Wednesday 18 January 2012

Poppy's Review: Never Mind the Botox: Rachel - Penny Avis & Joanna Berry

Never Mind the Botox is a series about four professional women all working on the sale of high profile cosmetic surgery business the Beau Street Group. Each book reveals how the women cope with one of the most glamorous but challenging deals of their careers, and the dramatic impact it has on their personal lives. With a briefcase in one hand and a glass of wine in the other, can they navigate their way through a surreal world if boob jobs by day and intrigue by night – and still keep their own love lives on track?

Rachel Altman is a corporate financier with a prestigious accounting firm who’s desperately trying to keep on the straight and narrow. Hopelessly led astray by her bar diving boyfriend, she gets the chance to turn things round when her boss gives her the break she’s been waiting for. But when the deal doesn’t go as planned Rachel panics, sparking off a chain of betrayal and lies that threatens to ruin both her love life and her career.

Never Mind the Botox Series:
Never Mind the Botox: Alex
Never Mind the Botox: Rachel
Never Mind the Botox: Stella (Spring 2012)
Never Mind the Botox: Meredith (Summer 2012)

Visit Penny Avis and Joanna Berry's website for more information

Poppy's Review:
After I had decided to read Never Mind the Botox: Rachel, I discovered that it was one of four books in a series, but was reassured when it stated inside that you can read them in any order. I thought it was a clever idea to have four books about the same business deal, with each one following a different character - Rachel, Alex, Stella or Meredith.

This is Rachel’s book and she works for the accounting firm who has to assess and report the value of the Beau Street Group cosmetic surgery business to the owners and prospective buyers. Rachel is put in charge of two employees whom she is based with at the Beau Street Group offices while they carry out the assessment and compile a report and presentation. Rachel feels under particular pressure as she is hoping for promotion to director and this is not helped by her boyfriend Harry who loves a good drink and long nights out, often leading her astray. As events unfold through the book, Rachel has to deal with issues in her love, family and work life, which she finds challenging and test what she is really made of and makes her question if she is following the right direction for her future.

Rachel does have a Bridget Jones-esque feel to her character and the book has some laugh out loud moments. Boyfriend Harry is quite a character and Rachel’s friends and brother Rowan add to her hectic life and make for a richer story. I knew that the office party would be far from straight laced and event free! I also quite enjoyed the way that Stella, Meredith and Alex [from the other Never Mind the Botox books] are mentioned in passing, as meeting attendees for example, making me even more curious to read the other three to see what their stories are.

Towards the beginning of the book it took me a while to suss out Rachel’s character, until more layers were revealed and I did at times get annoyed with her for some of her decisions, thinking she should be smarter in how she dealt with a situation or would she really not realise the meaning of certain behaviour or events. As the book unfolded however, I understood Rachel more and empathised with her behaviour and decisions and they made more sense. We all have to make decisions based on the bigger picture of the world around us and emotions linked with personal relationships do often cloud our judgement at the time.
 
Rachel comes across as a professional woman but also, reassuringly, a flawed human being who does her best in life with work, family and friends, making the best of each situation. I was surprised by the way that the book ended, but I really liked it and as I said earlier, I am keen to read the rest of the series. It was lovely to read a book with characters that are easy to relate to and a story which raises a few giggles and guffaws along the way.

Source: Received from Midas in exchange for an honest review

Other reviews of this book:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

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