I have enjoyed Sarah Bonner's previous novel but this one didn't quite 'fit' me. I felt too old! Millie the main character talks with lots of mid sentence asides and giggly topics and it just felt too twentysomething for me (I am a fifty something!)
I think the cover reflects this age group so it's my fault for choosing it, no fault of the author.

3.5 Stars
One Liner: Nice… but the ending doesn’t hit the mark

Millie knew her boss, Freya was a psycho. How else can she explain the woman’s behavior at work? Nevertheless, even Millie didn’t think the boss could actually be a serial killer. But when people die during Freya’s trips to other cities, all of them can’t be coincidences, right?
Figuring out the truth might help Millie in more ways than one. Of course, she needs to ensure the target doesn’t end up on her back!
The story comes in Millie and Freya’s first-person POVs where they also break the fourth wall at times (plus another character’s first-person POV at the end).

My Thoughts:
I stopped reading thrillers or domestic/ psychological dramas due to the similar-sounding plotlines and tropes. While this one also leans heavily on the Devil Wears Prada’s evil boss trope, I wanted to give it a try (I didn’t read the mentioned book anyway, so worked in my favor).
The beginning was great. Millie’s POV is sarcastic but with some rambling and exhaustion. It gives a good idea of her character and sets the stage quickly. Almost right away, we know something is wrong with the boss. Soon, we are rooting for Millie.
Then, we switch to Freya’s POV, which I liked to an extent. A good thing is that the switch in POVs goes on for a solid set of chapters. A not-so-good thing is that the boss didn’t need as many chapters. Millie should have gotten more since this is supposed to be her book. Also, since both women have snarky voices when they talk to the readers, it is sometimes easy to forget whose POV we are reading.
Lissa was a decent side character. The guy was making progress but tanked towards the end. Since we don’t know what’s true, we have to accept whatever we read. Don’t know enough about Sam to say anything.
The reveal and the shift in the story midway through did the necessary job to keep the reader hooked. However, Freya’s POV went a bit too long after that. I wanted to get back to Millie’s and see the story progress from her perspective.
Despite a few issues, I was quite enjoying this until the twists came one after another in the end. A couple of them were too close with no space for the readers to process it. Regular thriller fans will take it in stride (they are used to unwanted twists) but I feel one of those should have come earlier. With no space for explanation, this could lead to more questions than what we already have.
Nevertheless, I don’t think this is a complete thriller either. It’s a strange mix of office-based chick-lit and a psychological thriller.
Also, a couple of scenes (though they depict reality) weren’t related to the plot. I really hoped these would in some way be connected to the central track later, but that didn’t happen. Moreover, with the book being careful not to openly use the abuse trope, that scene in the public transport was off. It didn’t serve any purpose but it should have!

To summarize, How to Slay at Work is fast-paced and enjoyable but could have had a better ending. I’m almost an outliner, so read other reviews before you decide. Many readers have enjoyed it a lot more.
Thank you, NetGalley and Boldwood Books, for eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

So many twists and turns! I enjoyed this book so much! Millie may seem timid at first but, she is a force eto be reckoned with!

A darkly funny feminist serial killer thriller! What a wild ride. Easily five stars, I’d give it six if I could! I loved the horrible boss - not sure what that says about me.! Great story with twists and turns and a bit of a behind the scenes of the beauty biz corporate world which I enjoyed. A taut tense plot that had me racing to the end.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Lighthearted rather than gruesome, but still plenty of murders going on. Freya was a fabulous character, but possibly not one you'd like to know. Billie was also a great character. The storyline was good and had a nice twist at the end.

Millie has always known her boss Freya is a hard boss, always demanding especially with her cryptic demands and only giving Millie small notice in travelling. When Millie and Freya are away at a conference a suspicious death occurs. This is hard to believe for Millie as she watched her boss scale up the outside of the building and dressed all in black. Mille starts to do some investigating once she arrives back home and finds a lot of inconsistencies and more murders.

This book was full of dark humor, secrets and of course murder. So many twists you come to expect in a Sarah Bonner novel. Freya was such a hard character to like and I loved it. I couldn't get enough and wanted to keep turning the kindle pages until the very end. I had to know how it all ended.

Thank you Boldwood Books and Netgalley for a gifted copy of this book for my honest book review.

I devoured this book within a day - which is no mean feat when fending off a ten month old baby!
The storyline was captivating & fast paced, making the book unputdownable. I guiltily enjoyed some of the more far fetched elements of the storyline, and particularly enjoyed the parallels that I could draw between it and The Devil Wears Prada. Some of the undercurrents within the story felt like they could have been explored more, feeling a little rushed in places - however I would definitely recommend this story as an enjoyable read.

HOW TO SLAY AT WORK - SARAH BONNER - ARC
I really enjoyed reading this, I read it all in one day over a course of a couple of hours but everytime I put it down I kept picking it back up and wanting to know more. I feel like this book is how I wanted other books to be such as how to kill men and get away with it and how to kill your family to be!
Nothing was what I expected and the surprised just kept coming, I could never have guessed the twists and I do think I am good at guessing usually!
I would deffo recommend giving it a go if you like these type of books!
@rachaelmcreads

Oh wow! What a book!

I loved the devil wears murder vibes!
Didn't see the twists coming until they had already happend! I really enjoyed the writing and the way it flowed too!

The characters were easy to connect to, and felt very real!

