I’m pretty vocal about my dislike for Bunny—I thought the premise was solid but the narrative voice annoyed me to no end. So, I surprised myself by buying the hardcover of her new book immediately but dark fairytales are my siren’s call, I simply can’t resist.

Rouge is that dark horse.

I’m so drawn to and curious about Mona Awad’s mind—her imagination is beautiful, she has such fascinating ideas that she executes in such fun and unnerving ways. The woman takes risks, and I support it.

Awad sets her Snow White-inspired tale in the world of wellness, or rather it’s deep deep underbelly. I love all of the unexpected twists and flourishes she uses here—the man in the mirror, the skincare and YouTube fixations, the mother-daughter relationship that is part protection, part envy, and all toxic. The spa is depicted with just the right amount of creepiness, it definitely kept me guessing. I’m still guessing a bit, to be honest! I thought bouncing back and forth between the present and past was a lovely way to unlock the mystery of what happened to her mother, and what happened to their relationship. There was also a little side-story romance that I really really loved. Unexpectedly endearing.

But, what I loved most about this book was the way Awad plays with language, slips of the tongue, and coherence to illustrate the effects Belle’s “treatments” are having on her. I can’t really describe it, but when you read it you’ll see what I mean, and it was just so cleverly done.

I really enjoyed this one—I suppose my only issues were it felt a bit repetitive at times and as a whole I was left with too many unanswered questions for this to be a five star read for me.

Weird, unnerving, and devoted to the theme. It took me awhile to get into, but when I did I was hooked. I’m glad I gave it a chance.

I've read all of Mona Awad's books and this one is my favourite. It’s intense and intoxicating and it also feels very sultry and sensuous in an off-kilter and slightly disturbing way which, let’s be honest, is exactly what the Awad stans are here for.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Complete Disclosure: This was a DNF for me. I had a really hard time connecting with the writing style which, ultimately, led me to stop reading. I hate doing this but life is too short to read books that don't resonate with you.

“There was never anything to fear. Which is a little disappointing, frankly. Maybe I wanted to be obliterated.”

Belle has always been obsessed with skincare. When her mother suddenly dies, Belle finds herself in California, ruminating on why her mother died. Then a strange woman in red appears at the funeral, claiming to be from the culty spa that her mother was devoted to. Belle ends up falling into the deep end and on the other side of her mother’s–and her own–demons.

It’s 6am when I’m finishing this book, heart aching, eyes watery. I loved Bunny for its weirdness, but I loved Rouge for its absolute devastation of my emotions.

Sometimes skincare is about grief and mourning? Who else was really close to reaching Rouge status this year? Raise hands. If I layer myself with these lotions and mists, can I truly cover up the abyss that floats inside me? Can I NOT face what’s inside me? Belle thinks so, and she covers and covers, trying to hide herself from own grief and guilt.

The heart of this story is the mother-daughter relationship. The envy, anger, hurt, and of course, overall complexities. Like I can’t relate to everything Belle underwent, but goddamn, some of it really went hard. Sometimes that mother-daughter relationship is like: god, I know there is love here, but I am truly at odds with you.

Rouge also brings the critique of the beauty industry and how toxic it can be. Why are we so obsessed with fairness/whiteness/brightening? Belle’s half-Egyptian heritage is never forgotten. Why must we have bouncy, youthful skin? Will retinol truly fix me? At 29, I wonder if I should begin to implement anti-aging into my routine. OH HOW WE ENVY, Belle is told, for her perfect skin.

Word play is so fun in this book. Lonely/lovely; kiss/kill; personal/perilous. Religious tones when talking about skincare too.

tom cruise was really creepy in this book; on brand really???

Besides Tom Cruise, the men in this book were truly endearing. Something about them made me hurt. Especially Tad. I went insane reading about Belle and Hud Hudson. I didn’t expect a love story here but that, too, made me ache. Thanks for making me cry Mona, xoxo, bunny ily.

Also, finally, thank you to NetGalley for the arc

“There was never anything to fear. Which is a little disappointing, frankly. Maybe I wanted to be obliterated.”

Belle has always been obsessed with skincare. When her mother suddenly dies, Belle finds herself in California, ruminating on why her mother died. Then a strange woman in red appears at the funeral, claiming to be from the culty spa that her mother was devoted to. Belle ends up falling into the deep end and on the other side of her mother’s–and her own–demons.

