A Slow-Burn Story Told From Three Perspectives
SUMMARY
After a night celebrating the success of her influencer blog, Alex wakes to find her world has turned upside down. After posting a sensational blog post, her followers turned against her. Trolls are making death threats, and her private information is being revealed on social media. And making matters worse, AC, Alex’s assistant who has access to all of Alex’s personal information, has gone missing. When a dead body shows up in Alex’s carriage house, both Alex and her husband, Patrick, become the focus of the police’s attention

REVIEW
THE PERSONAL ASSISTANT turns an influencer’s life into a nightmare. Best-selling author Kimberly Belle explores the dark side of social media and keeps you guessing until the end.

The idea for Belle’s story came from her experience as an author and walking a fine line between sharing and sharing too much. In a recent interview, she said, “one wrong word can blow up in ways you don’t always anticipate, all of which got me thinking….” She continues, “what if people on the receiving end of these posts don’t have the best of intentions.”

The slow-burn story is written in alternating perspectives between Alex, her husband Patrick, and AC, the missing personal assistant. Adding more complexity, the writing goes back and forth in time, revealing the backstory of the personal assistant. The ending, once we finally got there, was rushed and uninspired.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher November 29, 2022
Published Park Row
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com

Another bestseller by Kimberly Belle, The Personal Assistant explores how easily the digital world can be used to turn against someone when a mommy blogger’s life gets turned upside down. While Alex is trying to deal with the repercussions of the digital fallout, she discovers her assistant has gone missing and quickly begins to question her assistants motives and ability to ruin her life.
Written in alternating perspectives between Alex, her husband, and a mysterious AC, The Personal Assistant keeps the reader’s on their toes trying to figure out the missing pieces of the story.
Highly recommended. Great read.
* I received an advanced reader’s copy of this book from NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing, Park Row in exchange for my honest review

This book was incredible. This was my first book by this author, but I am now a fan. I kept guessing until the very end. I will be recommending this book to everyone.

Loved the multiple POVs in this one and there were some twists I did not see coming, but I was hoping for a little bit more from the ending.

A quick read, this thriller is about an influencer whose personal assistant disappears right as she goes viral for the wrong reasons, and things get worse from there. The pacing was tight, the conflicts escalating, and the ending satisfying, as all the pieces came together. While I didn’t find the characters likable or relatable, I thought they were interesting, and I felt compelled to keep turning pages for the conclusion. Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the digital arc.

This one definitely had me guessing. Influencer idea was great with social media so big right now. The ending was just ok fell a little flat with everything else that had happened in the book.
Easy chapters to dive into.

Thanks to the author,the publisher and NetGalley for an early release of this book.

Thank you so much @ParkRowBooks & @NetGalley for giving me this eARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review (Release Date | 29 November 2022)

SYNOPSIS | Alex is a social media influencer who focuses on keeping it honest & truthful by sharing the good & not so good moments in life alongside motivational messages. After a drunken night celebrating 1 million followers a controversial post which she doesn't remember posting goes viral, her audience cancels her & her personal assistant is nowhere to be found.

WHAT I LIKED:
- the focus on a social media influencer & behind the scenes of her day to day
- twisty storyline where you end up suspecting everyone

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
- the story generally is quite similar to her previous book My Darling Husband
- the majority of characters are unlikeable (it is a very plot heavy rather than character driven book)
- I really enjoyed the first 70% but the ending was not my fave & sort of just fizzled out which was quite unsatisfying to read
- it takes a good while for the story to get going & actually pick up the pace

I absolutely loved this one. I have found that I am really enjoying suspense books that focus on social media/influencers. I feel like it is a new theme that I am really enjoying. This one definitely had a couple of twist and turns along the way. This was a fun read!

Yeah yeah yeah, I thought to myself- I know what the story is. Until I didn't. This is a nicely crafted thriller that's also a cautionary tale about social media and about secrets and lies. Alex and her husband Patrick celebrate her one millionth follower along with her assistant AC by getting very toasted (at least Alex does) and then the next morning her world comes crashing down. Someone takes over her Insta and make posts that call out the trolls. And then the threats start not only against Alex but also against her 12 year old daughters Penelope and Gigi. She's convinced it's AC but AC doesn't exist- or does she? And what about Patrick? He's got a secret. And I was sure (and you will be too) that I knew who young woman narrator was. No spoilers but Alex's life turns upside down and it's not clear who she can trust. I found myself rooting for Alex, who pulls herself up and into protective mode for her girls. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. It's a fast paced and very entertaining read that has multiple surprises.

