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:
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Never Mind the Botox Tour - Q&A with Penny Avis & Joanna Berry

To celebrate the release of their new book Never Mind the Botox: Rachel I'm excited to welcome authors Penny Avis and Joanna Berry to the blog today to answer a few of Poppy's questions.  Poppy really enjoyed the book so make sure you check back later today to read her review.  First here is a little information about the book & then I'll hand you over to Poppy for the interview.

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

Joanna Berry & Penny Avis

1. What gave you the idea to write a series of four books in this way – from four women’s point of view?

We started with the idea that we wanted to write about young professional women using our own experiences, which automatically lead us to more than one view point. We also saw that four women had been successfully used in other series, such as Sex and the City, Mistresses and Desperate Housewives. So four seemed to be the natural answer.

2. Are any of the events based on real life experiences?

Yes, we’ve drawn heavily on our own experiences, but have changed the events and circumstances to protect ourselves and others!

3. Are any of the characters, or parts of them based on either of you?

We can definitely see parts of ourselves in the characters, although we worked on our character profiles together for so long that they inevitably become a blend of our ideas, personality traits, and aspects of other personalities we have come across over the years. Our characters became very real to us and we feel almost possessive about them now!

4. Was it fun researching the world of cosmetic surgery?

Yes! It was also fascinating, horrifying and inspiring all at the same time. There are some great stories about people whose lives have been greatly improved, but also plenty of the more familiar disaster stories. The lengths some people will go to, to improve their appearance is really quite mind boggling.

5. Would you consider having anything done?

Neither of us has so far, but never say never! What we’ve learned is that it’s not something to be taken lightly and it really is all about getting the right advice from the right professional.

Thanks to Penny & Joanna for visiting today & thanks to Poppy for coming up with such fab questions.  Don't forget to pop back later to read Poppy's review of Never Mind the Botox: Rachel!