Cuts Like a Knife

The Madisons #3

by Olivia M. Jacques

I hate my job, I hate my job, I hate my job. Nonetheless, I can't lose my job. My job is my whole identity. Especially after what happened before...

No one knows what really happened. And one knows that I've been FWB with my baby-brother's best friend for over a year now. I have a lot of secrets, okay? And I planned to keep them forever, but now I'm not sure that's going to be possible.

With the truth about me threatening to come out, there's only one thing I can think to do to save I can be amazing at work. I'll do anything , even if that means covering a goofy reality show. It's a free trip to the Bahamas. I'm going to look in the bright side. Only ... is there even a bright side when someone is threatening to ruin your life? Cuts Like a Knife is a chick-lit women's fiction romcom featuring a FMC with good intentions, bad execution, a judgemental spirit, and way too many secrets. Life for Alexis (Lex) Madison is full of ups, downs, undiagnosed anxiety conditions and cringe-worthy moments. This is book three in the series The Madisons (all installments of which can be read as stand-alone novels).

372 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 17, 2023

About the author

Olivia M. Jacques loves writing about neurotic, relatable heroines with humour and heart. She's a Canadian who started publishing while living in the USA, but still favours the “unnecessary u” in her spelling. When she’s not secretly writing “chick-lit” she’s busy being a mom and chewing on Chiclets in a sad attempt to mask her perpetual coffee-meets-night-cheese breath. Such is the life of a writer!

Reviews

[Emily Pennington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lex's Story . . .

This is Lex’s story. Alexis Madison (“Lex”) has a stressful life, or at least her undiagnosed anxiety conditions make it seem that way to her. And the frequent cringe-worthy moments reinforce her negativity. Lex is a journalist who is terrified of losing the job she hates for her own dubious reasons. She will be heading to the Bahamas to cover a reality show being filmed there. Sounds like a good thing, but she just may manage to make it an ordeal to be suffered through. She has lots of secrets and is certain they will be exposed to the world. So to reduce their lethal effect, she will be incredible on the job and impress everyone. Will her plan work? And if it fails, will she at least recognize that a trip to the Bahamas most definitely will make it less painful?

Lex is a “Debbie Downer” and made me uncomfortable with her always figuratively looking under a rock for what awful things will come out. But accompany her on her journey and see if something good comes along to rock her world. Life really isn’t all that bad when you have family and friends who love you.

[Faith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this fun read! It's heavy on the chick-lit and lighter on the romance. The story really centers on Alexis and her anxiety about not getting fired from a job she hates. There were so many times when I wanted to reach into the book and shake her silly but she grows and learns and takes us on a wild ride. I come from a big family so I really enjoyed her family dynamic. It was completely relatable! I also dabbled in the journalism world in college which made me appreciate that angle.
Overall it was a light fun read full of funny relatable moments juxtaposed by a woman’s very real struggle with trauma. Thank you to Olivia Jacques for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Violet Aster · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, you need to know: I absolutely love love love this series. It is such an emotional ride with each book in The Madisons series. I laugh out loud. I tear up. And my heart if forever warmed by the family love. The drama is spot on and always ends in a HEA, but! We keep getting little story gems from previous characters in the new books. I live for this! I want all the details! Jacques pulls it off flawlessly every time, and I am so happy when a new book is released so I can immerse myself in this world.

[Tracey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I hate(d) Lexi. I wondered how in the world Olivia was going to redeem her. I was quite surprised at how this came about and found myself rooting for her to get her act together personally and professionally.
I received a complimentary copy of this book via Booksprout and am leaving this review of my own volition.
There are several storylines revolving around the main plot and they worked so well together. The way Bex leaves a note about seeing someone that was deliberately vague made me wonder if perhaps she's not in the closet? I hope her story is next since she's Lexi's twin!

[CiCi | bookameme · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Comedic Gold Mine

Quotes:📖
If you’re putting on a show a majority of the time, at what point does it stop being a show? Like, at what point is how you act part and parcel of who you really are?

Thoughts: 💡
It’s official Olivia M. Jacques is a truly talented comedic writer. The Madison’s series manages to take every day struggles that most people face and dramatize them in a funny and compelling way. They do this while providing an honest look at hard topics and showing what abusive and toxic relationships really look like and why people stay.
This particular book features the most loathsome FMC I’ve ever read. Yet I still laughed my head off and stayed glued to every word. Lexi has a negligent amount of growth and is extremely toxic in her relationship with Drew; but she was so well written that I could empathize with her.
It was also kind of interesting to see my girl Claire validated in her responses to her family. The way Lexi responded to and interacted with Claire and other family members really strengthened the details relayed in the first book Cruel To Be Kind.

