Scan barcode
jadeeby's review against another edition
4.0
Originally published at my blog Chasing Empty Pavements
This was such a heartbreaking novel but one that reminds everyone that there hope can lead to the light at the end of the tunnel.
The Good: The language of the writing was superb. From the very first line all the way to the end I was captivated by what Bebe had to say. There were some lines that were so visceral I had to reread the line again. Pg. 5 Bebe says, “My love for Aaron was so acid it scraped my veins raw.” Can you imagine loving someone so much that you feel it into your veins, you feel it so much you think one wrong step and your veins will be stripped completely bare? This is how Bebe’s love for Aaron came across to me. That deep. She was a very interesting character to me. While reading about her addictions and recovery process I almost imagined her being on the show Intervention…it was that realistic for me. I felt like Bebe’s road to redemption was about as slow and steady as it could be for someone recovering from not only her own demons but the loss of a life of someone she loves. The sobriety house she lives in “Serenity” and her fellow comrades are all grounded in reality and they feel so close to me now that I feel like I could turn the corner and see Buck or Violet. I can feel the sense of urgency for Bebe when she wants to graduate cosmetology school, not because it’s such a great career, but because it’s an achievement that Bebe didn’t think she could do. It’s a step in the right direction…it’s her way of moving on from her addictions and the past. Her gay friend, Javi, is a hoot and I totally love the role he plays in the novel. The other thing I LOVED about this novel is the way Jillian Lauren portrayed the mentally ill Jake. He is schizophrenic with delusions of being God, Jesus or both. I thought she handled it very realistically and showed the spiral these people go through when they are off their meds. The relationship between Jake and Bebe is so unbelievably sad. Jillian Lauren is able to show how it is possible to fall in love with someone who is mentally ill, but the probability of it working is slim. It really is heartbreaking. The ending though is so perfect for this novel. It isn’t overly positive but it’s not negative either. It’s the right mixture of happy and hopeful. I loved this novel!
The Bad: Nothing negative to say about the novel!
Overall, this was a beautifully written, harrowing novel. It grabs at every part of you until you are forced to feel what Bebe is feeling. So marvelous. A!!!
This was such a heartbreaking novel but one that reminds everyone that there hope can lead to the light at the end of the tunnel.
The Good: The language of the writing was superb. From the very first line all the way to the end I was captivated by what Bebe had to say. There were some lines that were so visceral I had to reread the line again. Pg. 5 Bebe says, “My love for Aaron was so acid it scraped my veins raw.” Can you imagine loving someone so much that you feel it into your veins, you feel it so much you think one wrong step and your veins will be stripped completely bare? This is how Bebe’s love for Aaron came across to me. That deep. She was a very interesting character to me. While reading about her addictions and recovery process I almost imagined her being on the show Intervention…it was that realistic for me. I felt like Bebe’s road to redemption was about as slow and steady as it could be for someone recovering from not only her own demons but the loss of a life of someone she loves. The sobriety house she lives in “Serenity” and her fellow comrades are all grounded in reality and they feel so close to me now that I feel like I could turn the corner and see Buck or Violet. I can feel the sense of urgency for Bebe when she wants to graduate cosmetology school, not because it’s such a great career, but because it’s an achievement that Bebe didn’t think she could do. It’s a step in the right direction…it’s her way of moving on from her addictions and the past. Her gay friend, Javi, is a hoot and I totally love the role he plays in the novel. The other thing I LOVED about this novel is the way Jillian Lauren portrayed the mentally ill Jake. He is schizophrenic with delusions of being God, Jesus or both. I thought she handled it very realistically and showed the spiral these people go through when they are off their meds. The relationship between Jake and Bebe is so unbelievably sad. Jillian Lauren is able to show how it is possible to fall in love with someone who is mentally ill, but the probability of it working is slim. It really is heartbreaking. The ending though is so perfect for this novel. It isn’t overly positive but it’s not negative either. It’s the right mixture of happy and hopeful. I loved this novel!
The Bad: Nothing negative to say about the novel!
Overall, this was a beautifully written, harrowing novel. It grabs at every part of you until you are forced to feel what Bebe is feeling. So marvelous. A!!!
audaciaray's review against another edition
4.0
Disclaimers up front: Jillian is a pal of mine who has performed at my reading series, and she had her publisher send me a copy of her book.
