I'm a little surprised by how much I liked this. Quite a few things that I usually dislike (unlikable characters, alternate narratives) really worked in this book, I credit Brown's writing for that. I was also surprised by a couple of the little twists at the end, which doesn't happen often.

First off, this book is long, too long. That’s why it took me a while to pick it up. I don’t think books (and especially thrillers) should exceed 400 pages, 300something being the ideal. Any more than that seems overindulgent, not to mention it risks slowing down the momentum of suspense. And having that been said, if a suspense thriller must be 500 pages long, it should be done by someone as talented as the author. Which is to say, sure the book’s s pretty long, but oh boy, it’s so well written. Maybe it’s because Brown comes from a literary field, before venturing (understandably) into the ever trendy ever so popular and lucrative female thriller genre. Maybe she’s just a natural storyteller. But this book read so well. Yes, it does have all the basic premises of the genre…female leads, alternating perspectives, twists. And yes, it isn’t entirely original, the concept of grifting a scion of wealth and privilege only to have emotions get in the way. But it is done right. Or mostly so. The two main protagonists, our narrators, are Nina and Vanessa, as different as literature can spawn. Nina, the daughter of a low rent scamming mother, is someone who has tried to be good, to follow the rules, but all it got her is a useless BA, crappy job and a huge debt. Enter Lachlan, a charismatic Irish con artist her mother introduces her to, and suddenly Nina’s art degree isn’t so useless after all, it can help her locate and liberate objects d’art from the obnoxious baby oligarchs touting their wealth on Instagram for all the world to see. Vanessa was born to old world money, she owns an estate that has a name and yet she herself hasn’t amounted to much in life outside of being an Instagram celebrity, so when a series of family tragedies leaves her in charge and more or less alone, she retreats to Stonehaven and is completely alone in the world. So easy to take advantage of, especially by someone who knows of a safe with a million dollars in it, knows Vanessa, knows her entire family and, more importantly, has held a grudge against them for many, many years. And so the games begin. The very modern sort of games, powered by Instagram and social media in general. This isn’t a duet, though, it’s a trio, Lachlan is very much present, and everyone’s got their own agenda. And all the agendas are self serving. And everyone is oh so pretty, but only at a first glance. The title refers to the layers beneath, the secreted away ugliness of lies and liars who tell them. And every character but one in this book is a lying liar, wrapped up in their own lies. Although some have more redeeming qualities than others. This is so obviously a book about the beneath of it all, it starts with telling the readers about Lake Tahoe, so immense it’s easy to disappear there forever, beneath the forbidding waters. The lake also serves as a sort of Chekov’s Gun, you know how the book’s going to end, there will be a body to feed the waters. Not to mention it provides a nice atmospheric setting for the story, a seemingly idyllic location where natural beauty hides dangers. Obvious? Maybe, but very effective all the same. The only thing that was obvious and didn’t quite sing for me is Vanessa’s character. Not all that likeable, kind of an idiot, much too vapid. The author tried to give her dimensionality, certainly, but at best she’s a cliched sad and lonely pretty girl with too much money and not enough character. You might be sorry for her, at times, but she is difficult to actively like or care about as oppose to Nina, who is a genuinely compelling character and you kind of just want it to be her story, no split narrative necessary. Or maybe I’m too tough on Vanessa and her silver spoon life, she kind of redeems herself in the end. But either way, you want to know how it all plays out, you get really drawn into the story. It’s exactly what a good literary thriller should do. So yeah, as much as I don’t enjoy overly long books, this one was a genuinely enjoyable read. Thoroughly entertaining with some really interesting meditations of the power of social media or more like the amount of power people give over to it and at what cost. Very nicely done. And a very good introduction to a new author for me, an author I’m definitely interested to read further. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

I loved Pretty Things! It really inspired me to go write, which is the highest compliment I can give to another writer. Literary suspense at its best.

Pretty Things follows two “grifters”: Nina, a woman who’s career as an art dealer didn’t pan out, and her Irish boyfriend, Lachlan, as they go for their biggest and most dangerous scam yet. Nina is trying to pay for her mother’s cancer treatment, so this job means everything to her. Their target is an heiress and social media influencer, Vanessa Liebling, who has recently moved to Lake Tahoe. Vanessa’s family treated Nina and her mom horribly in the past, and so for Nina, this job is personal as well.