Writing Mechanics: ✍️
My only real complaint about this book was the spelling and grammar mistakes. If this book was edited properly it would have easily been a five-star book; however there are prominent typos in every other chapter which was slightly distracting.

Fun Bits:
⚜️ Unique FMC
⚜️ Interesting Insight On Issues Of Social Justice
⚜️ Absolutely Hilarious Mishaps

Important Note:✨
This is book 3 in The Madison’s series.
This book makes liberal use of endnotes that provide hilarious quips and information.


Stats:📊
Spice Scale: Closed Door 🚪
Character Dev: 3 💙💙💙/5
Genre: Chick-Lit, Humor, Drama 📕
Tropes: Workplace Drama, Secrete Shame, Secrete Relationship, Beach Read 📘
POV: Single💃🏻
Pages: 372 📄
CW: Emotional Abuse, Mentions of Miscarriage⚠️

[Book Girl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this hilarious book! Lex is a complicated character who is trying to do good in the world, but is also an entitled and clueless millennial (or maybe Gen Z, I’m not sure.) But, lol, she is like I was in my 20s and maybe still am sometimes now. It’s super relatable if you have the ability to reflect on a younger self. I didn’t find her hateful like other reviewers. Lex is trapped in a toxic misogynist industry with awful bro bosses and backstabbing coworkers. She’s being strong in that environment, and seeing her as unlikable as a result seems super anti-feminist. Lex is annoying for sure, but so are we all at times. I feel like the neg reviews are missing the point. Also, my copy came with a notice that it was being rushed to pub as an un-copy-edited arc for Stuff Your Kindle Day and that the author would appreciate readers sharing typos with her so she could fix them. People are instead slamming the text for typos in their reviews when they obviously got the book for free and were TOLD the editing wasn’t done? Seems unfair! I shared my typos notes with the author and she was so nice about it. K even bought the book after reading the freebie ‘cause I liked it so much, and the paid for copy is pretty clean.

[Coco.V]

🎁 FREE on Amazon today (7/1/2023)! 🎁

[Kristine Hauglid · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun and quick read👍🏻

[Jacqueline Johnston Cotton · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful, lighthearted, funny romance in the perfect beach setting. The story line was so entertaining. Plenty of laughs with great chemistry between the main characters and excellent supporting characters. This book is well written, charming and was such a joy to read.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this sweet rom com of a book. It reads like a Sophie Kinsella and I’m here for all the fun drama. Another perfect read from Olivia!

[Amie · Rating 3 out of 5]

typos were distracting

Stated to feel like this one skipped by the editing process! Typos all over the place. When you start using your kindle’s highlighting feature to mark the typos…. That’s not the best sign!

[Kate Carrington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lex is definitely the most cringe character sister in the Madison family so far and I didn’t like her at first but then as the story went on and I saw what had happened to her, I started to understand and by the end I was rooting for her for sure. She may seem really self-centrered and mean but then you realize she’s in reaction mode. It’s not her true self. Sometimes when I am in reaction mode I act crazy! At least in this book, it’s super funny.

Some of the reviews of this one are so harsh and mean and I don’t agree at all. Sometimes you have to read more and deeper to understand a story. And there were no typos in mine at all. I am learning more and more about independent authors and I suspect that readers who say there were a load of typos are either jjst trying to sound smart or they read a stolen copy of the book.

I see typos in traditional pub books all the time but when I come on GR I notice it’s only the indie books that get called out and it’s so suspicious to me.

As for pirating, know there is a website called epub that has pirate copies and they tend to be from before the book came out properly so of course they have errors. Maybe don’t steal and you won’t have these negative experiences when reading. I mean really!

The author of this series is so nice and I talked to her on Instagram just this morning and she immediately offered me a free copy of one of her books that I hadn’t read yet and also even said I could be an arc reader for future books. Really kind and I am quite excited.

Anyway, just sharing because I also saw the last review and wanted to say it pays to be nice and not a negative nelly, you know?

[Shari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! I feel so grateful to have recently found Booksprout arcs because I got a chance to read this and probably would not have discovered this author otherwise. I liked this so much I immediately wanted to read other books in the series. (I have read one so far and am about to start the second. The first was just as funny, but really different, which I liked!) Even though these books are connected, they are definitely good as stand-alone books. I love that the sisters are all so different and distinct, but that they also love each other like family should. The ARC did have lots of typos, but I submitted my notes about them to the author like she asked, and she fixed them all immediately and was grateful and so nice, and she even sent me a free copy of Cruel To Be Kind (her first book) by way of thanks. (It had NO typos or mistakes that I could see.) I am really not sure why people are harping on this typo thing. I read Netgalley arcs from big authors all the time and they always have tonnes of typos, right? It's part of the process. Anyway, I love this new(ish) author and can't wait for more.

[Bookishdays · Rating 4 out of 5]

Following the Madison sisters, this time, the story is about Lex, one of the twins. She is a journalist in a not so glamorous magazine and has the job of covering a reality show filmed in the Bahamas. At the same time she needs to deal with Drew, a family friend and a not assumed boyfriend.

I love Olivia M. Jacques books, because the main characters are always people with flaws and real problems or traumas. Lex is awful, she is not nice, she's self centered, egocentric and rude. In her defense, she is a good professional, who works hard.

I liked the setting of the book, most part of the story is set in a dreamy Resort, where the reality show is being filmed. There are some funny parts and great characters surrounding the show.The tight relation between the Madison sisters, especially throughout the group chat was also a plus for me.

Overall, a funny story about journalism with lots of snarky remarks by our cynical heroine.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Maggie Mavens · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was engaging and fast paced, with a bit of mystery and a really relatable heroine who is struggling to find herself again after a trauma at work and also, after a career that forced her to be someone she wasn't, and really fractured her ability to trust.

I know I often feel conflicted when trying to figure out the right thing do to versus the best thing to do, if that makes sense. There is so much push and pull and pressure around work and success - and this book captures those challenges. I like Lex Madison a lot. She's maybe harder to love than the previous Madison siblings, but I related to her a lot (although I wouldn't be quite as crazy impulsive, no matter how embarrassed).

This is chick-lit, not romance, so there's NO spice. Keep that in mind. I love Olivia M. Jacques and can't wait to read whatever she puts out next.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh Lex, you’re so not likeable.
It’s starts off okay, but the further you get in the book, the worse she gets. I got to the point where I ALMOST dnf. But I just wanted to know that Drew was going to be okay so I persisted.

I dislike that this series had a hard stop when things turn ok for the fmc. Like excuse me I was invested in the story?! Writing one paragraph about her being nice is not her redemption arc.

And what about what happened at Flash?! How can that be left open? I don’t mean her episode, but all the weird stuff that happened behind the scenes.

All in all I feel like this book is about 60% finished. There’s just too much left wide open.

[Marina Aziz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lex was a whiny as character, hard to believe she was a 20 something year old. It was hard connecting with her and it made it hard finishing the book. I somehow finished it and survived, can't say it was good at all

[Neil Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as strong as the others.

[Mabel Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really did not like Lex - she refused to listen to ANYONE. Her paranoia was just exhausting.

[Liz | lizzuplans · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not enough romance for me, but to be fair it was classified as a chicklit book with some romcom elements.

I liked the media / reality tv show angle a lot! It definitely inspired me to read the other books in this series.
While I did notice I missed some information, things were easy to follow without having read previous stories about the Madison siblings.

It took a while for me to get warmed up to Alexis but she is a fun and flawed heroine which made the book nice to read.
I really liked the idea of the footnotes, as they gave the story room for self-deprecating jokes, but it did not work really well on a digital book, as the links did not always bring you to the footnote or back to the text.

The book itself also took longer than I had hoped to get going. I was a fifth of the way in before we got to the plot. Yes, things need to be laid out first, but I prefer things a bit speedier.

Regarding spelling mistakes, yes, this was an unedited ARC to get out quickly, but hippocrite and not hypocrite to give an example would for sure be picked up by spellcheck.

Also, I get the wish for clean / closed door romances, and that that relates to the lack of bad words, but either make your characters not swear or just type out the words. “F-ers” and “a-hole” felt very …hypocritical. (Apologies, could not resist this pun!)

Nice easy chicklit book if you want to turn off your brain for a while. Not the book for me unfortunately.

I received an ARC of this book (thanks!) and these are my own opinions.

[Michelle R · Rating 2 out of 5]

Littered with typos.