Overall I really enjoyed this book. The plot reminded me of Fingersmith, in some ways, and would be a good readalike for people who wouldn’t miss the romance aspect.

Pretty Things spends a lot of time character building, which meant it was a little slow to get going. You do however find yourself knowing the characters very well! Once it got going there were plenty of twists and turns, which made it much more exciting than the first half for me. For me it was a little too slow and I couldn't sink into the story as much as I had hoped. I'd give it 3 stars, but I know people who love a slow burner will really love this one!

If you are looking for a fast-paced thriller, this may not be the book for you. However, if you are looking for a book that blends both character development and a twisty plot, Pretty Things has both! Janelle Brown brings together both of these components in this novel of deception.

Nina really tried to do things the "right" way. She went to college and got a degree, but when that path didn't lead her to being able to cover her financial obligations, she fell into the path of her birthright - scamming others for money. When her boyfriend Laclan and her collide with heiress Vanessa in Lake Tahoe, the game is on.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

I can totally understand why so many people loved this book. I really liked it. Truth is it’s a little long and felt repetitive. I liked Nina and Vanessa so that made me want to keep going. The story picked up for the last 3rd and I was very curious to see how it all turned out. This book isn’t really a thriller it’s more like women’s fiction but I guess they have to label it that way to sell it. Either way I think it’s a good summer read and I’m looking forward to the movie.

So well done! One of my favorite psychological suspense books in a while. The length could deter some, but it is so worth it. I love a book that can keep me guessing up to the end!

I was hooked by this book right away. I felt engaged throughout and loved the writing. A great novel dealing with current aspects of social media.

"Nothing is ever as pure as it seems at first glance; there is always something more complicated to be found when you peel back the unmarred surface of pretty things."

Pretty Things by Janelle Brown is a deliciously entertaining, character driven, slow burn, psychological suspense story, full of drama, deceit, greed, backstabbing and lies galore.

If you've read its premise you might be misled into thinking that this is an action packed heist thriller involving the scam of a lifetime. Well, it's not. Yes, a scam is involved but it's not the one you're expecting. And I wouldn't really put it in the thriller category, it's more like a literary mystery.

The enticing cover caught my attention at first, but after reading the exquisitely written prologue I was instantly pulled into the story and found myself turning pages until the very end. Almost 500 pages of delicious nonstop entertainment with the most unexpected conclusion.

The plot naturally is extremely fascinating - a broke grifter, a lonely Instagram influencer, and a master con artist are all brought together at the picturesque setting of Lake Tahoe. A sprawling old mansion nearly overflowing with precious antiques is the common denominator. There are gripping backstories that reveal complex and messy history between the characters involving lost dreams and forbidden first loves, dysfunctional family dynamics and plenty of mind games. A few clever twists are placed aptly within the story, most of which I did not see coming.

"Caption-and-comment culture in all its brevity leaves out the middle ground, where most of life is found."

Additionally, in between we get some thought provoking and compelling commentary on social media, disparity between the glamorous online life and the ordinary real one, the gaping vast gap between the exorbitantly wealthy and those struggling to barely meet ends. Some reviewers have complained about its length and lack of action, but frankly non of it bothered me and I savored every moment of this beautifully written smart story.

"It’s easiest to judge from a distance. That’s why the Internet has turned us all into armchair critics, experts at the cold dissection of gesture and syllable, sneering self-righteously from the safety of our screens. There, we can feel good about ourselves, validated that our flaws aren’t as bad as theirs, unchallenged in our superiority."

Did you know Nicole Kidman is to star and produce a series adaptation of this for Amazon? I cannot wait!

Recommended if you enjoy character driven literary suspense brimming with deceit and betrayal that makes you second guess everyone and everything.

Oh boy, what a boring and unrealistic book, I don't want to be rude or anything, but this book is a joke to the mystery and the thriller. The characters are very superficial and prejudiced. By the way, the book talks about mental health problems but not so deeply, I would have liked that the author talked more on that topic. I think that if you love thrilles, you won't going to like this book at all.

What a brilliant written book. The story alternates from past to present seamlessly. I was never bored with reading the past or feeling anxious to get on with the storyline. I was hooked from the first line till the last.

This is a good read. Nina and Lachlan are con men, and they need to do something big, because Nina's mother, the original grifter, is sick and the hospital bills are huge (shitty US healthcare is the basis for so much crime in books). Vanessa is an "instagram influencer," and I hate even using that phrase, though it is a thing. It has some twists that keep you guessing, and was an interesting read.

Thank you Netgalley, Random House and Janelle Brown for free e-ARC in return of my honest review.

Nina and Vanessa could not be more different. Nina is raised by single mother who travelled a lot and, frankly, is more concerned with herself wellbeing rather than her daughter’s. Vanessa, on the other hand, has never knew any financial hardship. Her family was happy on the outside but completely troubled on the inside.

