
Member Reviews

Hey, Hun is a dive into the cultish top tiers of multi-level marketing and the manipulation involved in recruiting and retaining members. Through the eyes of “bossbabe” Emily Paulson, we get to see all of the dirty mind tricks and many broken dreams (and bank accounts) along the way. It is a world that preys on the dopamine levels of women—largely stay-at-home moms—who are lonely, stressed, and looking to change their situation. The method used to push them (oftentimes into debt) was to build them up through “love bombing” and then to later tear them down, or to at least watch them fall. And to make them feel like it was their own fault. “Yet MLMs don’t rely solely on capitalism. They want you to worship at the altar of meritocracy, which is far more sinister; this is the belief that the harder you work, the more likely it is that you’ll succeed. But the problem is not people’s work ethic. It may sound plausible in theory, but the MLM model is not designed to help everyone succeed.”
Paulson tries to take this expose to new level, though, exploring some of the MLM exploitation in terms of privilege as well. “This faux empowerment isn’t about feminism or structural changes, but about buoying the lifestyles of people who already have a lot of privileges.” She attempts to look at privilege through the lenses of class, gender, religion, and race—some with more success than others.
The explanations of why most MLMs work so well hand in hand with evangelical Christianity is done well, but the random interjection of simply the term white supremacy lacks substance and feels like lip service. There is a brief mention of the absolute lack of judgement when reps start to post pictures of themselves in black charcoal masks as a stand of support for BLM. However, there is no discourse on the systemic nature of white supremacy and MLMs in the book. I wanted Paulson to go more in depth—to any depth. They are just buzzword references without substance behind them, and it comes off as gimmicky instead of genuine.
There is definitely a slight feeling like Paulson is still stilling something with this book, moving into the role of a sober and recovery influencer. But, she doesn’t shy away from that feeling for the reader either, admitting that her book deals are due to her MLM online following. “I’m at a crossroads, and again, this is where it gets hard. Rejuvinat absolutely gave me the platform that I still benefit from today. I got this book deal partially because of my follower count, which was established by the social media love bombing that was Rejuvinat’s love language. I made friends but also followers, people who trusted and respected me, and who later, when I began to build a sober community for moms, followed me there out of the MLM world.”
Throughout the book, she leans into this discomfort, allowing us to see how she is bothered by the MLM methods, but how they keep luring her to continue and to continue to dupe others. She’s very honest that MLM reps are both the victim and the predator. Her turmoil there is what allows us to go so far along the journey to the top. And, despite the above concerns, the book is still very readable and entertaining.
Thank you, NetGalley, for this advanced manuscript copy to review.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my review.
I liked this book, as someone who has grown up around the MLM FB craze, it was nice to see the crazy from inside the house vs what we experienced with leggings and lashes and all the oils. I appreciated the honesty about how she went from hustling everyone and everything, over came her addiction, and started a new journey.
The information about the lies and ties to supremacy are what attracted me to the book in the first place, I really appreciated the research that went into it. I only wish there was more information but this book isn't just about that so I can understand why some of the chapters were focused on other ideas.
Overall, if you want an entry level book into how MLMs uphold and encourage white women to hold up white supremacy/patriarchy, this is a good book to start with.
4.25 out of 5 stars

I was immediately intrigued by “Hey Hun” by Emily Lynn Paulson and was excited to read her story about her time in a MLM as a “top earner.”. I throughly enjoyed the book and her insight regarding MLMs, their history, and current state. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that has been in a MLM, is considering joining one, or someone who likes all things “anti-MLM.”
Thank you NetGalley and Row House publishing for my digital arc in exchange for my honest review.

I was curious about MLMs. Actually, I had an idea of what they were, but it wasn't clear, so this book absolutely cleared everything up and my first instinct was very right - they are not good.
This book is part memoir and part research paper on MLMs. I can't believe how these companies manipulate people. Clearly aimed at women who feel guilt or bored or broke and want to desperately be recognized,, praised and entertained. Clearly MLMs are all facades that can suck all the $ and soul out of you and then spit you out without breaking a sweat.
This book works best, when Paulson is incorporating her own story into the telling. In fact, the best parts are the first and middle parts of the book. Towards the end, it becomes almost solely about giving us figures and detailing even more horrible MLM stuff, including how they treated the pandemic and their own reps.
I love the writing style, it is interesting and maddening at the same time. We get to see the MLM from the perspective of a rep and its fascinatingly horrific.
Two comments about the author's personal story in relation to this book.
I was annoyed at the comment about having five kids and still being bored and lonely. Why is it that people who have a lot of kids are always searching for something to release them from being with their kids? I don't get it, why have 5 kids if you are going to bitch about having 5 kids? Why not have 1 or 2 instead? The author even makes a small joke about "we are not good with birth control" ----- really? Open condom wrapper and attach - done! Millions of women manage to NOT have 5 kids. This is worth mentioning because it is one of the strong reasons she joins an MLM and the "5 kids" comment is a theme throughout her book. There is nothing wrong with having 5 kids, but constantly complaining about it is annoying.
The other thing is that I wish she had ended her book a little earlier than she did. The last pages are basically just giving us a bunch of information on MLM. Stuff we could easily Google.
What works so well here is the author's story. I also love how she deals with her drinking and I have already purchased her first book which details her drinking and recovery in detail.
Overall, this is a great read. The author is entertaining and she is honest.
I recommend this one highly.

