Review – Boss Lady by Alli Frank & Asha Youmans
Synopsis
In this funny and inspiring novel from the authors of The Better Half, a mess of a heroine is desperate to resolve her past so she can finally rediscover who she was always meant to be.
Antonia “Toni” Arroyo’s protective mother has outdated notions for her daughter’s life: employ her natural beauty and marry young. But Toni has wholly different aspirations.
A promising inventor and budding entrepreneur, she fights to keep her passions alive as a financially strapped mother of twins with a job in airport transportation services that has her going in circles. One treasured frequent passenger is elderly traveler Sylvia Eisenberg, Toni’s sage but unofficial adviser and cheerleader. When Toni meets Sylvia’s grandson, Ash, a striking venture capitalist, luck just might bend her way.
With a game-changing new business endeavor in development, Toni hustles an opportunity to pitch her idea on TV’s Innovation Nation. Toni’s unexpected challenger? Her very own recently resurfaced, self-aggrandizing not-quite-ex-husband. As Toni’s interrupted past collides with her tenuous future, she is more determined than ever to follow through on her delayed dreams. Toni’s been clinging to “maybe” for so long—it’s finally time for “absolutely.”
Amazon * B&N * Bookshop
Review
This is a funny and poignant story about a woman’s journey and desire to be an entrepreneur.
Antonia (Toni) is raising twin daughters alone after her husband disappears. He has some sort of midlife crisis and is seeking to find himself. That doesn’t help Toni raise their teenage daughters. Luckily, she has friends and family who are supportive and push her to achieve more in life. One of these is a client, Mrs Eisenberg, who is a hoot. She has lived quite the life, and has a lot of knowledge and advice to dispense to Toni. That is, if Toni hears and accepts it, sometimes Toni gets in her own way.
I had a love-hate relationship with Toni. I admired her independence and gumption, but she also came across as wishy-washy when it came to her husband, Simon. She knows what she has to do, but her guilt is holding her back. That Catholic guilt will get you every time! Plus, her mother is pressuring her to keep her marriage intact. I despised Simon. He believes he can have whatever he wants without regard for Toni or anyone else.
Now, there is a bright spot in this book: Ash. He is the grandson of Sylvia Eisenberg and a gem. There are the usual misunderstandings between him and Toni, but he doesn’t let that stop him from trying to win her heart.
Other characters help round out this book and support Toni in her dream. I did think the product that she pitched to Innovation Nation was genius.
Overall, this was a book about self discovery, and we give it 4 paws up.
About the Authors
Alli Frank and Asha Youmans are coauthors of Tiny Imperfections (Random House, 2020), Never Meant to Meet You (Montlake, 2022), The Better Half (Mindy’s Book Studio, 2023) and now Boss Lady (Montlake; July 2024).
Alli Frank is also a contributing essayist in the anthology Moms Don’t Have Time to: A Quarantine Anthology. Alli has worked in education for more than twenty years, from boisterous public high schools to small, progressive private academies. A graduate of Cornell and Stanford Universities, Alli lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two daughters.
Asha Youmans spent two decades teaching elementary school students. A graduate of University of California, Berkeley, Asha lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and has two grown sons.
