A special place for women is a genre bending book that keeps surprising you till the end. At the start of the book, I was quite hesitant about picking this up. I haven't read women's fiction in a long time. But it was fun, quick read. I finished it in a day or two because I just couldn't put it down. I do love books with feminist undertones and the theme of this book was all about taking down the patriarchy.

The writing style was witty and humourous. The tone of the book was light. The narration was written in first person and had single POV. The characters in the book were quirky and unique. Each one was hard to forget and had a nice arc towards the end. The book was about Jillian who was a journalist for an online magazine. She recently lost her mother to cancer and soon after lost her job as well.

She was desperate to do something big and she asked her married ex editor ( who she has a crush on) for a favor. She pitches a story about infiltrating the elite women's club called "Nevertheless". They are supposedly responsible for all the major action in NYC but no body has proof. She finds an in by pretending to date her childhood bestie, Raf who was a famously chef now. She soon finds herself in the club and it's so different than she ever imagined.

There are some major twists mid way through the story and it was totally unexpected for me. I didn't like the ending all that much. But the book was a good, fun read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing for an ARC of “A Special Place for Women.”

I know that some books are for me as soon as I read the description. “A Special Place for Women” is one of those books — it’s about a reporter taking on some of NYC’s most powerful.

Author Laura Hankin’s look at the dark side of female friendships in “Happy And You Know It” totally won me over last year, and “A Special Place for Women” digs into some of the same themes. It’s even better than Hankin’s first book in my opinion.

This book is the story of reporter Jillian Bexley, who recently lost her mother to cancer and her news job to corporate greed. She convinces her former editor — now at a fictional version of the New Yorker as I read it — that she can deliver an investigative piece of epic proportions on a secret society of NYC’s most elite female group. The group, Nevertheless, is even rumored to have engineered the rise and fall of New York’s first female mayor.

But as Jillian goes undercover and joins Nevertheless, she gets in way over her head and realizes even she may have underestimated this group.

I loved this book because it’s quirky and clever, right down to its absolutely perfect cover. There’s a twist you never see coming and two romance subplots. I know likable characters are very important to some readers and it is hard not to like Jillian.

I was expecting something in the vein of “The Herd” by Andrea Bartz. I LOVED “The Herd,” too, but that book is way more gruesome and dark than this one. I am not at all surprised “A Special Place for Women” has been optioned by Paramount Television Studios. It would make for some excellent TV — and I rarely say that! But with this book, I get it.

This was an interesting read. I thought I was getting a book inspired by The Wing, the working place for women, but instead I got a book about a broke journalist whose grieving her dead mom and joins a group to do magic. It's a story about a character joining the dark-ish side after all. It was interesting and funny. I'm not completely sold on the ending tho... I need more information.

Do you ever read a book or watch a show and desperately want to call/text all your girlfriends and OMG WE NEED TO TALK? That was me after reading to the halfway point of this new book by Laura Hankin. I had no idea where this book was going to go next and happily, for me, every twist and turn did not disappoint, and I thoroughly enjoyed this wild ride.

Jillian Beckley is a down on her luck journalist who shows up for a grand opening of a trendy new restaurant to support the owner and best guy friend, Raf. After a chance meeting with a prominent New Yorker who is purported to lead an elite secret woman’s club, Jillian comes up with a plan to infiltrate and write an exposé on the club. The club is allegedly so powerful they can orchestrate rise and fall of a mayoral candidate and Jillian is determined to find out if any of it’s true.

Reviewer mea culpa, I judged this book by its cover. Squinting at a tiny book cover photo on my mobile was a silly error in judgement on my part because after finishing the book, I get it. It is perfect. This book is not a female version of the secretive all-male Bohemian Club but a thought-provoking, discussion-worthy examination of women’s empowerment, both good and bad—and at what cost?

If you are looking for something unique and fun and with a little romance threaded through, I highly recommend this book!

Thank you @laurahankin @letstalkbookspromo @berkelypublishing and @NetGalley for the eARC of this book. Opinions are my own.

Journalist Jillian Beckley, still grieving from her mother’s recent death, just lost her job at an online news magazine, and she needs a scoop to bring to her ex-editor but she’s bereft of ideas, that is, until a chance encounter with Margot Wilding.

