#PleaseJoinUs:⁣
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Tickity Tock, it’s cult o’clock y’all.⁣
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You know how on certain books another author will call a book, “explosive” and you just think, “what an interesting way to describe a book”. Well, say hello to a book that my personal blurb would just say: “explosive” ⁣
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I’m going to start off with high praise for audio. The audio was amazing. At first, I felt the story started pretty slowly and the pacing was off. Once the women made it to the compound, I felt the story really took off. I started the audio a little bit before this part, and I really felt like it helped me settle into the pacing. Also the reader, Joy Osmanski, just had it down. You could hear the resolve and confidence in Nicole. I don’t think this book was meant to be funny, but some of the sarcasm lines hit way too well to not have me laughing. ⁣
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There are so many twists, turns, red herrings that I felt like Lt. Mattias in Frozen 2. I swear I could hear McKenzie after the 4th bombshell, “but wait! There’s more!” They did not seem excessive or outlandish, they fit the plot well. I was a bit confused about the very last page, but other than that, I really enjoyed Please Join Us!⁣
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Thank you so much @simon.audio for the gifted copy! Please Join Us just released 8/23!

5 stars for a mind-blowing thrillride!

This one kept me up at night and had me looking forward to my commute just so I could crack this book back open and pick up where I left off!

This was quite the suspenseful story, I must say. It started with an invitation, and it ended with the sentiment of shock and dismay.

Imagine you received the invitation of a lifetime - a secret organization made up entirely of successful women aimed at elevating everyone to the next level. Women helping women, just like the "boys club" but make it a "girls club". But at what cost? How far would you be willing to go to succeed, and help others succeed, until you have to draw the line?

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for this fantastic thriller ARC!

Nicole feels like she is on a downslide professionally, being passed over in her law firm by men. In her personal life, as she and her husband might lose their apartment when his aunt dies. A letter arrives from a group that promises that they can change things. Panthera Leo is a women's group that help promote each other in their "prides". The cost of it all becomes too much for Nicole when she is asked to cover up a murder. Things are not what they appear and Nicole begins to unravel the chain of Panthera Leo and starts to wonder if she can ever escape it. There were parts that dragged a bit for me but it picked up quickly when Nicole starts planning her revenge/escape and then another twist is thrown at you! The epilogue Letter was the perfect touch.

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria for a copy of this book for review.

This was so good. At first I thought this would just be a typical (aka boring) naïve idiot joining a cult and ignoring all the warning signs and *gasp* having to inevitably escape.

And...it was lol but it was done SO WELL. This was The Firm meets #MeToo and I was hooked so bad. Nicole is a strong and smart main character (even if naïve at first). I loved Agatha, Samantha, and Julia; and was intrigued by Connie and Heather. Great plotting and complexity and ending.

I do wish that women empowerment didn't mean being "like men," which always means all the negative connotations of that phrase. Sleeping around, treating people like trash, sexism, and severe anti-men-ism. Why can't we have our own version of Boss? We don't need to be "like men" or despise and demean men to be equal to men. We can be our own strong. And also there are a lot of good men out there in high positions.

Anyway. I highly recommend this thriller!

Many thanks to Atria Books for a free digital galley in exchange for an honest review.

Please Join Us, Catherine McKenzie

Cult thrillers are front and centre in 2022, becoming a sub-genre of their own. Please Join Us is but one. Unfortunately this one didn’t grab my attention in the same way others have this season. Yet, I see the appeal and have a feeling many readers will enjoy it.

My thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the digital arc.

Thank you netgalley, Catherine McKenzie and ateia books for e-arc in exchange for honest opinion. Not aure if thriller themes come in waves but culta seem to be the popular thing to write about. This was goos wanted a bit more from.the story.



3.5 stars

Please Join Us
Catherine McKenzie

There are quite a few cult-centered thrillers being released this season. Please Join Us is one of them.

In PLEASE JOIN US, we’re following Nicole who after running with the wolves finds herself behind in the pack.

She responds to a secretive email invitation inviting her to join an exclusive networking group designed to help amazing women in their fields become even more awesome and circumvent the patriarchal system.

She quickly accepts the invitation and within a month she is plane bound for a team-building event by the networking group.

We follow Nicole as she navigates certain parameters of the event. And then she returns home where everything starts to unravel.

