User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
Four conspiracy, news worthy, ambitious, passionate, eternal darkness of spotless female rivalry stars!
Meet with Stella makes you scream like Brando on Streetcar names desire but not for bringing her loved one back, it is for cursing her and putting nasty adjectives before her name! Because this character is notorious, nasty, pretentious, spoiled trust fund babe who has a family cherish all the steps she takes and literally worship her!
She always gets what she wants. She’s rich, good looking and she knows how to kick you under belt!
And let’s meet her sidekick, best friend ( at least Violet thinks like that but she has to know, a narcissist person like Stella, who thinks she is the center of the universe can only love and admire herself so she can never have real friend) Violet! She’s hard worker, dependable, trustworthy, genuine, good hearted, helpful friend who always save Stella’s ass without taking any thank you or you’re the best friend compliment in return!
Violet was used by Stella and her family. She was still patient with their obnoxious antics because she loves them and her own family was the worst who were real verbal abusers!
Violet starts to work in network channel as intern and with her passion, hard working and talent, she starts to climb the stairs faster that any of her associates expected! But then Stella gets bored from her European vacation so she shows up! She sees Violet’s dedication to her work and she gets jealous of her! So she steals her spotlight by working at the same network channel! She also steals her research which can bring Violet lifetime achievement and big promotion! She’s relentless, ruthless and getting nastier each day!
So I got pissed and rooted for team Violet and wished she took what she deserves and stands up for herself!
I don’t want to give spoilers but I can only say, when Violet literally applies the term “ payback is bitch” on her own life and turn her name as “ Violent “, everything will never be the same!
Do I approve her actions? Well not every one of them but this book is amazingly depicting the work rules of network channels. The rules are strict, merciless, tough! You gotta have rough skin to be last one standing and do whatever it takes to win! So Violet learns to survive even she loses her humanity in each moment!
This book is harsh, realistic, gripping but also entertaining and educating one!
I enjoyed most parts of it ! At least last twists and ending was satisfying!
blog
instagram
facebook
twitter
Rating: really liked it
An interesting novel about what happens when two friends clash. Stella and Violet are polar opposites. Stella has it all - beauty, money, personality. Violet has ambition and brains. She comes from the wrong side of the tracks, not just a lack of money but the mother from hell who doesn’t even want to see her daughter succeed. She’s doing everything she can to put her past behind her. Initially they bonded at college and bolstered each other. After college, Stella takes off to travel the world but Violet is still using Stella’s coattails to maintain a certain standard of living. She carves out her own niche as she gains traction on a cable news show.
Pitoniak gives us an insider’s view of the world of cable news - the dynamics, the interaction of the team, the pressure. It was the perfect industry for these two to face off.
What struck me as odd is that Violet, for all her intelligence, doesn’t see Stella for what she is - a spoiled brat. But maybe that’s 63 year old me seeing what the young cannot. And like a typical spoiled brat, Stella wants what she doesn’t have. Jealous of Violet’s job, she immediately gets an entree into the same network.
The title is spot on perfect. Stella needs/uses Violet. Even Stella’s family uses Violet like some hybrid family servant.
Remember those horror movies when you’d be screaming at folks on the screen not to do something? I found myself doing that with Violet. And that was even before things took a wild, wild turn. And after the turn, well I can honestly say I didn’t know how I wanted this to end.
Great writing and characters, too, on top of the fast paced story. Just a fun read that I didn’t want to put down.
My thanks to netgalley and Little, Brown for an advance copy of this novel.
Rating: really liked it
****HITS SHELVES TODAY!!! DON'T MISS THIS GEM OF A NOVEL!****
This book is everything I want in a novel. I savored every single page. In one word -
AMAZING!!!Violet and Stella meet in college and quickly become best of friends. The two young women come from very different backgrounds. Violet, couldn't wait to escape to college from her poor upbringing in the middle-of-nowhere Florida by neglectful parents. A quiet but determined young woman she's the perfect friend for the flighty Stella. Stella, on the other hand, was raised in a wealthy family with little care and regard for anyone or anything around her. Beautiful but reckless she adores it when Violet swoops in to save her time and time again.
