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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
"When you're documenting everything you do, you stop living life for yourself and start living it as a performance for others. You're never in the actual moment, just the response to the moment." Yep…the antithesis of mindfulness! I enjoyed how this book illustrates the speciousness of social media, but there were too many (and they were way too long) telling-rather-than-showing passages. Recommend the audiobook. The narration is excellent and you can keep yourself entertained doing other things whenever it starts to drag.
Nina and her boyfriend Lachlan are scammers stealing from the wealthy in Los Angeles. When it becomes necessary for Nina to leave the city, she and Lachlan travel to Lake Tahoe. Their mark is Vanessa Liebling, an heiress and Instagram influencer who has retreated to her family estate, Stonehaven. Nina had encountered members of the Liebling family in the past and is now looking not just for money but for revenge. Nina and Lachlan insert themselves into Vanessa’s life, but things do not proceed as planned.
The book begins slowly with the focus on character development. The perspective of both Nina and Vanessa is given, with several flashbacks providing detailed backstories. As a result, the reader comes to know each of the women very well. Both prove to be complex people with both positive traits and flaws. The reader will find him/herself liking and disliking both of them at different times and thinking each is both a victim and a villain. Because their pasts are explained, it is possible to understand their behaviour in the present.
Both of the women are dynamic. They learn about themselves and others. One of the women, for instance, rails against her circumstances and the behaviour of others but eventually feels shame: “Shame that I did not do more with what I did have, and shame that I pretended that the road I’d taken was the only option I had. Because it wasn’t. I chose that road. I made it mine. And if this is where it took me, it’s my own fault.”
In the second half, after the action and pace pick up, there are a number of plot twists. Most are believable given the people involved. It soon becomes clear that people are not what they seem, both in real life and on social media. Suspense is created because no one can be fully trusted.
The novel is a commentary on the shallowness of social media. Vanessa thinks about the importance of appearing authentic while carefully showing only the positive: “The ability to convincingly perform authenticity is perhaps the most necessary skill set for my generation. And the image you exude must be compelling, it must be brand-positive, it must be cohesive no matter how fractured your internal dialog might be.” There are comments like “social media feeds the narcissistic monster that lives within us all” and “the Internet has turned us all into armchair critics, experts at the cold dissection of gesture and syllable, sneering self-righteously from the safety of our screens. There, we can feel good about ourselves, validated that our flaws aren’t as bad as theirs, unchallenged in our superiority. Moral high ground is a pleasant place to perch, even if the view turns out to be rather limited in scope.” Because of social media, “People don’t take the time to really look at each other anymore. We live in a world of surface imagery, skimming past each other, registering just enough to assign a category and label before moving on to the next shiny thing.”
A comparison is made between grifters and people like Vanessa who curate their lives on social media; Vanessa is called a queen of duplicity and told, “’Your career has been all about spinning lies. Putting up a pretty façade for public consumption when you’re a mess underneath. Selling a life that doesn’t really exist. . . . You’ve been profiting off a mythical version of yourself, promoting unachievable aspiration, giving your half-million followers insecurity complexes and dooming them to a lifetime of FOMO therapy. You’re a huckster.’”
Though the book starts slowly and is somewhat repetitive (because of overlap when the same event is shown from different perspectives), readers who persist will be rewarded. Will you be able to find the truth in the tangled web of lies?
Note: I received a digital galley from the publisher via NetGalley. This book will be released on April 21.
Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
The book begins slowly with the focus on character development. The perspective of both Nina and Vanessa is given, with several flashbacks providing detailed backstories. As a result, the reader comes to know each of the women very well. Both prove to be complex people with both positive traits and flaws. The reader will find him/herself liking and disliking both of them at different times and thinking each is both a victim and a villain. Because their pasts are explained, it is possible to understand their behaviour in the present.
Both of the women are dynamic. They learn about themselves and others. One of the women, for instance, rails against her circumstances and the behaviour of others but eventually feels shame: “Shame that I did not do more with what I did have, and shame that I pretended that the road I’d taken was the only option I had. Because it wasn’t. I chose that road. I made it mine. And if this is where it took me, it’s my own fault.”
In the second half, after the action and pace pick up, there are a number of plot twists. Most are believable given the people involved. It soon becomes clear that people are not what they seem, both in real life and on social media. Suspense is created because no one can be fully trusted.
The novel is a commentary on the shallowness of social media. Vanessa thinks about the importance of appearing authentic while carefully showing only the positive: “The ability to convincingly perform authenticity is perhaps the most necessary skill set for my generation. And the image you exude must be compelling, it must be brand-positive, it must be cohesive no matter how fractured your internal dialog might be.” There are comments like “social media feeds the narcissistic monster that lives within us all” and “the Internet has turned us all into armchair critics, experts at the cold dissection of gesture and syllable, sneering self-righteously from the safety of our screens. There, we can feel good about ourselves, validated that our flaws aren’t as bad as theirs, unchallenged in our superiority. Moral high ground is a pleasant place to perch, even if the view turns out to be rather limited in scope.” Because of social media, “People don’t take the time to really look at each other anymore. We live in a world of surface imagery, skimming past each other, registering just enough to assign a category and label before moving on to the next shiny thing.”
