This is a fascinating social commentary on the large divide between young and old, which is perhaps not so unusual, but certain generations of the last century have created a division that is much larger than usual. There is a certain disdain between the generation Katherine belongs to and the one Lily is a part of. Millennials have a reputation for having it so easy that they expect everything to be handed to them on a platter and are often described as 'snowflakes' for being offended by everything.
Personally I despise the use of that particular word - it's just a catchphrase devised by those inclined to the right to discredit anyone critical of their hateful rhetoric.

You'd think that the premise is a simple matter of young privileged, manipulative Lily does her best to sabotage the older and unwanted Katherine. Lily wants what Katherine has. Simple story of the old being replaced by the young.

This story is so much more, because it gives a more honest picture of both sides, especially when it comes to Katherine. Is she really as innocent as she pretends to be and is her way the right way just because it was always done the way she says it has to be done? Maybe Lily has a point or is Lily a creepy sociopath? Depends on perception and possibly also your own age and experiences, which is what makes it such an intriguing read.

The author makes some interesting points in the acknowledgements, something I often mention in my reviews. How women are often pitted against other women, and instead of the sisterhood supporting each other, they become their own worst enemies. Shaming each other, judging, being critical, laying guilt trips on each other - all so much worse when it's woman against woman.

It's a gripping psychological thriller immersed in the wars women wage against themselves and other women.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I was in two minds about this book not too sure if it was for me, but plenty of drama, twists and turns, but too unbelievable for my liking.

A very good debut. Very strong female characters and a good story line. The writing was impressive and I like the way the author weaves the plotlines effortlessly and in a way that you can’t stop reading. This is a story that is absolutely riveting and you should definitely add it to your to be read pile if you like thought provoking people and being kept in the dark until the very end.

I struggled initially with this one and found the style of writing a little unusual to the point I wasn’t sure I’d finish it early on. I am SO glad I persevered though as once I got used to the style, the story just took off, gripping me and tossing and turning the reader in all sorts of directions. I’m not sure any of the characters were particularly loveable but the authors really paints their story so you at least understand them. An excellent twist at the end I didn’t see coming but ties it all together and takes this book to the next level in my opinion.

I found this hard to get into, but kept going. Very glad I did, the ending was not what I expected and so many twists and turns. A slow starter but worth a read.

This is a workplace rivalry book, We have Katherine a woman in her forties who is an editor of a magazine which has just been taken over, she has just come back to work after being off with MH issues, and Lily in her twenties, Lily is an intern and the niece of the new owner and she basically wants to destroy Katherine.
This is told in both Katherine and Lily’s POV and what I first thought was just going to be a rivalry between the different ages turned out to be more sinister.
I didn’t like either character all that much, and I did struggle to get through this, I had to keep putting it by to read something else, it was a little slow. It was dark and twisty with secrets but it wasn’t for me.

A chillingly, dark story. Envy, revenge, friendships and fallouts. Some truly despicable in a good way characters. A shocker of an end.

How many more twisty, dark, unsettling thrillers can my nerves take?



Just one more, it seems…



To start with the chapters felt quite long, but they move along at a rapid pace



The story flipflops between Katherine and Lily’s point of view, which successfully made me keep changing my mind between who was telling the truth, what secrets were being hidden- and why was Lily’s story wrapped up in Katherine’s?



Neither character is particularly sympathetic, but the premise is intriguing and the dialogue very accurately captures the differences between a fortysomething career woman and a millennial.



Full of tension and suspicion, this was hard to put down!

I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, HQ, and the author Helen Monks Takhar.
This was an uncomfortable and honestly quite unpleasant book to read. In that sense, the author showed the effects of psychological manipulation quite clearly. However, it prompted too many feelings of anxiety to be an enjoyable experience. One of the other reviews described it as 'messed up and unsettling', which is spot on.
The twist at the end of the novel was quite unsatisfying, with all the loose ends being tied up a little too conveniently (you will see what I mean when you read it, I can't go into more detail without sharing huge spoilers).
The author clearly writes well, but unfortunately I can't give this book more than 2 stars.

Katherine is in her 40s and editor for 20 years of a business magazine. The magazine has been in decline and Katherine feels her life, once so full of life and promise, is in a similar state. The magazine is now under new management and the CEO brings in a new intern to introduce some life to the publication.

Katherine and Lily, whilst charming to each other on the surface, share a generational dislike. The former and her partner dismiss millennials as snowflakes and the latter views people of Katherine's generation as manipulative and exploitative.

It soon becomes apparent that Lily is trying to destroy Katherine's life (for reasons left unknown till the end of the novel). However, desperate for female friendship, Katherine ignores many warning signs and decides to avoid direct confrontation until she discovers Lily's motive. The way Lily insinuates herself into Katherine's life reminded me of the BBC series The Replacement.

Unfortunately, there is too much in this book that strains credulity. Whilst there is some logic in Lily's planning, the decisions made by nearly all the characters beggar belief and become even more incredible and idiotic as the story reaches its climax. Both Katherine and Lily are deeply unpleasant characters and there is no stake for the reader in the resolution.

In an afterword, the author wishes the story to generate a discussion about how women treat each other yet the women portrayed are all manipulative and/or sexual predators. The men are cyphers, weak and fickle and easily submit to sexual temptation.

There are some decent ideas in this book and there is pace and fluency in the writing but this is spoiled by the unsympathetic characters and the unpleasant portrayal of a manufactured generational divide.

It always saddens me to write a negative review of a novel. As a fellow writer I know the work it takes to bring a book to completion, let alone to guide it through the work needed to create a fully edited and published entity. However, there was little I could find to recommend about Precious You.

