Nicole Mueller has had better days in her law career. Lately, it seems she’s losing her touch and her bosses have certainly noticed. Add to that the stress of her and her husband being kicked out of their beautiful old apartment when they felt sure their aunt would bequeath it to them.
In what seems like a bit of good fortune, Nicole is invited to a retreat with like-minded professional women where she’s introduced to the Panthera Leo, a group of fierce, wise, and calculating women who vow to protect one another at all costs. The resulting good fortune Nicole enjoys from her new “club” is beyond belief, until the night she’s instructed to break the law.
Nicole realizes too late that all these perfect strokes of luck were well orchestrated in order to ensnare her, to put her at the beck and call of her sister members. Here’s where the true cat-and-mouse games begin. Fast-paced, don’t-blink action and backstabbing are in full throttle from this point on. Women will circle to save one of their own, but what happens when the fight is internal?
Thanks so much to Atria Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The twists and turns in Please Join Us will leave you guessing right until the end, even after you think you have it all figured out. What a truly tangled and captivating read! Highly recommend!

Nicole Mueller is a brilliant lawyer, on track to make managing partner in her firm. When she is demoted at work, it seems her life is going down the drain, until she gets an invitation to join a women's networking group, Panthera Leo. Membership will bring her perks and get her life back on track. She gets a new case, a great apartment for her and her husband and a chance to get back on top, but at what cost. When she is asked to cover up a murder, she realizes the Girl's Club could destroy her as quickly as they gave her a leg up.

Please Join Us was an extremely slow moving story, that took a long time to get to the point. Nicole seemed to be targeted by someone at her law firm to tank her career, but it is not until the end until all is finally revealed. This was a mystery and a psychological thriller rolled into one. The idea of the good ole boys' network is reversed in this book and Catherine McKenzie has written a story about an exclusive women's network that has plans, and revenge is in the works. The book picks up steam and then takes a twist to reveal what is really going on. There were a lot of characters in this one, that took some time to get them all straight, that caused a bit of confusion at times. A thriller, with lies, secrets and revenge that I enjoyed, but not as much as I had hoped. Joy Osmanski narrated this story and did an okay job, keeping me involved and interested.

What a fast paced, fun thriller! I really loved the cult aspect of this book. The premise was, chefs kiss. Women helping women. I didn’t see the twists coming. And I was rooting for our MC the whole way through. I highly recommended this book.

1 sentence summary:
Nicole’s law career seems to be falling apart, so when she gets an invitation to join a secret group of women that pledge to help each other get ahead in a ‘man’s world,’ she joins in, but she soon realizes that the cost of membership may be a threat to everything she holds dear.

—----------

I definitely enjoyed this read, but I will say that it seemed to move through three distinct genres, which was unexpected. At the beginning, it seemed like a psychological thriller, then it shifted to a mystery, then it closed out more like a legal thriller. I enjoyed the first two-thirds of the book most which isn’t a surprise since I love psychological thrillers and mysteries. But I will say that I appreciated all the machinations in the last third of the book, and the button at the end was dark and fun.

Nicole was a very believable character, but I think she may have been a bit too heroic for my taste. What can I say? I like my protagonists dark and flawed. Still, I did find myself rooting for her, and I enjoyed the fact that neither her life nor her career nor her marriage was perfect.

My main take away from the book? Thank GOD I didn’t go into law.

Overall, this was an engaging and smart read, with an impressive amount of plot complexity. It’s crystal clear that the author (Catherine McKenzie) was once a lawyer…and managed to survive it.

Thank you Atria Books for the ARC!

I am a sucker for secret societies of women that border on cult-like status and PLEASE JOIN US didn't disappoint. It's a quick read and scratched an itch I always have for this type of book.

This is actually the third book of McKenzie's that I have read over the years. Like her previous novels, this one is a legal-ish thriller that is engaging from the very start, making for an exciting and an intricately plotted read. Lawyer Nicole has followed her path to a successful career - prioritizing her job as a lawyer over most of her relationships. She receives a startling setback at her firm, and on the same day, an invitation for an exclusive women-only networking group aimed at women helping women get ahead. But is this the lifeline that she so desperately needs or are her husband's suspicions correct and the group is actually more of a cult?

