High Stakes – Steel Danielle (2022)

High Stakes is a compelling and thought-provoking novel about five successful women discovering the high price of success at a prestigious New York literary agency. Jane Addison is smart, young and ambitious, delighted to have secured a job there. Her boss, Hailey West, is devoted to her authors but struggles with a chaotic home life as a single mother after her husband’s tragic death. Francine Rivers, the stern and bitter head of department, is also raising children alone after an acrimonious divorce and has overcome financial hardship at the highest personal cost. Allie Moore appears to have everything, enjoying her success and her work with talented actors, until a passionate relationship with one of her star clients threatens her career. Meanwhile, agency CFO Merriwether Jones seems to have a perfect marriage until her husband’s jealousy endangers her happiness. Jane soon discovers damaging secrets behind the agency’s doors. She has the least power, but is also the least willing to accept things as they are, and her attempt to set matters right leaves no one unscathed. The five women navigate career, ambition, family and personal relationships in a world where they must fight for what is right.