4.25 stars rounded up!

Wow, what a fun time! I did not expect or anticipate the direction this story ended up going in, and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. How to Slay at Work centers on Freya, whose boss Millie is a total psycho, and who starts to notice that whenever Millie goes out of town for a conference, a a suspicious death ends up happening in the city at that same time. Coincidence? Freya doesn't seem to think so.

At first, Freya was not the most likable character, but I think likability is a curse that plagues too many FMCs, and I ended up really enjoying her strong personality. This book is FULL of fantastic twists and turns that kept me turning pages to the very end. I had a fantastic time with this one and would highly recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley, Boldwood Books, and Sarah Bonner for providing this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I'm a bit of a sucker for these humorous female murderer books, and was so excited to read How To Slay At Work. Unfortunately this book fell flat for me.

There were some interesting takes for the genre, but ultimately the writing felt clumsy, with the author very much telling instead of showing and the twists were not surprising. They were also underdeveloped, with the twist about Verity losing any shock value with it just being shoehorned in at the end.

I also had no interest in the characters - with the two main characters being dull rip offs from The Devil Wears Prada - and so had no vested interest in what happened.

This book was so much fun! It took me a little while to get into the idea of switching perspectives between different characters, but I think it worked perfectly. Can’t wait to see what Sarah Bonner writes next!

In this complex and thrilling fiction novel, readers join Millie at her corporate assistant job for her psycho, demanding, and intense boss Freya shortly after the previous assistant mysteriously disappeared. When dead bodies start appearing (with accidental and unsuspicious causes of death) in cities where Freya had recently attended a conference, Millie starts to become suspicious and takes on a detective mantle. In a position to determine if Freya is the actual killer -- and if she will be useful to Millie’s own goals. Broken into several parts and shifting perspective each time, readers see this thrilling murder series from both Freya and Millie’s perspectives yet might not understand the full implications of the situation until the final moments of the novel. Freya and Millie are manipulative and clever characters, and seeing the novel unfold from both of their perspectives adds to the tension and the dramatic reveal. As far as corporate thrillers go, Bonner’s novel is exciting, complicated, and very high stakes, and the twists and turns in the novel will really keep readers on their toes. Exciting, tense, and with fantastic characters, Bonner’s new thriller novel is a fantastic read that fans of the genre will love for its many twists and turns.

Millie's boss Freya is a NIGHTMARE. She's rude, insulting, abrupt, unreasonably demanding, delivering often cryptic and contradictory commands and refusing to allow Millie to ever catch a breath.

Millie has taken over the job of Freya's assistant after the previous person, Samantha, left abruptly, and left no way for Millie to contact her for advice.

On one hastily arranged business trip, Millie catches sight of Freya doing something unbelievable, and thinks it's freaky, but later, upon hearing of a man dying not far from where the women were staying, begins to wonder if Freya had something to do with this.

Reviewing Freya's work diary, travel and expense records and cross-referencing with news reports of dead men dying unexpectedly in every city Freya has visited, Millie is even more convinced that her boss is responsible. To ensure she doesn't sound batty, Millie runs it by her best friend and roommate, Lissa, and Lissa is equally convinced. Millie persists in her research, even as she and Freya continue to travel for more unexpected client meetings, and another dead man is found.

MIllie and Freya have a confrontation, and we begin to understand more of the situation. Including MIllie's own background, which is bound up intimately with the cosmetics company they both work for. Author Sarah Bonner gives us both Millie's perspective, as she researches Freya, and Freya's perspective, as she watches Millie, and relates her backstory.

The chapters are short, the story moves fast, and I was enjoying this story, then at around the 60-70% point, I found the silliness of the whole concept just became a little too much.

I did appreciate the commentary on perceptions of and expectations placed on professional women, and the very hard glass ceiling, and how few companies around the world have diverse upper management.

Despite finding the last third of the book increasingly melodramatic and a more than a little silly, this is a light, mostly humorous, fast read.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Boldwood Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.

What a brilliant book!!!. Twists and turns. Revenge, murder!! What's not to like?? When I saw this book, I thought it might be my sort of thing and I wasn't wrong! I couldn't wait to read just one more chapter and the turn at the end was great!

I am all for badass women who turn out to be murders, but this one was not it.

Millie is the assistant of the world's worst boss... and she later suspects that her boss might be a murderer and her business travels help her get an alibi and find herself near her victims without raising suspicion.

I'll start with this: Millie is a horrible character. I couldn't connect with her because she was incredibly judgmental. She often judged her best friend for her sex drive and sex encounters, and behaved like a prude, although she was thirty years old.

She judged everyone, really, and not in the fun way we all do it. She was horrible. I felt like the story dragged and dragged until we reached Freya's first part, which WOW, WHAT A CHANGE IN PACE.

