this book does start off very slow, but if you stick with it, the book becomes much more engaging after a few chapters.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC

At first the book was not really interesting. I admit that I stopped reading after three chapter because I was bored due to slow plot. however, I decide to pick it up again and after we follow through Katya’s new employment and the affair she has, the book attractive level spike up.

The climax is well written but the ending is not for HEA fans.

Overall this is good read, you just have to endured the slow pace on the beginning.


Thank you netgalley for providing arc of this book

This novel/memoir, as the author hints on her website, sets off with great momentum, snide humor, and a cataloguing of luxury which promises to trip up the protagonist with much foreshadowing to greed and regret.

The breakneck plot never stops staggering forward, but it’s hard to be emotionally invested. I don’t understand why the heroine falls for and expects love from the ruthless, dismissive billionaire who wears pink boxers and pink diamond emblazoned ties anymore than I understand why she is stunned when he turns out to be cold hearted.

It also doesn’t help that the plot is heavily woven with quotations and dream sequences yet the entire manuscript is in italics -kind of a headache. For someone who knows nothing of the financial world, much of the dialogue is lost on me. The author also employs a startling range of vocabulary, from deftly precise rare terms (“sward” for an area of grass) - to overusing annoying bits of what passes for slang (“Charlie,” “so to speak”) -to cringily calling a supposed bedfellow of several weeks a “mulatto” (Really? Has this person ever met a person of color in their life, or only heard about them in 1952?)

What could have been a cautionary tale of shallowness and deceit becomes too jam-packed with events to have a memorable storyline, and the moral lessons don’t speak for themselves - characters breathlessly dump them out in dense monologues.

After reading the synopsis I expected a mash of Wolf of Wallstreet and 50 Shades. Although I never read 50 Shades and am really not interested in that kind of book, I really love Wolf of Wallstreet and similar powerhungry/rich/business books. So I was really looking forward to this one.

I got really disappointed quick. Oh. And by the way. Trigger warning anyone? Yeah.
So first off - I have no idea if the trading/business talk the author dumped into conversation made sense at all. Because I am not a banker or trader. The way she dumped this information on us most likely left most of us non-bankers skipping these conversations because well, I have no idea what went on. I guess that would be okay if it didn't seem like the author expected me to understand plot twists from these conversations.
Throughout the book there were several situations where I had no idea what happened. I literally looked up and had to go back a few lines because the author simply forgot to mention that the scene had moved on to the next setting. For example the pair sits down at a restaurant, starts talking, orders drinks, the are still in a conversation and she has finished her food. The pacing and jumps are little but very confusing.

Throughout the first part of this book I was quickly really annoyed with how the main character was portrayed. It looks like the author wanted the main character to be an arrogant, materialistic, selfish, shallow, powerful, sassy, strong trader. A woman who knows what she wants and works hard for it. I love that type of character and this is why I wanted to read this book. But there are ways to do it and then there are ways the author did it.
- The MC complains about how she has to pay for five pounds overweight baggage and yet overweight people fly for free. and then she "already regrets how arrogant she must sound" Either own that the character is a skinny bitch or address it differently. Does the MC just care about how she sounded might have been politically incorrect even though she stand by the statement or is the MC supposed to show remorse because she feels its morally wrong? This just is sloppy writing.
- The MC is supposed to be materialistic and cares for brand names. But the way the brand names are being used and thrown out there doesn't seem like the MC really understands the brands. There is no passion for the items, the reader does not understand why this is important to her or why this is a special bag. It just felt like emotionless, forced name dropping to show she is surrounded by money. It actually felt like a child writing about adult life - somebody who thinks this is what it could be like but is far from understanding it. I have a hunch that the author in real life does not care for brand names or expensive bags/shoes/dresses.
- The MC is supposed to be this strong business woman but throughout the first part of the book, all she cares about is that her career moves brings her closer to a rich man that she could marry. I get constantly confused. Is this a woman in trading/banking making a career for herself, slaying negotiations and earning a lot of money herself or is this a woman who wants a sugar Daddy? The way the two sides were combined just did not make sense at all. It felt like the author wanted this strong business woman to fall for a rich guy to get her 50 shades in and forced these views into the book to set the situation up. It just felt so far from believable that a career driven woman, who is being offered an amazing job opportunity has as her first thoughts that "this job will bring her right into the inner circles of oligarchy. She could end up marrying one of them ... but then in Moscow there are hot models on every corner". Also when meeting someone at a party when asked where she is from stating she is an investment banker so "he does not perceive me as a whore, like many of her comrades". does not really seem like the most logical reasoning?
- The "strong business" woman just did not feel right most of the time. The MC did not really act like it. Again, it felt like fanfiction or something where somebody writes about something they have not researched enough or is too far from what they know. When starting a new job no matter how sassy and strong you are, as a young investment banker at a new firm, you are not patronizing to HR letting you wait for 2 minutes to give you your badge saying things like "you'll need to find a way to be on time. What if a client calls", displaying her superiority. I was going back several lines if this was her new assistant she was talking to. No. It was not. It was the person giving her the plastic card to get into the building.

But the worst thing of all - and at this point I got really angry with this book - was her relationship towards the men and how the author dealt with it.
It starts harmless, with the MC kissing a guy and having the thought "He was so nice to me. I must be grateful and pay him back". Dear author. Please do not write this without and further commentary or dealing with this sort of statements. This has nothing to do with romance or setting up an erotica story that women are supposed to read.
And then she meets her ogilarch and goes on a date with him. He literally rapes her and over 3 pages we read her not wanting it, trying to push him away, saying no, talking about that it bothers her. After him finally raping her in the morning what does she do? Sit on the terrace, drink champagne and wait for him to call. And as soon as he calls she starts flirting with him. Sorry, but this was not 50 shades dominance sexy. This was abuse and rape and how the MC reacted to it did not just make no sense, the emotional impact this would have on a person - and yes, I realize there are different ways . it is not dealt with in any way or form. The author uses this to setup erotic scenes - using rape in this context is not okay because it makes it look like its part of sexy, steamy, relationships. It is not really addressed that the way the guy is treating her is not okay. And no, the short scene with her friend calling from the hospital after being stabbed by her guy and warning her not to let her be treated like that is not enough to make the whole thing okay. The guy abuses her and she runs after him like a puppy because he is rich and could take care of her, "set her up". No no no no no no.
It would be SO EASY to have this be sexy and steamy just by letting him be kinky and dominant and her falling for it without all that BS

The second half of the book actually had some great plot ideas, if the author would have concentrated around that and not tried to portray a woman that seems fabricated and doesn't make sense, replaced the rape by some steamy relationship, this actually could have been a really nice book.

Thank you to netgalley for providing a free copy for me to read and review.

I didn't really love this book, but I didn't hate it either. I just have to say, almost every character besides sweet Richard was so absurd that I just couldn't believe people like this could possible exist (but I'm sure they do). It's really hard to like such a shallow and materialistic protagonist but I did admire her charm and tenacity. In the end, this wasn't really the book for me but it was an overall enjoyable page turner that I got through pretty quickly.

*3.5 stars*

This story reminds me more of what it means to be caught up in the fast life, when it goes south, you can only find so little to clutch onto. Katya is a brilliant Investment Banker and she knows her numbers just as well as she knows to negotiate a great deal for her clients. However, she's got her own issues, stemming from her upbringing that in a way lead her down the path she's on.
I loved the pace albeit halfway through the book. I did take to one or two characters, their complexities and flaws, and though I would have craved a different ending, the writing's great.
Thank you NetGalley for the eARC.