Pretty Things

I loved the detail and intricacies in the writing of this book! Nina has grifting in her blood. After obtaining a college degree and making an honest go of a career that's going nowhere, Nina gets a call that her mother is sick and needs her at home. When she gets home she meets Lachlan, her mother's fellow grifter friend who soon becomes her lover and partner in crime. Vanessa comes from old money and is an Instagram influencer. After questioning her life choices when her fiance calls off the wedding, she decides to move to the Lake Tahoe family mansion she's recently inherited. Nina and Vanessa's lives crossed paths in their youth and things didn't turn out well for Nina. Now years later and in need of money to help with her mother's medical costs, Nina and Lachlan devise the perfect, one last con, with Vanessa as their "mark". Told in alternating sections from the POV's of Nina and Vanessa with some of the scenes overlapping as they are told from each of their perspectives, this very well written story grabbed my attention and held it throughout. The characters are wholly realized and believable, and the situations are totally plausible and leave you with an intimate view of their worlds. Near the end your left questioning who's conning who and the conclusion is very satisfying and I'd dare say the perfect ending for this story. I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend this intriguing and compelling novel.

I enjoyed the final 3 chapters of this book more than the rest of the book. The story moves at a steady pace with regular twists. There would be a few instances where you would have a smile at the smart nuances. Overall a good book for seasoned readers. May not be the right choice for new bookworms.

Gripping and full of suspense from the first page, Janelle Brown’s ‘Pretty Things’, is dark, gritty and sinister. Written from the perspective of two central protagonists, Nina and Vanessa, in alternating sections, Brown creates believable and endearing characters. Whilst not immediately likeable, particularly Nina who you discover early in the novel is a con artist... the novel progressed I found myself developing a level of understanding and empathy for both women and their motivations, and was completely invested in their stories. There were a lot of references to current culture, social media, trends and hashtags, which I enjoyed and made the novel more relatable for those who choose to read it now, but I’m not too sure that they will stand the test of time. Whilst possibly best described as a thriller, the novel has other depths, with Brown introducing strong themes of loneliness, emptiness, ambition, deceit, revenge and self-worth that you find yourself reflecting on throughout the novel. With money, wealth and superficiality being a central focus of the novel, Brown causes you to question what it means to be wealthy, what lies beneath what we choose to reveal about ourselves and how we influence the perception of others. I should add trigger warnings here of both mental illness and mental abuse, which feature strongly within the novel. Brown strikes a balance between dialogue and description, using suspense but allowing the novel to drive forward to a conclusion. My only criticism is that the plot itself was a little too predictable and I found myself guessing the twists and turns before they happened. I’ve seen that there are plans to adapt this novel into a Netflix series, and very excited to see the result of this!!

It was okay. The beginning starts out awesome and really grabs your attention for many chapters and pages. The book is written from the 2 main characters perspectives. What I didn’t care for is how some of the same scenes will be written out twice from the perspectives so you are then re reading something you already read. This makes the middle of the book very, very slow moving and at times kind of boring. The end does pick up and has a really good twist and because of that it makes the fairly dull whole middle of the book worth the read.

What would you do if your mom fell ill and you realized that there were few options available to cover her medical expenses? How far would you go to ensure she got the treatment she needed? Would you lie for her? Would you go so far as to steal for her? That is exactly what Nina Ross decides to do when she realizes her liberal arts degree will not be enough to provide a legitimate income to cover the cost of treatment. Now she finds herself face to face with her past as she takes on her most risky scam yet. Enter Vanessa Liebling, the heiress turned Instagram influencer, who is struggling to cope with her family’s difficult past. As these two protagonists collide and weave their stories among once another, they quickly realize that everything is not always as it seems. Brown immediately captures the reader’s attention within those first few pages and as soon as I finished the first chapter, I knew I was hooked. The story is told through both Nina’s and Vanessa’s point of views, often taking the reader through the same event twice so that you are seeing what each woman thought and felt during these exchanges. This kept me going back and forth with how I felt about each character and I often found my feelings about each of the protagonists changing and evolving throughout the novel. At times, I even felt conflicted, wanting desperately to dislike one of the characters, but realizing that there was more beneath the surface. This type of dynamic character development is an aspect of Brown’s writing style that I enjoyed with her previous novels, like Watch Me Disappear. The way she switches between each woman’s point of view kept me engaged and craving more from the storyline. With any type of thriller, I always find myself trying to predict what happens in the end. Funny enough, if I can correctly guess the ending, then I am usually disappointed because it was too predictable. There were none of those feelings with Pretty Things. Just when I thought I knew where the story was heading, there would be a twist that had me going back to reread a section because I was so shocked. Any time a novel makes me gasp or say, “Oh my god!” out loud, I know it is a fantastic read. I loved how many plot twists and surprises Brown managed to pack into this novel; I was on the edge of my seat until the very end. Overall, I would recommend Pretty Things to any of my fellow readers who love a good thriller and strong female characters. I was very excited to read this new novel and it certainly did not disappoint. I would rate this novel 4/5 stars and look forward to reading more novels by Brown in the future!