The premise is dynamite in terms of its promise of exploring generational gender politics. It’s an urgent, timely response to a universal debate, taking in the themes of female solidarity, entitlement, ambition and the disparate generations that can make or break an industry. However, this is a thriller, and the author chooses to sideline these important elements in favour of a mind-bogglingly implausible plot about two women on either side of the pay gap and power divide who proceed to destroy each other in the process of a pointless revenge plot.

Genre considered, this would have been a satisfying read had the plot not been rendered through the frankly ridiculous psychology of an older woman at the top of her career game who allows her infatuation with a new, younger colleague to blindside her into increasingly stupid decisions. In place of astute psychology, the author then further does a disservice to what I suspect is a large percentage of her readership by rationalising these decisions through a pastiche of behaviours that do about as much for mental health as Rain Man did for autism.

The writing is solid, the pace is on-point, but the whole is a cheap shot at thrills that left a distinctly bitter taste in this reader’s throat and a sense of longing and disappointment for what could have been an incredibly important book. My thanks to Ballantyne and to NetGalley for the ARC.

What a great roller coaster of a thriller this was . The synopsis isn’t anything overly original as there are plenty of psychological stalker thrillers out there but if this is your genre then it’s definitely one for your list .
The story is told from 2 different characters which tbh are both unlikeable characters but this sort of adds to the whole suspense and tension of the book . I had no idea where the story was going to go and didn’t anticipate the ending which is always good . This would make a great Netflix series !

When Katherine first meets her new intern Lily, she’s captivated. Young, beautiful and confident, Lily reminds Katherine of everything she once was – and it’s not long before she develops a dark fascination with her new colleague.

But is Lily as perfect as she seems, or does she have a sinister hidden agenda? As Katherine is drawn into an obsessive power struggle with the intern, a disturbing picture emerges of two women hiding dark secrets – and who are desperate enough to do anything to come out on top…

Wow what a book. This is probably one of the best books that I have read so far in 2020. I always love a book where you have no idea where it is going. This is one of them. The book was so dark and suspenseful. It was told from two different perspectives. I thought it had all figured out. Then I got the shock about Ian. This book was great and I cannot recommend it enough

I struggled initially with this one and found the style of writing a little unusual to the point I wasn’t sure I’d finish it early on. I am SO glad I persevered though as once I got used to the style, the story just took off, gripping me and tossing and turning the reader in all sorts of directions. I’m not sure any of the characters were particularly loveable but the authors really paints their story so you at least understand them. An excellent twist at the end I didn’t see coming but ties it all together and takes this book to the next level in my opinion.

I loved the concept of this book and even though at times I hated reading it (in a good way) I felt compelled to as I wanted to know what happened with the characters.

That’s right even though at times I wanted to put my hands over my eyes it was a really good psychological thriller. It made me feel tense. The characters were written really well and I thoroughly enjoyed the storyline.

This was a twisty thriller and very cleverly told from Katherine and Lilly POV. The writer manages to ensure you keep on turning the pages to find out what happens next and what K/L was thinking. I sometimes find thrillers hard going because characters can be unlikeable and you do not care for them plus the subject is usually very dark. The writer here somehow softens both characters so you can sympathise with both of them. A very cleaver well thought out story that maybe could happen in real life?

Thank you to NetGalley & publisher for the copy in exchange for a honest review.

Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to attend the HQ New Voices event, where I heard Helen Monks Takhar speak about Precious You. I immediately wanted to read it when I heard her speak about the book and what others thought of the story. So I am so grateful to be taking part in the blog tour! ⁣
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This is a fast paced gripping psychological thriller, which grabbed me as soon as I started reading it. I found that there were likeable but also dislikable qualities about both Kathryn and Lily and sow of the lengths they went to were sometimes quite shocking. The writing is suspenseful and fantastic. ⁣
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Precious you kept me questing until the very end and I highly recommend this book of you are looking for something very tense that keeps you guessing! ⁣
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Thank you @hqstories for sending me a digital copy in exchange for a spot on the blog tour.

I loved this cleverly written and brilliantly twisty thriller - this is the first book I have read by Helen Monks Takhar, but it won't be the last. The two main female characters were equally captivating, and I loved how the author built a rising sense of tension. The twists were so well plotted, I didn't see them coming, and my only complaint is that this book wasn't longer, because I didn't want it to end!

If you like your psychological thrillers with a bit more substance, I would highly recommend this one - fabulous.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley who provided me with a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Precious You is an entertaining read. The story focuses on two women: 40 something Katherine editor of a magazine and Lily, a 20 something intern who is foisted on Katherine by the new owner of the magazine. They play a game of cat-and-mouse where Lily tries, and succeeds, in undermining her boss. But it isn't only the ousting of Katherine that Lily is aiming for. She wants to destroy Katherine's entire life. But why is she hellbent on this?

Basically this is a tale of two generations battling against each other, the older woman wanting to keep hold of the career she has fought so hard for and the ambitious younger one wanting to make her mark on the world. Both women are nasty people with few redeeming features, which may put some readers off

There were moments when I thought I'd guessed the reason behind Lily's activities but there is a very good twist at the end which put paid to my thinking! Many thanks to NetGalley and HQ for the opportunity to read and review Precious You.

I had never really noticed the used of the word 'Snowflake' until I read this book. now its everywhere!
This book feels like something so many people could understand, a young up and comer trying to take over. But the manipulation behind it was genius. As we follow Katherine lving her life which is slowly being destroyed by Lily you can almost ignore th ehints in the background that somethings haunting her. I think id assumed the obvious answer but was completly wrong. Lily is a lovely villan to Katherines hero, flicking between both narratives giving you just enough to keep you guessing,