It’s a big bite for a thriller and I’m not sure the author was very successful.
I struggled at times with the writing. Parts of it felt stilted, almost forced. It lacked fluidity and similar to the main character- it lacked confidence.

The dialogue felt unnatural and the characters did and said things that were entirely unrealistic. I slowly began to focus on silly little details, which caused me to come out of the story.

There are several scenarios where the author is trying to convince the reader of the nefarious nature of the group. And a lot of the writing surrounding that concept came across as a little far-fetched and implausible.

And that’s where I think it will lose a lot of its readers.

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books, and Simon and Schuster for the advanced copies!

PLEASE JOIN US…⭐️⭐️⭐️

I should have been able to read this in a day, but the first half did not really hold my interest and I didn’t really look forward to reading it. The second half picks up and becomes more interesting, making this just an average read .

The main character is a NY lawyer who is unhappy with the trajectory of her career at her law firm. She gets invited to join a secret society type networking group and things go off the rails from there. The ending was satisfying, but this won’t stay with me for long.

Nicole is a good lawyer, she loves her job..but sometimes she doesn't get the credit she deserves. When she receives an invite to Panthera Leo she jumps at it. Panthera Leo is a group of successful women who want to help other women succeed in a man's world. She meets some other women and thinks she has it made. Are things like they seem? What could possibly go wrong.

This was such a fast read. I love books with short chapters, it seems to make the book fly by! I liked the cultish/secret society vibes from this book. It makes the book a bit more creepy. I did like Nicole and her husband Dan.

The twists I didn't see coming...but for once I was trying not to figure out the book. I just sat back and enjoyed the ride.


Thank you to NetGalley for my ebook and goodreads for my physical book!

A book with a questionable cult?! Yes, please!

Please join us is about a woman whose life is falling apart an elite women's networking group that will lift her back up. It seems too good to be true...until it is, forcing people into questionable situtations.

Is the concept for this book new? Absolutely not. We've read however many of these stories...from a man's perspective. We've seen so many shows with the storyline...from a man's perspective. It was super refreshing to see a somewhat known storyline turned on its head, just by changing who was behind it.

PLEASE JOIN US is an exceptional novel, suffused with feminism, empowerment, betrayals, #MeToo, marital juggling, familial elitism, women in the corporate world vs. the prevailing "old boys' club." It is stunningly convoluted, and our protagonist Nicole battles life, the "old boys," her in-laws, aging, and a process that claims to empower her but instead grossly entangles her, with the determination of a salmon fishing upstream to spawn. Corporate attorney Nicole verges on the edge of "unreliable narrator, " and she's not always endearing. What she is, is obdurate, and she won't EVER back down, and that was very endearing to me. This is a woman who seizes the reins of her life, and of some others, and despite shocking betrayals and life upsets, she just won't stop. She won't give up. She won't prostate herself in subjection: to anyone.


I also had to appreciate Nicole's husband, a man without her driving ambition, but who demonstrates a quantity of compassion and is a strong emotional support for Nicole, even during a period when he could have no idea how bad events were or how strenuously his wife was being tested, by circumstances, fate, and too much behind-the-scenes maneuvering.

Please Join Us is the subject of the email lawyer Nicole receives, inviting her to join an exclusive women’s networking group via a five day retreat in Colorado. Nicole has just received a less-than-stellar review at work and is floundering, and she latches on to the new friends she makes when she attends. Her husband is a little jealous to share her with these new women which he jokingly refers to as a cult… but maybe it’s not a joke...
I sat and read this pretty much straight through yesterday - I love a twisty, cult-ish thriller! If you like the same, I bet you’d enjoy this one which was just published last week. Thanks to Atria and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. I had not read anything by the author, and I already placed a library hold on one of her previous books, Six Weeks to Live.

I found this to be an average thriller. There were a few twists and turns but nothing I found too exciting.

Attorney Nicole doesn't know how to fail, so she is reeling when her law firm mentor tells her she failed to earn enough points. Almost immediately, she is invited to join a women's networking group. Although she has some reservations, she goes on a retreat with the group and meets her "pride," a group of women she will be working with.

