I've read many of Elinor Lipman's books. I'm a big fan, her books are the perfect summer-y vacation reads, and this one fit that bill just fine. I always love a found family, and while main character Rachel certainly isn't lacking in family, I still loved her collection of the roommates, the love interest, and the boss and his........stepsister??

Lipman's characters are typically lovable, and they are here as well. Rachel's over-the-top exaggerations and sarcasm had me chuckling, as well as the "yenta" roomie shenanigans.

It was nice to escape into an alternate version of reality where Melania gets the heck out of dodge, and while I was worried the Trump content would have been a little triggering- it wasn't too bad if I stayed in "romcom" brain and not in "oh good lord this man actually happened" mode.

Thanks to Mariner for the review copy!

Rachel Klein has just been fired from her job. And while leaving the premises, gets hit by a car and knocked unconscious. What lies ahead is a lighthearted book with a cast of diverse characters, close friendships, family, and romance. What makes Rachel's story interesting? She was fired from her job in the Trump administration where she was tasked with taping together memos that the President ripped up, because records have to be preserved. She makes a disparaging remark about him via email, and accidentally "replies all". Who hasn't been there? Oh, and the person who knocked her conscious in the accident? A close "personal acquaintance" of the president. This book is marketed as a political satire, but I found the plot line about the accident and the people involved in that storyline the least interesting part. The most enjoyable parts of this book are Rachel's relationship with her roommate and her roommate's girlfriend, her cute relationship with her parents, and budding romance with a man who works at her local liquor store. Her new boss post-accident took a while to grow on me. I did not find this book all that funny-- perhaps I just wasn't in the mental space to read a "satire" involving Trump. But it can be read as a cute story about a young woman finding her place in DC and establishing friendships/relationship.

Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the advance reader copy in exchange for honest review.

Such a fun read! A bit of Trump ridicule, mixed with a very ‘extra’ family, a suspicious car accident and more conspiracies. I wonder if it would be more fun reading this while the world was still under his curse, because I think nobody wants to remember that time. However this looks back at it with lots of humor!

I absolutely loved this book! I’m always game for a good political novel…add a little romance, and the fact that this one is anti-Trump…basically my perfect summer read!

3.5 stars

I love Elinor Lipman’s sense of humor. This is like a Sliding Doors version of the former presidency in which a certain other person with the same last name as the former president makes an important decision.

Rachel & her people (parents, family, boyfriend, roommates, etc) are people I would love to hang out with. Everyone else was pretty annoying (on purpose but it made parts of it hard to read). And perhaps reading so much about the former president gave me a teensy bit of PTSD 🤣

I think it’s a good book but I think the abrupt ending made me take away .5 stars. I was waiting for some of the main plot points to resolve but they never did. I think this is because it was tracking along with real life events but since it’s a fictional story I was hoping for some other resolutions.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book is a little bit of everything. It is women's fiction, romance, humour and contemporary. I really enjoyed every aspect of it. Rachel was a great character and I couldn't help but cheer her on. Elinor Lipman manages to take themes that are often covered - a love story, a young woman coming into her own - and somehow manages to make them fresh. I loved all the characters, even the secondary ones. They were fully developed and all of them authentic.

I thoroughly enjoyed all the ups and downs, you really live through Rachel's experience and I liked how the author managed to make it real without bumming me out. I really loved the ending too, it left me feeling warm inside ad with a smile on my face. From the first page to the last a very entertaining read.

I usually like Eleanor Lipman books, but this one about a woman who was fired from Trump’s White House was not for me. Yes, there’s humorous satire and romance, but something got lost in the storyline. Maybe it’s because I am just tired of Trump and, even with the premises of this amusing story ringing true, I kept hoping it would get better. I liked Carl Hiaasen’s Squeeze Me better.

This was so not for me. I’m not American so I guess a lot of references just went by me. I didn’t particularly liked Rachel or any other characters either.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy.

3.5/5

Rachel to the Rescue is a Political Satire Novel with a touch of romance, it's humorous, sweet and most definitely, one of a kind. I've never read a book quite like this before, a light fictional read that touches on a multitude of realities that we've all experienced within the last year. From the Trump Presidency to the beginnings of The Pandemic. Elinor Lipman takes us on the unique adventure of recently fired White House staffer, Rachel Klein.

After accidentally hitting the “Reply All” button on a scathing email about the President that was intended for a colleague, the email lands in the inbox of the entire White House staff instead. If that wasn’t embarrassing enough, as Rachel is leaving she is hit by a car and this winds up all over national news. Needless to say, Drama and Chaos ensue as Rachel embarks on a path to recovery and uncovering the truth behind her accident and its implications to the President's personal life. This is an amusing and well-written read, perfect for those that enjoy Liberal Politics mixed with fiction and humor. The characters are very likable, mainly, Rachel Klien who is a delightfully witty, and well-built main character.

