Mona Awad's Rouge explores the complicated and often tumultuous relationship between mother and daughter - but amped up to like, 1000 and with disturbing and crazy turns.

The story touches on the toxicity of the beauty industry and the unreasonable and unreachable standards that people feel they need to achieve in order to be accepted into society and be what would be considered 'beautiful'. That in itself would be interesting enough for me given todays society, but Awad adds in the journey of dealing with immense grief at the sudden and unexpected loss of a parent - plus the horror aspect of a beauty who slowly finds herself becoming more beauty than beast as she falls more and more down the rabbit hole of secret organization that is devoted to achieving the unachievable in Beauty.

Awad's protagonist Belle discovers that her recently estranged and deceased mother is not the person who she thought she knew, but finds out she actually knew almost nothing about her and is actually a complete mystery to her. Belle travels to her mother’s apartment in Southern California and after arriving, Belle discovers her mother's secret, a spa called La Maison de Méduse where she also learns that her mother was a very exclusive member and quite revered. Through her investigation Belle unearths a haunting secret that is tied to her and her mother’s fixation with their skin and all things beauty and the sinister secrets that lurk within this insidious place that values confidentiality and absolute beauty over anything else.

This story is about loss and grief at it's core. It's gut wrenching. It's upsetting and it's real. Belle is a beautifully fleshed out character who is forced to deal with her grief in the worst way possible, but Awad does such a fantastic job crafting this strange and off putting world where you are questioning everything you read and constantly wondering what will come next.

I was very excited to read this one after reading Bunny a few years back and it warping my mind more than I ever thought a book could and Rouge is right up there with it's wackiness and surprising turns.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for the ARC of Rouge in exchange for my honest review and opinions.

Mona Awad’s latest book Rouge is a gothic version of the fairy tales Snow White meets Beauty and the Beast, looking into the dark side of beauty, envy and those obsessed with forever looking young.

Belle is a lonely dress shop clerk obsessed with her skin and skincare videos. When her estranged mother Noelle unexpectedly dies, Belle finds herself heading down a treacherous path in pursuit of youth and beauty.

Although I mostly enjoyed the storyline, I found the first half of the book really slow to get through. I felt Belle's interactions with the "Tom" character a bit cringey and unfortunately I found the book didn’t grab and hold on to my attention like I thought it would.

This one was a bit strange, and I didn't remember what it was about when I started reading it so it felt even stranger. I did really end up loving it, at the end, and will read more from this author.

3 Stars
This book was definitely interesting… I struggled to read this one because it was just too confusing for me. I would say about 60% of this book I had no clue at all what was going on, but I definitely did enjoy the other 40%. I can see why someone who is way smarter than me would like this book but unfortunately for me I am just left with an unsettling number of questions on what I just read. What I did enjoy though was the powerful commentary on the beauty community and it's almost cult-like nature.

Ah, Mona Awad has surpassed herself this time, taking the reader immediately into the maelstrom of fairy tales and nightmare, examining our culture (of beauty, desire, and sexuality as gods to be pursued) from the opening of her work until the very ending. Much as one might want to put it down, one can’t. That doesn’t make it the perfect read for me though, and much as I could ride with the rhythm of her beauty rituals for most of the book, it eventually became a bit off putting. This is a horror story, without a doubt, dealing with our cultural fascination with beauty and its seeds within our need for facial and romantic love. I’m not a fan of horror, but as with her last book, All’s Well, and the previous one, Bunny, I do admire her thematic skewering of some of our accepted obsessions- friendship/belonging, the health care, and the beauty industry.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This could be a retelling of Sleeping Beauty with Noelle and her obsession with mirrors and who is the most beautiful. Or it could be a retelling of Beauty and the Beast with Belle and her beasts, both inner and outer.

But this book is so much more nuanced than just a retelling of a fairy tale. This is a complex story of buried childhood trauma. Of envy and jealousy. Of deep grief and how it rips Belle apart. This is a very complex, very dark book and so very good.

