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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
Perfect summer thriller. Couldn't wait to keep reading, finished it in just a few days!
I read this for my IRL book club and everyone thought it was so good. Some things that we all loved were the alternating story lines, the unique plot and the way it all pieced together. This is definitely not a thriller or your typical mystery book either. I personally loved the conman plot, the cat and mouse style was refreshing and totally had me hooked. The characters were well written and complex. This twisty book will keep you wanting to know what is going to happen next. When we first got the book everyone balked at the length and yet it went by really fast so don’t let that deter you at all!!
3.5. None of the main characters are necessarily likeable people...and I found some of the plot points a bit unbelievable. It was really cool to see actual places in Lake Tahoe and even Reno referred to, since I've never really read a novel based in a place that I know so well.
I don't love suspense type novels anyways so reading this was a risk.
I enjoyed the book, however I feel like it could've been 100 pages shorter!
Between the first third and the first half of the book, I'd read a page or two and then put the book down - I was just bored.
It became unputdownable around the last 100 or so pages.
I enjoyed the book, however I feel like it could've been 100 pages shorter!
Between the first third and the first half of the book, I'd read a page or two and then put the book down - I was just bored.
It became unputdownable around the last 100 or so pages.
Loved seeing the differences and similarities in these characters. A lot of twists and turns. When I first started it, I wasn't sure and wasn't hooked. But then as we started to understand who each character really was, I was all in.
is this a perfect book? no. Do I find it as much a game-changer as Sharp Objects was for me? also no. But I am a simple girl. Give me a thriller centered on complex, not fully likable women that remind you of some of Gillian Flynn's heroines and I am gonna be a happy camper. Really looking forward to seeing what Kidman does with the adaptation.
Kinda repetitive with two narrators retelling the same story for a majority of it, but great plot with lots of twists
3.5/5 Stars!
After reading Janelle Brown's 2025 book [b:What Kind of Paradise|218695909|What Kind of Paradise|Janelle Brown|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1729121944l/218695909._SY75_.jpg|225627219], which I gave a hearty five stars, I decided to go into the back logs and read Pretty Things.
Honestly, if I read Pretty Things first, I probably wouldn't have picked up What Kind of Paradise, which is unfortunate, because I LOVE What Kind of Paradise so much, and it is one of my favorite reads of 2024.
Pretty Things has a great mystery/thriller/women's lit premise: Nina was raised by her grifter single mom, where she would hustle strangers out of just about anything. Whether she slipped a rolex off someone's wrist, or convinced them to hand over her life savings, whatever she could do to make ends meet. What else could Nina do, but follow in her footsteps? By following Instagram profiles of the wealthy, finding out where they would be, and stealing from them, where they wouldn't even notice, ends up becoming an easy path to least resistance. Along with her boyfriend and crime partner, Nina ends up back to her past, in Lake Tahoe, to infiltrate Vanessa Liebling, an heiress with a safe full of cash and a house full of antiques. The book is written in both Nina and Vanessa's POV. Both are equally shallow and cunning, and leave a lot to be desired.
The first half of this book takes place mostly on the past - who actually is Vanessa and what is really happening to her family? How does Nina actually know who Vanessa is? Is Lachlan who he says he is?
The second half dives in as the mystery unfolds. Nina and Lachlan pretend to be Ashley and Michael, a couple who rent out Vanessa's cabin hidden behind her palatial 43 room Tahoe estate, as an AirBnb (are we supposed to believe this?), and along comes the scheming.
This book could have used some major editing. It was probably 75 pages too long, and the flashbacks should have been shortened by half. By the end, the shallowness of Vanessa never really waned, and Nina's criminal activity did not garner any sympathy from me.
After reading Janelle Brown's 2025 book [b:What Kind of Paradise|218695909|What Kind of Paradise|Janelle Brown|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1729121944l/218695909._SY75_.jpg|225627219], which I gave a hearty five stars, I decided to go into the back logs and read Pretty Things.
Honestly, if I read Pretty Things first, I probably wouldn't have picked up What Kind of Paradise, which is unfortunate, because I LOVE What Kind of Paradise so much, and it is one of my favorite reads of 2024.
Pretty Things has a great mystery/thriller/women's lit premise: Nina was raised by her grifter single mom, where she would hustle strangers out of just about anything. Whether she slipped a rolex off someone's wrist, or convinced them to hand over her life savings, whatever she could do to make ends meet. What else could Nina do, but follow in her footsteps? By following Instagram profiles of the wealthy, finding out where they would be, and stealing from them, where they wouldn't even notice, ends up becoming an easy path to least resistance. Along with her boyfriend and crime partner, Nina ends up back to her past, in Lake Tahoe, to infiltrate Vanessa Liebling, an heiress with a safe full of cash and a house full of antiques. The book is written in both Nina and Vanessa's POV. Both are equally shallow and cunning, and leave a lot to be desired.
The first half of this book takes place mostly on the past - who actually is Vanessa and what is really happening to her family? How does Nina actually know who Vanessa is? Is Lachlan who he says he is?
The second half dives in as the mystery unfolds. Nina and Lachlan pretend to be Ashley and Michael, a couple who rent out Vanessa's cabin hidden behind her palatial 43 room Tahoe estate, as an AirBnb (are we supposed to believe this?), and along comes the scheming.
This book could have used some major editing. It was probably 75 pages too long, and the flashbacks should have been shortened by half. By the end, the shallowness of Vanessa never really waned, and Nina's criminal activity did not garner any sympathy from me.