I really enjoyed this incredibly twisty read that starts off with a bang and doesn’t really ever stop until the end. Alex is a social media influencer, wife and mother of two and has just reached 1 million followers. Then she obvi needs a personal assistant and hires AC, and Alex is pretty trusting with AC’s access, especially since her references weren’t really ever checked. Alex celebrates her massive following and wakes up to a flurry of comments and texts and calls that are not all that positive and then learns she posted something she probably shouldn’t have while drinking. But when she goes to ask AC’s help, oh hey guess what? She’s now missing and Alex is a prime suspect. It doesn’t stop from there and I was completely addicted at this point and could not stop until I put this absolutely addicting thriller down. I loved how the topic of social media was woven in here, and the audiobook for this was very well done.

I loved this book and will be reading this author’s backlist for sure. If you haven’t read this then please add it to your list! Thank you to NetGalley and Park Row Books for the digital galley to review.

The Personal Assistant by Kimerly Belle is a fantastic suspenseful novel!

I loved the fact that the influencer and cancel culture that were incorporated in the story line.

This was one twisty book and I was completely there for it!

So many twists and turns that kept me guessing and flipping the pages.

Oh, the twists and turns of this book. Such a great book and such a fantastic author. I’ve read her books in the past and she is a go to author that I will always recommend and read her books. The characters in this book were just ones that will stick with me for a long time. If you like a good thriller, this one’s for you.

I was continually kept guessing on where the twists and turns in this story were taking me and I love that feeling. Kimberly Belle is one of my go-to's for suspenseful thrillers that always keep me on the edge of my seat!

I love a book about a social media influencer and especially when it is a thriller. This one explores how what you say, or write on social media, can make or break you. I am always a little amazed at people on social media arguing and taking sides for people that they have never met. And how out of control that can become.

Ms. Belle always gets me with at least one of her twists and this one is no exception. Told mostly from Alex’s POV, our social media influencer, at the beginning, so we are relying on her accounting of things. Did I mention she was drunk and doesn’t remember anything from the time when her controversial post went live?

I am not sure I liked any of the characters, but I wanted to know what had happened, so it didn’t much matter. I think anyone who has a blog or a bookstagram will relate at least a little to the situation if not the characters. Or maybe just a comment on a public post that had unintended attention.

While the plot unfolds slowly, this was a quick entertaining read for me. And made me think a little before writing my next post.

This was a DNF for me, unfortunately. I wanted to love it as the premise seemed great, but I just couldn't get around the weak dialogue and immature feeling of the main character.

I thought I had this story figured out, and while I was close, the ending still had a twist I didn’t see coming.

This one has multiple view points and a nonlinear timeline, which always wins me over!

I had high hopes for this one. The story seemed so current to what is going on with social media today. Influencers are everywhere. However, I felt underwhelmed with the overall story.

This was a fun thriller, It wasn’t my favorite of Kimberly Belle’s novels but I did enjoy it, It was fast paced.

I had high hopes for The Personal Assistant by Kimberly Belle. It seemed like a psych thriller that would be right up my alley. For the most part, I was right.
I’m not a social media person – it is more of a necessary evil these days. I only use the bare minimum, and even that is very grudgingly.
I say that to point out why I had a difficult time relating to Alex. I get that social media influencers are a thing, but I just don’t GET them – if that makes sense. However, it is necessary for Alex to be “out there” for the rest of the plot to work.
The story is relayed from three points of view: Alex, AC, and Patrick (Alex’s husband). Through each of them, we get a plot that is carefully planned and mostly suspenseful.
I have a love/hate relationship with books like this. I love them because they keep me guessing, changing my mind about my predictions, and can usually surprise me at least once. I hate them because they are so very difficult to write reviews on.
This is the type of book where one slip in a review could ruin an entire plot thread. But trying to hide it by being cagey gives the impression that it was too confusing to understand. And I’m making this review confusing by writing it this way.
I really enjoyed 75% of the book. I had inklings about some things early on, but I wasn’t certain about them until the actual reveal. In that regard, the author really put the psych in a psych thriller.
That being said, I thought the last quarter of the book felt rushed and disconnected from the rest. I get that the author wanted to shock the reader, but too much seemed to come out of left field, and there were several questions left unanswered.
For example, the background of the culprit and how they were able to get away with everything they did is never sufficiently explained, nor is there much background to support it. The reader is just supposed to go with it. Not a fan of that, mostly because the rest of it is so darn good.
I’m rounding up my review to four stars simply because ¾ of The Personal Assistant was everything I could want in a psych thriller. Kimberly Belle is an author I will continue to look for.