I really enjoyed Pretty and look forward to reading more fiction from Jillian. The prose is careful and glittery, with the weight of bad decisions and challenging life stuff all over the place. I love that the shitty and wild things have already happened to the main character, Bebe. The book isn't about partying, it's about what happens next, after you wake up with scars and try to figure out how to live your life.
I really enjoyed Pretty and look forward to reading more fiction from Jillian. The prose is careful and glittery, with the weight of bad decisions and challenging life stuff all over the place. I love that the shitty and wild things have already happened to the main character, Bebe. The book isn't about partying, it's about what happens next, after you wake up with scars and try to figure out how to live your life.
niniane's review against another edition
4.0
Well-written, beautiful language. It is the story of a young woman who has gone up under difficult circumstances, and is trying to finish beauty school. She is trying not to relapse into alcohol and drug abuse.
It is an interesting window into her world, and the writing makes it feel epic.
It is an interesting window into her world, and the writing makes it feel epic.
merlin_reads's review against another edition
3.0
This book was interesting, but also very depressing. The story opens with Bebe and her boyfriend, Aaron getting involved in a serious car crash - one that leaves her hands and legs severely scarred and Aaron dead. Fast forward one year later and Bebe is living in a halfway house working toward her cosmetology license.
She's pretty much just existing in life, not really living. She has a unique set of friends who all have problems of their own and she's dating a guy who thinks he's Jesus. While the book was well written, I found it hard to really get into Bebe's psyche. For the most part, she was refusing to live and was constantly focused on a past and a missed out future. It isn't until she gets pregnant that she "wakes up". Well, wakes up enough to realize that her life's a mess and tries to kill herself which doesn't work and that's when her moment of clarity happens.
As I read this, I couldn't think of how this could possibly end. There wasn't a real plot, it was more like a page from her life so I was very interested in seeing where the journey ended. And truthfully, when I read the last page, it didn't seem like it was over. In a way, it left me a little unfulfilled.
Good story, interesting array of character.
She's pretty much just existing in life, not really living. She has a unique set of friends who all have problems of their own and she's dating a guy who thinks he's Jesus. While the book was well written, I found it hard to really get into Bebe's psyche. For the most part, she was refusing to live and was constantly focused on a past and a missed out future. It isn't until she gets pregnant that she "wakes up". Well, wakes up enough to realize that her life's a mess and tries to kill herself which doesn't work and that's when her moment of clarity happens.
As I read this, I couldn't think of how this could possibly end. There wasn't a real plot, it was more like a page from her life so I was very interested in seeing where the journey ended. And truthfully, when I read the last page, it didn't seem like it was over. In a way, it left me a little unfulfilled.
Good story, interesting array of character.
starsplatter's review against another edition
3.0
Felt that the first half was very, very strong. The narrator is likeable and interesting in a story where it would be so easy for her to be whiny and terrible. The predictable plot 'twist' in the middle pulls the story back from being really good.
vanities's review against another edition
2.0
I read this because 'Some girls' wasn't what I expected and I wanted to give Jillian Lauren a second chance - I won't be reading anything else she writes. This book is about Bebe (Beth) & her delusional life in a half-way house, beauty school and sobriety while she dates a psycho. So fucking stupid. There's a little talk of God, drugs, and her obviously selective memories.... IDK I liked that she for the most part doesn't give into her old habits of drugging and stripping but overall - getting knocked up by an insane person and keeping it is retarded.
But I guess Jillian didn't want to write TWO books about a drugging ex-stripper who ends up pregnant and gets an abortion. To be a little different she had this one keep her baby. I wouldn't tell anyone to read either of Jillian's work.
But I guess Jillian didn't want to write TWO books about a drugging ex-stripper who ends up pregnant and gets an abortion. To be a little different she had this one keep her baby. I wouldn't tell anyone to read either of Jillian's work.
caitlinxmartin's review against another edition
5.0
When I was a little girl I used to tell people that I wanted to be an adventuress when I grew up. I'll admit that I was influenced by a Marlene Dietrich movie - Morocco (1930) - in which she plays a night club singer (Amy) who falls in love with Gary Cooper's character (Tom), a private in the French Foreign Legion. Although she is engaged to Adolphe Menjou's character (La Bessiere - a wealthy Frenchman), Amy realizes at the end of the film that she is truly in love with Tom. The film ends with her walking off into the desert, following the French Foreign Legion. Directed by Josef Sternberg, this film and Dietrich's character struck me as having all of the doomed romance a girl could ever want. Later there was Lady Brett Ashley (The Sun Also Rises), Greta Garbo in The Green Hat and Camille, and any number of other women who made unconventional choices in search of love and adventure.