I liked the story, it was definitely a page -turner and one of those “one more chapter” until your eyes just hurt. I enjoyed the structure of book as well.I liked how the author gives whole blocks to both Nina and Vanessa with past flashbacks. The storytelling is not linear but it is not confusing either.

I loved female characters the most. I think all of them - Nina, Nina’s mother, Vanessa and her mother (which doesn’t have much presence in the book) are all wonderfully developed. I enjoyed exploring Vanessa’s character the most. She seems shallow at first, at the same time she is a person who analyzes her own behavior and tries to learn from her mistakes.

If you like mystery, fast-pacing thriller, and comfortable with non-linear storyletting, Pretty Things might be for you!

Trigger warning: suicide, mental health schizophrenia.
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I was absolutely excited for this one because I loved loved Watch me disappear. This book has everything you look for in a mystery/thriller. You have the epilogue that grabs you right at the beginning. The issue for me was that it the story dragged bit too much for my liking. I’m not a fan of slow burn reads. But definitely recommend reading. 3.5 rounded to 4!

Pretty Things follows the intertwined lives of a grifter (Nina) and an heiress (Vanessa), and the ultimate con job. At first glance I thought this book would read as a thriller with an Oceans 8 tone, resulting in multiple double crosses and new twists around every corner. The first third of the book pulled me right in and I couldn't put it down. The story came to a grinding halt until the last third of the book where the story picked up again. I think I would have enjoyed this more if the middle section of the book was edited and the overly descriptive scenes were trimmed, as the descriptions didn't add to the plot nor the intrigue. Overall, without mentioning any spoilers, the twists were fairly predictable with the exception of one. The ending wraps up rather neatly.

The author wrote excellent dialogue and did an excellent job at giving each character a distinctive voice, which is especially important as the perspective changes between Nina and Vanessa. Also, I feel the author wrote Vanessa's character particularly well. It would be so easy to fall into typical tropes when writing an heiress/Instagram famous personality. Instead, the author gave Vanessa substance and her motives were all believable.

There is a body in the lake. I tryed to get interested but some murder mysteries creep me out. I love the cover.

“Spend enough time with any bestselling biography and you’ll come to the conclusion that greatness is practically guaranteed if you just do something reckless and wild.”
Hi so maybe the first reason I picked up this book was because it is based in Lake Tahoe? (#sorrynotsorry) I love Lake Tahoe, and I was squealing along with Vanessa and Nina every time they looked out over Vista Point or stared poignantly into the Lake. To both of them, Lake Tahoe is more than a place; it’s a visceral feeling.
I also love the twisty stories surrounding cons, and this one gave me a run for my money. There were so many twists and turns that I did not see coming. The way that Vanessa and Nina are tied together is absolutely masterful, and I was genuinely curious to see what was coming next.
The plot is a bit slow in the beginning, as we work up to the con itself, but it helps set the scene and introduce us to the characters. There are several points where the same scene is written twice, once from Nina’s pov and once from Vanessa’s. This is literally one of my favorite things ever, and I ate it right up. I had some trouble keeping everything straight in my head, but I think that was more on me, not the writing itself.
I also liked the way that Vanessa’s Instagram fame is portrayed. As someone who spends a lot of time on Instagram, Vanessa’s feelings rang true to me at least. Though she is a victim of some very basic social media “issues”, the sub narrative is woven into the rest of the story well. However, I genuinely cannot believe that Nina took out six figure student loans to get a degree in art history (seriously??)
It was also refreshing to see all the characters humanized; we get to see what both Nina and Vanessa are going through. However, the “villain” is slightly over-the-top in this story, but it’s a delicious twist so it’s forgivable.
Overall, Pretty Things had two well-developed main characters and a well-paced storyline full of twists. With lies, betrayal, jealousy, and revenge, it’s a fantastically sneaky drama that I sped through in a couple of hours.

Two wildly different women.One a grifter,the other an heiress.The background is the scam of a lifetime.Its a winter of desire,revenge, and intertwined lives.Two brilliant damaged women try to survive the greatest game of deceit and destruction they will ever play.

I know this has been getting a lot of hype and in my opinion, it's completely deserved! What an entertaining psychological thriller- dare I say finally one that checks all my personal boxes for a must-read page-turner with subtle twists that make sense looking back but were oh so well-plotted, characters that were just the right amount of "off", an atmospheric setting, and dual perspectives that didn't shift every other page. The opening chapter pulled me in immediately- we meet Nina who's involved in a pretty elaborate con- not her first we soon find out. I thought the way she finds her marks were genius, a creative idea I hadn't read about before but makes total sense in the age of social media. Nina is also taking care of her ailing mother which plays a big role in her motivations to continue her cons. Then we meet Vanessa, Instagram influencer and heiress who's left NYC to return to her family's estate in Lake Tahoe. When the 2 ladies' paths cross let's just say I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. Lies, betrayals, fake personas, wealthy people behaving badly all combine in a scrumptious tale of revenge and retribution and I loved every second of it! This will make the perfect summer read for mystery and thriller fans!