Margot is said to be one of the founders of 𝘕𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴, a secretive empowerment group for elite women—so secretive members deny it exists. Still rumors abound about the group’s power, such as their role in electing the first female mayor of NYC. With a toehold in the organization, Jillian promises to go undercover and find out the group’s secrets in the hope of exposing corruption in their ranks.

As Jillian becomes close to Margot and her friends, she realizes their web extends father than she ever imagined. She’s seduced by a sense of belonging until she remembers the importance of her ultimate goal—one that could put her and those close to her in the crosshairs of dangerous enemies.

Jillian’s decisions are frustrating at times but her humor is sardonic and entertaining, and her BFF, Raf, an acclaimed chef, is the sweetest. The rest of the characters are all well-drawn, even if they appear in only a few scenes.

The book in particular interrogates power and competition within women-centered spaces and how it’s so easy for belonging and approval to overtake values and kindness.

Some aspects of the set-up reminded me of 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘥 but this took a completely different and bizarre (in a good way) direction that made this a unique and entertaining read.

I really enjoyed this book....until I didn't. It starts out really fantastic and some twists and turns made it so unrealistic that I just couldn't stay interested.

This book surprised me. For about the first half I assumed I knew where it was going and would be similar to a few other books I had read that were vaguely about The Wing. I will admit I didn't see the twist coming and it made me like the book more because it was a much more original take on the story. I really enjoyed it.

This was a book I didn't see coming. A Special Place for Women tells the story of a secret elite women's only club in New York City. Jillian, a down on her luck journalist, decides she's going to revive her career by infiltrating the organization. In her efforts to expose the club, she finds herself in over her head with the twists and turns of the story.

I received a gifted galley of A SPECIAL PLACE FOR WOMEN by Laura Hankin for an honest review. Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review!

A SPECIAL PLACE FOR WOMEN envisions a secret underground club just for women named Nevertheless. They’re rumored to have all the power and influence to ensure their candidate get elected to office and to sway public opinion to bring down their enemies. No one has been able to pin them down, but reporter Jillian just might give it a try. While attending her childhood friend’s restaurant opening, she happens to meet a woman most assume is key to the club and she decides that this might just be the answer to her career woes after her employer goes under.

Soon Jillian is being escorted blindfolded into the clubhouse, initiated into the secrets of Nevertheless. While she balances the draw of the club with the intrigue of a potential groundbreaking story, Jillian seeks to gain even more access to the inner circle.

I enjoyed the author’s HAPPY & YOU KNOW IT last year, so I was eager to pick this one up and I think I enjoyed this one even more. While I didn’t always agree with Jillian’s choices, I could really feel for her predicament. Jillian has recently lost her mother and her job and she’s struggling to make ends meet in the wake of her mother’s medical bills. The draw of Nevertheless and the promise of women helping women also has a very strong draw.

This book takes some wild turns a bit past the halfway point and I’m not entirely sure still how I feel about them. It certainly threw a curveball at me that I did not see coming! It made for a very entertaining and gripping read and I really could not click through the pages fast enough!

A SPECIAL PLACE FOR WOMEN is out today and I highly encourage adding this one to your TBR list!

Laura Hankin’s debut novel Happy and You Know It was our June pick for the Let’s Read Rant & Repeat bookclub. Last year when we read it, Jordan and I, actually got to sit down and chat with Hankin, and honestly she’s a dream to speak with. Personally, knowing that an author is willing to chat with fans, just makes me a bigger fan. So when she mentioned her new book was going to be a little witchy and still deal with the social elite of New York society, you know I leaped at the chance to review it before it’s release.

When I spoke with Hankin last year, she mentioned that she had a fascination with the social elite and very wealthy women of NYC. I think we all do in our own ways have this same fascination. I mean if you’re my age you grew up on episodes of Gossip Girl and now have HBO’s Succession to continue feeding the obsession. I digress. In A Special Place for Women, Hankin continues this journey and brings the reader into the elite women’s only club of ‘Nevertheless’. Nevertheless, with monthly dues of $500 and a highly selective criteria, is for the elite women of society who need a space to support each other. This initial premise of a women’s only club is cool but highly resembled the bases of the book The Herd, see my review HERE. I was not a huge fan of that book, so I was a little disappointed AT FIRST.