This is a genuine page turner and certainly kept my attention from start to finish. I appreciated the twist to the plot - though some of the turns were more expected than others. I guess my only complaint is that I never found myself liking any of these women... McKenzie works the #MeToo movement well into the story here. Timing-wise, the death of the aunt character gave me a much stronger emotional connection to the story than I would have otherwise had. I think that it would make for a good discussion starter for a book club. It's not my favorite of McKenzie's books, but I did find this to be solidly entertaining and the corporate and legal maneuvering quite interesting. I am curious to see what McKenzie will follow this one up with!

WOW WOW WOW, this was a propulsive page turner and the HYPE IS REAL! I loved this one SO much! 5 STARS

This one sounded so interesting, I couldn't wait to read it. I like the aspect of working in a law firm and trying to get ahead while also having a life. There were some slow parts, but I also found the part about the retreat interesting as well. The last quarter of the book really ramped up with what was going on and there was a lot. Many things were "figured out" and it got a little hectic with all the characters and revelations. The ending was ok, but predictable. This was the first book I have tried by this author and I do look forward to trying another one by her.

Please Join Us is the latest thriller novel by Catherine McKenzie. I'll admit that it was initially the vibrant cover that caught my attention, though the plot kept me invested enough to see the story through.

Nicole Mueller feels like her life is falling apart. In a desperate move to save her career, Nicole signs up for exclusive membership in a networking group. This networking group may or may not be a cult – but their offer is too good to pass up.

At first, the whole organization seems almost too good to be true. Her new connections quickly began providing her career with the needed boost. But then Nicole learned the meaning behind the phrase 'too good to be true.'

Okay, I'll admit that the premise of Please Join Us immediately caught my attention. An organization of women designed explicitly to uplift others? On the surface, that sounds great, right? Only, even without much thought, one could quickly see how such an organization would be highly dependent on the people running it and the rules they create for themselves.

I'm rambling; sorry about that. What I'm trying to say is the potential of this organization caught my imagination. It has the potential for good – and the potential for abuse. In the case of Please Join Us, you can probably guess which way it goes.

There are a lot of twists and turns in Please Join Us. Honestly, I went into this book expecting a few good twists. Instead, I got lots and lots of twisty surprises. That enhanced the story, making it all the more unpredictable.

I did have a few problems with this book, which kept me from loving it. Mainly, I didn't love some of the tropes Please Join Us leaned on (such as the inability to trust women). Overall, I would say that it was a solid read worth checking out, especially if the blurb caught your attention.

Review coming soon. Fell behind due to illness, amd working on all of the old ones now.

This one will not be forgotten. I love all of her novels and was so grateful to read this:
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC; opinions are mine.


Pub Date was August 23, 2022
#PleaseJoinUs #CatherineMcKenzie #NetGalley

This book will hook you from the first page. I very much enjoyed the story line. I thought the ending was rushed and didn’t leave the punch that was anticipated.

Characters that you will love to hate. Who will you trust?

Narrator was hard to follow at first, but after the first hour her voice and tone grew on me.

Please Join Us is about Nicole Mueller it is a character driven book with High profile women who’ve claimed top positions that men once held. This is an informative read. This is a well plotted and well thought out concept. It’s so carefully orchestrated that it took my brain some time to process all the information.
I enjoyed this fresh new take on women taking over a man’s world. Catherine paved a solid path explaining the way the group works and how it benefits women. The story alternates between the past and present with relevant information.

