Very Bad Company was a quick read. At a corporate retreat, one of the executives goes missing after a night out. This was an over the top story that might be right for someone looking for Desperate Housewives type drama. January LaVoy did a great job with the narration. Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the free audiobook to review.

I think the narrator did a fantastic job, but unfortunately I didn’t love this story. The characters felt flat to me & not well developed. I had such high hopes for this book because I loved Bad Summer People, but I’ll keep my hopes up for her next book. Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced audiobook.

CALLING ALL THOSE INTO BUSINESS DRAMA!!!

Caitlin Levy has just landed her dream job at the trendy tech startup company, Aurora. Without a firm job description, she’s a little wary of attending the annual business retreat in Miami Beach. With this multi-million dollar company, what could go wrong? When a top executive goes missing and lines are blurred between relationships, Caitlin begins to realize Aurora is hiding dark secrets. Told from every viewpoint, this Fortune 500 fiction is JUICY

Though I found myself wanting to know how it ended to the reading of January Lavoy’s brilliant character voicing, this particular book was not for me at all. Completely a preference. The writing was honestly well done, I just didn’t enjoy the storyline, business trope, or the type of drama. In addition, the all-characters points of view also made the storyline tough to get into initially. I fully believe there is an audience out there waiting to give this 5 stars.

A very special thank you to Emma Rosenblum, January LaVoy, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the chance to read this audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a 3-3.5/5 entertaining amount of thriller. I think I was expecting more from the endings and reveals, but the bulk of the story kept me guessing and intrigued.

There were a surprising amount of nods to corporate culture and being a woman (in particular the cold temperature of offices was brought up on multiple occasions) but there was no biting commentary or direction to go with it, just something brought up during the female POVs. (There was little if any nods to being Black or gay during those POVs, so I thought there would be a stronger feminist angle that the author was going for.)

Audiobook Notes:
The narrator is clear and crisp and is able to differentiate all the voices by changing her register or accent to better reflect each character.

This novel takes place over the course of an executive weekend away in Miami. The weekend must go wonderfully so that Aurora, the tech startup company, can be sold and make everyone hugely rich. But when one of the executives goes missing and is then found dead, the situation becomes urgent and the news must stay under wraps before the sail is derailed and the execs lose millions.
Rosenblum has such a gift for writing flawed characters. So many "champagne problems" and you just know that some of these horrible people are not going to get their comeuppance. Love every minute of it!

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this e-arc.*

I LIVE FOR wealthy people behaving badly in books/stories...and this one delivered. I thought this was fresh, dark and wholly entertaining!

This book was really good, I did not want to stop listening to it! I didn't plan to listen to it all in one day but I did.

4/5 stars

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the advanced listening copy!

SYNOPSIS -- Caitlin Levy has really been thrown into her new job at tech startup Aurora, forced to begin her employment with an exclusive executive retreat in Miami. While she doesn't totally know the responsibilities of her job, she does know that the seven-figure salary is worth almost anything.. and she vows to fully commit to the job from day 1. With one of the high-level executives disappearing after one night and a CEO who is continuously dropping secrets and surprises, the stakes have never been higher for these execs to get (and keep) their shit together.

I loved this book! There was SO MUCH DRAMA!!!!! (my favorite)! I really enjoyed Emma Rosenblum's last book, BAD SUMMER PEOPLE, and liked this one even more. There's nothing quite as fun as rich people behaving badly, especially in the corporate setting when they're supposed to be on their best behavior, like in this book. Every character was so fun to listen to, and it was nice to get all of their perspectives throughout the book. I truly could not put this one down; it was fast-paced and rapid-fire. The plotting was super clever; we were given just enough information to be suspicious, but never enough to really know what was going on. These tiny tidbits kept me utterly hooked from the start, making this a super fun read overall!

Wow this book has a lot going on but the three main things I noticed about these characters is that they run on greed, lust and jealousy. This book took me on a ride I was not expecting!

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan audio and Emma Rosenblum for the ALC!

I love a quick, bingeable audiobook. I listened to this one in one work day lol. I was nervous going in after not loving Bad Summer People but this one was pretty good! Dual POV and with workplace drama. A dead coworker on a company retreat turns into a whodunnit plus corruption. I will say it felt a little messy but it felt very realistic.

Very Bad Company follows a group of employees as they are in Miami for a corporate retreat. One of the employees goes missing, and as they try to figure out what has happened to her, more secrets are revealed.

I found it hard to keep all the characters straight -- there were so many of them and they were all very morally grey people. It was hard to like any of them! There were specific actions that I was perplexed by and wanted to shake some sense in to some of them.

Despite that I enjoyed it - it was quick paced and kept me interested. The reveals from the past of the characters were intriguing and I wanted to know how it would all come together.

The narrator for this audio was one of my faves and she was excellent.