If you are looking for a viby gothic retelling of Beauty and the Beast in a horror setting that elegantly and amazingly gives hell to the beauty industry then look no further this book is for you!

Mona Awad's writing is definitely not for everyone, but in the right mood, this book really hits the spot!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Mirabelle, — a half-Egyptian, half-French Canadian, dress shopkeeper in Montreal, obsessed with her skin-care routine — returns to her mother’s home in California for her funeral. There she is drawn into a mysterious, elite spa where her mother seems to have been a member in her final months.

This took me a long time to read. I think that I wasn’t sure where the story was going and couldn’t see the vision on how it was to become a horror, but once I did, wow! The descent into Mirabelle’s involvement with the spa crept up on me and each chapter had me more and more invested. The horror elements of Rouge are spectacular, I was so uncomfortable as I continued reading.

Rouge is ultimately a story of grief surrounding the mother-daughter relationship. Mirabelle’s past and present intertwine to showcase the impossible beauty standards pressed upon young girls, how white supremacy shows itself in the beauty industry (and from your own family), desire, envy, and obsession (it wouldn’t be a Mona Awad novel without those three!) to create a surreal horror that was captivating to read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

DNF this book so quickly it ain’t funny. But there are so so many great books out there, not gonna waist my time on a book that might be 2-3 stars.

If your favorite character is Cassie from Euphoria, this might be a good book for you!

I could not finish this book. I could not connect with the main character nor the writing style. It was written with a lot of inner dialogue but in a way that did not keep me engaged.

I read about 10% of this book, which may not have gotten to any of the good parts. However, I could not connect with the vanity of the main character.

For context, I have only ever truly DNF'ed one other book.

Addictive and eerie. I loved the pacing and rhythm of how the flashbacks worked with the present storyline.

Rouge is a fairtale-esque beauty horror with, at its center, a mother-daughter relationship. Mona Awad's horror stems from our contemporary societal anxieties. It is truly uncanny how close her stories are to my own personal dread, and her new title is no different. I was horrified to see my reflection in Belle as she scrolls through YouTube skincare content late into the night. I myself lived in this particular area of the internet on the eve of turning 30, desperate for beauty secrets.

In Rouge, the billion-dollar beauty industry is reinvented into an exclusive beauty spa where mysterious glow-up treatments transform its clients. Said changes are not only skin-deep, and patrons leave behind more than blemishes and dead skin. When Belle receives an exclusive invitation for a free treatment, the spa's dark secrets wrap around her like the tentacles of a red jelly fish.

The latest in what Goodreads calls Goop Horror, Rouge displays how the billion-dollar beauty industry preys on our self doubts and loathing in more ways than one. This grotesque tale is a memorable one, for sure.

Thank you, Mona Awad, Penguin Random House Canada, and NetGalley for the ARC.

You know when you wake up from a really strange dream that floats between reality and bizarre and you try to make sense of what it all means and how it’s all connected?? That’s what this book reminds me of. It touches on how we try to stay grounded in the face of tragedy when we are walking around in a haze wondering what-does-this-all-mean. Definitely a book you read and then think… what did I just read? I liked parts of this book, but found other parts challenging to connect with. If this book sounds intriguing to you, give it a try.

💕You might like this book if:
🔹you like books that feel a little disconnected from reality
🔹 you like creepy vibes, especially as related to the beauty industry and cults
🔹you like references to Tom Cruise
🔹you like books that feel a bit like a feverish dream

This will definitely not be for everyone but I loved it. It was so weird and disturbing and chaotic but in a way that worked for me.
This is very much a Mona Awad book, her writing style is so interesting she know how to write a good cult like book that is so disturbing but you just can't look away.
The fairy tales were well incorporated as well. One thing that I have to say is why Tom Cruise?!!
Check trigger warning but highly recommend.

