Julia and Evan fell in love when they were undergraduates at Yale. After graduation and on the eve of the great financial meltdown of 2008, Julia and Evan move to New York City. Evan gets a job at a hedge fund. Julia has only known a life of privilege and is increasingly feeling left out of Evans secretive life. With banks failing, Evan becomes involved in high stake deals at work.

The chapters alternate between Evan and Juli viewpoint. A tale of love and betrayal. The characters are believable but Julia is not always likeable. Although some of the plot is predictable, it's still a decent debut novel.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Penguin Uk -Michael Joseph and the author Anna Pitoniak for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was given an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest and independent review.
This book follows the story of Julia and Evan from their meeting at Yale to their life beyond college, based in New York. It is told from both of their perspectives. Evan post college, works for a hedge fund company and is committed to his future . But Julia is not so satisfied with her life. Whilst I found her character a bit annoying I liked the way she was written. It felt very realistic and the widening of the differences between her and Evan was well portrayed, as was her flightiness.
An accurate and sometimes poignant description of relationships when real life interferes.
A good story which I enjoyed reading.

Strong novel , using the financial crash as a metaphor for relationships, and the sense that as humans we have sold our souls for another element of success

The plot is good the characterisation is strong

I really enjoyed this book. This story takes place mostly in 2008, with some flashbacks to earlier college years of Evan and Julia. They meet and fall in love at Yale, Evan, a somewhat naive hockey player from western Canada and Julia, a privileged Bostonian. As they graduate, they think they have it all figured out, even though cracks have started to become apparent in their relationship, they move in together in NYC. Evan gets a hot job at Spire, a hedge fund and Julia has some stumbles before finding a job as an assistant at a charitable foundation.

But the cracks grow wider as Evan starts working more and more hours on a questionable deal with his boss, Michael, and Julia struggles to find her identity and reconnects with a friend from college, Adam, now a financial journalist. As Adam and Julia start becoming too close, we see that his intentions aren't purely with having a relationship with Julia as the financial markets are collapsing and Evan's deal could be news.

This book brought back feelings of being freshly out of college and thinking you have it all figured out, only to find out you didn't have a clue what the real world was like. It was well written and I liked hearing it from both Evan's and Julia's perspective. At times, Evan seems a little too naive and Julia seems like a spoiled brat, but overall, their characters are fresh and likeable and more relatable than one would imagine.

I was provided an ARC copy of this book in exchange by Netgalley for a review.

A very apt title for a book concerning itself with Wall Street and the aspirational youngsters who work there. It also deals with their relationships and how a high octane work environment can destroy lives and morals. The author picked the global banking crisis for the main backdrop. I must confess it’s not normally my preferred genre of book but it was very entertaining reading. Evan and Julia’s story was a salutary one.