When Violet finally gets her foot in the door at a cable news station it seems like a dream come true. With hard work, ambition, and endless determination she quickly begins climbing the corporate ladder. So what happens when Stella returns from traveling the world and sees just how successful Violet has become?
"This wasn't my role in our relationship. She could only stand the spotlight being on someone else if that spotlight was unflattering." Stella, jealous of Violets success and her endless hours at work, decides to make a few phone calls that ultimately land her a job at the same cable news station. While Violet frets behind the camera it appears that Stella's own star is beginning to rise in front of the camera and casts a shadow on everything that Violet has worked so hard for. When best friends become rivals someone is bound to win and someone is bound to lose.
OMG!!! I loved this. I should mention I have always been intrigued by journalism and reporters and all things news so this was just so delightful to read about. It was the perfect juicy, scandalous, let's pass the popcorn type of read. I really can't praise this one enough. 5 Delicious stars!
Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Rating: really liked it
4 Stars
Two women who are oh so different, yet each has what the other wants. Is it love or is it hate? Why it’s “Necessary People.”Stella is gorgeous, rich and popular, with family everyone wants. Violet is pretty, intelligent and hardworking. Stella is jealous of what Violet achieves; Violet is jealous of who Stella is. Best Friends and frenemies who meet in College, without each other, they cease to exist. Violet is down to earth, kind and decent. Stella is unreal, wealthy, snobby and well, rude. They go together like oil and vinegar, so different and yet, it’s like pure perfection.
“Necessary People” is drama and a thriller rolled into one. It’s fast-paced and edgy. It’s character driven and full of angst. What else is there to say except that it was hella good!Thank you to NetGalley, Little, Brown and Company and Anna Pitoniak for an arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Published on Goodreads and Netgalley on 2.26.19.
*Will be Published on Amazon and Twitter on 5.21.19.
Rating: really liked it
Stella and Violet, who met in college, are the best of friends despite coming from two very different backgrounds. They are necessary to one another for very different reasons: Violet, who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, needs Stella for her wealth and connections, while Stella needs Violet for constant validation.
“There was the misery of having too little, but there was also the misery of living among those who believed there was no such thing as too much.”But just how strong is their friendship? Is it true?
The friendship is tested when Stella returns from a post-college extended trip abroad, while Violet stayed behind, worked hard, and rose through the ranks at a cable news station. When Stella returns and sees how successful Violet is, guess who wants to steal the show away from her “friend”? With friends like these who needs enemies? As the story unfolds we see just how far the other will go to get what she wants.
“To be selfish. To be cruel, at times. To harden your heart so that you need no one else. When you realize how powerful this makes you, you keep it to yourself.”I thought I had this one figured out pretty early on, but was pleasantly surprised to find out I was wrong. I loved the characterizations of both Stella and Violet and I loved the cut-throat newsroom setting. Very well-written, this was a thoughtful look at the haves and the have-nots, as well as ambition and drive and friendship and morals. The combination made for an explosive page-turner that I highly recommend for fans of character-driven thrillers. There is a lot of nuance and commentary that makes this deeper than it appears at first glance, while not letting up on the tension for one moment.
I'm only sorry I let this BOTM choice gather dust on my shelf for far too long.
Rating: really liked it
Necessary People by Anna Pitoniak explores the complicated toxic relationship between two very different best friends. They live very different lives but are intertwined together by their ambitions.
I was drawn into this character study into the dark side of friendship family and privilege. I loved the dynamics here between two best friends Violet and Stella. Stella is rich, privileged and ambitious when it comes to besting her bestie. She really thinks she is pretty special. Violet is struggling to stay afloat and is dependent on Stella’s family. She really is trying to be something special at her job. This made for an interesting dynamic between the friends.
Both characters are unlikable and I was on my toes guessing who was more the toxic one to each other. I couldn’t feel any sympathy for either character and didn’t find too much to relate to with either making it hard for me to figure out who had the power over who. I had no idea where the story was going or where it could possibly go until that twist at the halfway mark and the story started to come together and I was turning the pages as fast as I could to see how this one wrapped up.