This book was fascinating. I loved that the book started from Nina’s point of view and told so much of her childhood and how that led her into grifting. Janelle Brown did a fantastic job of telling both Nina and Vanessa’s backstories. The book was easy to get sucked into - the scheme that Nina and Lachlan takes several twists and turns as the point of view switches back and forth, and they get deeper and deeper into their job.

I really enjoyed the pace of the action in the first two thirds of the book - but as the story got to the climax, I started to slow down and make sure that I was absorbing every part of the book. Vanessa and Nina’s stories overlapped in certain spots, and I wanted to clarify certain events before moving on. As much as I loved the premise of the story, it seemed as if the end was tied up a little too neatly for a criminal and an heiress with a messy family. It was beautiful though, and so easy to vividly imagine.

Grab this and give it a read - it would be a fun one to read and discuss with a book club! You could have a great many discussions about society & social classes, truth vs. fiction, and what motivates the different characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for sharing this book with me in exchange for an honest review! It was quite a thrilling read.

Wow, this book was completely unexpected. It was gripping! I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough! I definitely recommend this twisted and intense book!!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

Nina is a grifter, a person who scams others out of money, steals their belongings, and basically lives by taking from the rich and giving to the poor----if by “poor,” we mean “Nina.” She wasn’t always this way, but being brought up by her grifter mother who is now suffering from cancer and needs an extraordinary amount of money for her treatments, Nina feels she has no other option but to go into the family business. When Nina’s new life overlaps with her old life, she seeks out the uber rich family she new when she was in high school, and they become her next mark. One more big hit to help mom, and then she’s out…but we know it never ends like that, does it? Although I enjoyed the descriptions of the characters and sneaking a peak into the lifestyles of the rich (but just so-so famous?), however I found the book to reach quite a bit in a lot of places. Good enough for a light read, but if you’re looking for realistic, maybe look elsewhere.

Special Note: Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What value do you place on yourself ? Do you hold other people responsible for the actions and outcomes of your own life?
Nina is raised as a drifter , her mother never settling in one place for long. When they move to Tahoe so Nina can attend a prestigious school, she thinks life might finally be normal for her. She meets a boy and excels at school. But it does not last her mother packs all their things in her tiny car and they are off again. Nina holds the Liebling Family responsible for all the troubles that follow her through her life.
Vanessa is the heiress to the Liebling family fortune and raised in privilege. She flaunts her life on social media and measures her self worth by the likes and comments of others. She has no real job or aspiration, She is Vanessa Liebling and that is enough for her.
All families have secrets. Nina's mother is a grifter. Vanessa's mother is bipolar. Vanessa's father is a philanderer. And who is Micheal/Lachlan really? People are so good at hiding their true selves.
Pretty Things by Janelle Brown is a book you will want to read. I am so glad i was granted an advance copy of this book. What a great story with plenty of excitement and a few twists worked in throughout.

This was a fantastic read.... I enjoyed how relevant and how spot on w/the social media aspect and how fully invested I was in all of the characters from the very start. I had a hard time putting this down and felt myself and feelings reflected on more than one page, which is not necessarily a flattering viewpoint but this book made me think about things and that's the hallmark of a book well written and read. I will look for more from this Author and this publishing house, I found myself engrossed (and that's not easily come by these days). Thank you for the opportunity, and well done.

I only got into 11% of this book. I really tried to give it a go by putting it down, reading another book and then coming back to it, but it isn't remotely interesting to me. The blurb made it sound as if it would be thrilling, but it is rather bland. The characters are dry and uninteresting. This is a DNF for me. Sorry.

Another conning story with full of secret and lies, delicious twists and shocking revelations! Okay! Count me in and reserve my place for this crazy, heart throbbing ride! This is my kind of enjoyable, dark, smart thriller!

We have a drifter, Nina Ross, having a chance for con of her lifetime, avenging the Liebling family who treated her mean and unfair and told her she would never be good enough for their precious son in the past. Not only for revenge, but also affording her mother’s big C treatment bills, she needs money and her target is family’s shiny social media star Vanessa.

We have an Instagram Influencer with admirers, followers swimming around her but she still surprisingly suffers from loneliness and abandonment. She needs real friends. Could it be her con woman also her friend?
And don’t forget, we have Irish boyfriend a.k.a partners in crime of Nina, named Lachlan. Is he trustworthy enough to involve in this equation? Wait for it… He can surprise you!
Let the games begin. But be prepared to be fooled and be careful because somebody can pull the rug from under your feet. This book is layered with some many turnarounds and twists. Sometimes you think who is the real con man? The drifters we know or the victim? Sometimes the hunter can turn into a prey and prey can take his place.