A comparison is made between grifters and people like Vanessa who curate their lives on social media; Vanessa is called a queen of duplicity and told, “’Your career has been all about spinning lies. Putting up a pretty façade for public consumption when you’re a mess underneath. Selling a life that doesn’t really exist. . . . You’ve been profiting off a mythical version of yourself, promoting unachievable aspiration, giving your half-million followers insecurity complexes and dooming them to a lifetime of FOMO therapy. You’re a huckster.’”
Though the book starts slowly and is somewhat repetitive (because of overlap when the same event is shown from different perspectives), readers who persist will be rewarded. Will you be able to find the truth in the tangled web of lies?
Note: I received a digital galley from the publisher via NetGalley. This book will be released on April 21.
Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
This was a tough one to rate. For most of the book I debated between giving it a 2&3. Some of the plot seemed reminiscent of other books, and I disliked the unevenness of chapter lengths. The book meandered, and I wasn't always sure where it was heading, though I found several plot twists predictable. I couldn't see how the author could wrap up the story to my satisfaction. But shockingly she did! I enjoyed the book, and would be interested in reading more by Ms. Brown!
Nina’s mom has been hustling her whole life to make ends meet. It seems inevitable that Nina will follow in her mother’s footsteps and when her mother’s cancer comes back and treatment costs are expected at over $500k, Nina knows she needs to up her game.
Several years earlier, she and Lachlan connected and started working scams together. When Lachlan suggests getting out of town and hitting a rich family in Tahoe, Nina knows the perfect target. One of her many hometowns in high school included Tahoe and there, she developed an unlikely friendship with Benny. Benny is a Liebling - an incredibly wealthy family and essentially an American aristocracy. Nina has held animosity against the Lieblings since they humiliated her and ran her and her mother out of town over a decade ago.
Taking on new names and personas, Lachlan and Nina go to Tahoe and rent a cottage on the Lieblings property. Vanessa, Benny’s older sister, now runs the manor as both her parents are deceased. Coming off a breakup and desperate for validation, Nina and Lachlan see an easy target.
Full of surprises, unexpected twists and backstabbing, this novel was unputdownable. Told from the perspectives of both Nina and Vanessa, it was hard to know who was the villain and who was the victim. The writing was excellent and it was easy to get lost in the pages. Absolutely pick this one up!!!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Several years earlier, she and Lachlan connected and started working scams together. When Lachlan suggests getting out of town and hitting a rich family in Tahoe, Nina knows the perfect target. One of her many hometowns in high school included Tahoe and there, she developed an unlikely friendship with Benny. Benny is a Liebling - an incredibly wealthy family and essentially an American aristocracy. Nina has held animosity against the Lieblings since they humiliated her and ran her and her mother out of town over a decade ago.
Taking on new names and personas, Lachlan and Nina go to Tahoe and rent a cottage on the Lieblings property. Vanessa, Benny’s older sister, now runs the manor as both her parents are deceased. Coming off a breakup and desperate for validation, Nina and Lachlan see an easy target.
Full of surprises, unexpected twists and backstabbing, this novel was unputdownable. Told from the perspectives of both Nina and Vanessa, it was hard to know who was the villain and who was the victim. The writing was excellent and it was easy to get lost in the pages. Absolutely pick this one up!!!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ average/nothing remarkable/OK
The pivot to the opposing povs did not work for me. I wanted to stick with Nina and felt connected to Nina’s story and then *poof* you get taken out of it and get stuck in Vanessa’s pov that feels less raw & authentic.
Vanessa’s character development felt like a rollercoaster. She was a rich girl with average intelligence, good at social media, wanted attention - then all of sudden she’s the dumbest girl alive who is making weird, rash decisions. It just felt off.
I kinda wish the author would have kept it a singular pov and I also would have enjoyed if the author incorporated more of the relationship with Benny into the book. I really enjoyed the nuances in his relationship with his family and Nina and was sad that the interactions with him only took up a small percentage of the book.
The pivot to the opposing povs did not work for me. I wanted to stick with Nina and felt connected to Nina’s story and then *poof* you get taken out of it and get stuck in Vanessa’s pov that feels less raw & authentic.
Vanessa’s character development felt like a rollercoaster. She was a rich girl with average intelligence, good at social media, wanted attention - then all of sudden she’s the dumbest girl alive who is making weird, rash decisions. It just felt off.
I kinda wish the author would have kept it a singular pov and I also would have enjoyed if the author incorporated more of the relationship with Benny into the book. I really enjoyed the nuances in his relationship with his family and Nina and was sad that the interactions with him only took up a small percentage of the book.
Maybe 3.5, a fun con story, but the flow kept interrupting itself with backstory and tracking back over the same events from a different character's POV (but not in a way that added that much...).
Spoiler
I was waiting for a bigger reveal that never materialized.
I actually give this a 4.5, which even I’m surprised by. I thought I had predicted where this was going but I was wrong. I appreciate the author’s use of characters who battle various mental health issues. It was a thriller which was also somehow heart warming.
This is a good one, unpredictable and well written. Can’t wait to see what Nicole Kidman does with this book because it will make a great movie!