Her luck soon begins to turn. Although she and her husband are forced to move from their much-loved apartment, they find a newer one. Nicole is given a new case and a new associate. But she begins to sense everything is too good to be true, particularly when she is challenged with a test that challenges her morally.

This novel is the best of page-turning suspense, with so many double crosses my head was spinning at the end. #PleaseJoinUs #NetGalley

This might just be a case of picking it up at the wrong time but this is dragging for me. DNF at 22%. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free review copy.

I really enjoyed the premise of this book--I mean, who doesn't love a good cult book?

This one follows Nicole--a thirty nine year old lawyer who was once a rising star at her law firm, but has recently started having some setbacks. Then she receives an invitation to join an exclusive women's networking group called Panthera Leo. At first, things are great--Nicole is feeling more confident and all the other women in the group are super successful, but soon the group starts demanding more from her, and Nicole begins to wonder how far it will go.

I thought Nicole was a really relatable character who was easy to root for. The storyline did keep me invested, and I wanted to see how it would turn out. That said, I did feel like the ending/reveal was a bit complicated and kind of confusing.

Overall, it was a good, enjoyable book, though not super memorable. I liked it, didn't love it.

Stars: 3.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Many thanks to @netgalley and @atriabooks for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. Please Join Us is available now!

A solid thriller but felt rather formulaic at times and the pacing seemed off. I am a fan of Catherine's novels so will definitely continue to read what she puts out, this one just unfortunately wasn't for me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

𝘼 “𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙩 𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙯𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨, 𝙝𝙞𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙝𝙨 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙜𝙤 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙞𝙢 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚.”

This was my first read by this author and I’m so happy to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I kind of went into this book not knowing much and I’m glad I did. I had a great time and flew through it.

I was very entertained by this author’s writing style and the way the story was portrayed. Sisterhood is such an important thing in life and I liked how it played an aspect in the story.

In this story, we follow Nicole Mueller whose life is falling apart. She was recently struggling in her law career and had to give up her loving apartment. She ends up receiving an invite to a group event by Panthera Leo, a women's networking group consisting of successful professionals, Nicole is anxious and hopeful it’ll help her relaunch her career.

Her husband, Dan, is very wary and thinks this group is a cult - is it? Nicole ends up taking the offer and goes to Colorado for the retreat. Little does she know, there’s something sinister behind this group - something she never would’ve expected.

I really enjoyed the overall structure of this book, the characters were super interesting. I also really connected with the style.

Again, I flew through it and enjoyed the way the story wrapped up. Please Join Us was so well written and is one you’re not gonna want to miss.

I was hoping a cultish story about women trying to take back power in a world made for men would drag me right in but this story had a slow start. We follow lawyer Nicole after she gets a bad review at her high end job and is then recruited to a women's group, Panthera, geared towards helping women up in 'the boys' club."

The book is written with Past and Present sections which is something I always enjoy and lends interest to the story because I want to be able to understand whatever drama happened to lead to the past or present events. It definitely helped this story stay more exciting and engaging. This was a quick and entertaining read but it lacked something to really make it hit hard. I also thought the end twist was a little underwhelming when I was really hoping for something to make this story take off. I'm not sure I would call the book a thriller.

I would recommend this to those that like a bit of mystery or cultishness in their books or something like A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC!

Nicole has just received a bad review at work and it looks like she is going to have to step up her game or lose it all. So, when she is recruited by an exclusive networking group all about helping women succeed, she jumps at it. Her husband, Dan, calls it a cult. Nicole does not see it that way. She soon reaps the benefits of being a member. But, then she is called in to cover up a murder and this exclusive group just became a twisted group about something completely different.

I have followed this author since her very first book. Her first book was called Spin. I won a signed copy back in 2009 and I have been hooked ever since. Now, she has changed her genre. Her first several novels were chick lit. She changed over to thrillers and she has not looked back.

This novel started a bit slow but it is just setting up a smart manipulation game. And I will be honest, I was not a big fan of the main character, Nicole, in the beginning. I thought “you are a hotshot lawyer! Why are you doing this!” And I still don’t quite understand why she fell in with this group but my favorite part of this book is when Nicole figures out what is going on and she is taking no prisoners.

I love a smart read and this one is one of the bests! The plot is intricate and don’t skim a word because you will miss a key point of evidence!

Need a story with manipulation as it’s main goal…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for an honest opinion!