Nicole seems to be hitting bottom. On the partner track in her law firm, she’s suddenly on the outs when she loses a big account. The apartment she and her husband have been counting on to buy is suddenly in jeopardy and she’s out of sorts. When she receives an invitation to join an elite group of women called Panthera Leo, she is quickly folded in and becomes a member of a pride. With hoops to jump through, she takes it all in stride and soon her career is once again taking off. The only catch is there is going to be a “test” at some point. Will she be up for it when it comes? When the test comes, it’s way more than she’s bargained for and she wants out! Can she extricate herself from the group or has she made the biggest mistake of her life? McKenzie has written a unique page turner, filled with a tangled web of lies and deception. Some people will stop and nothing to get what they want, but who will be the victor in the end? Thank you to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

Thank you to Atria, Catherine, and Netgalley for an advance copy of Please Join Us.

Nicole’s at a crossroads in life. She’s floundering in her job, she’s about to lose her dream apartment to her sister-in-law, and her and her husband may not be on the same page about everything as she previously thought. It’s time for a change. So when she receives an invitation to a women’s secret society of sorts that promises to get her career back on track and thriving, she takes the opportunity without much of a second thought despite her husband’s hesitations.

At her first meeting (which is a getaway to a remote ranch) she meets four other fierce, independent, and very successful women who will support her, guide her, and advance her career. What Nicole does not understand is that this kind of support comes with a price. Soon she is expected to do immoral and sometimes illegal things in order to help enhance her group’s placement in life.

It’s a man’s world, but what will women do to make sure they’re in charge?

This was a fun toxic friends thriller that also crossed over a bit into the currently popular social thriller genre. It touches on a subject that any woman in a male-dominated industry can relate to - we work harder, we work longer, and in turn we tend to get less credit, less pay, and less respect than our male counterparts.

While I believe this is a feminist novel at heart, it does beg the question of whether some women aren’t just as big of a problem as men in their own ways. We can be awfully toxic creatures to people we call friends, which I found to be the most dominant theme of Please Join Us.

Nicole wasn’t a character that I loved, but I saw a lot of myself in her…specifically the traits that I don’t really care for. However, that made for a more enjoyable and relatable book overall, so I don’t mind seeing my ugly parts played out in print once in awhile!

The twist on this one was definitely not something that I saw coming. It felt like I was unraveling a braid, I’d get one twist undone and then there’d be another, and another, and then one more.

Will definitely be reading more Catherine McKenzie in the future.

This fast-paced and exciting thriller had me guessing all the way through. I love the overarching theme of female empowerment and the author does a great job of pulling readers into the world of secret societies and cults.

This story has more of a legal thriller vibe than McKenzie’s previous novels, but she still managed to shock me with a few twists I definitely didn’t see coming. Overall, a great read.

My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

3.5 stars

Please Join Us by Catherine McKenzie is an enjoyable read which started slowly but ended up being a well-paced and suspenseful story with some underlying serious themes.
Nicole, the protagonist and narrator, is a lawyer struggling in her career at a large legal firm. She is invited to join a women’s networking group, Panthera Leo, and, after surviving the “training,” finds it a supportive group who helps her with her career and in other ways. As she tells her husband Dan, “They are the most benign group of women….they take on the world….but in a good way.”
No spoilers here—the rest of Nicole’s association with the cult-like PL involves the actions of oddball leader Karma, covering up a murder, and exposing the insidious reach of the PL, culminating in a suspenseful, cleverly constructed conclusion.
The author is an experienced attorney and can provide great details about Nicole’s profession and the legal intrigue in the story. I especially liked the larger, more serious issues the book touched upon—what is Friendship? Trust? Justice? Punishment? Revenge?
Read it and see what you think!

Thank you to Atria Books/Simon & Schuster/NetGalley for the ARC. This is my unbiased review.

This book was so incredibly good, and a very fast read! I got into it immediately, and couldn’t put it down. Will absolutely be recommending it to others!

Please Join Us by Catherine McKenzie is a FANTASTIC exciting fast paced thriller.

I absolutely love this author. Her characters are so well written.

The twists really kept me guessing. A well written thriller.

✔️unique, fast paced storyline with lots of twists and turns - I read it in a day
✔️lot of powerful, smart female characters
✔️ lies, deception, gaslighting, revenge, a cult like atmosphere
What more could you want ?