**For more reviews like this, please visit Fireflies and Free Kicks**

This book alternates perspectives between The Wife (Alex), The Husband (Patrick), and Anna Claire. It was a good read that kept my attention and made me think. I had like three different theories that I thought were going to happen and every one of them was wrong! I enjoyed the writing and the plot of the story. I would definitely recommend this book and this author. I can't wait to look up more books by Kimberly Belle.

The internet has made it hard to keep secrets, especially for celebrities. In The Personal Assistant, author Kimberly Belle tackles the question of just where the line between public discourse and private matters should be drawn for social media gurus – or if there even is one.

Her first viral post had given her a huge buzz. It had been a picture of her stretch-marked belly with a caption about the importance of being unapologetically real. The message had sparked a hashtag – -#purpleandproud – and a career. Alex has slowly built a following since that first, glorious moment of attention and is now a significant social influencer, with a book deal and a partnership with Target in the works. Her husband Patrick, a television financial advisor, has been supportive of her career in the spotlight and has good-naturedly allowed stories and photos of himself and their twin daughters to be part of Alex’s success. It all crashes and burns when one drunken night, a post is added to her #unappolegictiallyalex account. One that slut shames a young actress whose legion of fans turn on Alex, along with Alex’s own followers who now consider her messages of positivity a sham behind which her hateful heart hides. The only problem is, Alex didn’t write that message.

At first, Alex’s only response is to reach out to her sharp, media-savvy assistant AC for help. It takes longer than it should for her to realize that AC has silently – and suspiciously – disappeared. AC was last seen leaving Alex’s house by Uber, but while the driver insists he dropped her at home, her roommate is equally insistent that AC never came in the door. Now Alex must face the fact that the woman whom she trusted with private information about herself and her family is probably spearheading the online mob out for Alex’s blood. That same woman has told the angry masses where Alex lives, all about Alex’s twins and her husband, and is daily sharing information Alex never intended to share. Just what is driving AC to do all this and what exactly is Alex to tell the police, who seem to think she and her husband are responsible for AC’s disappearance?

This is a mystery written from alternating perspectives – our narrators are AC, Alex, and Patrick, and none of them is particularly likable. It is clear from the start that money is a huge motivator for all of them and it is easy to wonder if any of them have a moral scruple they won’t cross in the pursuit of it. Alex and Patrick are almost understandable typical suburbanites – they have an American Dream-style concept of the good life that revolves around instagramable vacations, a large, luxurious house, plenty of stuff, and picture-perfect kids. To get that, they sell themselves – or at least a persona they pass off as themselves. Alex’s online character might be all about keeping it real, but the reality she shows her followers is often staged. The pictures she posts are performance art, taken and retaken until they capture casual perfection, and most are shot through flattering lenses. Every outfit shown is carefully coordinated, and every scene is choreographed to the last detail. Alex views what she does as a job, but my more skeptical impression of it was that she is a scam artist, selling falsehood in the name of truth and uncaring about how she uses the people around her in her quest for fame and fortune. As her daughters approach their teens, they and Patrick make it pretty clear they want to opt out; Alex makes it equally clear that isn’t happening. Throughout the book, she makes choices, such as giving AC a key to their house and her home office, against her family’s wishes – which wind up costing them all a lot.

I liked Patrick a bit better. He’s a money guru who appears on TV weekly with tips on how to help others grow wealth. Throughout the story, we are left with lingering doubts as to whether he’s a brilliant investor or something a bit shadier, but whatever his flaws, he is a supportive husband and a loving father to his two step-daughters. We know he has a big secret, but it is clear from the start that he is less concerned with keeping it than with keeping his family safe.

My favorite character at the beginning was AC. In the first few chapters, she’s a hardworking maid at a hotel who wants nothing more than to make a success of her life and she’s willing to do whatever it takes to achieve that. Unfortunately, she meets up with the wrong kind of people and gets sucked into their not-so-pure pursuit of the almighty dollar. It brings out a side of her that highlights she is less than scrupulous and more than a little stupid.

Something the author does very well is to show us how the mixing of these three personalities is actually the impetus for all that happens within the narrative. Trade any one of them out for another person, and the results would likely have been wildly different. It gives plausibility to a plot that would have been far-fetched otherwise.

