Not Bad for a Girl by Anastasia Ryan is an interesting work of women’s fiction, with a bit of romance thrown in. This novel is all about what happens when a girl is mistaken for a man and how women are treated differently In the workplace. The workplace comedy throughout was good. Overall, it was a fun read. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.

Infinity stars. Anastasia is such a good writer! This is funny, quirky, and super enjoyable to read!

NOT BAD FOR A GIRL by Anastasia Ryan is one of those books you can sit back and enjoy as the hijinks happen. I found myself giggling and rolling my eyes, not ever expecting to learn that much about guppies in my life.

What I thought would be more of a rom-com, especially given the cover, turned out to be a comedy with a sprinkle of romance. I’m okay with that because I enjoyed Indiana Aaron’s story. For once, I didn’t mind a workplace miscommunication trope; I found it funny!

What I would have loved (heh…) more of in the book is the romance between Ana and Shane. They were great characters, but I feel like we didn’t get enough of the romance because there were way too many people involved in this story. And that is my next point - a third or more of these characters could have been chopped. It would have worked if this was a movie and we saw the silly side characters visually. But it was too many names and nicknames to keep track of, along with tiny storylines that weren’t necessary.

Even with those nuances, I enjoyed reading NOT BAD FOR A GIRL. I laughed out loud a lot. Shane takes Ana on date goals. And I loved the ending! I would read future books by Anastasia Ryan.

Thanks, Sourcebooks Casablanca, for the arc!

Content Warnings: misogyny

This story about a woman named Indiana Aaron being mistaken for a man in the workplace (through mostly online communications) had a cool concept that was difficult to pull off. At times the situations just got too unbelievable and often too over the top for me. I put the book aside for quite a while but when I went back to read the last 30% I really enjoyed the story from then on. Two things to be aware of if you want to pick this one up: 1) this is NOT a romance - it's women's fiction with a very minor romance subplot, and 2) be prepared to suspend belief for the sake of humor.

Picture it: She's The Man but in a remote IT work environment. It happens by chance and the hijinks from Ana's friends continue to make the situation snowball against everyone's better judgement.

This title is Women's Fiction that heavily discusses how women are treated in the workplace, especially in technology. I wish the cover would have displayed Ana vs. Indiana as that is the main plot. The romance is a smaller portion of the story.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity. All thoughts are my own!

Good message but the execution was a bit lacking. Unfortunately, I just did not click with the characters as much as I wanted to.

This was my first time reading something by this author and I found it to be a very entertaining read. I also listened to this as an audiobook, which was a treat. Indiana is an IT specialist and isn't afraid of speaking her mind at work. But when she does this one too many times, her boss's ego can't take it anymore and she gets transferred to a remote team. She knows she has to tread lightly if she doesn't want to lose her job. When her new boss mistakes her for a man, she's not quick to correct him, especially now that she's finally being taken seriously. Indiana's mistaken identity seems becomes more complicated and things start getting out of control, and then the handsome tech guy she works with, Shane, helps her out. Things definitely get crazy and the shenanigans and hijinks had me smilingly and laughing all the way through. The story had a sweet romance, but it was really more about the empowerment of women and fighting back against workplace discrimination. The writing was well-done and kept my interest the whole time. I like Indiana, she was just a realistic and relatable character and I'm glad she had Shane in her corner. Overall, a very delightful read!
I received a complimentary copy from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

This was a delightful read with a fun premise. I really enjoyed the main characters and their chemistry. It was very humorous, light-hearted and the perfect read.

Not Bad for a Girl is heavy on the workplace gender politics and very light on the romance, too light on the romance honestly where I was just lukewarm on the two of them and the outcome. I did enjoy the HR nightmare that was the IT workplace and have lived a lot of this myself in the office regarding different treatment for men and women, and the inherent misogyny that older bosses can bring to the table. I was rooting for Indiana and looking forward to the boss getting his comeuppance, and then ended up really loving the side characters she met along the way. The cover is a little misleading because it is less rom-com and more work-com.

I wanted to love this but it was more of just a lukewarm like. It was pretty heavy handed with the women are treated like garbage in the workplace, which I’m not disagreeing does happen. However, in my reading, I want light and fluffy with a break from the real world, which this book did not provide me.

Anastasia Ryan is back at it again with another poignant workplace comedy. Her sophomore novel showcases the many shortcomings women face trying to earn a living. I appreciated that while Ryan directly attacks the outdated philosophy that women are inferior to men, it is not a man bashing story. In fact, it is only with the support of open minded men that Indiana is able to achieve her goal.

If you are looking for a refreshing read, look no further than Not Bad For A Girl! It has the perfect mix of heart, humor, and relatability.

