Best friends Cate, Lauren, Olivia, and Max have a lot in common. They all work as assistants for some of the most powerful men in the entertainment industry. They start an anonymous blog to vent and explain how poorly they are treated at work. Then, of course, their blog goes viral and they are famous. Will they be able to keep their anonymity?

I loved how this author tackled some hot topics like equity in the workplace in this clever story. It mixed serious content with some great humor! It was a different type of book than I typically read and I really enjoyed it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Park Row Books for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This review will be posted to my Instagram Blog (@coffee.break.book.reviews) in the near future.

Amanda Pellegrino deserves a standing ovation for Smile and Look Pretty, where the #metoo movement combines with The Devil Wears Prada.

Cate, Olivia, Max and Lauren are all assistants, hoping that this will be a stepping stone to employment in their chosen careers, It is, of course, not. Cate is an assistant in to a publisher. Instead if reading manuscripts, she’s charged with picking up cupcakes and driving to Vermont with emails, printed out to be read by her boss at breakfast. Max is an assistant at a Morning TV show where she must choose her wardrobe carefully to avoid unpleasant notice by her male bosses. Olivia is assistant to an actor who promised to send her audition reel to his agent. Two years later, she’s still his chaffeur. And Lauren is an assistant to the writers of a comedy show, hoping to get her own chance to write in a world of frat boy like males.

So the women create Twentysomething, an anonymous blog where they post their stories. They aren’t alone. Several stories a day, sent in by other women, are published everyday. The number of followers skyrockets and the blog quickly goes viral. How long can Cate, Olivia, Max and Lauren remain anonymous? And what will happen when their identities are discovered?

Smile and Look Pretty takes place in creative industries but it could be anywhere. Themes of sexism, unequal salaries, promotion inequity, harassment and feminism are treated with sensitivity while the plot is full of sympathetic characters and snappy dialogue. The stories on the Twentysomething blog will be sadly familiar to many women. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, HARLEQUIN – Trade Publishing (U.S. & Canada) and Amanda Pellegrino for this ARC.

And I thought I'd had a bad boss (luckily only one), these ladies set out for a little revenge. Revenge can get complicated and it does.

Best friends Cate, Lauren, Olivia and Max are overworked and underpaid assistants to some of the most powerful people in the entertainment industries. Like the assistants who came before them, the women know they have to pay their dues and abide the demeaning tasks and verbal abuse from their bosses in order to climb the ladders to their dream jobs.

But paying their dues is not what these jerks want, they are into bullying and propping up their own self esteem to even see their assistants as fellow human being. There's a lot of the good old boys club going on also. It's enough to make you get drastic, and drastic ladies can be dangerous. Revenge can backfire, so you need to read the book to know the ending.

While this book didn't exactly do it for me, it certainly wasn't bad. I would recommend it to friends and customers alike. It had all the trappings of a good book but it didn't leave me breathless, wanting more. Books like these are important. Female empowerment books. But just because they are about that topic, doesn't make them an automatic winner. I would definitely read more from this author, this book just didn't wow me.

I have mixed feelings on Smile and Look Pretty, there were parts of the book I thought were really good, but other parts felt like they were just in for filler and made the book a slower read for me. I did contemplate on two occasions of DNFing the book because of those parts, but was so curious to see how the ending was going to play out that I stuck with the book. And I'm definitely glad I stuck with it.

I think almost any woman can relate to something these characters go through in the book at their job, it is painfully real the discrimination, harassment, and abuse that they face. And it is so easy for people to give advice and tell someone to get out of a situation that isn't healthy for them, and I like how Pellegrino presented it that when you need that job not only to pay your bills and support yourself, but also need the experience to hopefully get yourself to a better position, it's hard to just say "I quit," and move on when you know this cycle never ends. It was an authentic and raw portrayal of how women are treated in the workplace. I will definitely give Pellegrino's other books a read in the future.

I have mixed feelings about SMILE AND LOOK PRETTY. The premise sounds so entertaining and I was looking forward to a juicy, gossipy read. Here's what kept me from rating it higher: the characters all kind of run together. I had a hard time keeping them straight and I wish the author had limited the points of view so that the reader can feel more invested. That being said, I'm glad I kept reading and I found the wrap-up quite satisfying.

