I found this book terribly unfunny. It’s described as a ‘wildly funny and heartwarming office comedy’, ‘laugh-til-you-cry’, ‘laugh-out-loud dialogue’ and even ‘sparkling’. I only kept on reading to find out if the main character would be fired from her job. There were some moments I may have smirked, as there are cringeworthy mix-ups and eccentricities you might find in a sitcom, plus if you’ve ever worked in an office you will find some relatable details about office politics, managers, etc. However, the marketing for this book was the most misleading I’ve ever seen.

The book is narrated by Jolene, a 30-something loner of Iranian descent who struggles with social interaction and alcohol dependency. She works in an office, where she hates everyone and has got into trouble for very stupidly typing mean things in white text in emails to her colleagues. When an attractive HR guy named Cliff (not exactly a romantic name!) arrives to recommend which employees should get the chop, he accidentally gives her access to the emails and chats of her colleagues. She uses the information to help, sometimes hinder, her plan to stay afloat at the company, but must not fall in love with the HR guy. She also gets into trouble when a fellow Iranian colleague has pretended to his parents that she is engaged to him and she goes along with the pretence, to the delight of her own parents who were despairing of her single state. We also understand that when she was at high school, Jolene’s best friend died in an accident but rumours have followed her, adding to her guilt and trauma. I felt that this part of the plot was still very mysterious as it wasn’t given much attention. I thought the book wasn’t too bad a read, until about halfway through, when I realised how silly it was, that all the characters were boring and that certain expressions were over-used. People were always huffing, knitting their brows, narrowing their eyes, or had ‘ticks’ in their jaws (sounds nasty, I hope they managed to remove the little critters…)

In summary, I wasted my reading time on this, in the hope of getting some laughs.

Published by HarperCollins, 2024.