REVIEW: Bond Girl by Erin Duffy @WmMorrowBks

Book Description

Publication Date: January 24, 2012

When other little girls were dreaming about becoming doctors or lawyers, Alex Garrett set her sights on conquering the high-powered world of Wall Street. And though she's prepared to fight her way into an elitist boys' club, or duck the occasional errant football, she quickly realizes she's in over her head when she's relegated to a kiddie-size folding chair with her new moniker—Girlie—inscribed in Wite-Out across the back. 

No matter. She's determined to make it in bond sales at Cromwell Pierce, one of the Street's most esteemed brokerage firms. Keeping her eyes on the prize, the low Girlie on the totem pole will endure whatever comes her way—whether trekking to the Bronx for a $1,000 wheel of Parmesan cheese; discovering a secretary's secret Friday night slumber/dance party in the conference room; fielding a constant barrage of "friendly" practical jokes; learning the ropes from Chick, her unpredictable, slightly scary, loyalty-demanding boss; babysitting a colleague while he consumes the contents of a vending machine on a $28,000 bet; or eluding the advances of a corporate stalker who's also one of the firm's biggest clients. 

Ignoring her friends' pleas to quit, Alex excels (while learning how to roll with the punches and laugh at herself) and soon advances from lowly analyst to slightly-less-lowly associate. Suddenly, she's addressed by her real name, and the impenetrable boys' club has transformed into forty older brothers and one possible boyfriend. Then the apocalypse hits, and Alex is forced to choose between sticking with Cromwell Pierce as it teeters on the brink of disaster or kicking off her Jimmy Choos and running for higher ground. 

Fast-paced, funny, and thoroughly addictive, Bond Girl will leave you cheering for Alex: a feisty, ambitious woman with the spirit to stand up to the best (and worst) of the boys on the Street—and ultimately rise above them all.

About the Author

Erin Duffy graduated from Georgetown University in 2000 with a B.A. in English and went on to spend more than a decade working in fixed-income sales on Wall Street. Bond Girl is her first novel.

Details Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: William Morrow; Reprint edition (January 24, 2012) Language: English ISBN-10: 0062065890 ISBN-13: 978-0062065896 SOURCE:  AMAZON VINE MY THOUGHTS LOVED IT Alex's father works in a bank, which she thinks is extremely glamorous, so when she graduates from college and she is determined to get a job at Wall Street firm.  She lands the job and finds the ultimate boys club which is raunchy, full of hazing and practical jokes.  There is only one other woman working on the floor, who Alex nicknames Cruella.  Now, as far it sounds like a bad drama on paper, but the story really shines.  I originally thought this book was a memoir and the author does state that a lot of the incidents are based on facts, things that happened to her when she worked at a large Wall Street firm.  There are tales of too much alcohol, late nights, expense accounts gone wild and being the only girl, some romance.   This is more a story about finding yourself, learning your strengths and weaknesses and well, basically growing up.  Alex is an extremely likable character.  You want to cheer for her when she is being abused by the boys' club. Those same boys do take her under their wing when she proves to be undefeatable.  They try to help her out when things get rough at work.  The main guy in her corner turns out to be a cad.  Like most guys in her business, he is only out for himself.  When the workplace romance falls through, the guys tell her she was too good for him. (I was nodding my head in agreement with this one!)  My favorite moment came when Alex herself plays a practical joke on the object of her affections.  She adds a zero to each line of his girl scout cookie order, thereby ordering over $300 in cookies.   As Wall Street unravels after 9/11, she finds herself still with a job but on the receiving end of sexual harassment by a client.  Her old boss has been let go and the new one does nothing to protect her.  Becoming more and more physically ill because of this, she quits and finds even more inner strength.  Overall, this is a different sort of chick lit and really a new take on the girl triumphing over love and work.  There are late nights with too much alcohol, inappropriate infatuations with the wrong guy and finding true inner strength.   It has some dark tendencies, much like Madeline Wickham (I like these books better than those written as Sophie Kinsella) and find that Erin Duffy has a really unique voice which I would love to hear more.