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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
I just finished Not bad for a girl by Anastasia Ryan @byanastasiaryan and here are my thoughts.
Indiana “Ana” Aaron is working in a man's world. She has a talent for coding but her work doesn’t give her the props she deserves. When she is overlooked for a promotion in favor of a man much less qualified, she cannot keep her mouth shut. Her boss, with a bruised ego, transfers her to a team that is on the verge of being disbanded.
She knows she has to keep her mouth shut and get on with her work remotely from home and when her new boss praises her and calls her Mr. Aaron, she didn’t bother to correct him. Things begin to snowball when her friends from her old department continue the ruse that she is a man and the lie builds to epic proportions. The handsome man who works with her new boss figures it out pretty quickly and helps her navigate her new role on the path to new successes.
This book was quirky, funny and so deliciously entertaining that I spent the whole afternoon reading. I loved that Ana is a tiny little warrior much like myself who uses her inside voice on the outside. Hands up to all the women that don’t know when to be silent… ME! I loved how the author highlighted the difficulties and misogyny in professions deemed suitable for men only. Where women should serve coffee and be quiet. Ana found a way to prove she was as good, better even, than her male counterparts and when she finds out her new boss is as devious as a snake, she doesn’t stand by and let him walk on her.
Her friends are the best. So funny and the things they get up to had me roaring out loud with laughter. I thought Shane was perfection and the thing with the fish.. So romantic! The book is really well written. Perfect pace and flow, all the characters were exceptional and well rounded. I kinda hope we get another book with these characters.
If you are looking for a cute, funny, womens fiction book, this one has to be what you reach for next.
5 stars!!!
Thank you to @sourcebookscasa and @netgalley for my gifted copy.
Indiana “Ana” Aaron is working in a man's world. She has a talent for coding but her work doesn’t give her the props she deserves. When she is overlooked for a promotion in favor of a man much less qualified, she cannot keep her mouth shut. Her boss, with a bruised ego, transfers her to a team that is on the verge of being disbanded.
She knows she has to keep her mouth shut and get on with her work remotely from home and when her new boss praises her and calls her Mr. Aaron, she didn’t bother to correct him. Things begin to snowball when her friends from her old department continue the ruse that she is a man and the lie builds to epic proportions. The handsome man who works with her new boss figures it out pretty quickly and helps her navigate her new role on the path to new successes.
This book was quirky, funny and so deliciously entertaining that I spent the whole afternoon reading. I loved that Ana is a tiny little warrior much like myself who uses her inside voice on the outside. Hands up to all the women that don’t know when to be silent… ME! I loved how the author highlighted the difficulties and misogyny in professions deemed suitable for men only. Where women should serve coffee and be quiet. Ana found a way to prove she was as good, better even, than her male counterparts and when she finds out her new boss is as devious as a snake, she doesn’t stand by and let him walk on her.
Her friends are the best. So funny and the things they get up to had me roaring out loud with laughter. I thought Shane was perfection and the thing with the fish.. So romantic! The book is really well written. Perfect pace and flow, all the characters were exceptional and well rounded. I kinda hope we get another book with these characters.
If you are looking for a cute, funny, womens fiction book, this one has to be what you reach for next.
5 stars!!!
Thank you to @sourcebookscasa and @netgalley for my gifted copy.
A fun mix of feminism and romance, this novel kept me smiling and laughing throughout. Indiana "Ana" Aaron is a female coder who lets it be known that she's upset to be passed over for a promotion. She ends up getting moved to a remote team, where her new boss, Melvin, assumes she's a male. As such, she starts getting the most praise she's ever gotten, even if Melvin does take credit for some of her work.
As Ana and her friends concoct increasingly ludicrous stories for why the ace new male coder isn't available to meet, Ana starts to fall for Melvin's minder, the dreamy Shane. He knows of Ana's ruse and gets a kick out of helping her hide--while also starting to see the struggles women in the field of tech have to deal with daily.
