Holy cow what a ride and written very well!

The description didn't prepare me fir what this story held! I didn't want to quit reading!! There are trigger warnings in the book ... suicide, drugs and sexual assault so proceed if these don't bother
You then Def add to your TBR!

I WILL READ MORE BY THIS AUTHOR!

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review

The Clique was a wild ride. I loved it!

Here's what I loved:

-This book understands law firm culture and the corporate world. While this book is ficition, it immerses the reader in a world full of anxiety which adds to the mood and sense of urgency.
-Loved Cass as a character
-There are lots of characters and you aren't sure who to trust.

I read this in one afternoon. It was so good that I couldn't put it down.

An interesting story with some dark themes, I didn’t really care for the characters very much and thought that Cass did some pretty stupid things - but it was enjoyable enough - 3 and a half stars

OMG what a read
The clique is an absolute rollercoaster ride
Murder, lies and red herrings
You have no idea what's is going to happen
Definitely going to be a number one best seller
Rhiannon Barnsley what a writer

Thank you, Rhiannon Barnsley, netgalley and One More Chapter

Wow! What a well written story.

Let me tell you the description of this book does not even come close to preparing you for all the drama, intrigue, and mystery that surrounds the people in this book. I actually wasn't sure I wanted to read this book based on the description but I am so glad I did. I didn't want to put it down, but this thing called work (ugh) got in the way of that. : ) I was even late returning from lunch because I lost track of time while reading.
The ending really surprised me though.

I will say if suicide, drugs, and/or sexual assault are triggers for you, I would proceed carefully.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins UK - One More Chapter for the advanced copy for my honest review

"𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒖𝒑 𝑰𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆, 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒚𝒑𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒉. 𝑻𝒐𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈, 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒆-𝒅𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒍."

Every working woman is aware of the inequalities in the workplace. Lawyer Sara O'Neil was a star on the rise. On track to make partner, everyone was stunned when she went to her firm's terrace rooftop and jumped to her death. However, it was easy to explain away her death; the long hours, the broken engagement, having nothing in her life except for work. Her co-worker and mentee Cassandra is devastated, but then she finds out from another co-worker that Sara was part of a secret society--a females only networking group that promises a meteoric rise to the top.

On track herself to make partner, Cass's world implodes when she is fired when a drunk client gropes her at a celebratory lunch and she retaliates by slapping him. She is working the last few months of her notice when a co-worker tells her she gained access to the group's link through Sara's emails. With her death leaving an opening, both women apply to Inside, the top-secret group.

The secret society meetings were clandestine and over the top, but unfortunately, they missed the mark of being eerie or sinister. There were some plot holes that just didn't pass the "I can suspend disbelief" for, and the characters mostly seemed wooden and trite.

There was a lot of potential in the story, and by adding depth to the characters and tightening up the focus of the group, especially one thing they were rumored to be dabbling in, this could have easily been five stars. I did like the author's writing style enough to try another book. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins One More Chapter for the early copy. This title will publish June 6, 2024.

I really enjoyed this! I couldn’t put it down and loved every second of it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I found this to be a decent read, though a bit unrealistic. It centers on Cass, whose friend and mentor Sara jumps to her death with seemingly nothing leading up to it. Cass finds out that Sara was part of an elite women’s empowerment group that seems just a little too good to be true, and makes a plan to infiltrate the group so she can find out what really happened.

The story was fast paced and the author didn’t mind killing people off (which always adds nicely to the suspense), but there were so many things that were just unrealistic to me. Cass seemed far too naive to be a lawyer this far along in her career, and some things just fell into place a little too easily. I also finished the book not fully understanding the motivations behind some of the decisions that were made.

Overall, it was a fast and fun read but you’ll have to suspend your disbelief for this one. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book. It was quite different but I enjoyed it, it had some strong characters and a good story, I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for providing this book, with my honest review below.

The Clique was a thrill ride for me, combining the craft like vibes of a woman’s empowerment group gone wrong with a good old fashioned mystery.

Cass’s mentor and friend dies of suicide, which she finds out of character, and she is quickly sucked into trying to solve the mystery of whether Sara killed herself of was targeted by the women’s empowerment group after getting mysterious videos and photos and getting a weird feeling about the group. As she struggles to solve the mystery she tries to balance her best friend’s own feelings and being recently sexually assaulted and fired from her firm. There was a lot going on for Cass, almost all toxic, but I loved where this book took me. Not your typical thriller based on the premise, I sped through this and enjoyed every minute.