Special thanks to Netgalley, Anastasia Ryan, and Sourcebooks Casablanca for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Time for a new debut author! The blurb of Not Bad for a Girl caught my eye; as a nerd myself, the story about Indiana being seen as the coffee girl, instead of the bad ass coder she is, is very relatable. Even in the current days, women still need to prove that they are just as good as their male counterparts.

The way Indiana becomes a person of its own, with the hilarious adventures is funny, yet a bit unbelievable. In all, a very cute, funny and heartwarming story. I’ll be looking out for more books of Anastasia Ryan.

Four out of five stars from me and a special thank you to Netgalley for providing the arc.

I absolutely loved this story! I laughed out loud in multiple parts, and one part in particular had me cackling. Any book that brings strong emotions out is a good read, in my opinion. This book brought out so many! I'd like to have a word with the office villain of this story. One of my favorite reads of the year!

Ana is working in what can only be described as an HR nightmare of a company where misogyny reigns and all of her efforts are overlooked. That is until she is mistaken over email for a man due to her name being Indiana and assumes all the privileges that entails. If you're looking for a workplace romance like the cover would allude to, look elsewhere this is not the book for you.  The romance in this book takes a back seat to Ana overcoming her toxic work environment and the epilogue wasn't even satisfying because Ana and Shane were never a focus.

I read 34% of this and it was fine, but I just haven't been motivated to continue reading, so I think I will DNF. I'm not sure if the book itself wasn't great, or if it was a question of right book, wrong reader.

Feminist, funny, with a dash of romance on the side! What’s not to love? I would categorize this book as more general fiction and less of a romance, as the focus was on the lead character's struggle to be taken seriously in the tech world. This book was a perfect mix of both serious and fun, and I am excited to read more by this author.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

A fun mix of feminism and romance, this novel kept me smiling and laughing throughout. Indiana "Ana" Aaron is a female coder who lets it be known that she's upset to be passed over for a promotion. She ends up getting moved to a remote team, where her new boss, Melvin, assumes she's a male. As such, she starts getting the most praise she's ever gotten, even if Melvin does take credit for some of her work.

As Ana and her friends concoct increasingly ludicrous stories for why the ace new male coder isn't available to meet, Ana starts to fall for Melvin's minder, the dreamy Shane. He knows of Ana's ruse and gets a kick out of helping her hide--while also starting to see the struggles women in the field of tech have to deal with daily.

I enjoyed Ana and Shane's romance--having him know about her machinations made things even more fun. They were absolutely cute together, but they didn't have the chemistry to make them memorable. Instead, I was more enamored with the commentary on feminism and women working in male-dominated worlds--and the micro aggressions they have to navigate. That aspect of the novel absolutely enhanced the romance, but it also dominated the romance for me. Ana's friends were a hoot, too!

All in all, I enjoyed this serious-yet-sweet romance novel. A nice mix of escapism romance and real-life issues.

This wasn’t as much of a romcom as I thought it was going to be! The romance played a smaller role than I expected from the cover. Think women’s fiction with a dash of romance. And I’m not sure the romance element was as strong as it could have been. They met and fell in love!

Wanted to love this one because the premise sounded so good. But it ended up being a nope for me. Mainly because the heroine who we spend the whole book in her head and her point of view got on my nerves from page one.

First thought: I really enjoyed this book. I felt seen and heard to have a character that represents a true issue a lot of us women face today in the working world. I loved how outspoken Indiana was and how she took on the patriarchy. This is a must read if you want Girl Powers vibes.

Indiana has always loved all things STEM since a young age, so when she decided to become a coder she knew it was entering a world where being a woman was a minority. But what she didn’t take into account was the bs patriarchy and being passed on for promotions even when she was the best candidate.

One thing Indiana was not good out was filtering her thoughts, she was punished when she spoke out. So that’s how she’s ended up on a last chance assignment with a remote team. The good thing was now she could work from home. The issue is the manager of this team was on his last chance, he didn’t know what he was doing and if he went down everyone would lose their jobs.

So after a few weeks working on this team, Indiana receives an email berating their work. But when she looks at the data she realizes he’s just an idiot who can’t use an excel file. So she sends him an email pointing out his mistake. But here’s the thing, her boss has never met her and when he sees her correction he assumes she is a man!

For the first time she isn’t belittled and she feels respected, she has a seat at the boys table. But things quickly spiral out of control as Indiana tries to figure out how to break it to him she’s a woman. All while trying to save the team and ensure her own future in the industry.

Literally Themes you’ll find:

* Mistaken Identity
* Women in STEM
* No Filter
* LOL Moments
* Remote Work
* Taking on Patriarchy
* Girl Power

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