Wow. If you don’t know a thing about MLMs or pyramid schemes besides the fact that they’ve ruined many lives… Paulson will be your guide (but don’t worry “hun,” she promises that she’s retired from that mess).
In some of the most straightforward yet amusing & beguiling writing I’ve come across in years, this memoir/cautionary tale comes across like a friend catching up over brunch. It’s very personal, yet still very insightful about the biz. Taken from her copy/paste messages that began “Hey Hun,” Paulson zooms along on the ride of her life. The amazing intro alone is all you need to read (and learn from) if you wanted to know that even successful MLMs (and their members) are not the panacea they’re touted to be. A line about how this convoluted type of company enables & rewards women to hurt other women under the guise of empathy — quickly stuck in my head like glue (not sure if I could share the actual sentence, but it’s great). Characters from the AmazonPrime doc “LulaRich” make appearances & you can almost see this prose on the same screen.
Weaving in a story of her substance abuse journey (she’s now successfully sober!), of the past she writes of how her GPS goes wildly off course as she reaches the height of the MLM pyramid (while 97+% of enrollees lose money, if you do well enough, for a time, there’s a (literal) white car waiting in your name). It’s no surprise the author was able to sell, as this truly entertaining production her storytelling salesperson skills are on full display, page after entertaining page.

From joining a MLM company, making $30,000 a month to quitting it all...
This is a fantastic memoir that really allows the reader to get a sense of the life and thought process of a MLM top sales rep. Emily does an excellent job sharing MLM tactics and her experiences.
Emily's story also heavily focuses on alcohol abuse.
Thank-you NetGalley & Row House Publishing for the advanced reader copy (ARC) in exchange for my honest review of the book.

This was such a good and eye opening read. I loved the writing style and the flow of the book. It captures the reader and makes it hard to put the book down! The cover art is also stunning.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC!
This is a book you need to read if you've ever thought about joining an MLM. DON'T DO IT. The author details her own experience and it's so sad to read about. I also liked that each chapter had an excerpt from someone else's own story from joining a scheme and it makes you understand how many people were taken advantage of and how they had to step on others to try to get to the top.

Wow! I saw so much of my own story in Emily's book. Hey, Hun could have been Hey, Girl, Hey! She writes truthfully and from her experiences. I appreciated her direct way of telling her story of involvement with multi-level marketing. So many of the conversations are ones I have had during my own time in MLMs. I want everyone to read this book and to be aware of the things that are happening to a ton of stay at home moms.
Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book for the purpose of this review. 5 stars from me!

This is a book detailing the author's experience rising to high levels in an MLM (not specified) and eventually making the decision to leave it. It shows her journey starting before she was introduced to the company all the way through the present day. I felt like it was very empathetic to those who are involved in these companies while also calling out the issues and manipulation involved in the industry. She also brings up the connections between white supremacy and MLMs (and there are a lot).
While a lot of the information will be familiar to anyone who has done research on the problem of MLMs, it's still really fascinating (and heartbreaking) to read about one person's experience so vividly. I felt like this book did a great job capturing small daily interactions and the endless quest to "get to the next level". The end of the book moves brings Covid and the 2020 election into discussion, and I felt like these topics could be entire books but they were put into just a few pages and felt a little rushed compared to the detail of the rest of the book.
I couldn't put this book down even though the topic was pretty familiar, which is credit to the writing and the engaging tone. However, it doesn't necessarily add a lot of new information to the conversation. I'd recommend this to people who are very new to reading about the subject of MLMs, those who are currently involved and want to read something that is empathetic, or those who just really want to read as much as they can about this issue.
3.5
CW: alcoholism (detailed as part of the author's journey to getting sober)
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.