The Book:
Delia Suits Up by Amanda Aksel
Published August 3rd 2021 by Berkley Books
Date read: July 26, 2021
The Characters:
Delia
Her roommates Regina and Frankie
Her love interest Eric
Buy it on Bookshop.org | Amazon
The Plot (from Goodreads):
Just once, Delia Reese wants to be the one calling the shots—not the one waiting to be called. Despite her stellar resume, hiring managers at the big banks won’t give her a chance.
Following yet another failed interview, Delia commiserates with her roommates and drunkenly finds herself wishing she had the advantages that come with being a man. If society wasn’t locked into gender roles, she’d be climbing the corporate ladder in designer heels with no apologies. By morning, her mirror reflects a surprising makeover.
Now that the world sees her as a man, Delia’s determined to double down on society’s double standards. With a smart suit and powerfully pink necktie, she hits New York’s financial district with a big gamble in mind.
The Review:
Thank you to Amanda Aksel, Berkley and @loveARCtually for a free ebook copy in exchange for an honest review.
Delia is upset that even though she is a wiz in her field, she keeps getting turned down for job prospects just because she isn’t part of the Good Ole Boys club. And then one day, she wakes up in a man’s body and is suddenly ready to take on the world!
This fun little escape reality is perfect for fans of She’s The Man, Freaky Friday, and 13 Going On 30.
The highlight for me was Delia’s friendship with her roommates. I loved how even though she woke up in a different body, it took very little convincing for Frankie and Regina to be like “okay, you’re a man now, let’s do this!”. I certainly wouldn’t have been so understanding if I were Regina and there was suddenly a strange man in my bedroom. Their support throughout Delia’s day was awesome, from getting her dressed in Frankie’s clothes to meeting up for lunch and drinks to check on her.
I also enjoyed the overall theme of Delia trying to find her confidence. She learned to claim what was hers and to speak up for herself, even once she switched back into her own body.
I would have liked to see a lot more of the romance between Delia and Eric and how it played out once they were coworkers. It never really acknowledged whether office romances were acceptable in their line of work, but after Delia put so much effort into being acknowledged I feel like an office romance would unfortunately be another thing to set her back. Not that it’s fair that she would be thought less of and not Eric, but that’s the way things go!
There was a LOT of dick humor in this book, so if that bothers you it might be a turnoff. In my household, dick humor is almost as common as fart humor, which is to say nearly constant. So this didn’t bother me, but I know some other Bookstagrammers that felt it was a little over-the-top. In fact, one of my friends discovered that the work “dick” was used 77 times, “penis” 22 times, and “cock” 3 times. That’s a lot of dick jokes.
The office scenes also didn’t seem terribly realistic to me. I found it hard to believe that a strange man could just waltz into an investment banking firm and everyone would just believe he was who he said he was without checking his ID. Or even ask for a business card, or call the guy who supposedly sent him to check? Especially with technology these days, everyone’s picture is online.
Overall, this is a fun, quick read. Some suspension of belief is required, but I really enjoyed the escape!
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