The Personal Assistant: A Novel by Kimberly Belle
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Web ID: 15435076Great book
What a great read. With Social Media what it is today, this is a must read. Scary how fast you can slide from cream of the crop to OMG. I enjoyed this book immensely and am passing it on to my sister who is slightly addicted to Social Media. Well done Kimberly Belle. That reveal at the end was so unexpected!!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Different but Held My Interest
A bit "out there", but The Personal Assistant kept my interest. The book is told from three points of view, i.e., wife and professional influencer, Alex, rich and successful husband, Patrick, and the personal assistant, A.C., short for Anna Claire. The story goes back and forth from present to past, concluding with an unexpected death, an unpredictable confession, and an odd happily-ever-after.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
4.5. Targeted, why?, scandal, loyalty…
4.5 Targeted, why?, scandal, loyalty… Alex is an influencer who has just celebrated reaching 1 million followers on “Unapologetically Alex.” After a night of partying with her husband Patrick and assistant AC, Alex wakes up to hate-followers making ugly, despicable comments. Exactly what was posted that night and who posted it? Alex is convinced she didn’t write it. Alex receives threats to herself and her family, resulting in vandalism. Was Alex hacked or is this something more sinister? And now AC is missing. Will AC intimidate Alex? Who and what are Alex’s greatest threats? Who was Mr. Fluffles? “This is a man who lies. Who’s keeping secrets.” What are Patrick’s secrets from his past? “6 years vs 10 days…” What should Alex believe? * Another follow the money! * Entertaining read!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Very twisty
Alex is mother to 12-year-old twin girls and happily married to her second husband, Patrick. For a number of years now, Alex has been an extremely successful influencer on Instagram with an incredible number of followers. As she become busier, she hired AC as her personal assistant. AC helps Alex keep up with making sure her posts are straight. One morning Alex wakes up hungover after a night of drinking too much Tequila with AC. She soon realizes she must have sent out a message late at night saying terrible things about another influencer that has angered many of her followers. The fallout is horrendous and the messages Alex receives goes from nasty to life-threatening. She is unable to reach AC and soon wonders if AC sent the message out to make her look bad. When her daughters are targeted at school and cars drive by her house as threats increase, Alex becomes very frightened and the police are called in to help. She and Patrick try to figure out who AC really is and what is she about trying to hurt Alex. This book is very twisty and leaves a lot of food for thought. I really liked Patrick but was not fond of Alex. I am not a big fan of social media and use Twitter solely for posting book reviews to promote authors. I have no desire to join in any other social media arenas for I have seen how nasty people can be and want nothing to do with that. Copy provided by NetGalley and Edelweiss in exchange for a fair and honest review.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Fast-Paced and Entertaining
This book was fast paced and entertaining. I enjoyed getting bits and pieces of the story from multiple points of view - it definitely added to the tension building within the story and between the different characters. The story itself, social media gone wrong, is a relevant, and terrifying concept, and a stark reminder that everything you put on social media is fair game and there is no privacy. Highly recommended for sleepless nights or when you have tons of time on your hands (you won't want to put this one down).
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Domestic suspense
The Personal Assistant is Kimberly Belle's latest domestic suspense novel. Alex has it all - two great kids, a loving husband and enough money that she doesn't have to worry. Oh, and she's a very successful social media mommy influencer. So successful (one million followers!) that she needs an assistant. But all it takes is one horrific post and the walls come tumbling down. Alex knows she didn't write that post. Was she hacked? Did her assistant, AC, post it? Where is she? Things rapidly go from bad to worse... Belle tells her story through multiple characters, points of view and time periods. Belle does a good job of playing with the listener, directing our attention down more than one garden path. I liked the premise and was initially behind Alex. But she started to grate on my nerves. She started coming off as entitled and over the top in general. She's very self focused. I wish I had started counting the sentences with 'my husband' in them. (Hint: there's a lot). The other characters are over the top as well and felt like caricatures instead of believable players. There are a few holes in the plot for this mystery reader. However, the final whodunit was a surprise. Kudos. I would have been happy with that being the final pages, but Belle seems determined to tie up every last point with a detailed explanation. There are some truths on social media, woven into the book. I had enjoyed Belle's 2021 book, My Darling Husband and had higher hopes for this newest. A three stars listen for me. I chose to listen to The Personal Assistant. I liked that three distinct and easily identifiable readers were used. Chelsea Stephens (Narrator), Chris Andrew Ciulla and Megan Tusing. Ciulla voiced all of the male characters and provided believable voice all of them. He's a reader I've listened to in the past. I find his voice easy to listen to, clearly enunciated and captured the action and emotions. I'm not sure which reader played Alex and who read AC. Both captured and presented Belle's work very well. Each had a firm grasp of their character and captured that 'over the top' feeling I mentioned earlier. The Alex reader captured the 'look at me' sense I got from Alex.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Domestic thriller with secrets, betrayal, lies
Whose personal assistant was AC? We meet Alex, Patrick, their family, and AC, Alex's personal assistant, who knows everything about Alex and her family. Alex is an Instagram Influencer, and Patrick is a financial wizard. The night Alex's Instagram account reached a million followers, a crazy night of celebration happened. The next morning the craziness continued when nasty comments were left on a post in Alex's account. She had no idea how it was posted. She didn't post it and would never post anything like that. Meanwhile AC is missing...is she the one who posted that damaging Instagram post that caused Alex to lose followers and to lose companies that supported her? We follow Alex and Patrick as their lives turn into a nightmare. Do we know who is causing the nightmare or who may have brought the nightmare to the surface? Could it be someone who was seeking revenge? Will you figure out what is going on in Ms. Belle's newest domestic thriller filled with secrets, betrayals, and lies? 5/5 This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Exciting thriller!
I don't know how Kimberly Belle does it time after time but she has once again created an exciting psychological thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat, as you try to figure out what the heck is going on. I was immediately drawn into this story, a series of events that could totally happen in today's society, what with the social media world that so many people find themselves immersed in. Alex is a social media influencer who finds herself exposed as something she is not, virtually overnight. Someone has basically hacked into her online persona and seems to be determined to ruin her. And just when you think that things can't get any worse for Alex and her family, well yep, they do. I went back and forth between the characters, wondering who was causing the problems, who was the bad person, and who was telling the truth. It was interesting going back and forth between Alex, her husband, and her personal assistant, trying to figure out the connections and the drama between the characters. The Personal Assistant will stun you and rock your world when you realize that someone can totally be destroyed by social media, having so much of your life out there in the world for all to see and manipulate. I highly recommend this thriller and I know you will not be disappointed when you read it. It was amazing!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com