The Book:
The Receptionist by Kate Myles
Published August 1st 2021 by Thomas & Mercer
Date read: May 20, 2021
The Characters:
Emily
Her husband Doug
The receptionist, Chloe
Buy it on Bookshop.org | Amazon
The Plot (from Goodreads):
Emily is a top talent agent who rules the land of talk shows and reality TV. Whip-smart and brutally practical, she outmaneuvers all rivals…except in her personal life. Emily willfully ignores her CEO husband Doug’s philandering in exchange for their glamorous one-percenter lifestyle, until a surprise pregnancy changes everything.
A TED-Talking business guru with a reckless streak, Doug embarks on an audacious relationship with Chloe, the stunning young receptionist at his market research firm. But Chloe has a secret: a volatile past she’s desperate to forget. Their chaotic entanglement sets off a chain of shocking scandals, plunging Emily into a scheming fight for survival.
As they each try to fight their way to the top, there’s only one question: How far will Emily go to protect her child and preserve her carefully curated life?
The Review:
Here’s to an exceptional debut! I brought this book camping a few weeks ago, chosen solely because I have two copies so I wouldn’t have minded if one got dirty. Little did I know that it would grab my attention and leave me unwilling to put it down! While I didn’t read it in one sitting because life got in the way, I easily could have despite its length.
This is the sort of book where all of the characters are narcissistic, toxic, truly awful people, and yet you still love to hate them. I love the sort of book that is a train wreck that you can’t look away from, and this book certainly fits the bill.
While every character is clearly unreliable, Chloe seemed particularly unhinged from the start, and I was eager to see how her scenes would play out. I love how the author built suspense around her interactions with Doug. The reader just knows it’s all going to explode in the most entertaining way possible. I enjoyed the alternating POVs, changing between Emily, Doug, and Chloe’s perspectives. The writing style was very well done and attacked the plot effectively from all sides.
The beginning starts off a little slow with a lot of tone-setting: a lot of scenes where Doug is using Chloe for sex and Chloe thinks it’s true love, a lot of backstory, and a lot of reasoning why Emily is still with Doug. The ending is worth the wait though, with twists I didn’t see coming.
I was lucky to get to interview Kate Myles about this debut. You can watch the interview on Instagram below:
QOTD: Would you ever look the other way if you knew your SO was cheating? What if you were too accustomed to their income to get a divorce?
I don’t think I would look the other way, but I know money (or children) can be quite the motivator!
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