It’s 6am when I’m finishing this book, heart aching, eyes watery. I loved Bunny for its weirdness, but I loved Rouge for its absolute devastation of my emotions.

Sometimes skincare is about grief and mourning? Who else was really close to reaching Rouge status this year? Raise hands. If I layer myself with these lotions and mists, can I truly cover up the abyss that floats inside me? Can I NOT face what’s inside me? Belle thinks so, and she covers and covers, trying to hide herself from own grief and guilt.

The heart of this story is the mother-daughter relationship. The envy, anger, hurt, and of course, overall complexities. Like I can’t relate to everything Belle underwent, but goddamn, some of it really went hard. Sometimes that mother-daughter relationship is like: god, I know there is love here, but I am truly at odds with you.

Rouge also brings the critique of the beauty industry and how toxic it can be. Why are we so obsessed with fairness/whiteness/brightening? Belle’s half-Egyptian heritage is never forgotten. Why must we have bouncy, youthful skin? Will retinol truly fix me? At 29, I wonder if I should begin to implement anti-aging into my routine. OH HOW WE ENVY, Belle is told, for her perfect skin.

Word play is so fun in this book. Lonely/lovely; kiss/kill; personal/perilous. Religious tones when talking about skincare too.

tom cruise was really creepy in this book; on brand really???

Besides Tom Cruise, the men in this book were truly endearing. Something about them made me hurt. Especially Tad. I went insane reading about Belle and Hud Hudson. I didn’t expect a love story here but that, too, made me ache. Thanks for making me cry Mona, xoxo, bunny ily.

Also, finally, thank you to NetGalley for the arc.

What can be said about a Mona Awad book? Expect the unexpected? Be prepared for confusion? Have absolutely zero expectations, and don’t think you’re so smart nothing will get past you? All of the above. Mona Awad has the uncanny ability to tell a story so deeply meshed in metaphors that the reader can only hang on tight and wait for the ride to come to a standstill. Rouge is no different.
With Rouge, we get a sense of how the beauty industry is doing it’s absolute worst against anyone and everyone who’s willing to doubt themselves even for a second.
As the reader, I’m out here screaming at the character to turn away, don’t go down that hallway, GO BACK! So it felt like a mix of an indie film, a documentary, and a slasher flick.
All in all, I feel like it was a solid 3.5 star read, because it was a bit hard for me to understand at times. I’m not always great with metaphors.

Rouge, by Mona Awad

Mona Awad has returned with Rouge a follow up from her acclaimed novel Bunny Mona sets to pick up where she left off by telling surreal stories with dark underpinnings cloaked in metaphors. Rouge seeks to pull back the curtain on the beauty industry and how it preys on and consumes its customers. Cosmetically lifting up one’s confidence all the while poisoning you with self doubt and loathing.

Conceptually I enjoy this novel, however, because of the overuse of metaphors layered upon further metaphor, I found it at times confusing and cumbersome. It is also possible that I was just not in the right frame of mind to be reading such a novel.

As one reviewer stated, I too, was all at once “intrigued, perplexed and mesmerized.”

Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for my digital copy of this novel to read and review.

Following her mother's mysterious death, Belle slowly becomes entranced by a cult-like spa, trying to find answers. With glimpses of envy, grief, humour and horror, this novel takes you into a surreal and intriguing path of discovery.

The novel is filled with a depth and mysteriousness that I had yet to experience. I found that on the surface, the novel was wonderfully told, but dig deeper into the meanings found within and it goes beyond profound. It was definitely a book a may not have picked up without knowing about the author's previous works and other reader's accolades. This was my first Mona Awad novel and I enjoyed the experience. I will definitely be picking up more of her work.

This was my second Mona Awad book after reading and loving Bunny, and this didn't disappoint. Like with Bunny, Awad's writing style in Rouge requires a bit more focus for me to read than most other books, which isn't a bad thing but somewhat contributed to how quickly I was able to get into this book. Awad's commentary on the beauty/skincare industry, beauty "influencers", and the way social media has affected women's relationship with beauty standards was genius and hit very close to home. This book is a fever dream, at many points it will have you wondering what is reality. The ending left me satisfied and craving more of Mona Awad's words, and so I will be reading All's Well and probably re-reading Bunny to fill that void.
I will be recommending this title to customers who are fans of whimsical literary fiction, magical realism, and female protagonists descending into madness.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for an advanced copy of this ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Rouge is a horror retelling of Snow White using women’s relationship with the beauty industry as the main focus. How far will one go to achieve beauty and youth - and at what point does it become obsession.