But unlike The Herd, we follow uncover journalist Jillian who is working to get her life back on track after her magazine shut it’s doors. She’ll do anything to get a writing gig with one of NYC’s biggest papers, including pitching the idea of getting into, and then exposing who runs Nevertheless and what it really even is. Jillian may be in the club but what is she willing to risk to expose Nevertheless to the world?

There are two very distinct parts of this book. Part one is very rom-com centric, witty characters, with somewhat of a predictable plot. Part two of this book….took me on a rollercoaster I was not expecting and dives straight into some very witchy vibes. I won’t say more because it’s best to be surprised sometimes.

Once again Hankin has put together a story blended with the right amounts of humor, cultural commentary, and heart. She really has a knack for taking your typical women’s fiction, aka chick-lit, stories and making them into something truly unique. I can’t wait to see what she writes next.

A Special Place for Women comes out May 11, 2021. Huge thank you to Berkley Publishing for my advanced copy for my honest review. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my Instagram @speakingof_books.

A Special Place for Women is Laura Hankins 3rd novel and wow is it amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I read this in one day and I do read fast but I devoured this book. It is so good!!!!!!!  I loved her 2nd book but this one is even better!!!!!!  I cannot say enough good things about this book. On May 11th go out and get your copy. You won't regret it!!!!!  I highly recommend this book.

I'm honestly not sure how to rate/review this one! It was such a unique story that I couldn't put down but it took a weird turn that I think I liked but I can't wrap my head around.

This is the story of Jillian Beckley, a journalist whose paper folded. She hears of a secret women's society and has the idea to infiltrate it to get a story to her old editor who is working at a new prestigious newspaper. This secret women's society is very influential and has even gotten other women elected to public office!

I love the author's writing style. This is my second book of hers and I find her writing so engaging. This story was all about women empowerment. It was also a semi-romance with several tropes - fake-dating, love triangle, best friends and work place romances. It was funny and wild and suspenseful. The author described it as Never Been Kissed meets The Secret History with some Practical Magic vibes and I think that's very accurate! I've never heard of The Secret History but I LOVE Never Been Kissed and that is spot on.

If you are looking for a good Women's Lit/Romance/Suspense that is a bit weird, check this one out!

*Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy. Opinions are my own!

3.5/5

Ok this one was unexpected! From the description I knew it was gonna be juicy, but I had no idea just how bat shit crazy it would actually be. I don’t want to give anything away, but things took a really surprising turn at one point and went in a wild direction that I mostly liked?! 🤨

I was thinking this would have mostly thriller vibes, even if I expected them to be on the lighter side with most of the action coming in towards the end. I was mostly right, but there was some fake dating, which I really didn’t even expect any romance so I was pleasantly surprised, but just know that’s a very minor part of the story. This really focused on women and the way the interact with one another and it was a fascinating look at powerful, boss bitch females. It was super unique too, I can’t even think of another book to compare it to actually. Try this if you’re in the mood for something fresh and weird, because things get really weird!

What the heck did I just read?

This book is described as journalist Jillian infiltrating a secret society for rich, influential, feminist women in New York City. Rumors have been swirling that this cabal got the first female mayor of NYC elected, and then got her booted from office when she attempted to tax their wealth, and Jillian wants to get to the bottom of this.

For the first half of this book, I was torn between attempting to appreciate it as a novel, and feeling compelled to analyze it as a sociopolitical commentary. And then at 60% in... I don't even know what happens. It just goes off the rails. There's a twist that's so absurd, so random, I don't even know how to wrap my head around it. And there's no way for me to further discuss it here without completely spoiling the book, which I don't want to do. Especially since so many other readers seem to be a fan?

