The Hollywood Assistant

 

It’s perfect that this book is set in Hollywood, because my mind feels like it’s been in Lalaland while reading this!

Cassidy is a wannabe romance novelist from Texas fresh off a break-up, when her bestie Lexie uses her film industry connections to get Cassidy a personal assistant position for glamorous Hollywood power couple, Nate Sterling and Marisol Torres.

So begins a bizarre personal/working relationship between Cassidy, Nate and Marisol where we go from “You’re a complete stranger who I just met” to “I trust you implicitly with every aspect of my life” in about 5 minutes. But do you really know who you’re working for, and do they really know you?  This trio all have their secrets and motivations.

In a book where pretty much everyone is playing each other, booze seems to be the main staple of breakfast, lunch and dinner, and every bush/tree/window from every angle no matter where you are allows you a PERFECT view into all the naughty activities you might want to creepily spy on, I feel like I just went on a short break from ALL reality!

Those who enjoy an OTT, soapy, sexed-up mystery spotlighting the extravagant lifestyle of the Hollywood rich and famous - this may be just the book for you. I could see why many readers will have fun with this. In fairness, I’m just the wrong audience for it. 

Let me break down where I struggled:

Length/Pacing: This didn’t need to be 416 pages. The first half particularly felt slow and could either be tightened up or spiced up to keep the reader engaged.

Plot: A murder is alluded to. You don’t find out who the victim is until the 80% mark. The story leading up to it is pretty slow and uneventful. Cassidy is doing her job and fantasizing about all the hots she has for Nate. And spying. The story after the murder felt predictable. I saw where this train was headed and hoped Cobb would turn it in an unexpected direction. She didn’t. 

Characters: Not one likable character.  ANY would’ve been appreciated. If unhinged women are your thing … here you go. Some readers love that!

Dialogue: Cassidy and Lexie speak to one another in ‘cool girl' slang like “prolly”, “ridic”, “superhot”, “obvy” and Lexie’s go-to word for Cassidy “chica”. Please make it stop. Cassidy also frequently talks in exclamation marks as if she’s in a perpetual state of excitement!!!!! Like that. Unfortunately there was plenty of cringey dialogue to go around. Maybe this was intentional to highlight the shallow reputation of Hollywood? I could see that.

Ending/Epilogue: A couple decent twists that may work for less seasoned thriller readers. It did the dreaded villain monologue (aka Scooby Doo ending) where the baddie confesses at length when they could’ve just kept their mouth shut like smart people. Also, I wish the whole epilogue didn’t exist. Ugh. It didn’t need to go there. Let the reader use their own imagination. Ambiguity can be so delicious! 

Here’s the GREAT news. There are many strong ratings and reviews so far that prove there’s an audience who will LOVE this book, so PLEASE read those reviews before deciding on this. 

★★ 

Thanks to Berkley Publishing, NetGalley and author May Cobb for this digital ARC to honestly review. It’s due to be published July 9, 2024.