Author's guest post at my blog:
https://bookfare.blogspot.com/2017/12/foodfic-please-welcome-tricia-shiu.html

This book is just such compelling reading, I just could not put it down.

We all have been victims of haughty secretaries, the ones who guard their boss better than the most highly trained Rottweiler. Treat him like he is God, and they are the handmaiden honoured to be in his presence – when he needs something.

Perhaps you have been there, got the tee-shirt as they say. Or, have you ever considered what it was like to be that person, the executive assistant, at his beck and call? What are the women in these positions REALLY like? What did they have to sacrifice to get there?

Well, this book gives us a fly on the wall peak inside. The main character in this extremely entertaining story is Sarah Marks. At the beginning of the story she is assistant to Lance Cheroux, one of the Executive Vice Presidents of worldwide Feature Productions.

The saying that those who listen at doors only hear ill, is certainly true for Sarah when she overhears two ‘friends’ discussing her imminent transfer to the dreaded Building 99. Apparently, however, the rumours are true, Mr Cheroux’s career is about to take a tumble, and she is there, right alongside him. So they are caste out to the farthest reaches of the lot, somewhere only talked about in whispers.

Sarah is a complex young woman, hardworking and dedicated to her career, how can this be happening to her, she asks, her mentor Mary Tyler Moore. Someone she talks to all the time.

Why Mary Tyler Moore? Well Sarah has a troubled childhood, drunken father, eternally young mother… but the Mary Tyler Moore show was always there, offering advice, with Mary being a role model. So, who can blame a girl if she idolises her, literally…

However, the trials and tribulations of executive office life offer a bundle of laughs as we learn more and more about Sarah, her hopes, her dreams, and what makes her tick. We follow her as she rises from the ashes and is resurrected into the higher echelons once again.

That her life is difficult is an understatement. As we walk in her shoes, we finally understand what it is like to be an executive assistant in this high flying world, dealing with rivalry and back stabbing from all directions, oh, and of course those dreaded blisters from wearing high heels every day.

This is the first book by award winning author Tricia Stewart Shiu I have read, but it certainly won’t be the last, I just loved every page! ( )