About This Book:
In this wildly funny and heartwarming office comedy, an admin worker accidentally gains access to her colleagues’ private emails and DMs and decides to use this intel to save her job—a laugh-till-you-cry debut novel you’ll be eager to share with your entire list of contacts.
As far as Jolene is concerned, her interactions with her colleagues should start and end with her official duties as an admin for Supershops, Inc. Her secret to survival? She vents her grievances in petty email postscripts, then changes the text color to white so no one can see. That is until one of her secret messages is exposed. Her punishment: sensitivity training (led by the suspiciously friendly HR guy, Cliff) and rigorous email restrictions.
When an IT mix-up grants her access to her entire department’s private emails and DMs, Jolene knows she should report it, but who could resist reading what their coworkers are really saying? And when she discovers layoffs are coming, she realizes this might just be the key to saving her job. The plan is simple: gain her boss’s favor, convince HR she’s Supershops material, and beat out the competition.
But as Jolene is drawn further into her coworkers’ private worlds and realizes they are each keeping secrets, her carefully constructed walls begin to crumble—especially around Cliff, who she definitely cannot have feelings for.
This sparkling debut novel will open your heart to the everyday eccentricities of work culture and the undeniable human connection that comes along with it.
My Thoughts After Reading:
Two words: humor and heart! This book is packed with laugh-out-loud moments as well as multiple opportunities to sigh ‘aw’ – both hilarious and deeply touching.
This is a character-driven novel with Jolene as the star. She is a perfectly imperfect, witty and observant narrator. At one point, Jolene shares “This kind of moment is so unreal that a small chuckle escapes me. As much as a breakdown is terrible, it is also a wondrous thing to behold.” This line encapsulates how I felt the majority of the book. I Hope This Finds You Well is outlandish and exaggerated in all the best ways. Anyone who has ever had coworkers (nearly everyone!) will relate to something or someone in this book.
As a debut author, Natalie Sue knocked it out of the park in terms of storytelling: clear beginning, tension-building middle, and satisfying end. Her book could be the spokesperson for the phase “you never know what someone else is going through.” We spend so much of our time at our work places – the human connections we make or lack are integral to our work experience. I Hope This Finds You Well is a reminder to be kind, stop gossiping, and don’t be afraid to ask for help.
– Michelle
