Smile and Look Pretty was a book to give an honest review. It was good, but not razor-sharp funny. I had times I had to set it aside, then pick it back up. I just could not get into the twenty-something thing. I am sure if one is this age, it might be a bit better.

Women empowerment, female friendships and bond, putting the hierarchy of abusive bosses out of business. The characters are fun, complicated and enjoyable.

The four main characters in this book are a problem, only one problem, and that is: They were just too damn similar. I think what was supposed to come off as a kind of universal appeal became something too soft to be appropriately impactful. That said, the story itself is appealing (if a little generic).

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reading copy of Smile and Look Pretty.
A whip-smart, piercing debut novel, Smile and Look Pretty follows four assistants who band together to take on their toxic office environments in the ultimate comeuppance.

Online they’re the Aggressive One, the Bossy One, the Bitchy One and the Emotional One. In real life, best friends Cate, Lauren, Olivia and Max all have one thing in common—they’re overworked, overtired and underpaid assistants to some of the most powerful men in the entertainment industries. When they secretly start an anonymous blog detailing their experiences, their posts go viral and hundreds of other women come forward with stories of their own. Confronted with the risks of newfound fame and the possibility of their identities being revealed, they have to contend with what happens when you try to change the world.

Gripping, razor sharp and scathingly funny, Smile and Look Pretty is a fast-paced millennial rallying cry about the consequences of whistleblowing for an entire generation, and a testament to the strength of female friendship and what can be accomplished when women come together.
I was sucked in by the premise of this female empowering book. The author creates such realistic characters with goals of having their voices heard. These women are determined to change the curve.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin for this eARC! Smile and Look Pretty by Amanda Pellegrino (out Dec. 28th) was a fast and fun read for me! It follows four women who all work as assistants to powerful (and awful!) men in their respective jobs. After weekly venting sessions over margaritas, they finally decide to take their concerns semi-public through a blog called "Twentysomething" where women can submit anonymous stories about the abuses and humiliations suffered in their jobs. As the blog takes off, the friends have to deal with the repercussions of trying to maintain their anonymity while speaking out about the mistreatment of women throughout their jobs.

Overall, this was a good book with strong themes of female friendships and empowerment, and the strength of women when they band together. It moved fairly quickly and my only real complaint would be that it was difficult to keep the characters (and their horrible bosses!) straight at times. If you enjoyed The Assistants by Camille Perri, this is probably a book you'd like!

If there is ever a book about women empowerment and the need to change, this is it. What these assistants were promised in their job description and what they were expected to do was so diametrically apposed was almost laughable. Cate, Olivia, Max and Lauren wanted their voices to be heard and in creating Twentysomething, also helped other women to have a sounding board to do. Women are strong and their voices deserve to be heard.