Tabs’ review of The Rule Book by Jennifer Blackwood
Contemporary Romance published by Entangled: Embrace 09 May 16
I like plots about uptight stuffed-shirt CEOs who learn to loosen their collars and live a little, so this book looked appealing to me. Young MBA-haver Lainey has just finished her degree and moved to the big city to start her first grown-up job as a second assistant for a media consulting firm’s CEO. She’s plucky and eager to do a good job. When sparks fly between Lainey and CEO Brogan, it’s obvious that his detailed rule book is about to be thrown out the window.
Unfortunately, while the premise intrigued me, the execution left me lacking. First, I don’t think this book is actually in the genre it’s being marketed as. There’s a thin line between first person POV New Adult and Chick Lit, but this really feels like classic Chick Lit to me. It’s pretty much Lainey’s world and Brogan just orbits and occasionally lives in it. We learn almost nothing about Brogan that’s more than surface deep until 75% into the story. I still can’t tell you how old he is. He’s Lainey’s love interest. He’s not a primary protagonist.
Brogan is also a pretty shit boss. There are too many contradictions. One second he’s a mean meanie who has an overly micromanaging employee manual for his company and the next second he’s the jovial boss who the whole company actually loves. He’s a softy CEO who really cares about his employees, but he lets his assistant terrorize and lie to new hires over and over and over again. He’s ridiculously inconsistent and I wanted to reach into the book and throw a drink in his damn face more than a few times.
I am not intrinsically opposed to the secretary/boss trope, but it only works for me when there’s something to even out the power imbalance. Lainey is young and inexperienced. She just is. There’s no getting around that. Brogan claiming she’s “the smartest woman [he] know[s]” is great and all, but it’s just not on the page.
I wish I could say that I enjoyed this book, but I just didn’t. There were so many inconsistencies. Characters frequently said one thing and then contradicted themselves in the next paragraph. There were tropes in place that have worked for me in the past, but they didn’t work for me at all the way they were done here.
Grade: D+
Summary:
Starr Media Second-Assistant Survival Guide
- Don’t call your hot boss the antichrist to his face.
- Don’t stare at hot boss’s, um, package or his full sleeve of tattoos. (No. Really. Stop!)
- Don’t get on the malicious first assistant’s bad side.
- Don’t forget to memorize the 300-page employee manual.
- If you value your cashmere, steer clear of boss’s dog.
- Boss’s dimples are lust-inducing. Do. Not. Give. In.
- “The elevator ate your clothes” is not a valid excuse for showing up to important meetings half dressed.
- Don’t break seven of the rules within the first week of employment if you, ya know, are in dire need of money to support your sick mom.
- Whatever you do, don’t fall for the boss. See rule eight about sick mom.
- Never forget the rules.
No excerpt available.
