the assistants // camille perri

sorry for the crappy picture. but you try taking a picture of a red ass book with the library cover on and get no glare. lol 

published: 2016

ISBN: 978-0-399-57693-5

pages: 279

read: 9/12/2016

rating: 1) didn't care for it 2) liked it 3) LOVED IT

SYNOPSIS (amazon)

Rule #1: All important men have assistants. 

Rule #2: Men rule the world. Still. 

Rule #3: There is enough money. There is so much money.

Tina Fontana is a thirty-year-old executive assistant to Robert Barlow, the CEO of Titan Corp., a multinational media conglomerate. She’s excellent at her job and beloved by her famous boss—but after six years of making reservations and pouring drinks from bottles that cost more than her rent, the glamour of working for a media company in New York has completely faded, but her student loan debt has not. 

When a technical error with Robert’s expense report presents Tina with the opportunity to pay off the entire balance of her loans with what would essentially be pocket change for her boss, she hesitates. She’s always played by the rules, but this would be a life-changer. As Tina begins to fall down the rabbit hole of her morally questionable plan, other assistants with crushing debt and fewer scruples approach her to say that they want in. Before she knows it, she’s at the forefront of a movement that has implications far beyond what anyone anticipated.

 MY THOUGHTS

(just thoughts on the book itself)

i LOVED this book!!!!

i knew it was going to be a quick read for me, i just didn't think I'd devour it in a day. 

i had to get an oil change and they took forever so i read a good chunk there. and when i got home i couldn't put it down. i kept saying one more chapter, one more chapter and in the end i was like 50 more pages. so i just finished it. 

anyway, i love this book!!!

i love CP's writing. 

i love how she acknowledges that we do live in a world where men do make more money, where college students are drowning in debt, and where women are still fighting their way to the top. 

and yes i know these are topics that are heavily talked about everywhere BUT instead of being freaking negative about it, she uses those topics to her advantage. 

she makes Tina be human with a variety of emotions but still funny and still a real person who knows those things are happening but not angered by that, but eventually empowered. 

to me, this book is about empowerment to see who you can become and acceptance that yes, you can have a college degree but now a days, it doesn't mean what it did then. 

it was funny, well written and it had me intrigued the whole time. 

the friendships that she built were the best because even she said it, they were an oddball team. 

but it was the friendship that she built with Emily was the absolute best. i want my own Emily. 

i also loved this book because it made me realize that its okay that i don't have my shit together at 28. 

i unfortunately  do not have a college degree. but that's my decision. and seeing the amount of debt you could get in to is the reason that its stopping me. 

i don't know what i want to do but i know i don't want to owe money for the rest of my life. 

i liked that the book made me feel okay about that. 

about the money, at first i was like, there's no way right? who siphons money like that? but then i thought to myself, that's kind of the world we live in, so its believable.

i just loved that she used it for good and not for greed. (paying off college loans for you and others, even under threat, is good. to buy yourself new shoes every other hour, is greed.) 

i loved loved loved this book. 

this is usually the part where i leave you with quotes buuut i was waaay to into the book that i didn't flag anything.  

i definitely recommend this book.

i loooooved it!!!!! 

spoilers after the jump!

thanks for reading!

#lesreads on IG

SPOILERS 

Tina works for Robert who basically own every media circuit you could ever think of. 

she's worked for him for 6 years. 

he spends about her whole entire years worth of work on a pair of socks while shes struggling to live day to day and pay off her student loans. 

til one day when she has to book his flight, and pay for it with her credit cards. 

you know those messages that say your call may be monitored for whatever purposes? well, when she called to book Roberts flight, her call was picked. and because the lady who helped her was a total bitch, she was reimbursed $19k. which she received a check for even though the company had already been taken care of. 

she knows she cant keep the money. 

and then, she deposits it from the comfort of her own home and pays off her loan. 

and she gets away with it for a while. 

then Emily comes along and asks her to do the same. 

and then Margie comes along and tells her to do the same but for a friend. or she'll rat. 

and then Emily brings Ginger into the mix. 

and then Margie's friend, Lily, brings Wendi along. but for something else. 

(there's a chain of command here, but you read the book. this ones too good to miss out on)

so they pay off Emily's, then Lily's and then Wendi decides to robin hood this and decides to create a program where all of the assistants can add money little by little and help other women out. 

and then Kevin blabs to his friend in Buzzfeed and now everybody knows. 

in the end, they get away with it; in the long run. 

Emily ends up going to jail because Robert doesn't believe Tina has it in her to think of such a thing and in the end, its freaking Margie (who i sorta wanted to strangle a little bit but still loved) who kinda saves the day. 

and its Tina that stands up to Robert in a classy way but lets him know she ain't one to mess with. 

and it's all of them that build something amazing together.