I mostly engaged with the subjective perceptions and multiple narration parts. The same event was told by Nina and Vanessa from different angles so your mind spins after reading them and it was sometimes really hard to decide who was telling the truth.

But when I came to the last quarter maybe because of moving back and forth too many times to catch the back stories, the pacing got a little slower and I didn’t get the surprising, mouth widening, grandioso ending. It was a little forced, haphazard. It was not unsatisfying but it was okay not good. So after reading so long and connected with those characters even they have too much flaws, irritating attributes, suffering from their past failures, I was expecting something smarter, moving and shaking me to the core.
I still loved the writing style, the way of smart, sarcastic, moving story-telling, partly empathized with the characters.

Overall: it can be five stared book but the last parts broke my enthusiasm and I gave 3.5 stars rounded up to 4. Not the best book choice for me but it still pretty good reading and I wanted to read more works of the author.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group to share this fast pacing page turner with me in exchange my honest review.

Told in split perspective by protagonists Nina Ross, a down-on-her-luck grifter who desperately needs money to fund her mother's cancer treatment, and Vanessa Liebling, an Instagram-famous heiress who returns to the home she inherited after family tragedy after family tragedy strikes, leaving her lost, floundering, and alone, this reads like a "who is truly conning whom" page-turner. Spite and selfishness fuels both women at different moments, only to then be juxtaposed by moments of their sympathy and understanding. There's a good balance of these qualities as the plot unfolds which helps to add suspense as well as an element of flawed humanity. As a reader, it was satisfying to mark Nina and Vanessa's differences yet also trace where the lines blurred, where their personal traits or experiences intersected.

The rehashing of the same events from both perspectives could be a little wearying at times, stagnant in places where I wanted things to move forward, but for the most part I thought the narrative structure was effective. It gave readers a chance to fume over some of Nina and Vanessa's scheming; to feel for them when they were duped, oblivious, or suffering. I enjoyed the like vs. dislike tug-of-war I had with both characters. They were equal parts artful and pitiable.

As a place, a setting, Stonehaven had a glistening atmospheric tug to it that reminded me a little of Manderley in "Rebecca," too. I say that because though all seems quiet and lovely there, the home tucked away sweetly in its snowy landscape, not everything is as straightforward as it seems. In fact, it's shrouded in secrets, in family discord and agony.

If you're in the mood for a thriller with plausible twists and female characters you can root for almost as often as you facepalm when they do something morally ambiguous, then give this one a shot. It's duplicitous psychological fun!

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC.

I received this as an ARC book through NetGalley.com.

Pretty Things had me from the hook. It moved quickly and effortlessly through the story of two women from very different backgrounds meeting by chance it seems. The descriptions are paintings in words, not lengthy but purposeful, that enhance this novel. Nina and Vanessa blame the other for their pain in life. Pretty Girls brought to the surface the question of being a product of our upbringing or circumstance verses the choices put before us according to our beliefs. The ending was a shock and even exploded my own expectation.
I Loved IT!
Definitely an “It” book for 2020!

If you’re looking for a thriller that isn’t really a thriller (i.e. something that’s not going to give you nightmares) I highly recommend this!!

All the negative things I had to say about this book were negated in the second half, which is when I became OBSESSED. The first half was an information dump and, while it was an interesting story, slogged along at times but boy was it all worth it after ~certain events~

I don’t want to give anything away so I won’t go into detail but I will say that I love the characters, I love the story lines, I love how the characters narratives all weave together, I love the writing, and I even love the epilogue!

There’s a really interesting discussion on internet fame and social media culture that resonated with me and an unlikely friendship that I adore.

Thanks to Random House for giving me a free arc through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A con game? Two cunning women? My dreams come true! What a great premise and an even greater book. Thoroughly readable, enjoyable and recommendable! Loved, loved it!

I absolutely loved Pretty Things by Janelle Brown! This book blew me away, it’s such an awesome novel that is both literary and suspenseful. If I were a book scout, which is a dream career to me, I would option this for a series. I can picture it in my head, how it would all play out, and I won’t be surprised to learn that it will be turned into a movie or show.

Nina once bought into the idea that her fancy liberal arts degree would lead to a fulfilling career. When that dream crashed, she turned to stealing from rich kids in L.A. alongside her wily Irish boyfriend, Lachlan. Nina learned from the best: Her mother was the original con artist, hustling to give her daughter a decent childhood despite their wayward life. But when her mom gets sick, Nina puts everything on the line to help her, even if it means running her most audacious, dangerous scam yet.

