Backstabbing, nail-biting, dark, twisty, can't-put-down. All of this and more! This book was fantastic! I loved it. Terrific writing, I couldn't stand the characters (which is a plus for me) and an ending I'm still reeling from. Thank you so much!

The Herd by Andrea Bartz- I just couldn't get into this book, got about half way through and gave up. None of the characters were compelling and I couldn't relate to the story or plot line.

After the head of an all-women's workspace - The Herd - vanishes without a trace, her friends try to make sense of what happened. A great summer read!

This book is absolute genius. Andrea Bartz crafts a story utilizing intelligence, current trends such as social media, and weaves an entertaining story. This sophomore book is memorable and I highly recommend it. I genuinely enjoy her writing because she is consistent with her formula of writing, she writes knowledgeably on the topics she chooses, and Andrea definitely picked a topic that people utilize daily, social media.

Andrea Bartz's The Herd has a tantalizing synopsis that doesn't fully deliver in execution. However, it is an interesting take on the dynamics of female friendship, sisterhood, and the concept of feminism in 2020. Where the book fails to deliver is with the punch at the end that readers might expect. Still, I'd recommend this book for fans of books like The Whisper Network.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed Andrea Bartz's The Herd, a fascinating and chilling look inside an upscale, women only company in NYC. I found the characters to be interesting and the secrets plenty. It is a fast-paced mystery told in alternating point of view between Katie and her sister Hana, allowing the reader to see the story from each person's perspective.

I'm a bit disappointed and wanted to like this book so much more than I did. It's not bad or terrible but I had a really hard time pushing myself to finish it as it just was not gripping. I figured out close enough to what actually happened pretty early in the book but I still found it interesting. There were a lot of issues with different characters that just never got fully addressed as well. Overall, it was entertaining enough for me to want to finish it but it's definitely not one that I'll be revisiting.

3/5 stars
Summary: Membership to The Herd, a female-only coworking space, is the most-coveted membership in New York City. Katie Bradley just returned to NYC after her book’s research stalled in the Midwest. Katie has a connection to The Herd’s inner circle through her sister, Hana. Hana is the best friend and publicist for founder Eleanor Walsh. Shortly after Katie’s return, Hana is preparing for a huge announcement that will change The Herd forever. On the night of the press conference, Eleanor goes missing. The police quickly suspect foul play and everyone is a suspect.

Thoughts: This was a fast-paced whodunnit for me. I liked the premise of the novel, but found the characters lacking depth until halfway through. I didn’t see the huge secret tying Hana and Eleanor together coming, but did guess the killer’s identity. Each character had something to lose and gain from Eleanor disappearing. Eleanor had a TON of skeletons in her closet. Eleanor had no issue bullying and using people to get what she wanted.

Bartz does a great job crafting a story about female friendship, ambition and how #girlboss branding can be deadly...literally. For fans of the Wing or women-led ventures, this is the perfect thriller

I'm starting to think I need to reevaluate my rating scale but I'm having a really hard time convincing myself to use half stars. Mainly because places such as Goodreads and Amazon don't allow for half star reviews. Regardless The Herd would be the ideal book for a half star. 3.5 stars to be exact.
I really enjoyed the book but I only liked it, I didn't absolutely love it. I really enjoyed the mystery aspect of the book. I also stood by what Eleanor was trying to do for women in the work place. However, while I initially liked the characters towards the end I hated them all. Our two main characters are siblings and while Hana is an adopted women of color, Katie is the opposite. She's blond, blue eyed, and not adopted. The family dynamic that comes into play here was a little too much for a story about their missing friend and I felt that instead of focusing on the murder/missing report, they continuously fought and hated on each other instead. There is absolutely no good communication between the two even though they claim to always have each others backs. But then again I have 3 sisters and I guess we butt heads a lot too but would still die for each other so maybe I'm just being nitpicky.
Without any spoilers, I also was frustrated with the culprit. I just could not get behind the reasoning and if you were getting an extra $80,000 a year for the past two years, wouldn't you have paid off your debts already? Just wondering because I would have.
The last thing I didn't love about this book was the extra murder event that took place 10 years prior to modern day. It was a little out of left wing but I understand how it all ties together. At the same time I'm not really clear on whether the girl was still alive or not and the last few pages didn't help with that.
I think I've just talked myself into rating this book ★★★. It was enjoyable and a fast read. The characters were a little whiny and showed very little growth which frustrated me. If you're looking for simply a good mystery this would be for you.


I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on The Herd. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof_books. Huge thank you to netgalley and Ballentine Books for my advanced copy.

I felt like this book tried a little too hard to be "contemporary" and it fell flat. The idea of a thriller at a co-working facility is one that has been done a bit lately and already feels a bit tired and dated. I couldn't connect with any of the characters and they were all so flat I couldn't see why they cared about each other either.

I tried. I really tried.
I actually finished over 60% of this book. I kept going. I actually restarted to read once I put it down. Spent a lot of time this past weekend reading. And I won't put any more time in it.
I'm truly disappointed. I wanted to be up for it. The pandemic has made my mind less able to concentrate, at least for a while there. So I restarted this book with high hopes.
First, let me say that I felt that the voices of the four characters was not genuine. I don't know any 28-32 year olds who speak this way, let alone those living in NYC with higher profile jobs/social lives. Just the opening chapter alone was enough to make me stop.
Add to that writing that was stilted, jarring, example: "tears stung my eyes". Have you ever said, tears stung my eyes? That's a very worn sentiment, only read in books. Each character told me exactly what they were doing, while they were doing it, and that was boring. I got up, I put my shoe on, I put my other shoe on. Ugh.
So, to everyone who wants to read about the high life in NYC, have at it.If you are reading for content and a mystery, I would not advise it. There was no irony, no self-awareness, just a lot of words.
This is really harsh, I know.

