Confessions of a Corporate Slut [Paperback]

How difficult is it to traverse the corporate world? Author Jacqueline Gum knows first hand. In her debut novel, Confessions of a Corporate Slut, we experience the arduous journey of Roberta, a scrappy chick from a broken family who is forced to become self-sufficient at an early age. Prospects for a prosperous future seem grim until she lands a job selling restaurant equipment.

Being one of the few women in the industry is hardly a hamper on her natural charisma, so instead of folding to the male dominated culture, she uses her femininity as a sales tool. Roberta ignores the whining dictates of college stricken feminists, and instead of demanding equal pay, she beats her male counterparts on the race up the corporate ladder.

While the climb itself is impressive and educational, it's the detour that starts the real story. Roberta meets a young man named John Wendell, who has inherited a large sum of money and decided to pour it into the family business. Wendell Industries fast becomes the purpose of his life, while Roberta becomes the love of his life. Herein lies the dilemma.

Roberta wants to be in love. She wants to be a loving wife and mother of his children, but John wants something more. In times of corporate crisis, he seeks her counsel. In times of intimacy, he pushes her aside. Roberta tries to be everything he could possibly need, but it's never enough. As the years pass his insecurities are used against her like weapons, attacking her self-esteem and confidence.

She cows to his every demand, accepting expensive gifts and events as consolation prizes, but none of it can make up for the cruelties he submits her to. She knows someday soon a bitter divorce is inevitable, but a deep sense of denial keeps her from standing in natural defiance as this merciless juggernaut comes barreling down on top of her.

Confessions of a Corporate Slut is a brilliant re-telling of a successful corporate woman who smashed glass ceilings at every turn, only to give it all up for the man she loved. Based on real life events, this novel reads like a biography and is brimming with deeply emotional content. The author might have paved a pathway to the top, but it was through her painful mistakes that she will help so many to grasp what she herself was unable to attain.

As America's business world is steadily flooding with ambitious women, Jacqueline's lessons will no doubt multiply in value. This is a must read for any young vixen who is considering a corporate career and a great book for those who have loved and lost in our age of greed and power.

The protagonist Roberta starts life with spunk, an inhuman amount of energy and unquestionable confidence. But even the best of us can become vulnerable. Jacqueline Gum shows how time and circumstance changes people, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. And she shows the twisting that can slowly happen in a relationship, resulting in first denial, then in acknowledgment, anger, and finally, in action. This is something beneficial for all women and men and was incredibly enjoyable to read. I rarely am so taken by a book that I have a hard time putting it down, but this one made the cut. -Author of "The Perfect Marriage."

Cleverly written, I found myself laughing out loud. The book was very entertaining. I could definitely relate.

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