Wow! What a crazy fun thrill ride! I totally enjoyed this Sarah Bonner novel. Lighthearted and thrilling. Cast of fabulous characters that kept me flipping pages long into the night. Easy to sink your teeth into.
Thank you NetGalley, Sarah Bonner and Boldwood Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was a fun twisty read. Definitely satisfies a brain candy craving. I had a hard time predicting where it was going at several points; kudos to the author for that. It wrapped up kind of quickly and the Verity explanation was lacking, but I appreciated not being able to guess all of the outcomes.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I absolutely loved this book! The characters were brilliant and funny. It definitely kept me wanting to continue without stopping. Highly recommend

This book gave me The Devil Wears Prada feels with a murdery twist! Freya is an ultimate bad boss, with a snarky presence in the office that sees Sam leave and Millie suddenly become her new assistant suddenly at the start of the book! The twists were plentiful, some of which you can see coming and some you definitely can't. Trying to understand the motives of the main characters may not be as straightforward as it seems! I read this in a day as I couldn't put it down, a funny, light-hearted serial killer read!

This book takes you on a rollercoaster ride from the first page to the last. This is the first time I have read a book written by this author, and it won't be the last.

What would it be like to believe that the woman you work for is a serial killer? Millie and Freya take the reader on a fantastic ride that takes us all over the world through all the different realms of emotion, from anticipation, sadness, empathy, drama and fear all the way to heart-pounding, page-turning dread.

Just when I think I know where the story will go, it takes a sudden turn to the left. I thoroughly enjoyed the two POVs that happen throughout the book. It allows the reader to get inside the head of the character as they move through the book. The story builds and builds throughout every page, right up until we reach the fantastic ending that is highly unpredictable.

If you want to read a book with a fantastic, page-turning story that will have you guessing on every page then this is the book for you. You won't be sorry you picked it up. I can't recommend it highly enough.

How to Slay at work…….felt very much like the devil wears Prada if only Miranda Priestly had been a serial killer. Which in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing. The evil boss thing is a classic for a reason.
I found the dual POV didn’t really work in this case. Millie’s viewpoint starts the book and goes until chapter 11 when Freya takes over. It alternates like that with long stretches of one view vs the other before suddenly Sam takes at chapter 41……..
The ending I felt needed more explanation whereas the rest of the book gave a bit much. It was like oh I did this bad thing but no reason why it was done.
Overall a lackluster read for me.
I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.

I absolutely loved this book. It is told from the perspective of all the main characters, and has more twists than a corkscrew. It was really difficult to put down, easy to read and follow each twist, turn and reveal. Sad really to have finished it, would thoroughly recommend reading it.

I think I need to sit down! I'm a bit dizzy from that roller coaster of a ride! This story has so many twists and turns, you have no idea where it will end. This has Devil Wears Prada meets Dexter season 5 vibes. This story is told in the POV of Millie and her boss Freya. After a few suspicious travel coincidences, Millie begins to suspect Freya may be involved in the random deaths of a handful of men around the world. Will Millie go to the police with her suspicions? Or does Millie have a plan of her own?

I read this book in less than 24 hours! The chapters are quick and to the point. The author doesn't waste a lot of time providing superfluous information. There were a couple points I would have liked more clarification on, including the ending but, overall it did not deter the story. The author pokes at societal ideas of women and what it takes for women to succeed and claim their seat at the table. 4.75 stars rounded up.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of How to Slay at Work.

Good characters and a decent storyline hold the Nobel together well. When I first started reading, I thought it was going to be a parody of The Devil Wears Prada, and it does have similarities, definitely in the first third of the book.

But then you get the main gist of the story and everything suddenly twists! Not my usual genre either, but I enjoyed this as a break from the norm. Not too heavy, and an entertaining read.

When your boss is at a conference in a city where there's a suspicious death, it's unlucky. If it happens twice, it's odd. But when she's in the same city at the same time as a third unexplained death.... Could she be a stone-cold killer? Millie's always known her boss Freya is a psycho - the demanding and ever-changing coffee orders, the cryptic instructions, the apparently expected mind-reading, and don't even start on the insistence that Millie wears heels.... All the time. But it only extends as far as exacting office standards. Right? As Freya's assistant, Millie has privileged access to her diary and travel history, and when a pattern emerges of men (who seem to have no connection to each other) dying in cities where Freya is travelling, Millie is determined to figure out what's going on. After all, a stone-cold killer could be exactly what Millie needs....

I did not like Freya when I was first introduced to her, but she grew on me. I liked Millie straight away. The story has so many twists, you never knew what direction it was taking you next. The story is funny and entertaining. Millie starts questioning Freya's actions when on their first overseas trip, Freya behaves out of character. Then Millie discover there's been another suspicious death. The story is told from Millie and Freya's perspectives. This is a quick and easy read.

Published 24th September

I would like to thank #NetGalley #BoldwoodBooks and the author #SarahBonner for my ARC of #HowToSlayAtWork in exchange for an honest review.

This was a pretty fun read, and I never quite knew where the story was going to lead! I initially thought that Freya’s motivation for murder was very strong, and the author wove an interesting web when Millicent’s backstory was introduced.

Sadly, I think that there were too many plates spinning by the end of the book, and the conclusions weren’t fully developed. A few of the twists were introduced too late, and we therefore never got to learn about motives behind certain actions. I also thought that Kieran’s character was rather two-dimensional and his contribution to the story ended up being lacklustre at best.

Nevertheless, this was an engaging read and would be a great recommendation for people new to this genre.