Following the release of her highly acclaimed thriller, WATCH ME DISAPPEAR, Janelle Brown returns with PRETTY THINGS, a sophisticated and expertly rendered mystery about the selves we curate for social media, and the people we are at home, stripped from all the glamour and glitz of the public.

Gorgeous, lithe and sharp, Nina Ross knows how to get what she wants. Drawing all the attention on the dance floors of elite clubs, she knows her power --- but that’s not all. She also knows the weaknesses of the rich and famous…and, lucky for her, she can track them all on Instagram, watching carefully as those with nothing to worry about carelessly geotag, hashtag, and show off their exorbitant wealth and privilege on social media. Nina has made a career of showing up at the right places, knowing the right clubs and using her otherwise useless art history degree to relieve young, rich showoffs of their Louis XIV and Rococo furniture, their priceless emeralds and forgotten wads of cash. But for the first time, Nina knows her next mark, and her most personal hit yet may be her last.

Vanessa Liebling is wealthy, privileged and broken. Borne of mediocre talent and average intelligence, she has catapulted her family’s wealth into an extravagant career as a social media influencer. But life has changed for Vanessa recently: her father has died, leaving her the sole caretaker of not only the their Lake Tahoe estate, Stonehaven, but her younger brother, Benny, a drug-addled and mentally ill black sheep for the Liebling family. Feeling unmoored and alienated, Vanessa retreats to Stonehaven and turns the caretaker’s cottage into an Airbnb-like rental --- inviting in all sorts of people, including Nina and her pseudo-boyfriend, Lachlan.

Alternating perspectives between Nina and Vanessa, Brown introduces two young women who are equally ambitious, damaged and, shall we say, morally gray. While Nina has the pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps kind of persona that readers will love in an underdog, Vanessa is also no stranger to loss and victimhood. As they collide and toy with one another on the vast Stonehaven estate, the author introduces twist after twist, forcing readers to wonder what’s real and what isn’t as two women adept at conforming to whatever their audiences want finally reveal their true selves.

When I read WATCH ME DISAPPEAR, I was struck by Brown’s gorgeous prose, but found myself wondering what might happen if she pushed herself just a little further and tightened up her characters a bit more. I am thrilled to report that she does just that in PRETTY THINGS, combining razor-sharp character arcs with poignant, thought-provoking questions to give readers one of the most unputdownable novels I have read in several months. She unites themes of poverty, privilege, mental illness and the influence of social media in tight, clever ways that elevate the mystery at the heart of her book, rather than weighing it down.

It would be easy for a lesser author to villainize Nina for her criminal activity, or Vanessa for her privilege, but Brown excels at immersing readers in both women’s heads, allowing us to relate to them equally to the point that every situation, tense encounter and furthering of the plot becomes elevated by moral grayness, ambiguous motives and brilliant combinations of privilege and power. This is a smart novel, clearly influenced by the social media age, but it is also an emotionally resonant one that will leave you thinking not only about what you choose to post online, but why you have chosen to post it. The author leaves no stone unturned in her inquisitive prodding of social media identities, and draws many important questions about perspective.

While that alone might be enough to call this book a must-read, it is Nina and Vanessa who make it unforgettable. It is rare for an author to present hero and victim so equally, but here Brown reminds us that we are all complicated, layered and flawed, and the pace at which she reveals her characters’ motives is breakneck and endlessly compelling. Having read both WATCH ME DISAPPEAR and PRETTY THINGS, I am absolutely on the edge of my seat anticipating her next book. She gets better and better every time, and it is thrilling to be able to watch her talent grow.

I enjoyed this more than most of the female-led thrillers that have come out since Gone Girl. The twists and turns aren’t quite as harrowing or frequent as other thrillers, and while that may be less exciting to some readers, it was a lot less stressful for me. Also I didn’t have to read any explicit sexual violence, which is always a plus. It was very readable and I was interested in the plot most of the way through, though it did lag a bit in the last 5% or so - it seemed like the writer wanted the happiest ending possibly so went into a little too much detail describing how things worked out for everyone.

This story follows two very different women, one is a con artist and one who is a mega Instagram influencer. Their paths cross when Nina is looking for her next big target and Vanessa, an heiress who flaunts her wealth on social media becomes the perfect hit.

Nina’s mother is battling cancer so Nina is looking for a way to bring home money and fast. With the help of her friend, Lachlan, they plan a scheme to gain Vanessa’s trust so they can gain access to her Lake Tahoe estate. Nina and Lachlan pretend to be a couple from Oregon, using the names Ashley and Micheal, they rent the cottage on Vanessa’s property so they can do some reconnaissance. Little do they know, Vanessa isn’t as naive as she seems and has plans of her own for these two.

This was a massive book at just under 500 pages, but it was full of twists and kept me intrigued throughout. I listened to the audiobook for many of the chapters and really enjoyed the narrators. This story was so clever and so entertaining! Thank you Netgalley and Random House for this copy, this book was published on 4/21/20. I just learned that Nicole Kidman is set to star in this soon to be TV series and I can’t wait!