I really enjoyed Emma Rosenblum's previous book and I will be excited to check out what she writes next.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

A company full of corruption and blackmail.

A cast of characters which you will love or hate, or hate to love.

An entertaining audio, where the narrators are perfect for each character.

A very bad company indeed. With an eccentric CEO and odd group of executives it's no wonder the annual corporate retreat hit a few snags. But what no one was anticipating was a dead body.

Despite having a vague understanding of where this ending was headed these characters made for quite the quirks, speed humps (yes, I mean humps), and twisted motives.

Every year the trendy tech startup, Aurora, gathers its top executives for an exclusive retreat full of team-building exercises, brainstorming sessions, dinners, etc. This year they are meeting in Miami, and Caitlin Levy - a brand new hire - is joining the executives as "Head of Events". Caitlin isn't sure what a tech company needs a Head of Events for, but the benefits are too good to turn down. The trip to Miami happens just in time for their CEO to announce that Aurora is about to be bought by another tech company - meaning everyone is about to become *very* rich. But when one of the executives turns up dead, all of their secrets threaten to come out & ruin everything.

Emma Rosenblum creates characters you love to hate, as always. She is fantastic at somehow making you care about characters that are selfish, secretive, narcissistic, and downright petty. There are multiple POVs, and January LaVoy does a fantastic job of giving each character their own voice. Even with the fantastic narration, there are a ton of similar characters which can be confusing at times.

I would say this is more of a mystery with some suspense, not really a thriller. There are many twists and turns that keep you guessing until the end.

Overall, I felt like there may have been too many secrets that are hinted at but not revealed until the end. When they were revealed, I didn't understand why some of them were such a big deal. It's possible that I would have appreciated this more if the middle section wasn't so long; it felt like it dragged a little. If you love stories about rich people behaving badly, crazy workplace relationships, and secrets being uncovered; then you will like this one! While this isn't my favorite by Rosenblum, I do enjoy her writing and will keep reading more from her!

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Emma Rosenblum for this ALC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

The death felt over the top in this one. There were soooo many different secrets and it felt like too much. A lot of different personalities and actions that were really unconscious-able. I didn’t like how many of them behaved and they all also felt a little too tied to their jobs too, which I didn’t love.

An OK read about shitty people working for a....bad company.



I received an advance audio copy. All thoughts are my own.

The top executives at Aurora are on their annual retreat. The drinks are flowing, the money is being thrown around, and the drama is never ending. Caitlin has just joined the team and is unsure of what her role will look like, but the seven figure salary, stock shares, bonuses and unlimited vacation cant be beat. When a coworker disappears the first night however, the sale of the company is suddenly up in the air.

Phew! A company retreat gone seriously wrong. I mean…well deserved. We had some greedy, greedy executives on their trip, and I hate to say they all got what was coming to them. I think we all know a guy like John, the CEO of Aurora. He was truly the worst and I loved to hate him throughout the entire book. Honestly, there wasn’t really anyone to truly like in this book, but sometimes I really enjoy that! I listened to the audio for this one and it was the perfect listen!
3.5 stars rounded up

I was not a big fan of this one. It didn’t feel like it had much of a direction. You may like this, however, if you’re into character driven multi-pov work and don’t need an emphasis on plot. I can definitely see this working for others, it just didn’t for me.

If this book was a tv show, it'd be on Bravo. This is a book version of most any train wreck reality tv show out there. We get a bird's eye view of a startup implosion. There's lies, drugs, sex, more lies, death, and the list goes on (nothing is explicit). The plotline is the evolution of this startup. I was looking for more and it's not there. This is a fun choice for someone looking for a pure trash entertainment like read.

I thought the narration was really good. LaVoy does an excellent job using their voice to differentiate between characters. Cadence was great. I enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley, Emma Rosenblum, and Macmillan Audio for a chance to listen to the audiobook ARC.

Last year, I read Bad Summer People and shockingly enjoyed it a lot. It was full of terrible people with too much money, sleeping around and causing drama. Typically, I hate the "terrible rich people" trope, but it worked there. As soon as I saw the ARC for Very Bad Company, I knew I had to read it. While I didn't enjoy Company as much as Summer People, I still enjoyed my time, and I think people will love this. If you hate unlikeable characters, this will not be for you. 

Like Summer People, Company is not a true thriller or a mystery. There are no dramatic, over-the-top twists. The murder is a minor plot point. It is more like a workplace domestic drama. What lessened my enjoyment of Company was that I didn't find any characters interesting. It was hard to differentiate who each character was. There are too many characters, and it takes too long to learn anything about them to help distinguish them from each other.

Despite the above, I was invested in the mystery and wanted to learn what would happen to each character.

Very Bad Company is a perfect beach or airplane read if you want something quick and binge-able.

January Lavoy is a perfect narrator, as usual. However, I will note that there are several POVS, and it took me a bit to get used to one narrator for all of them.

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