There are aspects of this book that I feel got lost along the way, the accident was of such importance in the beginning but the opportunities it created for Rachel's professional life seemed to fizzle out halfway through. Another detail that got lost is the title, I'm still unsure of what exactly Rachel ended up rescuing. The romance, while unexpected, became my favorite part of the storyline, it was charming, genuine, and well suited to the narrative. This is the first book I've read that touched on the realities of early pandemic life, which I found to be eerily fascinating.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing for the ARC!

This was a super fun read. Although a little too early for Trump era fiction to be honest! Not quite over it yet. I loved the characters, especially Rachel. What’s not to love about a smart, sarcastic drama queen?! A fun, easy read.

A smart, funny contemporary romance -- I'm calling this a romance because even though it isn't advertised as such, a quirky and appealing love story is what takes this book from good to great. I look forward to recommending this to readers. Elinor Lipman fans will love it, but so will readers who enjoy books by authors like Emma Straub, Cynthia d'Aprix Sweeney, Jane Green, and Emily Henry, to mention a few.

Trump fiction, Trump fact … maybe I’ll never be ready to revisit the President Cheeto years. I certainly can’t watch the Dubya cold opens on SNL. This is, I think, like that.

Only a very talented wordsmith named Elinor Lipman could have gifted us with such a boisterous & hilarious romp through the egregious idiocies that the Trump administration & its dimwitted followers have plagued America with over the last 5 years.
In this very funny novel, we meet Rachel Klein, a smart and vivacious young New Yorker who at the very beginning of this upbeat comedy gets fired from a very usless & boring job at the White House where her main task is to tape back all the documents that the witless & stupid commander in chief loves to tear up no matter how important they might have been..... Unceremoniously and speedily escorted out of the presidential and "pesitilencial" residence, our heroine manages to carelessly get hit by a speeding SUV driven by a person that may or may not be "sexually" involved with the Donald, triggering a chain of events that kept me in stitches for hours......
The fabulous adventures and misadventures of Rachel Kkein are very entertaining but they also are a vitriolic and rather ferocious portrait of a great country unfortunate enough to be saddle with a ridiculous and clueless moron at the helm....

Cleverly plotted & blessed with a colorful & delicious cast of characters, this delightful madcap full of verbal pyrotechnics and wonderful Jewish humor, will hopefully help in ushering more hilarious and politically incorrect fictional treasures starring and involving America's dumbest leader ever on the literary landscape.

A delicious treat to be enjoyed without any moderation whatsoever!

Many thanks to Netgalley and HMH for this terrific ARC.

Cute, fun, quick witty political satire. It’s a commentary on our political climate and our nation as a whole. If you have a sense of humor you’ll enjoy this one.

3.5 for me. The book was good fun, for the most part. I did think it began very well, and lost a little steam as it progressed.

A humorous political satire with the right amount of drama and funny characters. I had a fun and enjoyable read with many laugh out loud moments. There were many ridiculous incidents which could not have been true but still it was fun imagining those incidents and having a good laugh about it. And Rachel’s muckraker of a boss Kirby was a fun character. I laughed a lot at the absurdity of it😂😂

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing and eARC of the book in exchange for an honest opinion.

#NetGalley #RachelToTheRescue

Rachel to the Rescue is a very funny, laugh out loud book sure to but a smile on any Democrat's face!

So Rachel to the Rescue is not normally a book I'd pick up but you know what I LOVED it! Lipman wrote the perfect book - the right amount of humour and serious tones, and I may have shed a tear or two at the end. I'd definitely recommend this to everyone looking for a fun fast paced read.

Rachel to the Rescue by Elinor Lipman was fun, insightful and sharp! I loved seeing DC through Rachel's eyes! This book begins with Rachel being fired from the Trump White House because she sent a reply all email that was only meant for one person. As if things couldn't get worse she's hit by a car while leaving the White House. I don't want to spoil anything further, but Rachel is lucky in the people she has showing up for her and I loved seeing where she ends up at the end!

I hadn’t read any of Elinor Lipman’s work before, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I was intrigued by the cover and description of Rachel to the Rescue, and it turned out to be just what I needed. I was having a pretty crappy mental health day when I picked up this novel, and it had me in fits of laughter within moments.

It was lighthearted, filled with joy, charm, and humour. I adored Rachel’s personality, mostly because she’s so dramatic. For example, when she’s at the hospital following the accident, and she’s trying to weasel morphine out of the nurse on duty, her ‘now favorite nurse.’ That definitely gave me a giggle. Rachel’s personality is bold, daring, and totally sarcastic, which I just loved.

Rachel to the Rescue was an easy read, its prose lively, playful, and upbeat. Overall, I found it quite refreshing. It's the kind of book you can pick up and put down for little lifts in your mood, since it doesn't require too much emotional energy or investment.

An extremely accomplished author, Elinor Lipman clung to me in a way a novelist hasn’t for a while, and now I’m tempted to save the rest of her work for a rainy day, to pull it out again for when I need it most. Both Good Riddance and On Turpentine Lane, by Elinor sound like lovely reads.