I enjoyed Ana and Shane's romance--having him know about her machinations made things even more fun. They were absolutely cute together, but they didn't have the chemistry to make them memorable. Instead, I was more enamored with the commentary on feminism and women working in male-dominated worlds--and the micro aggressions they have to navigate. That aspect of the novel absolutely enhanced the romance, but it also dominated the romance for me. Ana's friends were a hoot, too!
All in all, I enjoyed this serious-yet-sweet romance novel. A nice mix of escapism romance and real-life issues.
As Ana and her friends concoct increasingly ludicrous stories for why the ace new male coder isn't available to meet, Ana starts to fall for Melvin's minder, the dreamy Shane. He knows of Ana's ruse and gets a kick out of helping her hide--while also starting to see the struggles women in the field of tech have to deal with daily.
I enjoyed Ana and Shane's romance--having him know about her machinations made things even more fun. They were absolutely cute together, but they didn't have the chemistry to make them memorable. Instead, I was more enamored with the commentary on feminism and women working in male-dominated worlds--and the micro aggressions they have to navigate. That aspect of the novel absolutely enhanced the romance, but it also dominated the romance for me. Ana's friends were a hoot, too!
All in all, I enjoyed this serious-yet-sweet romance novel. A nice mix of escapism romance and real-life issues.
Definitely not a romance, just fiction focused on a woman in a male-dominated world with a pinch of romance sprinkled in. Sometimes absurd, but overall a very easy read.
Not Bad for a Girl is heavy on the workplace gender politics and very light on the romance, too light on the romance honestly where I was just lukewarm on the two of them and the outcome. I did enjoy the HR nightmare that was the IT workplace and have lived a lot of this myself in the office regarding different treatment for men and women, and the inherent misogyny that older bosses can bring to the table. I was rooting for Indiana and looking forward to the boss getting his comeuppance, and then ended up really loving the side characters she met along the way. The cover is a little misleading because it is less rom-com and more work-com.
This is the first book of Anastasia’s I’ve read and she’s got me hooked. I went into this thinking it would be a cute work romance but it’s so much more than that.
Indiana (Ana) is an IT coder and is relocated to a remote team where the boss calls her “Mr” and she lets it go scared that if she corrects him she might not be taken as serious. This starts a whole slew of other misconceptions regarding her true identity.
I enjoyed the story and the characters. I think a lot of women can relate to Indiana, especially in the workplace. Not to mention every company has a Melvin.
I do wish we got to see more of Shane & Ana’s relationship woven into the story. I was rooting for them from the start and enjoyed seeing their relationship grow.
If you like these tropes, check out Not Bad For a Girl!
↠ mistaken identity
↠ workplace comedy
↠ strong FMC
↠ women in STEM
↠ LOL moments
Indiana (Ana) is an IT coder and is relocated to a remote team where the boss calls her “Mr” and she lets it go scared that if she corrects him she might not be taken as serious. This starts a whole slew of other misconceptions regarding her true identity.
I enjoyed the story and the characters. I think a lot of women can relate to Indiana, especially in the workplace. Not to mention every company has a Melvin.
I do wish we got to see more of Shane & Ana’s relationship woven into the story. I was rooting for them from the start and enjoyed seeing their relationship grow.
If you like these tropes, check out Not Bad For a Girl!
↠ mistaken identity
↠ workplace comedy
↠ strong FMC
↠ women in STEM
↠ LOL moments
First thought: I really enjoyed this book. I felt seen and heard to have a character that represents a true issue a lot of us women face today in the working world. I loved how outspoken Indiana was and how she took on the patriarchy. This is a must read if you want Girl Powers vibes.
Indiana has always loved all things STEM since a young age, so when she decided to become a coder she knew it was entering a world where being a woman was a minority. But what she didn’t take into account was the bs patriarchy and being passed on for promotions even when she was the best candidate.
One thing Indiana was not good out was filtering her thoughts, she was punished when she spoke out. So that’s how she’s ended up on a last chance assignment with a remote team. The good thing was now she could work from home. The issue is the manager of this team was on his last chance, he didn’t know what he was doing and if he went down everyone would lose their jobs.
So after a few weeks working on this team, Indiana receives an email berating their work. But when she looks at the data she realizes he’s just an idiot who can’t use an excel file. So she sends him an email pointing out his mistake. But here’s the thing, her boss has never met her and when he sees her correction he assumes she is a man!