I also appreciated the straightforward nature of the mystery. It’s a puzzle, with each piece we get giving a clearer picture of what happened/is happening without any big misdirections that leave the reader questioning everything that goes before. Reliable narrators are refreshing in today’s market, and I felt these three were (mostly) honest in that respect.

Most tales are flawed, and this one’s foible is that I was left with some questions and doubts about the ending, but that’s mostly a quibble. The pacing also lags at times.

That said, The Personal Assistant is a well-written whodunit that I think will appeal to mystery fans who don’t mind some dark content in their stories.

Note: Reference is made to murder, rape, and torture, a pregnant woman is hit, and internet bullying/trolling is part of the story.

A personal assistant is missing at the same time as bad stuff starts happening to the Hutchinson family. The father, Patrick, is a financial advisor and TV personality, and the mom, Alex, an influencer, is her own public persona. In the days of influencers, what I found most interesting is the commentary of how the influencer chooses the spotlight, but the kids and family do not. At what point should an influencer seek permission, or is it ever appropriate? That aside, it was a solid thriller. I liked it, but it falls right in the middle for me: readable, but not lovable.

Thank you @netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Themes: 👀👨‍👩‍👧‍👧🔪💀

My feelings: 🙂🤔😯🙂

#netgalley
@parkrowbooks
#parkrowbooks
#readmorebooks
#readmorebooksbywomen
#thriller
#thepersonalassistant
#goodreads
#readersofinstagram

Sometimes a gripping page turner is just what you need!! I have enjoyed author Kimberly Belle's book in the past and this was another entertaining thriller that helped get me out of a bit of a reading slump. ⁣
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When things come crashing down, who can you trust? Add in a social media following and a viral post gone wrong and you have my attention for sure! This was twisty and enjoyable and I recommend it for an easy and engaging weekend read.

Thank you to Park Row Books for my gifted copies to read and review.

Mom influencer Alex feels like she has it all – two great twins, a great husband and stepfather to her twins, and a booming social media career. One morning though, she wakes up to see she has gone viral in the worst way. A post that she does not remember doing dragging a young social media personality is all over the internet. As she tries to contact her personal assistant, AC, she cannot get ahold of her. As Alex starts to investigate, she learns AC is not who she says and there is danger lurking in her own house.

This book was not my favorite thriller. I think it was mostly the writing style, which is definitely a personal preference. However, I found the big “twist” to be obvious and the ending to be unsatisfactory. If you’re looking for a family drama though, this might be the book for you.

Sometimes, I begin to think that I need a personal assistant to run my Bookstagram. The plot of Kimberley Belle's newest novel is absolutely relevant, and I think that's what makes it so amazing.

The characters of this book were well written and I really felt for Alex as she tries to identify AC and figure out what is actually going on, and who she has actually trusted and brought into her life. The alternating perspectives really helped me see things from all views and I loved it!

3 stars

I have read all of Kimberly Belle's books and I have to say that I keep finding myself being disappointed. I don't know if it is the fact that I read too many mystery/thrillers or watch too many crime shows but I always figure out her plot twists and who dun its way too early into the book. I like the books as far as the writing style goes well enough to finish them and to keep picking them up. the storylines just seem to let me down every time.

There were three POVs in this book, and I didn't like a single one of them. I didn't find them to be authentic or likable in any way. This kind of felt like a recycling of one of her previous books and It just felt like deja vu.

Absolutely amazing! There were so many times that I held my breath in anticipation of what could possibly happen next! Definitely an unpredictable and satisfying read!

Alex is a social media influencer who runs the page “unapologeticallyalex” and she just reached a million followers. The next day she wakes up to see she posted something very damaging to her career. The problem is, she doesn’t remember posting it. The only other person who has access to her account is her assistant, AC, who is now missing.

The story is fast-paced and told from multiple perspectives.

I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be a big social media influencer, and this book gives you a taste of some of the negative sides to it!

This read is definitely a rollercoaster ride with so many twist and turns that you don’t expect! I thought I had it figured out at times, then another twist would happen!

“The Personal Assistant” is out now!! I definitely recommend asking Santa for this one! (Or honestly any of her books)🎅🏼

Thank you so much Harper Collins Canada for my copy!

I don't love stories that involve an influencer main character and this sadly fell into that category as well. The main character was just so narcissistic and tough to root for. Actually, everyone in here was very difficult to like. I found myself quite disinterested in the entire story.