Every woman can relate to Smile and Look Pretty! Amanda Pellegrino does a great job of capturing the vibe of the moment.

An absolutely breathtaking, fast paced, and heart wrenchingly true to life debut novel, Smile and Look Pretty is the story of four twenty something assistants just trying to get their foot in the door in their respective careers. Only instead of actual on the job training, they're subjected to being more like under paid servants. Promises of getting ahead are mever met for them, yet they watch their male peers move up the corporate ladder daily. They're also all experiencing various forms of sexual harassment. From male bosses who constantly walk around naked to some who actually physically touch them, they've finally had it. And they're going to start a revolution to help not only themselves, but every single woman who's ever been made to feel uncomfortable by a man who's in power over her.

I sped through this delicious novel as fast as I could! The girls stories are truly disgusting, yet something women have to experience every single day. This is a feminist manifesto. A call to each of us to stand tall and stand together. Scream as loud as we can. Fight for what we deserve. And at the end of the day, hopefully you'll have friends there to pick you up and love you through it. Five stars isn't enough for this masterpiece of a read.

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Thank you to NetGalley, Amanda Pellegrino, and Harlequin Trade Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed “Smile and Look Pretty” by Amanda Pellegrino. In the age of #MeToo, this perspective told from four assistants suffering under bosses who either are clueless or all together harassing, I enjoyed the narrative of fighting back against how corporations operate with white men at the top. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

When four friends, all working as assistants in media/entertainment industries, decide to turn their weekly debriefing sessions about the terrible behavior of their bosses into an anonymous blog, it goes viral and threatens to reveal their identities. Over the course of the book the relationships between the friends are tested, and they have to decide whether or not to reveal their identifies and claim their voices, or continue to hide behind the impersonal pen names they've chosen (The Bossy One, The Aggressive One, etc).
I'll recommend to fans of The Nanny Diaries, The Devil Wears Prada, and Laura Hankin (A Special Place for Women, Happy and You Know It).
Thank you to Harlequin/ Park Row Books and Netgalley for providing a digital copy in exchange for review.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of Smile and Look Pretty by Amanda Pellegrino.

This is a very relevant, and unfortunately too relatable story of four women coming together to write an anonymous online expose about their horrific experiences at work. From abusive hours, to abusive language, to violent behavior, through this anonymous blog, more and more women are empowered to come forward and tell their stories, hopefully bringing down some of the worse offenders.

I feel fortunate to live in the era of #metoo, where women are finally given a platform to expose the abuser that made them feel unsafe, either at home, at work, or just in public. Obviously we have a long way to go, but it's a promising start, as long as we continue to work to believe women.

This is one such story, which takes the "whisper network" and gives it a real voice, causing perpetrators to shake in their boots, and hopefully change their ways. It's well written and entertaining, even funny sometimes. Well worth the read.

Four best friends, all assistants, create an online blog for their profession to vent and show the world how they are treated. When it goes viral, they don’t know how long they can keep it anonymous.

Ooooo I was so excited to read this one! As an executive assistant, I eat up stories featuring them. I liked this one but at times I felt like there were too many women with too many similar experiences. I understand one of the goals was to show how they are treated as a profession in general, but I would have liked to see more variety in the main characters. They all kind of blurred together to me. I loved the submission stories and think they’d make great short stories in themselves. The female power and professional empowerment was awesome, but at times I was a little bored

“We know everything. That’s the danger of assistant life. It’s our job to know everything but pretend to know nothing.”

Smile And Look Pretty comes out 12/28.

A well written and interesting #metoo novel, with fresh and intriguing characters . I really liked how these four young women grew throughout the book.

This was a great book. Solid story about female empowerment and friendship. Would highly recommend.

Was pretty good. Enjoyed it. Would recommend. Great book club title. Or a great one to read on vacation. Great job.

This is not at all what I was expecting, as I thought it was a thriller, but instead it was more of a women’s fiction, but I enjoyed it! Gave me a much needed break from my normal demented genre! The characters were done in a perfect, flawless manner, which really connected me to the story! It was funny, emotional, and realistic! Would absolutely recommend to those looking for a powerful women story, which will keep you completely riveted, laughing, and much more!

Will buzz around platforms and use top Amazon reviewer on release!

This book was an interesting take on office drama and the power dynamics between bosses and assistants. At times, I thought the pace was a bit slow but I still enjoyed this book. It seems like it would be the perfect beach/summer read!

Awesome book about female empowerment. A group of friends who are all assistants to powerful people come together to try and enact change. Depressing, but ultimately uplifting, this book is about a group of women who are all treated horribly in their jobs and have to do something about it. Excellent book!

This story is about 4 millennials working together as assistants to some Very Important People. The beginning was cool and it had a strong ending, but I felt like the middle dragged and I had to force myself to keep reading. I liked the concept of the story. but the characters all seemed similar and very unlikable.