Yes! Yes, yes, yes!! Now this is how thrillers should be done. What an amazing book. I was calling off a date ti keep reading this over the weekend. It has suspense, suspicion, twists, turns, secrets, lies, and the most perfectly plotted out ending you could imagine. The characters were so well written and brought to life. They were made human and had human reactions and responses. I can't raye this highly enough

I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review-
A secret Society everyone wants to join with no idea of the consequences! Only so many are allowed so one must die for a new one to enter,
When Sara a coworker jumped (or did she) to her death - Cass decides to try to get into this secret clique to find the answers and then life gets scary- someone knows!
Grab this edge of your seat thriller

This story was interesting and while not YA was written in a younger, more naive style. The heroine, while a lawyer was also pretty naive and took risks that were not believable and after being told to trust no one, she gets involved with a new boyfriend and tells him everything. I think my students will enjoy it though

The premise of the book is this - there is an elite, super secret Ladies club that rarely has openings. The only time you get a space is if someone exits. Most people are invited to apply and the application process is intense.
This is a cracking story of a girl who applies for the secret club after the death of her friend. This is a story of high flying women and the trials and tribulations of an intense workforce.
This book had me captivated and I felt myself hooked. I did have suspicions about what was going on, and some were right, and I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I really hope there are no clubs quite like this out there..

The apparent suicide of lawyer Sara O'Neil shocks her colleague Cassandra Barlow. With her career trajectory soaring upwards and a life where she had everything going for her, Cass can't help but wonder why Sara would take her own life.

Even as Cass is struggling to cope with the loss of her mentor, she comes up against the deeply-rooted patriarchal culture in her firm and its clients, resulting in an incident which plunges her into a crisis.

So when she and her friend Nat start finding out more about a secretive society of women dedicated to helping other women, it sounds like a great idea to Cass. The problem is, the only way to join is when one of the group's members leaves - or dies -and it is Sara death that has created the most recent vacancy. Not to mention, things are (of course) not as straightforward as they seem...

The writing style seemed a bit dry, but the story has a lot to offer in terms of social commentary and the reality of women's lives even in the 21st century work environment. Darkly perceptive. It gets 3.5 stars.

Toxic Workplace..
When, up and coming lawyer, Sara fell to her certain death from a high rise office building the question remained as to whether she was pushed. Or, did she jump? If so, why? What simmers beneath the seemingly level waters of this firm? A dark and tension fuelled psychological suspense set amidst a workplace brimming with toxicity and with a plot populated by deftly drawn and often odious characters and an underlying vein of menace.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this ARC. Unfortunately, I found it rather boring. I felt there was a lot of unnecessary writing. I didn’t get sucked in by any character and the story line wasn’t that great. I wanted to like this one based on the description but had to force myself to finish it.

This reminded me of another book I have read recently to do with clique's so it didn't wow me but overall I still enjoyed it and the secrets that lie behind a perfect surface just waiting to be discovered.

A thought-provoking thriller that explores the nature of truth and perception, with a gripping storyline and complex characters.

I'm 25% of the way through this book, and unfortunately, I've lost interest in finishing. I prefer a more lyrical writing style and this is dry, almost textbook. But I could overlook that with characters that make me care about their story. And these just don't. On the one hand are the men and they're all unredeemable villains. But the women aren't terribly interesting either, starting with our main character. What is it she does? I know she's a lawyer, but there's no setting for me to understand exactly what it is she does with her time or why she wants to do it (apart from "I work in Mergers and Acquisitions"). She's spent the first quarter of novel detailing her long, tiring days, her eyes glazing over staring at her computer screen, and the meat grinder of an industry this is--constant backstabbing, rampant misogyny, assaults by clients with no backup from your company, the inability to have a social life or a family. Oh, and now there are employees leaping to their deaths. So why is anyone doing this? Cass certainly doesn't give us any end goal or sense that she actually likes her job after all this. So while the premise of a high-powered and dangerous female club was initially intriguing, the execution so far has left me not interested in getting to it.

Thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC through NetGalley in exchange for a review.