There’s a huge buzz around Precious You on social media and there’s a very good reason for that; whether you ultimately end up as a fan or not, it’s probably very different to anything you’ve read before. It’s not very often that you read a book with two female protagonists, and realise that you don’t like either of them, but still need to find out what’s going on…

Within the covers of Precious You lies a tangled and terrifying tale that unfolds around two women;  Katherine Ross, the prestigious female editor of ‘Leadership’ magazine with over 20 years in the role under her belt, and the too-perfect-to-be-true, 20-something intern Lily Lunt. With rivalry and nepotism playing a large part, the relationship starts off bizarrely, evolves awkwardly, and ultimately descends into a blatant power struggle involving all facets of their lives. It’s young versus old – each with huge chip on their shoulders, and neither side is playing fair. 

By the time I reached the end it had started to feel like a bit of a chore as both characters behaviour had descended into the unlikely and I had very little sympathy for either of the women who seemed to be getting what they deserved. There were twists that you knew were coming, but did hold some surprises in the execution – I think I was so busy trying to figure out  the dynamic of the characters that I forgot that there had to be a reason that these events were taking place, which worked to the author’s advantage. As the end of the book approached the pace ramped up and some unlikely outcomes were glossed over leaving some plot holes needing to be filled and me feeling a bit flat.

I was torn by this book. It’s original, it’s shocking, it’s full of very tense moments and confusing behaviour and it’s genuinely one that kept me thinking while I was waiting for  the next part to be released (I read this via the on-line book group ‘The Pigeonhole’ where the book is broken up into staves released over a number of days).

However, in all honesty,  I don’t think I actually liked it at all. I didn’t like any of the characters – I thought Katherine behaved completely irrationally (not to mention unrealistically) at times, and Lily behaved like a bad soap-opera villain – but neither of them were nice people. There’s also a very strong focus on the age gap between the two women and the generational politics that I found grating to begin with became more and more focused and had more or less ruined my enjoyment of the book by the end. Katherine is in her early 40s, obsessed that she’s old and past it, and so jealous of Lily’s youth and beauty that it is detrimental to her behaviour. She has an alcohol problem and is in a co-dependent relationship. She is a veteran of inappropriate behaviour towards her staff (sleeping with her interns is a hobby) and her choice of language would make your HR department shudder en-masse. On the flip side, Lily is a beautiful narcissistic millennial, jealous of Katherine’s life, relationship and opportunities and seems hell bent on destroying her career and personal life. Unfortunately this behaviour is largely attributed to the generational difference, rather than the characters themselves being troubled and flawed, which would have been enough. However I’m sure that pushing the agenda so hard will get people talking, which is, I assume, the ultimate objective.