Later in life I rethought these women as role models. I still love the notion of an unconventional life filled with risk-taking, but the consequences of certain kinds of risks seem stark and uncompromising. What happens to Amy in the desert in her high heels and cocktail dress? Both the Garbo characters end up dead and Lady Brett Ashley becomes ever less appealing as you re-read the book in adulthood. It's hard to make unconventional choices and not end up crazy, dead, or alone with a lot of cats for company.
Ms. Lauren's first novel, Pretty, is much in keeping with this tradition, although as it plays out in its more modern form. Reminiscent in ways of Prozac Nation, in today's world we are more easily confronted with the reality of the aftermath of a life of adventure. Sure, following the sexy jazz musician out of the club, onto the tour bus, and into the night is all about adventure, but just as the aftermath of the other imagined adventures in my fantasy life is suboptimal, Bebe's aftermath is equally fraught with the consequence of poor choices.
For all its consequences played out across the novel, Pretty manages to be surprisingly hopeful. You can learn to make better choices or at least to live with the consequences of the risks you take - regret optional. Adventure can be found in many different places and men don't always have to be unavailable and bad for you. I liked Bebe, flaws and all, and I liked her story. As with the other fictional ladies I admired she takes her chances and isn't afraid to pay the toll, but best of all is that she is equally unafraid to face life on the other side of the risks.
Ms. Lauren has things to say and says them without apology or cliche. She can write. Highly recommended.
Later in life I rethought these women as role models. I still love the notion of an unconventional life filled with risk-taking, but the consequences of certain kinds of risks seem stark and uncompromising. What happens to Amy in the desert in her high heels and cocktail dress? Both the Garbo characters end up dead and Lady Brett Ashley becomes ever less appealing as you re-read the book in adulthood. It's hard to make unconventional choices and not end up crazy, dead, or alone with a lot of cats for company.
Ms. Lauren's first novel, Pretty, is much in keeping with this tradition, although as it plays out in its more modern form. Reminiscent in ways of Prozac Nation, in today's world we are more easily confronted with the reality of the aftermath of a life of adventure. Sure, following the sexy jazz musician out of the club, onto the tour bus, and into the night is all about adventure, but just as the aftermath of the other imagined adventures in my fantasy life is suboptimal, Bebe's aftermath is equally fraught with the consequence of poor choices.
For all its consequences played out across the novel, Pretty manages to be surprisingly hopeful. You can learn to make better choices or at least to live with the consequences of the risks you take - regret optional. Adventure can be found in many different places and men don't always have to be unavailable and bad for you. I liked Bebe, flaws and all, and I liked her story. As with the other fictional ladies I admired she takes her chances and isn't afraid to pay the toll, but best of all is that she is equally unafraid to face life on the other side of the risks.
Ms. Lauren has things to say and says them without apology or cliche. She can write. Highly recommended.
amberinpieces's review against another edition
3.0
Bebe is an ex-everything: an ex-Christian, ex-stripper, ex-addict, ex-pretty girl.
Bebe ends up at a halfway house after becoming physically and emotionally scarred from the car accident her boyfriend, Aaron, died from. She has been sober for almost a year although she has her moments of almost-impossible-to-control urges. She suffers through day after day of cosmetology school to give herself a goal. She makes it through with the help of goth girl Violet who also resides at the halfway house and self-proclaimed “queen” Javier. Out of habit, not for love, she dates Jake, a guy who lives in the male halfway house next door and believes he is Jesus when he does not take his medication.
Bebe feels like she was saved and reborn before: once, when she joined her step-brother’s church and the night she met Aaron. She is looking to be saved a third time, but there will be complications. Who knows if Bebe is looking in the right places?
I am not quite sure why I requested this novel - maybe because it is different from what I usually read. And a bit of curiosity. To be honest, I did not always quite “get” the message of Pretty while reading it, but the more I think about it, the more I feel that I am on the right track. Bebe has been saved twice before…but by other people. I believe the message is that she needs to stop depending so much on someone else saving her and rather focus on saving herself. A powerful message for anyone who has had a life like Bebe’s.
