Customer Reviews

Fire Me: A Tale of Scheming, Dreaming and Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places

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Fire Me is an absolute must-have for anyone who has worked in an office setting. If you haven't worked in an office before you're still going to enjoy this sure-fire hit! This novel is insightful, sincere and the characters are all too human; it's very easy to identify with them. The story is smoothly-flowing and the plot twists are fresh and imaginatively written. The majority of the novel takes place over the course of one day. Anne's day starts off badly and only gets worse as she tries to be the person in their department to get fired; a wonderful part of this story is how much Anne begins enjoying her attempts to get 'canned'. Anne and her co-workers juggle their daily tasks while trying to guarantee an outcome; to be THE one to get fired. With witty dialog and outrageous situations, Anne and the rest of the office workers have a day that will long be remembered. This novel is much more then a romance; it's a fascinating, humorous case study of purpose and ingenuity! Can Anne redefine who she is deep down and find love, all in one day? You'll have to read it to find out.

I very highly recommend this book!

(9 out of 10 Diamonds) - Loved it!

© 2008-2009 Bobbie Crawford-McCoy (Book Reviews By Bobbie).

All rights reserved.

Put Fire Me by Libby Malin on your summer reading list. Newly released from Sourcebooks, this is perfect beach bag chick lit!

The Burnham Group provides consulting, lectures and it's latest venture - ' camps' for management teams to work on trust issues among it's services.

Anne Wyatt works at the Burnham Group and was in a relationship with CEO Mitch Burnham. She heads to the office on Pizazz Day (another team building exercise) to hand in her resignation and move on with her life.

But before she can do that, Mitch announces that they need to tighten their belt a bit and he needs to let a staff member go. However, he will be fair and that person will get a generous severance package. Well, Anne could use that severance money. The problem is that a few other people in the office could as well. Sheila and Ken were planning on leaving as well. The money would be an added bonus. Ken was last hired, so he feels pretty confident it will be him let go. But Anne and Sheila are taking no chances......

The entire book takes place over the course of that day in the office. Anne and Sheila do their best to become the worst employee ever, with absolutely hilarious results. It begins with simple things, jamming the copier, bad coffee, loud music and progresses to TV parties, gifts for everyone and completely inappropriate behaviour in an office. Sheila is a formidable competitor though as their efforts to outdo each other escalates. I had to check if Malin had ever worked in an office (she has) as her descriptions of office antics and politics had me laughing out loud. Each chapter begins with excerpts of wisdom from Mitch that are oh so clever! I saw past managers flash before my eyes. (If you like the television show The Office, you will appreciate the office antics in Fire Me)

With nothing left to lose, Anne begins to see her life with newly opened eyes. Is she really happy? And what about that Ken - he is sweet and nice looking, maybe.... And Sheila, why didn't she ever talk to her before this? The closer the end of the day and the decision comes, the freer Anne feels.

Who gets fired? I'm not telling!

Malin has written a light-hearted romp of a book. The race to be fired is the part I enjoyed the most. The romantic and self discovery elements are there, but play a smaller part. I found this to be a quick, fun read. Libby's website mentions that Fire Me has been optioned for a film. I think it would make a great comedy.

I was in a perfect frame of mind for reading FIRE ME by Libby Malin, having just been "let go" myself.

Malin has written a very funny and original story - asking the question - just how far would YOU go to get fired? if you knew that you would get a nice, interesting severance package at the end of it? Anne, our wonderful main character is about to find out.....

Anne has worked for Mitch for a long time (and feels even longer since she broke off a dead end relationship with him). Unfortunately, Anne found out the hard way that you should never date your boss :( and she decides that she needs a change - and finds it - in a new job in San Francisco. Just as she is about to announce her resignation, Mitch announces to his employees, that one of them will be laid off - and getting a nice severance package. This sounds like a perfect solution to Anne - she will make sure that Mitch "fires her" and she will be able to leave with her head held up AND some nice $$$.

The only thing is, someone else in the office has the same thought - her co-worker Sheila has started acting up - and Ken, who works with both of them, but has a secret crush on Anne is making sure that he "cleans up" any mistakes that Anne makes - as he is under the mistaken belief that Anne is making these silly mistakes because she is under too much pressure at her job.

What follows is a hilarious series of missteps, miscommunications and ridiculous situations that are both funny, funny and at the same time, strangely touching.

None of the characters are horrible and you get the feeling that, on some level, everyone in this storyline is somehow trying to find their "real" place in life and that the "severance package" is almost like a golden opportunity for everyone to re-evaluate their lives and the direction they wish to take in the future.

There are a lot of hidden messages behind the laughter here and the author did a wonderful job of passing that along to the readers, while at the same time keeping the upbeat and funny thread of the storyline.

I really enjoyed this one.

The Review

This book has a story that happens during the course of 1 day! This fast-pace, humorous book kept me giggling throughout the night. The books that make me laugh out loud, well I just have a special place in my heart (and library) for them. This book certainly gave me plenty to giggle about and loads to remember fondly.

Anne and Sheila discover, on the very same day that they had intended to give their resignation notices, that their boss is intending on cutting back staff. To soften the blow, he announces that there is a HEFTY severance package just waiting for the person who will, unfortunately, lose their job at the end of the day. What the readers know and the boss doesn't is that Anne and Sheila have already lined up new jobs. This severance package would just be a great nest egg to compliment their existing plans to move on. So it begins... the war to the finish between Anne and Sheila... who can get fired first? Their antics are the funniest part of this book and I loved them! They were pure genius!

For me, the romance aspect of this book wasn't nearly as important as the race to get fired. There was a little romance and it was fine, but for me it was secondary to the main storyline. For anybody who's wanted to really annoy their boss... for anybody who's ever had it "up to here" with their job... this book is a fun read and will bring you lots of laughs.

On Sher's "Out of Ten Scale:"

If you read my book reviews, you may know that I am a fan of Chick Lit. I just devour it! This was Chick Lit with humor that really set it apart from the others for me. I had a ton of fun with the book and really enjoyed it. For the genre Fiction:Chick Lit, I am going to rate this book an 8.5 OUT OF 10.

Anne Wyatt is tried of working in the fast-paced corporate world of deadlines and a demanding boss. Lucky for Anne she has been offered an out. She has accepted a position as a Public Relations Representative for St. Bartholomew's hospital in San Francisco, California. Now all Anne has to do is find the courage to turn in her notice. Before She can do so her boss, Mitch calls a staff meeting. He informs the employees that the company isn't doing so good and that he has to cut one employee. He does tell them that the employee will not leave empty handed. The employee will be given a nice severance package. Mitch will make his decision by the end of the day.

Anne sees this as the perfect opportunity to get Mitch to fire her, so that she can leave with a nice chunk of money. Unfortunately she is not the only one thinking the same thing. This is going to be one crazy day; as everyone does everything in their powers to do the worse job ever. Because whoever gets fired will come out the winner.

Fire Me: A Tale of Scheming, Dreaming, and Looking for Love in all the Wrong Places is a quick, fun, light-hearted read. During hard times like we are currently in, this is the type of book you need to read. Anne is the star of this story. She goes way above and beyond to get fired from curling her hair during a meeting, to taking numerous breaks, giving out her boss's phone numbers including his personal line and cell phone, and to finally even taking up smoking indoors to try and set off the water sprinkers! While all of these things were funny, I was expecting to laugh my head off. I do have to say though that for having read Fire Me as my first book by Libby Malin, I would gladly read others.