Freya was amazing, and there were multiple twists I didn't expect. To be fair, if this would've been entirely from Freya's POV, it would've been a five-star rating.

Sam's POV at the end of the book was useless, there were too many characters and really didn't care about Sam. Neither did I care about Millie or her romance with Kiernan (although her shocking backstory was interesting, have to admit it).

The ending was incredibly rushed and I found myself asking more questions than getting clarifications. Again, Sam's POV wasn't needed. Maybe some of the earlier chapters could've been dropped and further explained at the end.

Thank you NetGalley and Boldwood Books for access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A very funny book which had me in stitches. I enjoyed this one and was sorry when I finished it. Hope there is more to come from this author. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

A boss who is a secret serial killer and her assistant who wants to kill and is playing the long game to infiltrate the company of her childhood bully. I appreciated the writing style and dark humor but I really had trouble finding the plot to be believable.

Funny, a little twisted, and definitely unpredictable!
It’s fast paced and with and a duel POV the plot keeps giving you just enough to make sure you just HAVE to read that next chapter!

I have previously read Sarah's other books and loved them. I was worried that this would be different. I shouldn't have been as I loved this one too. This book has a little bit of everything. It made me laugh; it was unpredictable. I couldn't stop turning the pages. Another winner from this author.

I thank Netgalley and Boldwood Books for giving me thin ARC.
Wow, this book was really something.
A fun and twisted murderous tale.
I definitely recommend it if you like complex female characters.
It's a four stars for me.

Darkly Delicious..
Is bitch boss Freya a rampant serial killer? Millie thinks that she just might be, however outlandish that may sound. A darkly delicious tale of revenge, murder and hassle at work relayed effectively in multiple viewpoints with a menacing undertone and an always present vein of the darkest of dark humour. Entertaining and compelling.

How to Slay at Work was a fun and quirky story, written from mainly two perspectives, with a little mystery thrown in.

Millie has to work for a cold hearted bitch boss, but she has to if she wants to climb the corporate ladder. On a work trip Millie sees her boss scale a building and learns of a death the following morning. And the investigation leads to only more questions...

This was a unique, fun story, with quite a lot of dark humour.
For most of the story there was an element of unpredictability which made it pretty refreshing.
The characters were well written, Millie and Freya were very creditable and believable.

If you like mystery and are looking for a unique story - you will like this one!

A fun, creative and dark story. I really enjoyed the book and will look to read more from the author.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I'll be honest, I DNFd this book at around 70%. I loved the concept and it started really well. Then it really felt like it started to drag. I hit 68% and couldn't believe how long was left to go. I appreciate I may or not may, be the target audience for this books, but as a fan of the Dexter books this felt right up my alley. I feel having both perspectives was interesting but may not have been it for me, may have been better for me if it was just the one and we found out the other side later on, kept some mystery in it. I'd still give it a solid 3 stars though, it's very well written and I look forward to reading more by the author.

This was an interesting story. Millie has a horrid boss, and when her co-worker goes missing Millie must take on even more work responsibilities. While on a trip with her boss, a suspicious message and her bosses questionable actions lead Millie to wonder if her boss is a serial killer. As the story progresses we get the pov from three women, Millie, Freya and Sam. The story had some twists and enough action to propel the reader through the book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm all here for the new hype of female serial killers, and I feel that it is executed so well in this book. It was a fun story with a lot of dark humour. There were a few twists and turns throughout which kept me on my toes. I think the only thing I disliked was the dual POV but that is just my personal opinion and understand why it was used in this story.

Overall this was a really enjoyable book and will be looking to read more from this author.

‘How To Slay At Work’ by Sarah Bonner is a twisty novel full of dark humour, tension and an abundance of murder! Our original narrator is Millie, who works under the iconic and terrifying Freya - the Head of Brand Partnerships at a cosmetics company. Naturally, Freya’s job involves a lot of travel, but when a colleague disappears and Millie steps into their busy shoes, she starts to see a pattern of unexplained death in her boss’s wake… perhaps she isn’t just attending conferences and brokering deals when she’s abroad!

I enjoyed the black comedy in this book, and Millie proved to be an excellent narrator, guiding us through some incredulous situations in a way that felt natural and realistic. Having the opportunity to also read some sections from Freya’s POV was eye-opening as she was certainly a very unique character! The feminist messages of the book resonated with me, and the sharp observations about the “Women In Power” conference attended by some of the characters were cutting and sadly accurate. Emotion, trauma and female strength were continuous threads through the novel.

This book really stood out for me because of a huge and unexpected reveal which pulled the rug out from underneath my expectations and predictions about the culmination of the tale and had me revising my opinions of multiple characters! I admire authors who can weave in such astounding twists without alienating the reader, and think Sarah Bonner did that so well here.