For the first time she isn’t belittled and she feels respected, she has a seat at the boys table. But things quickly spiral out of control as Indiana tries to figure out how to break it to him she’s a woman. All while trying to save the team and ensure her own future in the industry.
Literally Themes you’ll find:
* Mistaken Identity
* Women in STEM
* No Filter
* LOL Moments
* Remote Work
* Taking on Patriarchy
* Girl Power
Indiana has always loved all things STEM since a young age, so when she decided to become a coder she knew it was entering a world where being a woman was a minority. But what she didn’t take into account was the bs patriarchy and being passed on for promotions even when she was the best candidate.
One thing Indiana was not good out was filtering her thoughts, she was punished when she spoke out. So that’s how she’s ended up on a last chance assignment with a remote team. The good thing was now she could work from home. The issue is the manager of this team was on his last chance, he didn’t know what he was doing and if he went down everyone would lose their jobs.
So after a few weeks working on this team, Indiana receives an email berating their work. But when she looks at the data she realizes he’s just an idiot who can’t use an excel file. So she sends him an email pointing out his mistake. But here’s the thing, her boss has never met her and when he sees her correction he assumes she is a man!
For the first time she isn’t belittled and she feels respected, she has a seat at the boys table. But things quickly spiral out of control as Indiana tries to figure out how to break it to him she’s a woman. All while trying to save the team and ensure her own future in the industry.
Literally Themes you’ll find:
* Mistaken Identity
* Women in STEM
* No Filter
* LOL Moments
* Remote Work
* Taking on Patriarchy
* Girl Power
Serious and important commentary about the patriarchy and bias against women in tech aside, this book is HILARIOUS! I was absolutely laughing out loud so many times. I'm adding Anastasia Ryan to my must read list!
Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for providing the ARC.
When a case of mistaken identity goes completely off the rails, you end up with this book.
It wasn't bad, per se, but it also was just really unbelievably exaggerated that I had a hard time really enjoying myself. It was one crazy situation after another, coupled with a more than healthy dose of preachy feminism. Don't get me wrong - the points that Ryan made regarding women in male-dominated careers were sadly accurate, but they were often heavily belabored in lieu of the plot, much to the detriment of the story.
The characters felt very one note and there wasn't much to them. I didnt much care for Ana's character, mostly because she felt very flat. Her friends were either insane or the token gay character, and the MMC had an insta-love connection that really made no sense.
Not my favorite. I'm sure someone will enjoy this - it's a low stakes, low romance romp through chaos.
When a case of mistaken identity goes completely off the rails, you end up with this book.
It wasn't bad, per se, but it also was just really unbelievably exaggerated that I had a hard time really enjoying myself. It was one crazy situation after another, coupled with a more than healthy dose of preachy feminism. Don't get me wrong - the points that Ryan made regarding women in male-dominated careers were sadly accurate, but they were often heavily belabored in lieu of the plot, much to the detriment of the story.
The characters felt very one note and there wasn't much to them. I didnt much care for Ana's character, mostly because she felt very flat. Her friends were either insane or the token gay character, and the MMC had an insta-love connection that really made no sense.
Not my favorite. I'm sure someone will enjoy this - it's a low stakes, low romance romp through chaos.
I recently listened to this audiobook (free review copy). A remote workplace mistaken gender-identity allows Indiana (Ana) to experience the workplace as a man would. I found the struggles about being a woman in a male-dominated industry to be relatable, having experienced some of the same challenges myself. After she is misgendered in an office-wide email, Ana finds herself caught up in the lie and has to resort to desperate measures with the help of her friends (faking a fire) to continue to keep "Indiana" alive. By thinking What Would A Man Do? (WWAMD), Ana carries herself with the confidence of a man through her digital communications. I enjoyed the parts about the workplace challenges more than the romance part as I found myself not caring much about Shane. Still an enjoyable read overall with fun dialogue and serious discussions of misogyny that unfortunately continue happening today. I enjoyed the technology aspect as well and finding another female leader that Ana was able to connect with.
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes