Cosmopolitan: “Most Anticipated Books for 2018” Elle: “Best Books to Read This Summer” Goop: “15 Books We’re Reading This Summer” People: “Best Summer Books” PopSugar: ”25 Best New Books to Put in Your Beach Bag This Summer” Refinery29: “Brilliant Books to Bring to the Beach This Summer” Vulture: “18 Books We Can’t Wait to Read This Summer” “The essential political novel for the 2018 midterms.” … Summer”
Vulture: “18 Books We Can’t Wait to Read This Summer”
“The essential political novel for the 2018 midterms.” —Salon
“This political novel is comically accurate.” —New York Post
From Jo Piazza, the bestselling author of The Knock Off, How to Be Married, and Fitness Junkie, comes an exciting, insightful novel about what happens when a woman wants it all–political power, a happy marriage, and happiness–but isn’t sure just how much she’s willing to sacrifice to get it.
Charlotte Walsh is running for Senate in the most important race in the country during a midterm election that will decide the balance of power in Congress. Still reeling from a presidential election that shocked and divided the country and inspired by the chance to make a difference, she’s left behind her high-powered job in Silicon Valley and returned, with her husband Max and their three young daughters, to her downtrodden Pennsylvania hometown to run in the Rust Belt state.
Once the campaign gets underway, Charlotte is blindsided by just how dirty her opponent is willing to fight, how harshly she is judged by the press and her peers, and how exhausting it becomes to navigate a marriage with an increasingly ambivalent and often resentful husband. When the opposition uncovers a secret that could threaten not just her campaign but everything Charlotte holds dear, she has to decide just how badly she wants to win and at what cost.
A searing, suspenseful story of political ambition, marriage, class, sexual politics, and infidelity, Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win is an insightful portrait of what it takes for a woman to run for national office in America today. In a dramatic political moment like no other with more women running for office than ever before, Jo Piazza’s novel is timely, engrossing, and perfect for readers on both sides of the aisle.
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Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win is daring, confident, and ambitious, just like Charlotte Walsh herself. Jo Piazza has written a main character so honest, she leaps off the page. Charlotte Walsh is a woman I won’t soon forget.
Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win is real, raw and complicated. Piazza’s writing is filled with wit, charm and humor, which is why I loved (and in some instances lived during my time in the White House) this novel. I laughed, winced, sighed and cried. Jo has done it again.
This enthralling page-turner is a rallying cry to the #TimesUp generation, bringing a journalist’s eye to the politics of female ambition and what it truly takes for a woman to run for office. It’s smart, fierce, and so much fun to read.
I read Fitness Junkie back in the day and really enjoyed it, so I was excited to get to Charlotte Walsh Likes To Win. And in true Jo Piazza fashion, she made this book relatable, fun, and serious all at the same time. This was the perfect book to read during an election year and even though I’m sad I didn’t read it sooner, I’m also kind of glad I waited until 2020. Charlotte and other characters could be related to people in the real world, and I found her opponent sounding a lot like a certain someone whom I won’t name. I liked the book as soon as I started it, and I really liked Tavia Gilbert’s narration for the audio. She is a little weird with some of the side characters, but I loved the way she read Charlotte and a couple of others specifically. I also thought this was a page turner, and I found myself not wanting to stop listening.
Charlotte Walsh Likes To Win felt really quick, and even though our main character is running for senate, this book never felt overly political and definitely not preachy. I thought it was a very smart and compelling novel, and if you like Piazza’s writing style I think you will like this book. Even though it is 2020 and this book came out in 2018, it still seems like an accurate portrayal of politics, and especially women in politics. This author is such a great writer, and I just loved how much I connected to the book and the characters. Definitely recommend!
Thank you to the publisher for my advance review copy via NetGalley. All opinions and thoughts are my own.
Charlotte Walsh is a high-powered tech executive living in San Francisco, married and the mother of 5-year old twins, Ella & Rose, and 2-year old Annie. Following the historic 2016 election, she decides to run for the US Senate in her home state of Pennsylvania where she still has family and property. She moves her family there while she puts together her team and begins her campaign.
What this story is NOT is whether Charlotte wins. It’s about the realities for women running for political office in today’s toxic environment and whether Charlotte WANTS to win, is she willing to do what’s necessary to win. The stakes are incredibly high, both the potential rewards and the toll taken on family, friends and relationships. While I thought I knew what the challenges would possibly be, my imagination wasn’t quite broad enough to encompass the realities. Charlotte brings everything that’s made her successful in business to the campaign, as well as those insecurities unique to our gender…things men are never forced to consider or manage. Though her husband now stays home full time, expectations are different for working mothers.
I really liked Charlotte, even when she wasn’t likable as she’s a wonderfully designed character. She’s far from perfect but her exceptional skills, keen mind and humanity distinguishes her. This story is well written and kept me off balance from the onset. The author adeptly captures the insanity of our current politics, offering us relevant insights into what it takes for a woman to run today for any political office, especially a high profile one. The narrator consumed Charlotte, fitting into her skin and creating a vivid image of her in my mind while effectively portraying the other characters. The ending is provocative, perfectly fitting for the story. I’ll definitely be reading more by this author.
(I received a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review)
A smart, oh-so-believable story of a woman who leaves her moneyed California life to move herself and her family back to Pennsylvania, where she is running for Senate. Dirty politics take on a new poignancy when seen through the eyes of a woman trying to do what’s right, protect her family, and still manage to defeat her misogynistic, long-entrenched opponent.
A smart and funny novel about the cost of being a woman in the public eye. Told with Jo Piazza’s characteristic wit, humor and insight, Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win is a winner.
Wow, so timely! Although fiction, it reads so true to our current crazy political climate.