Smile and Look Pretty

A Novel

by Amanda Pellegrino

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Pub Date Mar 08 2022 | Archive Date Apr 04 2023

HARLEQUIN – Trade Publishing (U.S. & Canada) | Park Row

General Fiction (Adult) | Women's Fiction

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Description

“[A] 9 to 5 for the Instagram generation... Darkly funny and bitingly modern.” —Andrea Bartz, author of Reese’s Book Club Pick We Were Never Here

HIGHLY ANTICIPATED BY FORTUNE ⋅ FEMINIST BOOK CLUB ⋅ THE NERD DAILY ⋅ BOOKISH ⋅ MOTHERLY

What happens when four assistants risk everything to say enough is enough?

Best friends Cate, Lauren, Olivia and Max are overworked and underpaid assistants to some of the most powerful people in the entertainment industries. Like the assistants who came before them, the women know they have to pay their dues and abide the demeaning tasks and verbal abuse from their bosses in order to climb the ladders to their dream jobs.

But as they are passed over for promotions and the toxic office environments reach a breaking point, the women secretly start an anonymous blog detailing their experiences, which snowballs into hundreds of others coming forward with stories of their own. Confronted with newfound viral fame and the possibility of their identities being revealed, the assistants have to contend with the life-changing consequences of speaking out against those who refuse to share the power.

Advance Praise

“Readers will cheer Pellegrino’s shattering of the glass ceiling in this fast-paced, millennial-centric, you-go-girl novel about workplace empowerment.”
—Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW

“Smile and Look Pretty is 9 to 5 for the Instagram generation—a darkly funny and bitingly modern tale of friends banding together to stand up for what's right. As a former assistant myself, I couldn't stop nodding with recognition and cheering on its richly drawn cast.”
—Andrea Bartz, bestselling author of The Herd

“A sharp, funny, and incredibly relevant tale of young women taking their power back—a 9 to 5 for the digital age.”
—Susan Fowler, author of Whistleblower

“A timely, page-turning battle cry that will make you want to call your friends and change the world. Bad bosses, prepare to quake in your boots.”
—Laura Hankin, author of Happy & You Know It

“A page-turning powerhouse about the lengths four assistants are willing to go to break down patriarchal power structures in the workplace—and become bosses themselves. Full of sharply funny social insights, delicious drama, and the type of empowerment we need more of—I couldn't put it down.”
—Halley Sutton, author of The Lady Upstairs

“Smile and Look Pretty [feels] like our story and our friend’s stories. From the start we were captivated, and by the last chapter we were choking back tears.... Amanda Pellegrino describes, in nuance, what it's like to be a woman and experience the gray area of power, abuse, and what it means to take that power back. Empowering, riveting, and humorous.”
—Katie O'Brien & Katy Colloton, co-creators and stars of TV Land's Teachers

“Smile and...