The queen of the fever dream Mona Awad is back with my favorite release of the year (and quite honestly I think my favorite release of hers to date)

Everything about this book is genius to me:
- The re-imagined elements of Snow White
- The commentary on the cult of skincare and the promise of immortality
- The way “beauty” is synonymous with “whiteness”
- Our sinister relationship with screens and mirrors
- The way daughters inevitably mirror their mothers relationship with their reflection
- The complexities of grief
- Tom Cruise and immortal jellyfish

You’ll be asking yourself wtf is happening in the first half but it comes together in the most mesmerizing and unsettling way in the second half. The tension in this book is 10/10 tingles down your spine A24-pick-this-up-please kind of good.

It’s the ultimate literary horror for halloween

Im honestly tempted to reread this in October

Mona Award’s books never disappoint. The books are always a trip and well worth the read, this one is no different.

What a trip. If you enjoyed Bunny or All’s Well and the fever dream qualities to those stories, you’ll love this one as well. I couldn’t put it down, it was like watching a Twilight Zone or American Horror Stories Episode. You’re never 100% sure what’s happening but you just enjoy the ride.

I loved the way Away approached beauty regimens and our obsession to stay youthful looking as we get older. I also really enjoyed the way Snow White was hinted at throughout the story, just fantastic.

I feel like this is one of those books you should go into knowing as little as possible, keeps you on your toes and you can’t help but to want to read ‘one more chapter’ constantly.

Yup, I still love her books, can’t wait to read more from her in the future.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance E-Book copy of this book!

2-2.5⭐️

Mirabelle (or Belle, affectionately) is obsessed with skincare - every product, every peel, every cream or most or gel, she tries it. When Belle’s mother dies, she flies to California to the funeral and ends up sucked into her mother’s strange world. When she stumbles upon La Maison de Meduse, a seemingly high-end spa, the free treatments they offer her contain more than she bargained for.

I’m going to preface this review by saying that it’s totally possible that I just don’t “get” Mona Awad or her writing style.

The stream-of-consciousness style narrative fell very flat for me, becoming extremely jumbled and messy and hard to follow. When there was plot to follow (which, honestly, wasn’t often), it got lost in the overly repetitive and descriptive prose.

There wasn’t a lot of dialogue happening, and when it did happen, the formatting strangely was inconsistent - half the time in regular quotation marks, and half the time in italics.

The premise of this book was good, but the half-baked romantic interests and completely unnecessary obsession with Tom Cruise dragged it from quirky and creepy to outlandish and a little ridiculous. The cult aspect was really cool, but unfortunately so underdeveloped and under-explained that it felt more like a side note to her grief-journey.

All in all, I think that this would have worked much better as a short story than a full novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I did not want this story to end. Mona Awad has written a book that not only gave me the creeps, but made me look at the lengths I go to achieve a certain level of loveliness. Thank you, and please keep writing.

Mona Awad's Rouge is a delicious treat of a novel, a poisoned flute of bubbly that sparkles vibrantly at first and leaves you with a pit in your stomach. Awad is so good at balancing dread and whimsy, much like a fairy tale. Rouge follows Mirabelle, a skincare obsessed woman stricken by grief, tasked with clearing her mother's debts and home in the wake of her tragic and suspicious death. Their relationship had been strained for many years, but it is still painful and unsettling to hear people describe her mother in ways Mirabelle doesn't recognize. Mirabelle contends with the discomfort of loss by exfoliating, hydrating, and cleansing her skin, and despite her efforts, she never feels nearly as beautiful as her mother was. Her mother's beauty, and transformation in the time before her death, however, came at a price - and Mirabelle must decide if she's willing to pay it.

I was very impressed by this novel - Awad explores so much (grieving the loss of a flawed parent, the attribution of beauty to whiteness, the way cults prey on vulnerable people, the desire of a child to be seen) with the restraint to allow the reader to come to their own conclusions. The story feels lush and complete, while also leaving so much of the "why?" to our imagination and handling heavy themes with a lightness and subtlety. The writing is vivid and emotive - and I felt so much for Mirabelle at all stages of her life throughout the novel. Mona Awad is a force to be reckoned with and Rouge cements her as one of my favourite authors.