Thank you to Little, Brown and Company and Hachette Canada for my complimentary copy.
Rating: really liked it
“I had learned the danger of beautiful things.”⤷ First book of the year = success 💫
This was fun. Even though I spent half the book waiting for Stella to get her comeuppance at every turn.
🎧 audiobook narrated by Vanessa Johansson.
Rating: really liked it
Frenemies anyone? Holy crap if these two girls are best friends as they claim, I would certainly hate to be their enemy. Absolutely scandalous is what this book is! This was a buddy read with myself and one of my best book buddies Brenda from Two Sisters Lost in a Coulee. Please pop over to her blog and check out what she thought. It was a great buddy read because there was a lot to talk about!
Stella Bradley gets every thing she wants....always. She comes from a wealthy family and never seems to have a consequence for her actions, not matter how outlandish. She is reckless and has self proclaimed that she is "rich and lazy." You get the picture. She is gorgeous and everyone wants to be her and be with her. Her family supports her no matter what she gets herself into.
Violet is the polar opposite and it is interesting when they become friends in college. Violet has to work hard for everything and has no family support. Soon Stella and her family become her support system, except they always seem to find it necessary to remind her of it. There was a very odd dynamic to this relationship between herself and the Bradley's but it certainly kept me intrigued.
As their relationship evolved over the years one of them is overtaken with jealously. Their friendship is replaced with a competitive, nasty, back stabbing situation that will leave your mouth hanging open. I was enthralled from start to finish with this toxic relationship these girls had. Will one of them go too far?
Rating: really liked it
Bottom of the 9th
2 outs
3 balls
2 strikes
Pitcher throws a fast ball right over the plate...
Batter swings for his life, this is going to be the homer of his career...
he swings so fucking hard that the bat flies out of his hands and soars into the stands, knocking out a toddler in the 4th row.
That's how bad this book struck out for me.
This was my May 2019 BOTM choice and it's the first time I haven't loved the book I recieved. 😕
Rating: really liked it
DNF @ 170 pagesI have been trying to get into this book for weeks. I keep picking it up and putting it back down again and I really wanted to love it but I just feel so meh about it. I love thrillers, especially thrillers that revolve around female friendships where there i a competitive nature between them - it's one of my favorite tropes to read about. But I was just so bored out of my mind reading this and it
felt like nothing was happening. They literally tell you in the description that Stella gets a job at the same place Violet does and then that doesn't even happen for more than 100 pages in, so the description low key kind of spoils you which I hate and why I never like to read the descriptions when I read thrillers.
But Stella just felt like the typical spoiler brat of a character, there was nothing particularly interesting about her or our main character Violet. We don't get to see much of their friendship before Stella disappears and we are left with Violet dealing awkwardly with Stella's family.
I don't know,
I wanted to love this but this book was putting me in a slump and I couldn't care less how it ends at this point.
Rating: really liked it
Fantastic read! This book really depicts the ugly side of friendship, it perfectly portrays the destructive nature of when ambition between two best friends becomes competitive. Insecurity is the plague of success and this book cleverly shows the toxic consequences of a friendship where the power of privilege overshadows everything that Violet our main protagonist attempts to achieve. It all turns very nasty quickly and it kept me hooked til the very last page. Addictive stuff!
Rating: really liked it
You don’t soak cast iron pots.
Rating: really liked it
***SPOILERS HIDDEN***
Necessary People is like most contemporary suspense-thriller offerings: It’s page-turning; it’s really easy to read; and it’s exciting. But that’s it. I took a chance on this book because author Anna Pitoniak once worked as an editor at a major publishing house. I figured this kind of author is more likely than most to write something that’s a cut above. Unfortunately, it’s just another mindless soap opera-ish read in the genre. I kept thinking “airport,” as in, well-suited for plane reading.