Vanessa is a privileged young heiress who wanted to make her mark in the world. Instead she becomes an Instagram influencer–traveling the globe, receiving free clothes and products, and posing for pictures in exotic locales. But behind the covetable façade is a life marked by tragedy. After a broken engagement, Vanessa retreats to her family’s sprawling mountain estate, Stonehaven: A mansion of dark secrets not just from Vanessa’s past, but from that of a lost and troubled girl named Nina.

Nina, Vanessa, and Lachlan’s paths collide here, on the cold shores of Lake Tahoe, where their intertwined lives give way to a winter of aspiration and desire, duplicity and revenge.

I don’t give out five stars very often but this was definitely a five-star read for me, excellent story! I know you will all devour this book and feel the same way. I loved everything about it!

Order here, due out on April 21, 2020.

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

I loved this one. Very fast paced, had me turning pages as I tore through it – I had to see how it would end. The characters were well rounded and the narrative felt believable. Gave me chills. Solid five

Nina Ross has the chance for the con of a lifetime. With her Irish boyfriend Lachlan, she travels to Lake Tahoe to scam Vanessa Liebling, a wealthy heiress, out of millions. But it's not all about the money for Nina, though she desperately needs it to pay for her mother's illness. Revenge is also on the table; revenge against the Liebling family who never considered her good enough for their son and drove her family out of town. As both Nina and Vanessa's past is revealed, you begin to wonder, Who is conning whom? 

I loved the interplay between Nina and Vanessa, as the same events are retold from each perspective to change your perception of the story. Although important, the retelling of each woman's life did drag at times, yet the intrigue between the women kept me invested enough in the story to keep pushing forward.

Unfortunately, the ending lost some of its suspense. I feel like Brown could have extended the last quarter of the book, building more to a grand finale. As it was, the backstory took so long that the ending twist was adequate instead of excellent. I wouldn't consider Pretty Things to be particularly exceptional, but good enough when you just want a standard thriller. A solid three stars for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for a Kindle ARC of Pretty Things.

The premise intrigued me which is why I requested it; a female artist matching wits with an entitled heiress sounds like a movie I definitely want to see, but I want to read about it first.

Nora is a smart, competent young woman struggling to pay for her mother's medical bills. Her lowly job at an inferior auction house wasn't cutting it so she turned to crime to help her only parent.

When a con doesn't pan out, Nora and her partner in crime, Lachlan, seek a new mark, except this time, it is someone from Nora's past, and it's personal.

I really liked Nora; I loved her voice, her honesty, and her forthrightness. I couldn't see her as a con artist, she was too smart and self aware for that, but I sympathized and understood the desperation that forced her to turn to a life of crime. Crime doesn't pay, but it depends on the crime.

When Nora is in trouble, she doesn't rail at the forces that conspired to put her there. Instead, she does something shocking.

She holds herself accountable. She tells the reader that her own actions landed her between a rock and a hard place. It was her own choice that made her team up with Lachlan, to pursue a vendetta against someone from her past, and walk this particular path.

There is no one to blame but herself.

I would like to be Nora's friend.

There is a lot of exposition on both women, offering the readers their personal POVs, their background, their family drama and how they ended up at this particular point in time.

I didn't like Vanessa, at first, and I think that was the author's intention.

She came off as a desperate, whiny, dopey entitled brat who is famous for having a famous name.

But, Vanessa became more than that; she became more real, grounded, sympathetic, especially when she spoke of her brother with great affection, their bond even as his mental illness evolved and threatened their relationship, her love for her parents despite their family drama and trauma.

The ending was satisfying, but more so because Vanessa's character had evolved.

I liked how the author incorporated Instagram culture and the rise of Influencers who are famous for not doing much; how easy it is to track and stalk anyone online, and craft an online persona to be whoever you want to be, and how you want others to see you.

There are a few twists, which I guessed, but the twists are not so much the story as the women themselves, how Nora and Vanessa are more alike than dissimilar, how an uneasy truce is brokered between them, and how sometimes we have to leave the past and people behind, if we are to move forward.

Wow, not what I was expecting from a Janelle Brown novel but it was really great and so timely with the popularity of instagram and how everyone is flaunting their wealth. Lots of twists and turns that I didn't see coming. I also loved how it was all wrapped up at the end.

Pretty enjoyable read with the exception of too many point of views. If it wasn't for that, I would have given it 4 stars. A bit too long with the povs.
Still, all in all, I liked it and read this author again.