I mean, it's a well-done book. But do I need to read something so frustratingly real? I did. I did read this book. But I didn't need to. Welcome to Life! (Ok, everybody meet Ms. Me Too.)

𝐖𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫. 𝐀 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠.

SMILE AND LOOK PRETTY is a relevant and relatable to anyone who has ever been verbally abused, demeaned, or degraded by a boss. It's for anyone who does all the work but receives none of the glory; it's for the ones who keep their place of employment running behind the scenes for low pay and dreadful working conditions, all under the guise that if you "work hard enough" some mythical reward will be waiting for you.

This is the story of four friends who have had enough of their jobs and decide that their weekly vent sessions over margaritas just isn't enough anymore. Insert anonymous blog where they become the Aggressive One, the Bossy One, the Bitchy One, and the Emotional One.

I loved the theme of female empowerment and the idea of a secret blog that takes off. The story did lag in several places, and I found it difficult at times to keep up with the names of the women and their despicable bosses.

Overall, an enjoyable, enlightening read. If you liked THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, you will definitely enjoy this book.

Cate, Lauren, Olivia, and Max are assistants for people in the entertainment industry. They are working and hoping and dreaming of moving up to their dream jobs. But how much do they have to endure? When they create an anonymous sight for others to share their own horror stories of bad bosses and toxic workplaces it takes off. But what will happen to their careers if their bosses find out?

I'm a corporate gal and I love reading books that involve gossip, juicy work stories and lots of drama. Reading the synopsis made me think of the Apple TV show, The Morning Show. I had high hopes because of this. Smile and Look Pretty tackles the subjects of pay gap, discrimination, sexual harassments, being taken advantage of, friendship, courage, morality and so much more. This could have been a very dry read but it was far from it. I felt empowered while reading this and it made me think about my own life. The ladies in this book smile, look pretty and kick some feminist booty.

Four best friends who are sick and tired of the way that they are treated. They are passed over for jobs that they earned and deserved, they are talked to and treated inappropriately, they are asked to do demeaning tasks and they are often put into dangerous situations.

They decide to fight back by starting an anonymous blog where they are publicly air their grievances, and it takes off with a power that they couldn’t have expected.

I liked the girl power aspect of this story. The fact that the blog wasn’t just some place for them to complain but actually ended up giving a voice too many women through submissions. They were able to rights some wrongs and bring to light abuses that were happening all around them.

Having experienced many of the issues and situations that they encounter in this book it was kind of nice to “damn the man” vicariously with them. These women are completely bad ass and I loved it.

If The Devil Wears Prada and Bridget Jones Diary had a baby it would be this book. I’m loving this book, the dialogue and most of the characters. Four friends in entry level positions in New York City work as assistants in various industries. All four women want to climb the ladder within their respective fields and have a successful career.

Cate is an assistant to the head of a huge book publisher. He requires her to do the administrative as well as personal jobs for him. Keep his calender but also get cupcakes to his son's school for a party, pick up dry cleaning, open his home in Vermont for his vacation.

Max is an assistant at a news station with goals to be journalist. She is sexually harrassed by the lead news anchor and does all the running for coffee and other minor tasks. Her male counterpart Charlie is never subjected to demeaning comments or asked to run out on errands.

Lauren dreams of being a script writer one day. She is an assistant to Pete and gets harrassed by one of the writers on the show. Go get the coffee and keep your mouth shut. Until she has enough of that treatment.

Olivia is an actor's assistant and has some of the same demeaning tasks as her friends. Go to a smelly unairconditioned warehouse to search for a sofa he wants delivered; try and take notes and keep his calendar while he is doing yoga naked. The B list actor Nate always dangles the idea of passing on a screen test of hers to someone who can help.

The ladies meet Thursdays to drink margaritas and unburden themselves to one another, the only people they can trust. Then they take the napkins with the written out grievences and burn them at the end of the night. One night they decide to start a website called Twentysomething and write out their stories anonymously. Thanks to the NDA (non disclosure agreements) they must use names like The Bossy One, The Emotional One, etc. Then it takes off. More women are telling their stories and the website becomes a sensation. People start to wonder, who are these women behind Twentysomething as it becomes newsworthy.