Instead, I'll say, if you're a realist or pragmatist, or even just a mystery/romance fan, looking for the story described in the blurb... this might not be the book for you. If you're a fan of the unexpected, the surreal, and fantastical--sure, give this a try. The writing wasn't bad, the characters were interesting, it's just... the plot... left something to be desired.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3 stars - 6/10

Wow... Where do I even begin with this roller coaster of a story? It grabbed by attention early on and just did not let go. It gave me everything that I could want from being set in NYC, romance, to All the witchy vibes (sorry Caroline for calling you a witch haha) But seriously this was such a fun read. It reminded me a bit of if Sex and the City met AHS Coven, and let's just say I was living for it. I started this book later on in the night, and had to practically force myself to put it down in order to fall asleep, and thought about it until I was able to pick it up and finish it. I truly think that this would be the perfect summer read, and this book has for sure put this author on my instant-buy radar. Thank you so much for allowing me the chance to read this early, as you can tell I truly enjoyed the story.

Surely I have good instincts. Truly, I am discerning. My life as I have lived it means that I am not crushed by something outside my normal day to day. After all, what even is a day to day normal? Books like this, books that bleed magenta and feature a female protagonist journalist who gets in over her head are just over for me. Because the narrator, as a cypher for the reader, is so clueless, so bonkers dumb, lacking in lived experience to the fullest, is just too hard to ignore any longer. No longer can I read "The Woman in Cabin 10" (Ruth Ware) or "You Are Not Alone" (Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen) or "The Dollhouse" (Fiona Davis) or This Book or any other number of books where a woman who is accomplished enough and wise enough to live and work in the big city be totally unable to relate to almost anything. Who is this person? Why is this person? The main character as cypher as dumbfuck is just offensive. The reader is more competent, sees more nuance, can investigate and think more critically than the blank-slate placeholder representing the reader. And that is just not good enough anymore.

I'm not sure that this author's writing style clicks with my reading preferences. She is undoubtedly talented. However, I just never seem to mesh well with her characters or plot line. I am going to give this book three stars because I didn't not like it, it just isn't going to be one I rave about. I definitely recommend other's try and see for themselves, because I can totally see how it could be a favorite for many. Plus, the cover is fantastic. Thank you so much Netgalley for my advanced reader digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

aura Hankin is quickly becoming an auto buy author for me! I had the pleasure of reading this one early, thank you to @berkleypub and @penguinrandomhouse for the advance copy! After reading Happy and You Know It and now A Special Place for Women, Laura Hankin has this special way of capturing normal groups of women and writing about them with a touch of humor and relatability.

I got LOST in this story and truly did not know what was going to happen. The main character, Jillian is so damn likable and relatable, I couldn’t help but want all good things for her. This premise of a secret club for high powered women in the middle of NYC is intriguing but then to find out that they think they are harboring a deep dark secret, was a twist I did not expect. I thought the story was weaved in such a way that I almost started to believe in the power and magic these women had and I wanted to be part of their girl gang. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Jillian, Margot and Caroline but I loved how the story wrapped up. Thank you @laurahankin for once again creating a story that was just a little bit unbelievable it had me questioning “do groups of women like this exist?”

Recommended for: Salem vibes, Girl Power, Coven Catastrophe

This book was something that I didn't expect. For the best reading and twist value, I suggest not googling the genres this book falls under!

What could have been better?
I think the ending was rushed and the characters could fall a little flat. I think there were a lot of good ideas, but some weren't fleshed out enough for me. I feel like if the author focused on two or three things instead of four or five the book would have been a lot better for me.

What I enjoyed?
The twist was really cool! I didn't see it coming for the most part and it was something I had never seen before. When I was guessing what I thought would be the twist or the reveal of the thriller, I wasn't expecting what I got. Going on, the author created this idea of sisterhood and forgiveness I enjoyed, There were two minor characters, Margot and Libby, that I loved.

This may not have been my favorite read, but I can definitely see people really enjoying it! It's fun and an easy one to get through. If you liked The Herd or books which feature investigative journalists going undercover I would give this book a try!

3.25/5

You have to be incredibly important to be invited into the exclusive NYC women’s club. Jillian is struggling after the death of her mother, but a story about the exclusive club could certainly get her back into the journalism game after her recent company crumbled. All she has to do it figure out a way to get invited and then she can spill all the clubs dirty little secrets.

I loved Happy & You Know It, so I was so excited to read this book! While this one certainly had the same rich NYC ladies, it was such a completely different book! It was not what I expected at all! While this was totally unexpected and went in a bit of a weird direction in my mind, I really liked where it went and how the story ended up! I highly recommend this one!