The Little Lady Agency - Hester Browne

[goodreads]

Title: The Little Lady Agency
Author: Hester Browne
Genre: Chick-lit
Rating: 2.5/5
# pages: Audiobook ~14hrs
Date read: September, 2021


When sweet, naive Melissa seeks a job with her old Home Economics teacher she is half- way through the interview before it dawns on her that Mrs McKinnon isn't interested in her cookery skills, but is in fact running an escort agency. Melissa panics...but she needs the cash. What harm can providing lonely men with stimulating conversation over dinner do? More exciting still, she'll get to wear a disguise...


The things I liked, I really liked - the things I didn't like, I REALLY didn't like.

Basically it had three glaring issues that mostly ruined it for me.
- Melissa's dad. He was a two-dimensional tyrant with absolutely NO redeeming qualities. He was mean just for the sake of being mean - no explanation ever made, no come-uppance ever received. He was so unpleasant to read about and all scenes involving him basically made me want to put down the book and not pick it up again. I have seldom wanted to hit a man that much.
- Melissa's insecurity. She's awesome as Honey and a total pushover as anybody else.
- Melissa's way of handling Jonathan. I always get so frustrated when the main conflict of a book only occurs because of miscommunication. I don't know if it's lazy writing, but it's certainly annoying writing.

The narrator was generally good. Her normal voice was pleasant and easy to listen to, but some of the voices she put on for some of the minor characters got a bit grating.

All in all, not a bad book, but not one I would recommend either.