This book has sexual references and the occasional F bomb. This doesn't bother me but I know it does for some. The stories are believable as are the friendships and struggles. This is a story about women being impowered by one another and getting tired of being passed over for promotion and treated differently than their male counterparts.

I will definitely be looking for more by Amanda Pelligrino in the future.

Publication date December 21, 2021 by Harlequin. Genre: General Fiction Adult and Women's Fiction.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader's copy of this book. I was not compensated for the review, all opinions are mine.

I mean doesn't the title just scream that this will be a crazy book?! I knew it from the beginning that I would like this storyline. Tons of drama and suspense, which is right up my alley! This was also my first read from Amanda Pellegrino and I cannot wait to read more!

I was instantly intrigued by this book, because like many other employees in the workforce, I have survived life as an underpaid assistant and intern, and I was so curious to see how this book would tackle such a complicated and seldomly spoken about topic. And this author did so seamlessly and authentically in a way that still told a compelling story. This book was described as a "9 to 5" for the Instagram generation, which instantly intrigued me because I understand where they're coming from all too well.

Told via multiple perspectives, you get an in=depth look at how each girl got to this decision to chronicle their Me Too-era work experiences via the blog in a poignant and authentic way. After a slow start, the book ramps up into a compelling, relatable, and unputdownable read that's chock full of captivating language.

This book should have been called 'Twentysomething', after the blog in the book. That being said, I thought this book was a little too much like the plot of The Morning Show on AppleTV. In the #metoo movement, everyone is looking to have a voice, and while I did enjoy this book, I didn't love it. I finished it, and somewhat enjoyed it and would recommend to someone who hasn't seen The Morning Show.

NYC 9 to 5 girl gang fight the patriarchy vibes all aboard

Alas a tale of young women climbing the ladder in corporate America and all the discrimination they must endure. Sound familiar my overworked and underpaid ladies?

Four best friends, all assistants to big names in the entertainment industry, start an anonymous blog called ‘TwentySomething’ to detail experiences of misdemeanor and degrading tasks at work. Smile and Look Pretty follows the blog’s unexpected take off, consequences of speaking up and speaking out against such ‘Bosses’.

This book is a good way to get an introduction to unfortunate subject material such as sexual harassment, etc in a fiction read. That sentence sounds wrong, but what these girls experience happens everyday and this author found a way to show that fast paced, humorous, and grotesquely exemplary of reality. The writing is not fantastic, but the novel accurately depicts harassment and abuse in the workplace and does so with an addicting plot.

This book would be SO good if the characters had more development. Yes, this is the rare chance I am asking for a longer book. The four main characters are very similar and easily mixed, more individuality and development of the women would have made stronger emotional connections to the readers. At the end, it felt a little like a perfect ribbon tied up all loose ends, but in a satisfying way that I don’t think many readers would mind.

Give this one a go, it made me anxious, sometimes the writing fell short like a draft, but the sensitive content matter is well done for what it is and in this type of book I think that’s the most important aspect. It is inclusive and respectable and of course disturbing.

This book captured my attention from the very beginning. I do not think there is a woman alive who cannot relate to at least one of the girls or their situations in this story. It captured the complicated emotions of the movement very well. This is a very timely story and unfortunately it has been timely for a while and probably will continue to be relevant for quite some time. This is a must read.

Ahhh this book set me up with so much rage. When I wasn’t reading, I just blared The Man by Taylor Swift on repeat. The fact that ANY WOMAN who reads this will just nod and say “yep I know that’s right” is all too infuriating…like I’m surprised the blog is not real, because the stories certainly are. I didn’t really enjoy how they had to deal with that all going viral but I guess that’s just how it is.

Absolutely adored this title. It gave me Sex and the City vibes and was a great hold-over until I can tune-in again. Unfortunately, it's all too true, but I loved how the women finally had enough and took action. It was laugh-out-loud and I can't wait to recommend it to my readers!

Wow! I could not put this book down. Four overworked and under-appreciated assistants realize it's time for them to make a change and risk everything in the process. With powerful bosses who have either demeaned, embarrassed, or sexually harassed them (or all), these four friends create a safe (public) space for other assistants to speak their truth anonymously. This book does an excellent job with character development and including a variety of different abuses from a superior. I would highly recommend this book.