A review by minimicropup
The Hollywood Assistant by May Cobb

funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I can’t explain why I loved this. The slow-creeping unease and predicting who the most unhinged character will be? It was a fun eyeroll, ‘one-more-chapter’ read.
 
Energy: Bright. Troubling. Foolish. 
 
🐺 Growls
The epilogue. 
 
🐩 Tail Wags
Immersive setting. Storytelling. Slow build foreshadowing. Knowing that something crazy will happen and trying to predict it. Unhinged twists. The cheesy lusting and longing. Only having the main character’s POV for the first 70%. 
 
Scene: 🇺🇸 Set in the Hollywood Hills and Malibu California
Perspective: Our main character is fresh from a break-up trying to move on by focusing on their new job as a personal assistant for a famous movie director’s wife. Four weeks later, we know is something happened, and police are taking notice.  
Timeline: Current (2020s) with snippets from four weeks later after an incident
🔥 Fuel: Foreshadowing. Tension. Unreliable characters. What happened in Cassidy’s past relationship? Will she get stars in her eyes? How is she involved with what happens? Innocent or guilty? 
📖 Cred: Suspended disbelief campy
 
Mood Reading Match-Up:
Aquamarine pool. Loquats. Morning sunlight. Simmering sugar. Tangerines. Terra cotta tile. Prosecco. Quivering candlelight. Helicopters. Gouda and honey. Full wine glasses. 
  • Love ‘em or hate ‘em characters
  • Behind closed doors with a private, charming Hollywood couple
  • Atmospheric, cinematic, immersive world-building
  • Hints of throuple tension & who to trust romantic suspense
  • From shy-girl to material-girl 
  • Whodunit and Whowillitbe (as in, who ends up the victim) murder mystery 
  • Tunnel vision observing the world through the eyes of the main character 
  • Not a lot happens…until it does 
  • Head empty no thoughts, go with the flow narratives
  • Slow burn popcorn thriller style psychological suspense
 
Content Heads-Up: Relationship breakup (off page). Parental disinterest, abandonment. Post-pandemic, lockdowns (timeline, context/setting). Alcohol (cocktails, casual, descriptive preparation, intoxication). Infidelity. Sexual content (consenting). Unrequited love. Stalking, voyeurism (sex, day-to-day life). Obsession.
 
Rep: American. Spanish-American. Albanian-American. Pale and olive skin tones. Cisgender. Hetero. 
 
📚 Format: Library Digital 
 
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