demands. Her husband is tired of the charade and also tired of his wife being in the spotlight, which is doing irreparable damage to their relationship. However, Charlotte cannot stop to try to fix her marriage as she is constantly on a treadmill to keep her company and herself relevant. She has to work overtime to keep her employees convinced of her relevance. If there is a problem within her organization, she always spins it to make herself look good. She cannot have genuine relationships with people or honest conversations. She cannot see how this behavior is harming her image.

Through Harper, we can see how easy it is to be swept away by a popular influencer. I think many readers will find this relatable, as many of us, whether or not we want to admit it, are interested in what celebrities think or the products they pitch. There is a reason why influencers are so popular. Harper has a journey that’s relatable. even if many of us have not been in her exact position.

Harper is a plucky, likable protagonist. You will root for her to make the right choices. The pacing is quick and Crooks’ infuses her story with both humor and heart. In particular, I liked Harper’s relationship with her aging parents who are also at a crossroads in their life.

Under the Influence is a fantastic debut and I can’t to read Crooks’ next book.

Book Review- Cecilia Rabess' Everything's Fine

Thank you to Simon and Schuster for sending me a physical arc of Cecilia Rabbis’ debut novel, Everything’s Fine.

Jess is a recent graduate working as an analyst at Goldman Sachs. Although brilliant, Jess is a new employee and the only black woman in her department. She is struggling to be taken seriously. She reconnects with Josh, a college acquaintance and semi-nemesis, who is also working on her floor. Josh is brash, conservative, and argumentative, also white. Although the two seem to have little in common, their debates shift in tone to an unlikely attraction. They discover that the other person is more nuanced and caring than the labels that they had assigned to them. However, this is 2016 and a historic election is about to impact their fragile relationship.

Everything’s Fine is a whirlwind of a book. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a female character working as an analyst and inhabiting this world. Rabess comes from his background and undoubtedly this influenced her writing and choosing this particular setting, but as a reader, I was fascinated. It’s not my world and I won’t pretend to understand all of the technical aspects, but Rabess’ writing is accessible and I understood enough of Jess’ career to not only follow the story, but to be intrigued. As a woman, I connected with Jess’s struggles in a male dominated profession. As a white woman, I listened to her struggles as a black woman in her work, but also dating Josh and life in general. The story was very eye-opening.

One aspect of Jess that will likely resonate with many readers is that she is young and struggling to define herself. This is her first major job and first adult relationship. She’s at that point in life, where she is transitioning from college to being an adult on her own, yet she does not have everything figured out. She struggles with people labeling her, even when she does not quite know where her life is headed. It is a time of figuring things out and lots of uncertainty. I’m in my mid-forties now, but Rabess took me right back to my twenties and all of the emotions associated with that time in my life.

I rooted for Jess and Josh. Their relationship is passionate and complicated, but also between two people who are essentially good, even if they have fundamental differences. There are also some steamy sex scenes!

At the heart of Everything’s Fine is the message that labels are destructive and that people can, and often do, change throughout their lives. Individuals are so much more complicated and diverse than society allows us to believe. I loved this book and can’t wait to read Rabess’ next novel. She’s a fabulous storyteller!

Book Review- Emily Henry's Book Lovers

Nora Stephens has always loved books, she spent her childhood living above a bookstore and has spent her adult years as a book agent in New York City. Although she makes a good living, Nora spent many years struggling, especially after her mother died and Nora, in her early twenties, took over caring for her teenage sister, Libby. Libby is now married and pregnant, but Nora still feels mothering, especially when she sees Libby struggling financially. This dynamic has driven a wedge between the sisters.

When Libby asks Nora to go on a sisters only trip to a small town in North Carolina, a town that is the inspiration for one of their favorite books, Nora jumps on the chance to spend time together. Libby is acting odd and Nora fears that her sister might be pregnant and heading for a divorce. Libby does have a secret motive for this trip and it involves getting her sister to fall in love with both the town and perhaps, one of its locals.

Their vacation is thrown into a tizzy, when Nora runs into Charlie, an editor that she had an awkward meeting with in New York. Charlie is from this small town and has returned home to help his aging parents run their independent bookstore. Nora and Charlie quickly realize that they may have more in common than just their love of books.

This is my third Emily Henry novel and I’m a fan. I love her snappy dialogue, wry humor, and quirky characters. Her stories have a sweetness to them that isn’t over wrought or sickly. In the best possible sense, her stories remind me of an episode of Gilmore Girls.

Book Lovers has a fun theme that is a take on the tropes in romance novels or more specifically, Hallmark Christmas movies- although, the story is not set during the holidays. Libby creates a list of all of the things that Nora must experience during their vacation, which includes things like going skinny dipping in the lake and saving a local business. The idea is to use the list to recreate tropes from rom coms, and of course, rarely does anything go according to plan.

Henry excels at creating strong, believable relationships and in Book Lovers, nothing is more powerful than the sister bond between Libby and Nora. This is the primary relationship in Book Lovers, with the budding romance between Charlie and Nora coming in second. Although there are some unsavory characters in the town, there are no true villains and the story is mostly concerned with the dynamics between likable characters.

It’s hard to choose a favorite Henry novel, but I think the theming for Book Lovers will resonate strongly with readers. It’s a cute story with a lot of heart.