Official Review: Kate's Escape from the Billable Hour

[gali]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Kate's Escape from the Billable Hour" by Petula Parker.]

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What a delightful book! "Kate's Escape from the Billable Hour" is a well written light fiction narrated in the first person. The book explores themes such as billing policies, the greediness of big laws corporations, business ethics, the rat race, and happiness. Add to that humor, a likeable heroin and love and you have got one helluve of a read.

It takes guts to break out of the mold and to start anew. It isn't easy to step out of the comfort zone and test new waters. Our protagonist did just that and turned her life around admirably. But let's not jump the gun here.

Meet Kate Billings, a burnt out second-year attorney at Krapp & Lipschitz, L.L.P., Arizona's largest law firm. To an outsider it may appear that our kate has it all: a well-paid job, a house of her own and two best comrades. But is it enough?? She has no social life so to speak due to her over demanding job, works late hours, has no meaningful relationship and hates her work to boots. On the surface Kate presents the image of perfect corporate lawyer: polished, competence, professional and the "ladder climbing sycophant she was paid to be". However, underneath the stifling façade hides a caring woman who is dissatisfied with her job and its demands. Unlike her supervisors, she is a woman of integrity and wants to help those in need.

Kate is beautiful and engaging woman but insecure and clueless in relationship. She lost over 80 pounds due to the stress of Law school, but residues of her overweight issues still linger. She doesn’t get along with her mom and her older sister, Melisa, so she avoids their company as much as possible. Dysfunctional family describes her family to the dot.

Performance review gone awry and a chance enquiry of a journalist asking her if she is happy, causes Kate to reevaluate her life. Receiving an annual bonus of ham and skin concealer was the final straw for our Kate. After going amok at the partners' offices, she decided to quit work and find happiness. The first step toward this goal is to find Diego, a Spanish exchange student she has been secretly in love with since high school, a crush she has never snapped out of. Kate buys a one-way ticket to Barcelona and plans to find Diego and make him falls in love with her. With the help of her monitor she gets a "sanity break" (a paid off time from work) and starts putting her plan into effect.

First Kate has to find a place to stay, then she has to find some means of support and finally to set up a contrived meeting with her beloved. One fiasco follows another and Kate discovers it isn't that easy to accomplish her goals. Office vandalism, Fungus commercial, soothsaying sessions, weird spells and funny shenanigans, all those and more are just portions of this engaging book.

I had a great time reading this book. I liked the antics of the heroin and the personal and humorous tone of the story. The book has many laugh out loud moments and I rooted for the heroin all the way! The author inserted into the story many cultural references to books, movies, music and real life celebrities and the name dropping was tastefully done. The end was a bit abrupt and I would have liked a bit more of a closure. That aside, the book was a total enjoyment from start to finish and hilarious at times.

The book left a good after taste and a flaming desire to visit the lovely Barcelona. The city came to life through the descriptions of the author. I could envision myself walking along the bustling boulevards, smelling the earth ripe smells of the market, avoiding the street mimes and even stepping over dogs' crap...
Overall I really enjoyed this light-hearted romp through the life of the heroin, so I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars.

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Buy "Kate's Escape from the Billable Hour" on Amazon

[TrishaAnn92]

This sounds like a really interesting book gali! Great review!

[gali]

This sounds like a really interesting book gali! Great review!

It is and I had a great time reading it. Thank you.

[TrishaAnn92]

I'll have to add it to my continuously growing tbr list!

[gali]

I'll have to add it to my continuously growing tbr list!

My tbr list is growing as well.

[TrishaAnn92]

How many do you have on your tbr list now?

[gali]

How many do you have on your tbr list now?

Around 400 books on my immediate list. You?

[KittyFluff]

This book sounds awesome. I would love to try it out.

[gali]

This book sounds awesome. I would love to try it out.

It is.