I loved this book. It was bizarre, but it holds so much meaning. A lot of us girls/women grew up with such expectations of beauty. Awad perfectly captures this desire to be beautiful at the cost of happiness and life. Love love this book.

I’m a huge fan of mona awad and this book did not disappoint. Bunny is my favorite book so when i saw Mona was coming out with this i was so excited! Mona’s storytelling is so captivating and i get emerged into the world she creates with every word i read. I love this book and i would recommend it to my friends.

This book left me queasy and uneasy, and I think mostly in not a bad way. It's a lot at times for a squeamish reader like me.

Man, I wish I could live inside Mona Awads brain. Just float around in there for a bit.
This was awesome.

Thank you for the ARC! I purchased a copy for my Mona Shelf ❤️

I love a good weird book but I think this is where I may part my ways with Awad. I’ve read All’s Well which I didn’t like and Bunny which I liked so I thought maybe I’d like this one too but I was disappointed. It became so repetitive and I lost interest, which is sad because I think Awad could’ve made some strong points about the beauty industry and societal standards of beauty.

I’ve noticed her books all have pretty similar plots even though this one kind of lacked one. Also the Tom Cruise obsession got old real quick.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book!

After reading 20%, I had to dnf. This one was so very slow for me and I couldn’t get into it. I am still looking forward to reading Bunny, but this one wasn’t for me.

I really enjoyed Mona Awad's Rouge. Her books are always such a ride and this was no different. I found the premise very intriguing and timely. The mother-daughter was exceptionally complicated, but realistic and relatable.

I really loved this one and the resolution was surprisingly touching.

Mona Awad’s writing is absolutely captivating, there is nothing I love more than diving into her stories. Rouge in particular was an absolute joy, as it features themes of loss, beauty, and an absurdly familiar sense of self-indulgence. Thank you to NetGalley for sending Rouge my way! I enjoyed the ARC so much I had to buy myself a physical copy!

This was an unfortunate DNF for me. I love Bunny by Mona Awad and this just felt like a completely different writing style. I could not get into the story at all.

This was a different vibe than past Mona Awad novels, but I loved it all the same. This story brings to light the negative consequences of being obsessed with perfection, and the ways in which our trauma can impact our self-worth. Highly recommend.

This was a surprising read with a wildly alluring concept. I’ve only ever read Bunny by Mona Awad but her literary style rings true and is creepier than ever. (In a good way!)

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon Element for providing me with an ARC.

This book is the first in a while to have an extreme emotional effect on me. I finished reading it a while ago, but have sat on it because I wasn't sure how to review it. I read this entire book in one night - I stayed up until 3a.m. to finish it and cried for a good while after that. Was not expecting to be crying over jellyfish in 2023, but now I can say that I did.

There's something about Awad's writing in this book that's beautifully poetic and haunting while, at times, also strangely comforting. Awad masterfully depicts themes centering around the cultish reality of the beauty industry as well as grief, and she digs deeper into the effects of these things - how they effect the perceptions and relationships we have with ourselves, but also the perceptions and relationships we have with others.

I could go on with my own experience of reading this book, but I think it's better if you experience it for yourself. Looking back, this is one of the most memorable books that I read in 2023.

At the end of the day, I don't think this author and I quite gel. This book was weird for weird's sake in my opinion, but I do think it has a perfect reader. That reader is not me. I like to at least understand the threads of the plot while I'm reading and I was lost throughout.

This was EXCELLENT, and I'm so relieved because after loving Bunny as much as I did, I was worried Mona Awad wouldn't be able to grab me with the same ferocity and weirdness that she did with that one. If you loved that one, you'll love this - it's got the same weird vibes, almost dream-like but rooted in reality. I love books about difficult mother/daughter relationships and Mirabelle's trouble with her mother were definitely up my alley. This one did have a few moments where I was like "WHAT?", but in a good way! I loved it and will continue to pick up & read anything Awad writes.

I will read anything Mona Awad writes. This was a beautiful, dark, gothic fairy tale of a book. The ending was perfect.

I had such a hard time getting into this book. I was a huge fan of Bunny and All's Well by Awad but this one fell flat for me. I didn't really care much for the characters or plot but Awad always does something special with each of her books so I'm still excited to see what she comes up with next.

This was weird. Just plain weird. And I loved it. A total fever dream in classic Mona awad style. She just can’t miss

Apologies for how late this is getting to you Marketing Team (right?). Life got horrendously hectic but I'm incredibly honored and appreciative for this opportunity

The review:

I will be reviewing this book with the same level of seriousness as my Letterboxd/Goodreads reviews.

Mona Awad is an evil genius. She has settled on her brand of crazy and I think it really has solidified in Rouge. it's one of those books that you'd only like if you liked the author's previous books and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible. She's literally carving out her own audience, her very own niche in the literary canon. Quite forcefully and quite strangely.

The only fault I have is that the middle got kind of repetitive in terms of the conversations the characters were having, the scenes kind of cycling through the same scenario, but all in all, had a killer ending like all of Awad's books -- the final act being the literary equivalent of the Big Bang. Scathing commentary on the beauty community an Western ideals of beauty, genuinely made me uncomfortable and my jaw agape, skin crawlies, all the good feelings that come with reading a Mona Awad novel.

Thank you endlessly to Simon and Schuster and Netgalley for granting me access to this sacred ARC and for putting up with my lateness. ❤️

I thought it would be impossible to rival Awad's "Bunny," but this one did it for me. I've done a lot of diving into horror this year, and this one was one of the only books that actually scared me. It wasn't even the premise and much as the writing--the tone and atmosphere of this book had me thinking about it in the shower, looking over my shoulder. Mona Awad has definitely entered my "I will read anything this author writes" list with this one.

I had very few 5 star reads this year. This was one!

Awad takes on the beauty industry, fairy tale retellings, and grieving in this one. Still well written, but I did not enjoy as much as the last two novels she published. The ending, in particular, though, was very well done.