23.1.12

Book Review: Never Mind the Botox: Rachel PLUS Author Interview


Never Mind the Botox is a series about four professional women all working on the sale of a high profile cosmetic surgery business, The Beau Street Group. Each book reveals how the women cope with one of the most glamorous but challenging deals of their careers and the dramatic impact it has on their personal lives. With a briefcase in one hans and a glass of wine in the other, can they navigate their way through a surreal world of boob jobs by day and intrigue by night- and still keep their own love lives on track?
Rachel Altman is a corporate financier with a prestigious accounting firm who's desperately trying to keep on the straight and narrow. Hopelessly led astray by her bar diving boyfriend, she gets the chance to turn things around when her boss gives her the break she's been waiting for. But when the deal doesn't go as planned Rachel panics, sparking off a chain of betrayal and lies that threatens to ruin both her love life and her career.
Rachel is the second book in The Never Mind the Botox series. I read the first book, Alex last year and really enjoyed it. Rachel is the corporate financier working on The Beau Street Group deal. The books are not sequels so you don't need to read them in order; the idea is that each book deals with a different female character working on the same deal at the same time. Joanna Berry qualified as a solicitor and Penny Avis as an accountant so they both bring their knowledge and experience of the corporate business world to the writing process. Rachel, like Alex in the previous book is trying to juggle a high powered career with her personal life. I think that is what makes these books to refreshing; the fact that they are extremely realistic. I have to say that I didn't take to Rachel as much as I did Alex as i don't feel as though I got to know her as well.
I think that this is a really interesting series in that it is offering something new to the chick lit genre; the books are entertaining with a good pace and they are not afraid to portray realistic, strong, driven women having a career and a fulfilling personal life.

Dot Scribbles Rating 4/5

Many thanks to the lovely people at Midas PR for sending me a copy of the book to review.

I was also lucky enough to interview Penny Avis and Joanna Berry, here's what they had to say:


1.       Do you have a personal favourite out of the four books?
We designed all four stories before we started writing any of the books and found it very hard to choose between them, as we made sure that we divided our favourite story lines between them! It would be like having to choose between our children!That said, we get very passionate about each book as it is published so we are both totally in ‘Rachel mode’ at the moment.

2.        Do you have any disagreements when writing the books, if so how do you come to a joint decision and move on?
We had debates rather than disagreements. We always tried to look at things from a reader’s perspective, rather than from one or other of our viewpoints. Our commercial backgrounds meant that we were both used to taking criticism and looking at things very objectively, which also helped. We also tended to defer to whoever felt more passionate about the point and that helped us move on quickly.


3.       You both lead very busy and successful lives, just like the women in your books, what do you do in order to relax and get away from it all?

We both love to spend time with our families. Children are a great reminder of what’s really important, so we don’t take things too seriously. We also spend time with friends, exercise as much as we can and do plenty of partying!

4.       Congratulations on the TV series, will you be involved in the development of it etc?
Thank you and yes, which is great for a couple of control freaks like us! We have signed a joint venture agreement as partners with Future Films, rather than just signed over the rights to the books. So we’ll be involved every step of the way.



If you would like to find out more about these books or the author's themselves then check out their website here. 

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