I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.
Three friends navigate a new company and the survival they needed in the face of adversity in author Annelise osborne’s “Hold On For Dear Life.”
The Synopsis
What do you hold on to when everything you built starts to fall?
Three friends. One impossible idea. Thirty million dollars raised overnight. And a question none of them thought to ask until it was almost too late.
In the summer of 2017, Charlie, Jack, and Nik leave MIT believing they can change how the world moves money. Within months, they are exactly the kind of company that gets written about. Within two years, they are nearly destroyed by it.
A Story About Everything That Almost Broke
Hold On for Dear Life is a literary fiction novel about idealism, hubris, and resilience – and the long, difficult work of finding your way back to why you started.
What waits inside:
- A friendship that almost doesn’t survive success
- A love story three years in the making
- A market crash, a hack, a kidnapping
- A debut novel by a real Wall Street and crypto executive
Have you ever bet on something the world told you to walk away from?
Have you ever built something with the people closest to you and watched the building change them?
This isn’t a book about cryptocurrency.
It’s a book about what survives when everything else burns – and what it costs to find out.
Among the best literary fiction books written at the intersection of ambition, friendship, and financial ruin – this is fiction for adults who know that the hardest losses aren’t always measured in money.
If Normal People stayed with you, if Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow lingered for weeks, this is the next book you cannot put down.
Scroll up, tap Buy Now, and find out what they chose to hold on to.
THE REVIEW
This was an incredibly immersive reading experience. The author does an incredible job of balancing strong and unique characters with a financial thriller-style narrative that keeps the reader on the edge of their seats. While the pacing of the book gives that beautiful, slow burn that draws the reader in slowly but surely, and the narrative adds an almost financial and crypto thriller element, the novel itself is a literary fiction narrative that readers can enjoy without any sort of financial knowledge, as it delves into the heart of human connection.
The rich character dynamics at work here really make the story shine. The story had a bit of everything that readers could really get into you, from exploring how building a business and the impact the economy has on a strong group of friends, to be a strong and powerful woman in an emerging market, surrounded by men who don’t understand the business nearly as well as she does, and even finding love in the midst of economic chaos, leaving readers, fully immersed and invested in these dynamic character developments.
THE VERDICT
Thrilling, heartfelt, and both compelling and entertaining, author Annelise Osborne’s “Hold On For Dear Life” is a must-read literary fiction novel. The personal stakes and twists and turns this story brings out will keep the reader fully engaged and hanging on the author’s every word. The author’s writing style feels accessible and easy to immerse in as the financial and crypto aspects of the story become more of a foundation for a larger narrative about friendship, love, and survival that will resonate with many people, especially in today’s market. If you haven’t yet, please be sure to grab your copy today!
Rating: 10/10
About the Author
Annelise Osborne is a capital markets executive, author, and thought leader at the intersection of traditional finance and digital assets. Former Moody’s SVP responsible for $400 billion of rated structured finance securities. Author of From Hoodies to Suits (Wiley, 2024) and debut novel Hold On for Dear Life (Amazon KDP, 2026). 2025 Stevie Award winner for Thought Leadership. Global speaker at Consensus, Davos, and the Global Blockchain Business Council. MBA, Columbia Business School.
https://www.instagram.com/hodlbook
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