This was an extremely entertaining, thought-provoking read that I couldn’t put down. I can’t wait for Awad’s next book to grace my shelf.

I have not been able to read this one yet, however, I will be doing so in December! Thank you so much to NetGalley for this ARC I am so excited for Rouge by Mona Awad.

What are you willing to sacrifice for beauty?

True to Mona’s style of writing in ‘Bunny’… the reader is led along a dark, strange road. The reader is often intrigued, perplexed and mesmerized. A mother-daughter relationship and dynamic and a struggle for beauty and youth…
I enjoyed this, but I was more often confused and feeling a sense of wonder.
I wanted more thrill, and yearned for clarity.

I enjoyed Bunny. I quite liked it even. I was enthralled with the writing style, the prose, the story telling- but this? This was… a masterpiece. I could not put it down. This was an absolutely brilliant work of fiction and has rocketed Mona Awad up to one of my favourite authors of all time.

I never know what’s happening in Mona Awad’s books but I’m here for the vibes. Still not sure she can ever top Bunny, but this was still trippy and fabulous.

Some books aren't meant for certain people and this was one of them for me. I found the plot to be very slow moving and just couldn't make myself care enough about Belle and what was going to happen to her. Perhaps if it was shorter or there was less about her daily skin regiment (I know that is part of the point of the story and points out the unhealthy hold the beauty industry has on society but do we need to know the whole process every time?) it may have been more enjoyable for me.

Normally I’m not a fan of books where you don’t know what’s going on until the last little bit but somehow Mona Awad does it perfectly for me. I was engaged and curious the entire time even though I had very little idea about what was really happening. I think fans of Bunny will like this a bit more than fans of Alls Well will, but as an Alls Well fan myself I still enjoyed it thoroughly.

3.5 ⭐️ rounded

Thank you, Netgalley, for the ARC!

Okay, I won’t lie, Mona Awad’s Bunny was one of the strangest books I’ve ever read. I don’t even know if I properly understood it. Initially, I was hesitant to read Rouge, but when I read the plot and saw that it was not only a Beauty and the Beast retelling but a deep look into society’s beauty standards … I knew I had to read it.

Maybe this is me being nitpicky because of the Beauty and the Beast reviews, but I get why the FMC was named Belle and how she is French, but I feel like Snow White would’ve been a better fit for a fairytale retelling. But you know what? Belle worked. I was here for it.

As a skincare girlie, this hit home. I’m not joking. I have some products in my online cart, trying to figure out which ones work. I can tell you that some brands have such a high audience appeal that it could give odd a cult following. Belle’s mother was so intriguing though. What an enigma. And even Tom Cruise was such an odd choice to have here, but Tom can do whatever he wants.

Did I think this book was too long? Yes. Did I zone out at some points? Yes. Was I still intrigued to finish it? Yes.

I really love Mona Awad's literally horror style but while this one had a lot of great things going for it - a critique of beauty culture, and a cultish spa setting, the end felt like it got a little too crazy even more my tastes. Still a good, well-written read, just not my fav by this author. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

I was really looking forward to receiving Mona Awads second novel, Rouge. After the wild ride that was the nonstop fun of Bunny, I had very high expectations, that unfortunately did not quite deliver. I liked the concept of the unbearable weight of the beauty industry and the dark depths people can go to to meet those standards.
Mirabelle’s complicated relationship with her mother is put into sharp relief upon her mothers unexpected death, and it appears Belle is destined to follow her mothers footsteps.
I found that Rouges slow burn descent into a cosmetic madness a little too slow but I really could see the all too real reflection in the slippery slope of ‘a little something’ here and there can go too far pretty quickly.
Overall I’m looking forward to Awad’s next book, but this one was just alright for me.

This book was really weird, but in a good way! Mona Awad's books always leave me wondering what on earth I just read, and I enjoy it every time! I did like this book more than Bunny, and I appreciated the satirical value of the story as well. I can't wait to see what she writes next!