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mhall's review
3.0
I was provided a free electronic copy of this title from Edelweiss and the publisher.
A+ escapism, the story of a wealthy trust fund New Yorker in her 40s, whose life of luxury is upended when she untangles a web of deception around her fiance and family. I loved the specificity of detailis about the main character's privileged lifestyle - her upscale artisan greeting card shop, her extravagant tipping - but unfortunately the book doesn't quite tip over into having her undergo the full consequences of her decades of inattention and being in a lot of ways an extremely horrible person. I liked her relationship with her best friend and her sister.
A+ escapism, the story of a wealthy trust fund New Yorker in her 40s, whose life of luxury is upended when she untangles a web of deception around her fiance and family. I loved the specificity of detailis about the main character's privileged lifestyle - her upscale artisan greeting card shop, her extravagant tipping - but unfortunately the book doesn't quite tip over into having her undergo the full consequences of her decades of inattention and being in a lot of ways an extremely horrible person. I liked her relationship with her best friend and her sister.
vdoprincess's review
3.0
It took me two tries to get through this book, but on the second one I succeeded. I probably failed on the first try because the narrator is genuinely hate-able; spoiled, rich, obsessed with how she appears to other but incapable of actual self-reflection. (and I try not to spend time with those types of people.) But I finished it, so yay?
laboulaing's review
2.0
>We Could Be Beautiful is about a 44-year-old rich woman named Catherine West. Catherine is all about the luxury and the privilege: she's got a perfectly immaculate West Village home stocked with fine art, the best furniture, and a whole lot of hired help. She gets $80k a month from her trust fund, has a mother slowly succumbing to Alzheimer's, and the thing that Catherine wants more than anything is to be married and have a child. Enter William Stockton, an impeccably dressed and well-spoken businessman who meets Catherine at an art gallery. It was love at first sight. Or was it?Called "psychological," this book aims to fully portray several characters in all their depth, foibles, and idiosyncrasies. There's Catherine, who thinks she's moral and strong, but who is actually petulant, childish, spoiled, privileged, and completely farcical. There's William Stockton, a man who seems perfect but who is absolutely too good to be true. And then there's Catherine's sister Caroline, more honest and self-aware than her sister, and much more aware of her own privilege.
The plot is basically this: 200 pages of Catherine agonizing over William's every move after they meet, and being incredibly immature and insecure for an older woman with everything she could possibly want. Then, the second 150-odd pages are spent in some very disorganized, very amateur suspense-building toward a conclusion that was both predictable and wholly uninteresting. Catherine loses her trust, must get married and have a child to trigger a clause in her father's will so she can get $10 million per child, and then uncovers some very unsavory family secrets that leave her perfect, luxuriously manicured world shattered.
The hook, of course, is that "money can't buy happiness" and all that shtick, but as much as I wanted to find deeper meaning in Catherine's whining and complaining, and to think that the arc of the story triggered a change in her, even after the reader discovers, very predictably, that all is not well in paradise, Catherine doesn't evolve so much as fire off some trite clichés at the end of the novel.
I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't. The author, Swan Huntley, went to Columbia University's MFA program, a very prestigious and competitive program. It did not show. The sentences were short and choppy, full of fluff and no meaning whatsoever. I was highly disappointed in this book.
Characters? One-dimensional. Writing? Meh. Plot? Predictable! I am usually very easy to please when it comes to books, but this one is a skip for me. If you've read it or want to read it, let me know what you think in the comments!
I received this title from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This title will be released today, June 28, 2016.
ktrusty416's review
5.0
Didn't expect to like this, let alone love it. Smart, funny, gorgeous writing.
bookgirlnadine's review
3.0
I'm torn between giving this a 2 star or 3. What I liked was the development of the characters. I could visualize them, even Dan. Catherine was everything I dislike in a person. Shallow, self-absorbed and unduly entitled. She was a pretty good character to hate. What I didn't like about this book was the dangling storylines that danced around the periphery; What happened to Max the violin student and his mother who was perpetually late? Or Bob and his Florida escapades? What about the uncomfortable sex between Catherine and William? What was the point of that? And back to the violin lessons... what about Stan? To me the author set the reader up for a scenario she didn't deliver on at all. Her red herrings just led us down a path we weren't going, and that would be fine if the actual ending didn't turn out to be just meh, a letdown, and far less of a climax than I expected in my own head. Read it for the character development, not the story line.
jennkurrie's review against another edition
2.0
#63/2106 ... Part of the book trend of rich people with rich people problems. This book was fine but the genre is exhausting.
ametie's review against another edition
3.0
I found the main character, Catherine, to be weak, spoiled, immature and completely unlikable but the hint of mystery kept me reading.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
kathydubs's review against another edition
4.0
I got this book as a giveaway from Goodreads.
I have to say that I have mixed feelings about the story, and did the whole way through. Catherine is a character that you have a love/hate relationship with. I think for the first half of the book I didn't like her as much because as aware of her privilege as she was, she wasn't really acknowledging it or thinking about those less privileged. She was also so hung up with image (which yes, I get is the whole point). However, when the plot shifted and she began to solve her mystery and really look into who William is, I have to say I began to like Catherine so much more. Her character's struggle to look at reality and acknowledge things was really raw and I felt confused right along with her. The plot twist had me engaged right up until I realized what it was about a page before it was revealed. Good writing on that part. I thought I should have seen it coming, but I really did not!
I think one unresolved thing I wanted to know was what does "Guilt is cancer" mean? Was that ever actually explained? I will have to go back and think about that a bit more.
Regardless, I do recommend this book. As much as you might think you'll stop reading once you realize that you don't really like Catherine, if you stick with it, you do start to like her and "get" her and then the rest of the book flies by. I also liked the book resolution, although I will admit I thought William would have put up more of a fight at the end.
I have to say that I have mixed feelings about the story, and did the whole way through. Catherine is a character that you have a love/hate relationship with. I think for the first half of the book I didn't like her as much because as aware of her privilege as she was, she wasn't really acknowledging it or thinking about those less privileged. She was also so hung up with image (which yes, I get is the whole point). However, when the plot shifted and she began to solve her mystery and really look into who William is, I have to say I began to like Catherine so much more. Her character's struggle to look at reality and acknowledge things was really raw and I felt confused right along with her. The plot twist had me engaged right up until I realized what it was about a page before it was revealed. Good writing on that part. I thought I should have seen it coming, but I really did not!
I think one unresolved thing I wanted to know was what does "Guilt is cancer" mean? Was that ever actually explained? I will have to go back and think about that a bit more.
Regardless, I do recommend this book. As much as you might think you'll stop reading once you realize that you don't really like Catherine, if you stick with it, you do start to like her and "get" her and then the rest of the book flies by. I also liked the book resolution, although I will admit I thought William would have put up more of a fight at the end.
madamedefarge's review
challenging
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
greta_samuelson's review
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0