Read the full review here.
Bebe ends up at a halfway house after becoming physically and emotionally scarred from the car accident her boyfriend, Aaron, died from. She has been sober for almost a year although she has her moments of almost-impossible-to-control urges. She suffers through day after day of cosmetology school to give herself a goal. She makes it through with the help of goth girl Violet who also resides at the halfway house and self-proclaimed “queen” Javier. Out of habit, not for love, she dates Jake, a guy who lives in the male halfway house next door and believes he is Jesus when he does not take his medication.
Bebe feels like she was saved and reborn before: once, when she joined her step-brother’s church and the night she met Aaron. She is looking to be saved a third time, but there will be complications. Who knows if Bebe is looking in the right places?
I am not quite sure why I requested this novel - maybe because it is different from what I usually read. And a bit of curiosity. To be honest, I did not always quite “get” the message of Pretty while reading it, but the more I think about it, the more I feel that I am on the right track. Bebe has been saved twice before…but by other people. I believe the message is that she needs to stop depending so much on someone else saving her and rather focus on saving herself. A powerful message for anyone who has had a life like Bebe’s.
Read the full review here.
susiekline's review against another edition
5.0
I am so grateful to have the opportunity to read and review such wonderful books. It seems they keep getting better and better! I was given a copy of Pretty to review and I have a copy to give away. Check out directions for entering at the end of the post!
Pretty is the story of Bebe. The cover describes her as:
BeBe Baker is an ex-everything: ex-stripper, ex-Christian, ex-drug addict, ex-pretty girl.
What BeBe does very very well is tell her story. As she recovers from the death of her lover in a horrible car accident that left her hands and legs scarred, she struggles. She pulls herself through the days until she is finished with beauty school and through the nights as she tries to follow the rules at the half-way house where she lives. She uses her relationship with a schizophrenic resident of the men's half-way house as a distraction.
Lauren's writing is incredible. I ended up marking passages in the book so I could share them! Here's my favorite:
Mrs. Montano looks disturbingly like pictures I've seen of John Wayne Gacy when he dressed up like a clown. She appears to be wearing a giant beach ball costume, with only her dwarfed hands and feet sticking out. Her hair is a lacquered auburn helmet, the exact shade favored by beauty school teachers the world over. Her makeup looks like a mean puppet face, with white foundation, an angry gash of red lips, rainbow-colored arches of frosted eye shadow highlighting the crepey skin of her eyelids, and two perfect circles of blush that sit unblended on her cheeks.
The entire book is filled with descriptions like this. You feel the story as much as read it. Lauren effortlessly weaves the story of the past with the story of now. Her characters are life-like and three dimensional.
I hope you read this book. If you'd like to win a copy, please comment below! I'll draw the winner on Friday, September 23, at 5pm CST. So get your entries in before that! Good luck!
This review originally appeared on my blog (www.motherhoot.com)
Pretty is the story of Bebe. The cover describes her as:
BeBe Baker is an ex-everything: ex-stripper, ex-Christian, ex-drug addict, ex-pretty girl.
What BeBe does very very well is tell her story. As she recovers from the death of her lover in a horrible car accident that left her hands and legs scarred, she struggles. She pulls herself through the days until she is finished with beauty school and through the nights as she tries to follow the rules at the half-way house where she lives. She uses her relationship with a schizophrenic resident of the men's half-way house as a distraction.
Lauren's writing is incredible. I ended up marking passages in the book so I could share them! Here's my favorite:
Mrs. Montano looks disturbingly like pictures I've seen of John Wayne Gacy when he dressed up like a clown. She appears to be wearing a giant beach ball costume, with only her dwarfed hands and feet sticking out. Her hair is a lacquered auburn helmet, the exact shade favored by beauty school teachers the world over. Her makeup looks like a mean puppet face, with white foundation, an angry gash of red lips, rainbow-colored arches of frosted eye shadow highlighting the crepey skin of her eyelids, and two perfect circles of blush that sit unblended on her cheeks.
The entire book is filled with descriptions like this. You feel the story as much as read it. Lauren effortlessly weaves the story of the past with the story of now. Her characters are life-like and three dimensional.
I hope you read this book. If you'd like to win a copy, please comment below! I'll draw the winner on Friday, September 23, at 5pm CST. So get your entries in before that! Good luck!
This review originally appeared on my blog (www.motherhoot.com)