It’s Not PMS, It’s You – Rich Amooi

Ruth “Ruthless” Harper is on the verge of becoming managing partner at her all-male consulting firm and she won’t let anything stand in her way. That includes men, relationships, and that dreaded F word, FEELINGS—distractions she eliminated long ago. After the worst day ever (a near-death experience and a public wedgie, for starters), Ruth realizes she doesn’t want to live and die alone. She puts together a business plan to find the perfect man and dives head first into the murky online dating pool. All she wants is a high-powered executive who understands how important her career is. If only it were that easy. Problem is most men are intimidated by Ruth’s confidence and shocked by her bluntness. The exception being her landscape designer, Nick, whose cool demeanor and unsolicited dating advice are driving her nuts. He’s the antithesis of the business-oriented man Ruth envisions for herself, so why do all signs keep pointing back to him?

Welcome back everyone, it’s been a busy week and I’m ending it with a book that I believe has some great points. Although I’m not sure how I feel about getting so analytical about a book…

I grew up with a mum who works in a male dominated industry. I spent time in her office, hearing how the men talked to each other, and the women in the office. Rich has done a great job of accurately writing how awful these kinds of workplaces can be. While I’m not happy about these workplaces existing, and men still being Neanderthals when it comes to women being better than them.

Any woman that can work in that environment, day in and day out, is a champion. But I also hope they don’t suffer silently like Ruth does. The only reason I’m ok with Rich openly talking about this type of work is to highlight how wrong it is.

Not only do we see how high-strung Ruth is, the impact it’s having to her physical and mental health and her relationships, both with herself and others. We also get to experience her life changing realisation and her journey of change with Dee and Nick.

The whole way through the book I felt like I was on the dates with Ruth, with her as she broke through the walls she’d built up and began to let those emotions through again. I’m surprised a male author could achieve that given there’s no way they can truly understand what women go through in male dominated workplaces. But he did good!

My only problem with how well he’s executed this is that I don’t think many men read romance, which means our ability to change this behaviour is limited. Unless men learn about these impacts they don’t know to change. They don’t know the impact it has to the woman they work and live with. Without getting men involved in these conversations nothing will change.

Yet somehow, I don’t think women are the only one to suffer these effects of suck toxic workplaces.

Other than the political, sexist etc crap in this story, I loved reading about how Ruth let herself go, found relaxation and had that shift of priorities that many people struggle to have when they are workaholics.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this review, next week I will be reviewing A Forgiven Friend by Sue Featherstone. Continue to read further down to find out about the author and any extra giveaways available.

Author Bio

Rich Amooi is a former radio personality and DJ who now writes romantic comedies full-time in San Diego, California. He is happily married to a kiss monster imported from Spain. Rich believes in public displays of affection, silliness, infinite possibilities, donuts, gratitude, laughter, and happily ever after.