In this quasi-memoir of one woman’s quarter-life crisis, a hard-working sex-positive go-getter must learn to reconcile herself to her past before she allows it to sabotage her future when what should be a professional accolade turns into a potential PR scandal. For readers who enjoyed the complicated gender dynamics, complex mother-daughter relationships, and voice-y protagonists of Rufi Thorpe’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles and Isabel Kaplan’s NSFW.
Mina can remember, with picture-perfect clarity, the exact moment she stopped trying to be her mother’s daughter. Now 26 and on the cusp of landing the biggest contract of her career, she thinks she’s done it. And okay, maybe producing events isn’t taking the world by storm, setting it on fire, or some other disaster associated with women’s success, but at least no one can say she rode some rich dude’s… coattails… to get hers.
When she’s stripped of the opportunity to vie for the prestigious 30 Under 30 Gala in exchange for being named to the list, Mina balks. Sure, she wants to be recognized for the work she’s done, but not in that way. If she took nothing else out from under her mother’s thumb, it’s how tricky the spotlight can be. It’s a lesson she learns again and again after she grudgingly accepts the nomination, and an opportunistic journalist gets his… emails… on her.
Forced to justify an honor she’s already received, Mina retraces her messy road to success: the jobs almost lost confused by the deals she made to keep them; the people she wanted to sleep with mixed up with those she didn’t; and at every turn, her mother. By the time Mina learns she’s one of only two women on the list, she’s slept with three of the men, and her nomination reeks of favoritism, she’s lost the plot entirely. Only a second shot at producing the 30 Under 30 Gala while also remaining an honoree will prove if Mina’s finally gained control of her own narrative, or if – like her mother – she’s not the best woman for the job.