Reviewer: Samantha
I received a review copy
Summary:
Rule #1: All important men have assistants. Rule #2: Men rule the world. Still. Rule #3: There is enough money. There is so much money.
Tina Fontana is a thirty-year-old executive assistant to Robert Barlow, the CEO of Titan Corp., a multinational media conglomerate. She’s excellent at her job and beloved by her famous boss—but after six years of making reservations and pouring drinks from bottles that cost more than her rent, the glamour of working for a media company in New York has completely faded, but her student loan debt has not.
When a technical error with Robert’s expense report presents Tina with the opportunity to pay off the entire balance of her loans with what would essentially be pocket change for her boss, she hesitates. She’s always played by the rules, but this would be a life-changer. As Tina begins to fall down the rabbit hole of her morally questionable plan, other assistants with crushing debt and fewer scruples approach her to say that they want in. Before she knows it, she’s at the forefront of a movement that has implications far beyond what anyone anticipated.
Featuring an eclectic clan of coconspirators, a love interest far too handsome to be trusted, and a razor-sharp voice full of wry humor, The Assistants is a rallying cry for the leagues of overeducated and underpaid women who are asking themselves, How is it that after all these years, we are still assistants?
Review:
This book was pretty interesting. I loved the concept behind it – a lowly assistant trying to make a huge change in her life and then others – and I’m all for someone figuring out a system like in this book of rich people with too much money helping people pay off student loans. What a brilliant idea and as someone who has been out of college for eight years and is still paying loans, I’d be down for that program. I did find there was a lot of holes along the way, or instances that seemed just a little too unbelievable. I understand sometimes we need to stretch our imaginations when it comes to fiction, but there is a limit. A few of the supporting characters I think could have been built up a little better – after finishing the book I really couldn’t even recall much about them or what their roles played to the whole situation. In all, while interesting and thought-provoking, it just left me feeling a little unsettled at the end. I bit too far-fetched for my liking, and not super memorable.
