Cue Taylor Swift’s Florida!!!

But really though… Thanks NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced listener copy.

Would you ever go on a work retreat to the beach with your coworkers???

In short, Very Bad Company is a handful of POVs of money hungry executives who party too hard on their annual work retreat to Florida and clearly are in major violation of workplace boundaries, and not much happens besides that. I hadn’t read Rosenblum’s Bad Summer People, which released last summer, but I heard mixed reviews about it. And after reading this one (I put the audio up to 1.75x, which is at least .2x faster than I typically do), this is the kind of company I don’t want to keep. Aside from Deb, I really had no sympathy for any of the characters and found myself tuning the audio out.

Content and trigger warnings include some vulgar and profane language, sexual content, infidelity and marital separation, unwed pregnancy, mentions of recreational drug use, death by overdose (which seems to lack any kind of a reaction from pretty much all the other characters), and intellectual theft.

I give it an apathetic 1.5 (rounded to 2) out of 5. Join this very bad company retreat at your own risk and sanity.

Very bad company indeed!
The plot was so compelling and the characters so very bad and I couldn't put the book down.
The portrayal of corporate greed was quite entertaining and the narration right on target.
Fun read!

Well, well, well. This book was such a treat! As Churchill would say…you must, must, must read this!

I think the audio on this was the star. It brought John and all his idiosyncrasies to life in a way words on a page maybe wouldn’t have so well. I absolutely loved getting to know these characters and their dirty little secrets. And boyyyyy do they have secrets! It was basically a peek inside the lives of a tech C-Suite for a week in Miami…with all the drugs and booze and lavish extravagance and corporate espionage you’d expect in that setting.

I found the characters really likeable. Also relatable, oddly enough. Maybe because we live in the startup world too and know people who fit each of the profiles, maybe because it was a good reminder that even C-suite people have normal lives too. Partners, kids, social events, family commitments, etc. And it gets messy!

Overall, an absolute joy to read. I couldn’t stop listening and was hooked from the beginning all the way through the epilogue. Definitely add this to your summer reading list!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this gifted audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I could not get into this one and had to DNF. I just think that the whole premise of this story was a miss for me. I could not connect with the characters or their rich people problems and could not find the humor in this one.

Very Bad Company was exactly what you get with this book! The writing was well done, the storyline truly authentic, the characters so horribly, horribly bad! My jaw was dropping in every chapter, the plotline kept me turning the pages and their hijinks kept me entertained! It was a good book, but man oh man my head was hurting at the very end!

I’m always up for a rich people behaving badly plot and this darkly comedic whodunit had quite the juicy and scandalous mystery!

We dive deep in the toxicity of corporate culture and the drama that this unlikeable cast generates is quite entertaining!

My single concern is that I found the multiple POVs confusing and hard to track at times but eventually they come together.

3.5 stars rounded to 4 for Goodreads!

Wicked little novel. Very enjoyable. Very bad company indeed.
Super entertaining, excellently plotted.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 Stars

Caitlin Levy has just been hired on to a plush position at tech phenom, Aurora. She has been invited to tag along at the extravagant corporate retreat with the C-Suite team, including eccentric CEO and founder John. He is about to make a very big announcement about the firms future and a sale that could net the whole team millions. The executives all have their own set of problems, secrets and dramas but when one of them ends up dead the whole house of cards is ready to fall.

I was intrigued by the premise of this novel and was hoping for a sassy satirical glimpse into corporate retreat with dark humor and salacious characters. What I got was more of a techy caricature with stereotypical executives and their first world problems having. It is a multi POV story with each character having a voice and extensive backstory. There are a lot of them, to the point it became hard to discern who was who. Worse yet, they are all incredibly unlikable, which was maybe the point, but not executed well. For example, the team just learns one of them has died and possibly been murdered, no big deal lets go jet skiing. woowhoo. By the end I did not care what the wrap up would be and was just ready to send them on their way.

I had the audio version read by January LaVoy, who I absolutely love. She was the biggest positive to this story and her voice work is top notch. I highly recommend listening to her narrations and can not wait to listen to more from her.

I loved Bad Summer People, Emma Rosenblum’s previous novel. Rich people behaving badly is one of my favorite themes. This one was different and I didn’t love it as much. I liked it, and I was entertained nonetheless. No one is likeable and I didn’t route for any particular character. It was a quick read and fun.

I sincerely appreciate the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to listen to the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Very bad company/people indeed! This title says it all and they were ALL fucked up in their own ways! Some are worse than others, but still fucked up. There were some happy moments in this book but very few and the people still weren't really redeemed. This was my 1st book by Emma Rosenblum but will not be my last!