Overall, this was a 4.5 star read for me (rounded up). I wish there had been a little bit more connection to Millie’s character outside of her work role to make her more relatable, and I’d have loved to learn more about her friend Lissa, but the plot just blew me away! Highly recommended.

I received an advance Digital Review Copy of this book from the publisher Boldwood Books via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This one definitely took a turn I wasn't expecting! Highly entertaining, with some cracking twists. A devilishly good read, about an alternative method of climbing the ladder...

BLOG TOUR REVIEW

Review for 'How To Slay At Work' by Sarah Bonner.


Where on Earth have you been hiding all my life Sarah?! Just HOW is this the first book I have discovered by you?!? Well I am just glad I have rectified that silly situation and cannot wait to get stuck in to more books by this brilliant author!! I have already added all her books on to my Amazon Wishlist and Goodreads To Read and am looking forward to diving straight into her previous books as soon as I get this written up!!! In this epic page turner we meet Millie who gets a promotion at work, well I use the term promotion loosely as she gets more work but not more money to go with it, after her colleague Sam disappears. Millie's boss Freya takes her on a business trip and it is on this trip that Millie starts noticing some suspicious behaviour. Things go from bad to worse when it turns out that not only is her boss an absolute b!tch but a killer one at that, literally and to make matters even worse it turns out that Millie has been providing her with the alibis needed to keep her secret!! Is Millie going to be Freya's next victim or can Millie and her best friend Lissa stop this killing spree? grab your copy of this fantastically hilarious, page turning and unique book to discover the answers to these questions and much more for yourself. With a storyline ram packed with murder, mayhem, humour, friendship, toxic men, German insults (LOVE!), suspicion, entertainment, drama and so, so much more what on Earth are you waiting for? Grab your copy now and you can thank me later! I can promise that you will not regret it!! With short chapters that I absolutely flew through you will definitely want to clear your schedules for this one!! i gave up attempting to put it down after my first two feeble tries as I just had to know what was going to happen next so ended up picking it up, walking around with my kindle glued to my hands and absolutely devoured it in one sitting/standing of a few hours!! Sarah does an absolutely fantastic job using the multiple perspectives of our main protagonists Freya and Millie weaving their chapters together perfectly so we can see what each of these ladies were seeing, feeling and doing without ever giving too much away and leaving us needing to know what the other was up to at each time. Thanks to Sarah's absolutely brilliant, vivid and evocative writing skills you really do see everything going on around you just as if you are watching a movie on the TV. When you start reading it feels like you are on a rollercoaster ride that starts climbing to the top in the first few chapters and then you hit the top and start speeding off through suspense, mystery, tension while twisting and turning around unexpecting bends until you come to the very end which leaves you wanting more. An absolutely brilliant book by this fantastic and blatantly very talented author and I cannot wait to dive into more of her brilliant books!!

Clear your schedules before turning a single page as once your hooked there is no leaving until the end!!

The characters were all larger than life, realistic and I enjoyed getting to know both Millie and Freya even with all the faults included!!I always love it when books include female leads and these brilliant characters are definitely kick butt in their own unique ways. they both have their own flaws, strengths, weaknesses and their own unique characterisations, along with all the other characters that we meet along the way. Thanks to Sarah's fantastic descriptions it really did feel like they jumped out of the pages and came to life in front of my eyes. I absolutely loved the way Sarah made me feel differently about both of our main ladies Millie and Freya as I flew through the pages and it definitely made me realise that things are not always as they seem but enough said there!! Before I end the review I also want to say that Sarah really has done an absolutely fantastic job of creating amazing characters and putting them into an intriguing, hilarious and fun page turner with fantastic characters and doing so in a way that leaves the reader wanting more.

Congratulations Sarah on an addictive, hilarious and unique page turner!! I cannot wait to get hooked into more of your books as they are guaranteed to be addictive even if they are even just half as good as this page turner is!

Overall a hilarious, entertaining and addictive page turner that will keep you hooked throughout!

#HowToSlayAtWork @SarahBonner #BoldwoodBooks #BoldwoodBloggers #theboldbookclub #Boldwood #BookAndTonic #RachelsRandomResources #rararesources

@SarahBonner @BoldwoodBooks @BoldwoodBloggers @Boldwood @theboldbookclub @BookAndTonic @RachelsRandomResources @rararesources

https://m.facebook.com/Bookworm1986/?ref=bookmarks

https://m.facebook.com/Bookwork86/?__tn__=%2As-R

https://www.instagram.com/bookwormwhitlock86/

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/34299953-kirsty-bookworm86

https://mobile.twitter.com/kcmw86

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/profile/amzn1.account.AFZ2XZBSFHIHXBXGZLBQ666XVK4A?ie=UTF8&ref_=ya_mb_l_prf