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Women Are the Fiercest Creatures

A Novel

Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
2 of 2 copies available

In this wildly addictive novel, three overlooked women take on the charming, manipulative tech CEO who wrote them out of his startup's history.


Anna Sarnoff is still reeling from her quickie divorce from tech wunderkind Jake Sarnoff. Forced out of the company that she helped Jake build, Anna is trying to pick up the pieces of her life, navigating the waters of solo parenting their two teenage boys and adapting to her new role of ex-wife. To make things more complicated, Jake seems to want her back...and his persuasiveness tempts her to say yes.

 

Across town, the brilliant and striking Samanta Flores-Walsh, Jake's college girlfriend, is busy raising her teenage daughter and running her thriving yoga studio. Although their relationship ended years ago, unanswered questions from their time together gnaw at her, and when she learns that Jake is planning to take his billion-dollar company public, she starts to wonder if perhaps it isn't too late for justice. 

 

Finally, there's Jake's much younger new wife, Jessica, who's struggling to stay afloat as a new mom while her high-profile husband grows increasingly distant. 

 

Set in the wealthy enclaves of Seattle's tech elite, the lives of these three women grow entangled as long-held secrets are forced to the surface, threatening to destroy their families. Written with razor-sharp intelligence and heart, Women Are the Fiercest Creatures is a searing look at the complexities of family and the obstacles women navigate in every aspect of their existence.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      January 30, 2023
      Dunlop (We Came Here to Forget) follows two women whose ideas are exploited by a tech entrepreneur in this dramatic if simplistic outing. Jake Sarnoff is about to become a dad again with his much younger second wife Jessica, whom he started seeing while still married to Anna. Jake still flirts with Anna and relies on her for support and advice regarding his social media site, Strangers, which Anna helped create. In public, Jake pays a lot of lip service to the importance of family, but at home, he hardly lifts a finger. Meanwhile, Sam Flores-Walsh moves to town and founds a popular yoga studio that Jessica frequents, though she’s unaware that Sam is Jake’s ex and an uncredited cofounder of Strangers. Sam has been telling a reporter at the New York Times how Jake ran with her concept and cut her out of the company, though she’s worried she doesn’t have enough proof. Though Dunlop’s girl-power angle feels a bit stock (“A mother is capable of anything,” reads one of Sam’s Instagram posts; Anna and a friend clank wine glasses and shout “fuck the patriarchy”), she does a good job showing Jake’s slippery, selfish nature. There’s plenty to root for, but readers who prefer nuance should look elsewhere.

    • Kirkus

      January 1, 2023
      The lives of three women intertwine in Portside, Washington, as a new social platform gets ready to launch its IPO. Anna Sarnoff, 41, a one-time lawyer, was married to Jake Sarnoff for 15 years and had two sons with him while helping him build his social media company, Strangers. Before Jake married Anna, his college girlfriend, Samanta Flores-Walsh--one-time programmer, now a single mother and yoga-studio owner--helped him and his co-founder, Sai Chandra, hammer out the kinks in their original algorithm. And Jake's young, beautiful, pregnant new wife, Jessica, an Instagram influencer and vet tech, has some ideas of her own that help the company. The story, told primarily from the points of view of Anna and Sam, examines the women's experiences with Jake and his superficial brand of feminism, the increasingly pregnant Jessica, the company, motherhood, their own careers and choices. As all this unfolds, the reader is already aware that Jessica and Jake's daughter will be taken one night when she's 6 weeks old. Author Dunlop has created an intriguing world where women's contributions might be overlooked and downplayed as the "natural" role of girlfriend, mother, or wife, but that doesn't mean these contributions didn't occur or aren't worthy of merit and reward. Adoption, teen pregnancy, abandonment, the deaths of parents, love (and lies and affairs), divorce, bullying (both in-person and online), secrets, motherhood, intellectual property, poverty, and privilege all are addressed. A well-written story that will leave readers thinking that women are indeed the fiercest creatures.

      COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Booklist

      February 15, 2023
      Strangers is a popular social-media platform. Its founder, Jake Sarnoff, is considered a tech darling. He's progressive and handsome and talks a lot about feminism. His company is about to go public, he's about to become a father again, and everybody's talking. What most don't know, though, is that Jake has a long line of women in his wake who have not only contributed to his success but have ensured it. Behind every great man, right? There's Anna, his ex-wife and the mother of his two sons. There's Jessica, his second wife and the mother of his new daughter. There's also Samanta, whose contributions to his life and business are as powerful as they are secret. All three women will be tempted and tested by Jake's impending wealth and his incredible charisma. Jake's desire to keep all three women on a string will also be his downfall. Dunlop's latest is a compelling and fascinating tale of performative feminism and the women who suffer under it.

      COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Library Journal

      June 1, 2023

      In his ruthless climb to the top, social-media mogul Jake Sarnoff has left a trail of overlooked, objectified, and oppressed women behind him. First, there was Samanta, whom Jake charmed in college and then forced out of the company she helped build. Then came Anna, Jake's first wife, who unfailingly supported his dreams for 17 years before he left her and their two sons. Now Jake is married to Jessica, whose youth and beauty are still not enough to stop him from straying, though she sacrifices everything to give him a picture-perfect family. Just when Anna and Samanta decide to bring Jake to justice, Jake and Jessica's infant daughter goes missing, and the women must join forces to find her. Dunlop (We Came Here To Forget) crafts a compelling family fiction about misogyny and manipulation. Narrator Frankie Corzo offers minimal vocal variation between the female leads, making them difficult to discern, but her performance of the intricate narrative is engaging and exciting. VERDICT This audio will appeal to listeners seeking dramatic domestic fiction melded with a thought-provoking thriller. Recommended for fans of Laura Dave, Cate Ray, and Robyn Harding.--Lauren Hackert

      Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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