My continual thought throughout this book was that for a club that centered on female empowerment and mentorship, there sure was a lot of backstabbing and pettiness! Add to this some reasonably unlikeable characters and all this story was reinforce the stereotype of the ambitious corporate woman. But, if you didn't try and get too far into the characters and just looked at the story of a woman being missing, it was enjoyable. Does that make it a good read? I guess it depends on what you are looking for. I felt the story's twists were a bit too obvious and brought out even worse aspects of the characters. But if you are looking for something on the fluffier side of the suspense/thriller genre, this might be a good one to try!

This book had all the elements that I would usually love in a book - successful young women making their way in the world, a cosmopolitan setting, some love interests, a new idea to explore and even some mystery and intrigue. This book had all of those things but just did not grab me.

I didn't connect with any of the characters and found the depth of the characters as a bit shallow. The mystery was interesting but still missed the mark with me. It was hard for me to put my finger on. I loved the plot summary but the book cover bothered me - Maybe I just didn't escape that first impression.

#NetGalley #TheHerd

Eleanor is the brilliant mind behind the innovative, empowering shared workspace, The Herd. Her best friends Mikki and Hanna by her side in this exciting endeavor. Then Katie, Hanna's younger sister joins the Herd after being in Michigan for a year and she has some of her own secrets. With a huge announcement coming in a few days, Eleanor is definitely the Queen Bee. Things are going so well for all of them, but just hours before the big announcement Eleanor has gone missing. Her friends are desperate to find her, not just because they are friends, but for the future of The Herd. As they start digging into Eleanor they realize that they may not know their friend as well as they thought they did.

The Herd was a fresh new take on girl power and the intricacies of female friendships. And what happens when that much power goes too far. The book is told from the alternating voices of Hanna and Katie. Two sisters with very different perspectives on family, friends, and life in general. I didn't really have a favorite character, but right from the beginning I didn't really like Eleanor. There was just something about her that rubbed me the wrong way. It boils down to the fact that women are often the meanest to other women. No matter how much they profess to be empowering feminists, they can be downright nasty. Knowing that I wasn't shocked by the big reveal. Disappointed, but not shocked. -CLICK HERE FOR SPOILERS

Bottom Line - The Herd was a fast-paced thriller that kept you guessing right up to the very end.

Details:

The Herd by Andrea Bartz
On Instagram
Pages:336
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: 3/24/2020
Buy it Here!
Thank you to NetGalley for the book in exchange for a review.

I ended up really enjoying The Herd. The characters are 3 dimensional. The book grabs your attention and keeps you hooked!

This was an interesting read,, but took me a while to make it to the end. I enjoyed the story as I haven’t read anything quite like it before. It’s girl power with some suspense. Recommended if you are stuck in a reading rut and want to try something different. Thanks to the publishers and net galley for the advanced reading copy.

The HERd is New York City's fantastic new women-only coworking space, founded and spearheaded by beauty guru charismatic CEO Eleanor Walsh. Eleanor Walsh's two second-in-commands, avant-garde collage artist Mikki and PR aficionado Hana, are always in the wings supporting her. Hana's sister Katie comes into the mix, a somewhat washed-up journalist coming back to NYC after a failed reporting stint in the Midwest. Hana is helping Eleanor prepare for a major announcement about the Herd: it's going private, and Eleanor's about to become filthy rich.

But just before the highly-anticipated press conference, Eleanor goes missing.

In the scramble to retrace her steps and find her, Hana and Katie begin to uncover secrets from the past, including Eleanor's unknown enemies.

This book is solidly all right, nothing special and in fact a bit confusingly written at times. The ending is sufficiently entertaining, a fun ride capping off a middle-of-the-road buildup. The premise is super promising, but I didn't feel that the characters were developed enough to keep my attention and gain my sympathies. I didn't connect with Eleanor at all, which is a major part of the pathos of the story - you're supposed to like her and feel motivation (alongside the characters) to find her. I also didn't empathize with either Katie or Hana; the story dives into the action without giving the reader sufficient time to get to know these two protagonists. I didn't care about any of these characters, so the twists and turns toward the end of the book didn't affect me like a good mystery/thriller twist usually does.

The book rotates first-person perspective between Hana and Katie, and I'll admit that it's very hard to keep track of who's narrating which chapter, other than the name at the beginning of the chapter. Their voices are similar and since they're both investigating Eleanor's disappearance, their plot lines are similar too. I didn't love the character development or conflict resolution, particularly between Katie and Hana; their backstories and family history are not divulged until close to the end, but revealing this earlier on would have made me sympathize with them more and would explain some of their character quirks more as well.

Overall, a solid read, but nothing to write home about. Thank you to Ballantine for the ARC!

How much do I love Andrea Bartz's books? Let me count the ways...
Bartz takes an ethnographic approach to storytelling. It's as though she infiltrates a space or community and lets the space guide what we see. In The Herd, what we see is commercial feminism, untrustworthy characters, a murder mystery, and two sisters at the heart of it all. This is such a fun read featuring strong, complicated female friendships.

A highly entertaining thriller that kept me turning pages. The female friendships were complex and compelling, and this book did a great job exploring the various, sometimes competing aspects of feminism.