Please Join Us: A Novel

At thirty-nine, Nicole Mueller’s life is on the rocks. Her once brilliant law career is falling apart. She and her husband, Dan, are soon to be forced out of the apartment they love. After a warning from her firm’s senior partners, she receives an invitation from an exclusive women’s networking group, Panthera Leo. It sounds like the perfect solution to help Nicole revive her career. So, despite Dan’s concerns that the group might be a cult, Nicole signs up for their retreat in Colorado. Once there, she meets the other women who will make up her Pride. The founders of Panthera Leo are equally as impressive. They explain the group’s core philosophy: they’re a girl’s club in a boy’s club world.Nicole is all in and her new network quickly provides her with clients that help her relaunch her career, and a great new apartment too. But soon Nicole realizes that something more sinister is at play that seems all too relevant. Can Nicole extricate herself from the group before it’s too late? Or will joining Panthera Leo be the biggest mistake of her life?The story is a slow-burn thriller with lots of corporate politics. There was quite a bit of build-up with a group of women bonding over team tasks. The first half is a bit slow and you wonder where it is all going. The story really picks up in the second half and there are many twists and turns to keep you engaged. This was a fast-paced, entertaining read with some good twists and turns.The narrative alternates between then and the now, with all parts narrated by Nicole. The ‘Now’ part reveals what’s going to happen and it gets you intrigued about how we will reach that point. The characters in pride, Connie, Nicole, Heather, and Athena are all one-dimensional and have little to do to take the story forward. I wished it stuck with the theme of female bonding but it gets more and more mixed up in corporate politics.The plot and the premise are entertaining and the fact that it revolves around strong women makes it more interesting. The story is engaging from the beginning but the team-building exercises and the corporate politics towards the end dragged a bit. The ending felt a bit flat after the buildup.Overall, It was a fun read. The pacing was excellent and though it drags in places and the ending feels a bit flat, the story has enough twists and turns to keep you hooked. Three and a Half Stars.Many thanks to the publishers Simon & Schuster/Atria Books and Edelweiss for the ARC.

A gamut of emotions throughout the entire book. The main character was well developed and relatable. The story is filled with powerful women who i would even wish would be in my life! But too good to be true and the intense game of intelligence vs good are locked in a dark battle. Bravo Catherine nailed it!!!!

I found this author when she had only written one book, Spun, and ever since I wait for her new release to be out! This book is yet again amazing and hard to put down. Thrilling, relatable, exciting. Never a dull chapter. Pick up a copy today.

IntriganteLo leí casi de una vezMe ha gustado que eran caracteres femeninos casi todasY la buena manera de como nos da el final

This was such a juicy and fun read. I have a thing for powerful secret societies and seeing it from the point of a view of a new person joining the organization. It’s one of my favorite type of stories to read so I automatically knew I was going to like this.At first glance it’s somewhat similar to last year’s A Special Place for Women since they’re both about an all female organization empowering each other and helping each other advance in their careers. Yet, I think Please Join Us is darker, more clever, and an overall better read. There’s a lot of deceit and suspicious activity that was fun to read about. The stakes are high and this isn’t a group of women you can say no to. On the flip slide, they can provide amazing advantages and benefits which makes their power all the more alluring.Overall, I really enjoyed Please Join Us. It’s a page turner and it made me want to be part of a powerful female organization. I can all too relate to the feeling of men being given unfair advantages over women and how women have to work harder to prove themselves. I mean, what women wouldn’t want to smash the patriarchy and achieve power and riches at the same time?

AUGUST 2022 : 3 STARSDESCRIPTION: At thirty-nine, Nicole Mueller’s life is on the rocks. Her once brilliant law career is falling apart. She and her husband, Dan, are soon to be forced out of the apartment they love. After a warning from her firm’s senior partners, she receives an invitation from an exclusive women’s networking group, Panthera Leo. They explain the group’s core philosophy: they’re a girl’s club in a boy’s club world. Nicole is all in. And when she gets home, she soon sees dividends. Her new network quickly provides her with clients that help her relaunch her career. The favors she has to provide in return seem benign. But then she’s called to the congresswoman’s apartment late at night where she’s pressed into helping her cover up a crime. And suddenly, Dan’s concerns that something more sinister is at play seem all too relevant.REVIEW: First book by this author for me was The Good Liar (‘18 - Read ‘19 - 4 Stars). I still have You Can’t Catch Me (‘20 - $.99) and Fractured (‘16 - Free) in my TBR Pile. I liked the concept of this book, the idea of women working together to get the leg up in frequently male-dominated fields. The plot was a little confusing since the main characters, about 8-10, all had different motivations for their roles, which all started to change in the end. It got a little blurry towards the end which knocked my rating down to a 3.