A missing assistant to an Insta influencer, a mysterious dead body, and a nesting box of family secrets drive this cat and mouse thriller to a deliciously unexpected finale. Like this book alot

I'm a huge fan of Kimberly Belle's books but this one was full of holes and then kind of fell apart at the end. It kept me turning pages but ultimately I was disappointed with the way this one turned out, although there are a few twisty parts of this one that tried to tie everything together. I was not a fan of the ending and any book that deals with social media "influencers" is really not my type of book so I wasn't as thrilled with this one as I have been of this author's other novels. I didn't care for Alex at all and what she subjected her family to because of this "career" even though nothing she did in this book warranted what was done to her and she seemed to finally get it in the end. I did think Patrick was a decent guy who got dragged into something unfortunate and I hated how it ended with him. I do love the settings of these books, as I'm a native Georgian. This was a solid 3 star book and I'm still a huge fan of Belle's and looking forward to what she offers next and will still recommend this title to fans of thrillers. Thank you to NetGalley and Park Row for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

Good thriller read with twists and turns that had me trying to figure out just what was happening and who was who. One plot line was left hanging in my view and some elements were a bit farfetched. However, as usual, this author writes in an easy to read, fast-paced style that kept me engaged. The plot around the insidious influence of social media was timely and topical.

Thanks to Harlequin Trade Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

The book dragged a bit. It definitely got more exciting towards the end, although I didn't care for part of the ending. But overall it was an enjoyable read that kept you guessing!

Alex is a married mom of two preteens who also happens to be a social media influencer. She has an Instagram called Unapologetically Alex where she shares moments of her family's picture perfect life. But after a not so perfect post of her ranting about another famous person, her life implodes. All of a sudden, Alex is getting death threats, her daughters are being suspended from school, and her husband, Patrick has lost his job. Things get even more serious when a woman is found dead and Alex's personal assistant, AC as she is known, is nowhere to be found. There were things about this book that I enjoyed and things that I didn't. For example, the behind-the-scenes of Alex's influencer life was very interesting. This book is a good reminder that not everything you see on social media is real, and that posts and pictures are often carefully curated to gain the most tractions and get people to follow, like, and subscribe. For the most part, the chapters were short and this was a pretty quick read; it is definitely characteristics of the popcorn, bingeable style thrillers that Kimberly Belle is known for. As far as what I didn't like, the story kind of lost me when it brought in Anna C and Nina and Owen and the story line that connected them from Patrick's past. It seemed a little far-fetched, and it kind of reminded me of a bad episode of the show Ozark. The "personal assistant" certainly went to a great length to get to Patrick, and apparently Patrick knew it was her the whole time she was in his home and he never said anything? Like, at all? It was also kind of reminiscent of the book, The Last Thing He Told Me, which was popular but one I also didn't really care for. So my overall feeling on this one is "meh"-it wasn't the worst book I have ever read, but it wasn't the best book I've ever read. 3.5 rounded up to 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. Thank you to the publisher for giving me a chance to read an early digital copy of this book.

I've been meaning to read more of Kimberly Belle's books ever since a fantastic first experience with her work back in 2020. I'm not sure why it took me this long to actually do so, but you bet I grabbed the opportunity to read The Personal Assistant early with two hands (an ARC always guarantees me picking it up in a timely manner). I have to say that this newest story only confirms my love for her writing! Domestic thrillers can go either way for me, but this story really hit the mark.

The premise of The Personal Assistant is very strong with the social media angle, the missing personal assistant, the controversial post going viral and the consequences escalating. Add a touch of murder, and this story definitely isn't your average domestic thriller... In fact, parts almost read like a crime thriller; especially once things REALLY start escalating and especially towards the end. There is plenty of suspense, and certain parts have a healthy dose of danger and tension as well... Making for a very exciting read indeed.