If you're looking for a feel-good book filled with likeable characters you want to root for, this is not it. <i>Very Bad Company</i> is about a very bad company and also about very bad people. Its about a start up looking to make loads of money and the highly paid executive team that is all about sex, drugs and scheming.

Seriously, these people will stop at nothing to get make tons of money. Including an executive retreat that starts with the death of an employee on the first night and still continues on as planned.

This will be a great beach read if you're looking for something that is outside of the normal happy ending love story. There is no love lost here. Just some bad people making bad decisions.

Thank you Net Galley and MacMillian Audio for the advanced audiobook - I thoroughly enjoyed it!
The audiobook narrator did a heck of a job juggling voices and personalities for this large cast of characters, it was so engaging!

This thriller tale of a company retreat gone wrong had me sucked in immediately. While I thought there were many 1 or 2 too many POVs, the narrator was able to keep me in the loop most of the time (I would’ve definitely needed to flip pages to check things if I were reading!)

Endings for books like these can be so hard or anticlimactic but honestly, this was just fine for me! The chaos and drama at the end of Part 3 was just SO GOOD! I wish it maybe happened a little closer to the end, because there were still 2 more parts and an epilogue after the adrenaline of Part 3 winded down.

Overall, a fun & quick listen that I recommend!!

January LaVoy proves again why she is one of my favorite audiobook narrators. Her narration of Rosenblum’s mystery of rich people behaving so badly is a match made in heaven. Think if Michael Scott struck gold in the tech world and took a bunch of higher ups on a trip to Miami and someone ends up dead. It’s juicy, it’s dark and it’s quite frankly hilarious. Rosenblum’s writing style really works for me and this would be a great summer read for those who love dark stories with dry humor.

If you are interested in the “Knives-Out” style murder mysteries with a Corporate Drama trope, this is the next read for you! I’m certain there is an audience that would truly enjoy this book. Unfortunately, this book was just not for me. I did however, appreciate the style of writing and the narration. I just found it very difficult to connect with any of the characters so didn’t really care about the issues arising throughout. With there being so many of them, the characters were often confusing to remember who was who.

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio and Emma Rosenblum for this ARC audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

This was my second audio by the author and will not be my last. I love how dysfunctional everyone was! I truly enjoyed the way the plot slowly unfolded and I really didn't know how it was gonna end,

This is my first book by Emma Rosenblum but it definitely won't be my last. This book is about a tech startup company called Aurora and the executives go on their yearly retreat in Miami. While on the retreat one of the team members goes missing and ultimately is found dead. This could derail the future of the company's sale and cost everyone millions. The team needs to continue the charade with team-building exercises, dinners, and group brainstorms to keep the future of the company afloat.


I really enjoyed this book and the narrator January LaVoy was amazing. This book has all the things - terrible people, lost of money, beautiful setting and tons of drama. While everyone thinks that the death of one of the characters is an accidental overdose, as the secrets start spilling, everyone seems to be guilty.

The book is each of the characters perspectives, but LaVoy does a great job of differentiated the characters all by herself.

I definitely would recommend this book and can't wait to read more from Rosenblum.


Thank you MacMillian Audio and Netgalley for the gifted copy in exchange for my honest review!

Oh this book was good! It was dramatic, suspsenful, fun! I loved it. Such a great book. It did not end how I expected and I loved that.

Entertaining story with a who done it plot that had multiple viable suspects.
Overall I wasn't SHOCKED nor had any OMG moments, but felt the story was engaging and plausible throughout.
I wish there was a larger red herring, fake out, twist.

Very Bad Company was an engaging, intriguing light thriller featuring rich people behaving badly while on a company retreat in Miami, Florida. When one of their own ends up dead - who could be responsible? I listened to the audiobook for this one and found it so enjoyable. Narrator January Lavoy is one of my favorites and did a spectacular job distinguishing between the multiple characters featured in this story. The pacing was done well and kept me interested in learning what would happen next. Thank you Macmillan Audio for the advanced listening copy, receipt of which did not impact my review. #MacAudio2024

Executives at a tech company are sent away on a team building retreat and some quality bonding time. What could go wrong?
Everything once an exec goes missing and is found dead at a club. The narrator did a great job telling this story and giving each character their own voice. I loved learning how each character was connected and how each would benefit from staying faithful to the eccentric founder of the startup. If you are a fan of Emma Rosenblum, give this one a try.