The story is about two friends: humble Violet, who comes from a poor family and is ambitious, and conceited Stella, her opposite. Violet narrates, and, as an “everywoman” type, is immediately likable. Stella, as viewed through Violet’s eyes, fits all the clichés of the filthy rich; she’s selfish, narcissistic, and spoiled. These two nonetheless strike an unlikely friendship from the moment they meet, though it’s an unusual one, marked by an undercurrent of resentment. It exists only because of a dysfunctional symbiosis. Violet is in awe of rich Stella and enjoys the tastes of wealth she gets while with her, and Stella relies on Violet’s responsible nature to get her out of jams and generally take care of her.
Events are set in the years immediately following graduation until the women’s late twenties, but the story opens with the two meeting on a college-campus tour. In what I suspect was the result of overzealous editing, Pitoniak skipped the college years save for one somewhat-interesting incident from that time. The fast-forwarding is an obvious mistake; in doing so, the author eliminated vital development of the two solidifying their friendship.
As Violet and Stella establish themselves in the working world, Stella embodies the adage “It’s not what you know; it’s who you know,” when she snags plum assignments at the same news station where her frenemy works, eventually surpassing her. Here, there’s interesting implied commentary on how a beautiful woman’s looks and charm frequently give her an unfair career advantage. I got emotionally invested early on, feeling mostly rage: enraged by Stella’s usurping of Violet’s territory, enraged by her passive-aggressive treatment of Violet, and enraged by her cutthroat behavior.
I liked how dramatically Pitoniak illustrated the adage--while recognizing that she did seriously strain believability. (The friend may be beautiful, charming, and well-connected, but surely experience and education in a chosen field is essential. Pitoniak expected me to accept that although Stella is an utter newbie in her field, she effortlessly shoots through the ranks to become a celebrity news reporter.) I just had to go with it.
More than anything, I was disappointed in (and surprised by) how flat and stereotypical all the characters are. There’s the sweet Southern co-worker; the snobby rich parents; the dangerously possessive boyfriend; the phony star reporter; and more. They’re lively for sure but not at all nuanced. Pitoniak’s trouble with characterization stands out most, however, in her depiction of wealthy versus poor. The wealthy are entitled, self-serving, and materialistic; the poor are humble, industrious, and relatable. I was unreasonably annoyed by the wealthy stereotyping--not because I feel bad for wealthy people but because this portrayal in particular is so lazy.
Three stars for
Necessary People feels right, if a tad generous. Maybe Pitoniak aimed for better, but she ended up producing insubstantial, escapist fare. The plot isn’t brilliant, but I was entertained. The writing is lackluster, but I was frequently impressed by Pitoniak’s insights. The characters are stereotypes, but I was interested in them. The conclusion is tidy, and some parts are undeveloped, such as Violet’s poverty-stricken upbringing, while other parts are way too-conveniently resolved (view spoiler)
[such as Violet’s relationship with possessive Oliver who becomes a menace right before he vanishes from the story entirely (hide spoiler)], so a forgiving attitude is a must while reading this. I don’t know that I’ll remember
Necessary People very well a few months from now, but I enjoyed the escape.
Rating: really liked it
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
“It’s not Machiavellian. It’s just survival.” You know what’s even worse than being
FORTY-THREE (*insert crying emoji*) reviews behind? Covers like this . . . .
So much same makes my brain hurt. The fact that I can remember
anything about either of these books this long after reading them says a lot about the entertainment level they provided to me.
We’ll see if I ever get around to reviewing
Temper, but as for
Necessary People to me it was this . . . .
Meets this . . . .
My friend Elizabeth makes a fitting comparison in her review to Social Creature. Both feature the collision of the worlds of haves and have nots where the desire to achieve overrules all. Set in the fast-paced environment of cable news this familiar tale comes with a fresh new edge as Violet and Stella compete to be top dog.
Oh and NetGalley? You can probably go ahead and delete my pending request since I read my library copy a month and a half ago.
Rating: really liked it
Dark, complex, and an absolutely addictive read.
It is about friendships that turns toxic with time. I loved this book and looked forward to reading it when I was away, not that it took me long to read, I finished it quickly.
Most of the story takes place in NYC. The characters were complicated, memorable, and well developed. This is the second book I’ve read from this author and I loved it as much as the first one. If you have not yet read THE FUTURES, I highly recommend it.
Overall, I loved it!!!