The story uses a multiple POV structure, where we switch between Alex, her husband Patrick and the mysterious personal assistant AC. The different POVs complement each other and are used to maximise the effect of the plot twists... And especially the mystery around AC and her motive is what will make you keep reading. The flashbacks did slow down the pace a little, but I do understand why they were added and they do fleshen out and help explain some of those final twists.

As for the characters... I'm not sure up to what point I actually liked them, but I couldn't help feeling bad for Alex and especially her twins as things started to escalate. She has annoying traits as well, but as a whole she does play her role very well. Her husband Patrick is less likeable, but again he fits his role in the story and I never guessed the full truth behind his secrets. The same goes for AC's background and motive; I was able to guess parts of it, but I never saw the full truth coming. That said, some of the final twists were a bit too over the top to be completely credible, but I can't deny that they made for an entertaining ride at least. And that ending! There were certain aspects I most definitely didn't see coming.

All in all The Personal Assistant turned out to be an engaging and fast domestic slash psychological slash crime thriller, and a story that will have plenty of secrets, twists and lies for you in store. The social media angle is a bonus!

Anytime I see Kimberly Belle has a new book out, it is an automatic read for me..
I love thrillers, especially ones told in dual POV. We have the MC, Alex and her assistant, AC.

Alex is a social media influencer and posts madly about her family, until one post should never have gone up is released, trashing a fellow influencer. Who is doing this to Alex and her family, but more importantly, why?
Alex's family, especially her daughters are mortified.

This is a page turner, so enjoy!

Great beginning to this story. Love how all the characters were introduced and their stories & histories were revealed. The author definitely had me guessing and then guessing again about the babies and who they turned out to be. The story became too rushed and convoluted for me at the end and seemed too unrealistic for a plausible ending. It was great until then though.

This is my first Kimberly Belle thriller, and while there were a couple of aspects I didn’t love/was confused by, I found it to be a bingeable and entertaining thriller that I couldn’t put down. I wound up finshing my immersive ebook/audio read in under a day.

As an influencer myself, it is so much fun for me to read books about social media celebrities, espcially the darker and more distrubing side of the business. While this story is ultimately a whodonnit, an overarching plotpoint is about the consequences that can occcur when a post has gone viral. Let’s just say, I would never, ever, want to find myself in Alex’s shoes.

There is such a fun twist to this book, that although others may guess what it is earlier on, I did not. That twist alone increased my enjoyment of this book quite a bit, and I would recommend it soley on that alone. When I think of my top three thrillers, they all share this very unique twist.

My main critism of this book is that the ending was not as clear and cohesive as I would have liked. I found myself a bit confused as to what was occuring and had to go back and reread/relisten to make sure I understood it correctly. Utlimately you must suspend disbelief quite a bit, but then again, we have to do this to an extent with all thrillers don’t we?

I think this is a solid, entertaining thriller and would recommend it especially for the social media aspect and that great twist. I cannot wait to go back and read Belle’s backlist.

One final note, I listened to this on audio, while reading the ebook, and have to give a shoutout to the audio narrators. There was a different narrator or each of the three main characters, Alex, Patrick, and AC, and I think this helped to make each of the them stand out in their own right. I think this would be fun to read in any format, but the audio might outweight the others by just a hair.

Read if you like:
• domestic suspense
• whodunnits
• social media/influencer life
• dual timelines
• multiple povs

Thank you to Park Row Books and NetGalley for the ARC, and Harper Audio and Libro.fm for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars. One morning, social media influencer and mother Alex wakes up to an accidental post that has gone viral. Alex begins to be attacked and threatened by internet trolls, and she *really* needs the guidance and support of her personal assistant, AC. However, Alex learns that AC has gone missing, and her husband, Patrick, is acting suspicious. The story is told Alex's and Patrick's perspectives in the present and AC's in the past.

I found that I didn't really care about Alex or her family for most of this story, and it wasn't apparent that AC's perspective was from the past, which resulted in some confusion. I was more curious about what was going on in the middle, but I ended up underwhelmed in the end. This was not my favorite thriller.

This was my first Kimberly Belle novel, and while it was interesting and relatively held my attention, it was just okay. The characters were difficult to like especially with all the social media parts. I did enjoy the tie in to AC, however, it was predictable.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.