The Manager

This was a really enjoyable read, it was well written with good character development and a gripping and engaging storyline. It was fast paced with mystery, twists, suspense and unpredictability that kept me guessing.

Katy is left go from her current job and on a drunk impulse applies to be an assistant for a CEO. She goes to her job expecting a man but is pleasantly surprised to meet Riley.

This is a slow burn workplace sapphic romance with plenty of rep without giving spoilers.

The start of this book really drew me in and I was very intrigued as to what was coming next. The many plot twists and interesting surprises kept me guessing throughout the book. I really enjoyed the writing style and saw no problems with it.

My only complaint is that I thought the ending moved quite quickly but other than that i found all other solutions quite satisfying

The Manager is a fast-paced, ultra chic story of a young woman's experiences in the City, working for her enigmatic, uber-successful manager, a woman who seemingly has everything Katy ever dreamed of. Except, nothing is as it seems... I really enjoyed this book, it reminded me a bit of Colleen Hoover's style, thrilling and readable.

i am pleasantly surprised by this book!

based on the cover and the description, i honestly thought it would be more suspense/thriller, but it's actually more office romance with social commentary! i like it! even though i've never read anything like this before (not that i read a lot of this genre) but i like to think that i can still recognize a well-written book. it took a while for me to get used to the writing, but i really liked it. the plot and the romance were evenly paced and well-developed, and there were times when my heart felt like it would jump out my chest from the tension (especially when things started escalating). i also really like the tone and the atmosphere, because it felt like i've been living in London my entire life even though i've never been there in real life.

anyway, this is more than just a sapphic boss-secretary romance— but i would recommend this to everybody who enjoys a nice lesbian office romance!

Such a compelling book. It is a bit of a slow burner at first, but definitely worth hanging on in there- I really enjoyed it.

Extra points for disabled representation and Friends references.

A gripping, well-paced story comprising both a sapphic office romance and a twisty thriller. The characters were interesting and diverse, and the quality of writing was above average for both the romance and thriller genres. I enjoyed this and read it in one sitting.

I can't say no to a sapphic romance, and I'm so glad I decided to check this one out! Slow burn office romance, written in a style that is immediately engaging.

This book was not what I expected at all. I thought it was going to be much darker and sinister but actually it was refreshingly different. I liked Katy and Riley and their relationship. I thought the book was well crafted although the Las Vegas bit was a bit confusing. More romantic suspense than thriller but very enjoyable and I would certainly read this author again. Nothing explicit.
Because it was so enjoyable and a refreshing surprise I'm giving it 5 stars

Katy Daly works in the City of London, amongst the money in shiny offices. But she's faced with shattering news - and not for the first time in her life. She starts to work for the charismatic Riley Daniels, the CEO of a very secretive business within the City. Katy is drawn into this powerful, ambitious and secretive world, but how far will she go herself to obtain what she desires, and at what cost?

It is always pleasing to read an author's first work - and this was certainly not a disappointment. It is intriguing from the start and moves fluidly and at a fast pace from the first page. It is a world that we may have been in, or certainly heard of and as a reader we too are drawn towards it and Riley Daniels, like Katy Daly. I was hooked from the first sentence.

There is so much to unpeel here. Office relationships, the intricate dance we have with our work colleagues, wanting to fit in, in so many areas of life and work. The balance of family with a career or job that you are enthralled in. The need to feel that you are in the right place, doing the right thing, with the right people. We can all relate. I particularly liked the way the writer explored the way that your own identity (be it your name or gender) has to be manipulated in this 'City' world. 'Cities eat you'. They do indeed.

I liked the way this is written with no superfluous descriptions or long and turgid, irrelevant passages. It is pithy, and all the better for it, in my opinion. Every single paragraph you read is required. There's some great editing here.

One thing I would suggest to anyone considering an interview - learn to play chess. Read the book!

Would I recommend it? Absolutely. It is without a doubt 5/5. Can't wait for their second novel.

In the City of London, the scent of money and power lingers in the corridors of the shiny office buildings and clings to the suits of the men who work in them. Chasing that scent is the only thing that matters.
But not to Katy Daly. She has spent her life working in the City, but wealth and power are things granted to other people. Her childhood was shattered by the pursuit of them, and since then she’s coasted along on a course of risk-avoidance and underachieving.
Then Katy starts working for Riley Daniels, the beautiful and charismatic CEO of Byrsa, one of the most successful yet secretive tech companies in the world. Katy can’t help but be fascinated by this clever, fiercely ambitious woman making it in a man’s world. Riley has a way of making her wonder if there could be more to life than letting other people shape your destiny.
But power comes at a cost. As Katy is drawn deeper into Riley’s intoxicating world, she is forced to confront who she is, who she has become, and how far she will go to protect Riley’s secrets – and her own.
I have worked in the city my whole life and really have seen all sort so was intrigued to read this novel. It was not quite what I expected in terms of the love interest side of things but I really liked the characters and the relationships between them and how they evolved. I also found the tech company concept very interesting. It started perhaps a little slow then I was gripped and couldn’t wait to see how the story developed!
Definitely true how its described – a timely, though provoking debut about gender, power and identity in the City of London. Well recommended
Thanks for NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Money, power, secrets...love?

Katy grew up seeing how the first three could shatter everything--including the fourth. She wants no part of the games and the chase, but that seems to have left her with an empty life.

After being suddenly thrown back into the job market, her new boss, Riley, seems to be a channel to all of these things. And Katy is increasingly finding herself overwhelmed by attrcation. Can she let this all in? Should she? And what price might doing so extract from her?

Katy is our narrator, and it's immediately a fascinating experience. She's smart, and also a smart-ass. She's observant, insightful about herself as well as others. But she's also lost, hiding from herself and everyone else in a stoic mask. When the rug sweeps out from under her, she simply steps off it and onto the next one with a barely broken stride; except inside, where she's trying to figure out who did that, why, why then, and what this new rug is.

As you can probably tell, I liked her right away.

Riley enters the story as some sort of icy goddess, immediately churning Katy's brain. But it's quickly obvious that Riley is much more than that, and getting to know her better as we go is quite a treat. All too often the balance on this type of character is wrong, they're usually too tightly wound, too clammed up. But Wilson finds a sweet spot here and it works very well.

Watching things unfold from behind Katy's eyes is entertaining, not just for her observations, but also for the way we learn through her perspective, and how we see her change–usually before she does.

I'm going to slightly bend my usual no-spoiler rule here, so skip this bit if you don't want anything:
[There's a major character who is trans. Yaaaaay. Even better - the bad guy from her pre-trans days doesn't misgender her. Double yaaaay.]

I enjoyed this. It’s nice to read a queer story that both centres queer characters, and doesn’t make their queerness central to everything.

Pick this up if you want cute lesbian smoochies, lots of twists and turns, and an enjoyably paced story.

In some ways, The Manager was exactly what I expected and in a lot of other ways it wasn't. I thought this was a gripping, thought provoking read that kept me on my toes all the way through. There was mystery, there was suspense, there was a range of characters with exceptional development all through the storyline. I also really enjoyed the writing and writing style. I am very excited to see what A. K. Wilson does next.