‘Smile and Look Pretty’ dives into the world of the personal assistant. Our four heroines deal with outrageous demands, sexual harassment, and toxic work environments while they watch their male counterparts climb the ladder. Something’s got to give and the four launch a website to anonymously post their horror stories. The popularity of the website grows and each woman must deal with the professional and/or personal fallout of the success of their creation.

Set in the hustle and bustle of New York this book is fun and modern. The issues faced by the PA’s are timely. This book is about friendship, solidarity, and finding the courage to stand up for oneself against “office” culture.
An entertaining read that will resonate with working women in any industry.

Thank you to the author and publisher for the opportunity to review this ARC.

What a spectacular debut this is! The toxic environment of a workplace leads a few you g women to set up a blog describing the injustices they face. This seemingly harmless move leads to way more serious circumstances than any of them envisioned.

The Aggressive One.
The Bitchy One.
The Emotional One.
The Bossy One.

Each of these pseudonyms allows four under paid, over worked, (and oftentimes sexually harassed) assistants to some of the most powerful men in their collective industries to vent about their bosses on an anonymous blog they created called “Twentysomething”.

The real women behind the blog - Cate, Olivia, Lauren and Max - dreamed this blog into fruition after their Thursday night margaritas and venting sessions (aptly called “The Shit List”). Soon, the site goes viral and <i>everyone</i> is submitting anonymous stories and <b>everyone</b> wants to know who started this movement.

This novel is gripping, witty and moving. At the start, it seemed to be just another novel, but at mid-point, it turned into so much more. It’s about friendships, female empowerment, blatant sexual harassment in the workplace, and what happens when women come together to take on the establishment.

Smile and Look Pretty had such a strong plot that made me think about my life and my loved ones experience with discrimination in the workplace. Empowering, and inspirational.

Absolutely gripping from the beginning.

Smile and Look Pretty is an accurate depiction of what we assistants face on a day-to-day basic. We are included on every email to our boss, often knowing the happenings in the company before even they do. The gossip hunters come by our desk with coffees, homemade treats, compliments galore, and way too many questions that will go unanswered. We know everything, but a good assistant never tells. Amanda Pellegrino captured this with such accuracy.

There were parts of this book that had me laughing so hard I thought I might choke or spit out whatever I was eating or drinking. Lines that brought back memories of my old job. Things that happened, that looking back on, just made me think, “how f*cking ridiculous!” I thought of all the things I gave up, all the times I ghosted friends for silly things like filling an employee's car up with gas, or picking up a special banana bread for a guest who had just flown into town, leaving a visiting friend of my own to find her way around the city.

The prose was playful, straightforward, and witty. The book easy to read over a weekend, and even more enjoyable with a margarita in one hand, Kobo in the other, body submerged in a hot bubble bath. For us assistants who don’t have much time, I recommend sneaking this one into the office bathroom and reading a few pages to keep your sanity in check, while at the same time allowing yourself a much-needed giggle.

I may not have been able to laugh then, but reading about Lauren, Cate, Max, and Olivia, and what they go through with their bosses, it really lightened the load and added a whole new level of humour. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at my job in the same way again.

I’ll be picking this book up for a few of my fellow assistants when it hits the shelves.

Four friends fed up with the monotony of their jobs and the sexist expectations associated with them "plot for revenge' by designing a blog. A good premise, but for me none of the characters were well-developed or interesting. The dialogue was simple. DNF.

Hell yeah! I enjoy girl power books so much! This one is also about the discrimination, mannerism, inequality at workplace. 9 to 5 meets Devil wears Prada and Horrible Bosses vibes help us enjoy our journey!

We’re introduced four best friends Cate, Lauren, Olivia, Max who are meeting each Friday to compare their notes and their weekly updates about their horrible bosses and their last torturous misdemeanors. They’re working as assistants, doing their best to please their bosses but it seems like their main life purpose is turning their assistants’ lives into hell. But these powerful women are trying too hard to be patient and getting the promotions they highly deserve, planning to save money to pursue their dream jobs including book publisher, actress, reporter, TV writer.

One day they decide enough is enough and start sharing their worst experiences about their jobs on blog which goes viral and this is when things are getting out of control!

They accidentally inspire so many colleagues who suffer from same daily issues and they help the people realize to stand for themselves.

Overall: this was easy to read, empowering, smart, entertaining, riveting book. It started like chic lit fictions but the second half of the book, the tone got more provocative and girl power messages were inspirational. You cannot help yourself so you raise fist and scream “atta girl” several times!

So I’m rounding up 3.5 stars to 4 equality at workplace, feminism, friendship, powerful women stars!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin/ Park Row for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.