Go into this knowing it is appropriately labeled general fiction and not a romance. Lily is a writer for a print magazine, an industry quickly fading away. She meets Billie Ashton who is older, wealthy and successful. Billy begins to mentor Lily via text messaging. It sets up a strange dynamic between the two. The title of the book comes from Lily waiting for the next message or direction to digitally come. This is a book about challenges in the workplace and Lily dealing with her mixed Asian race, her sexuality and more. Following Billy’s advice does help Lily at times but it causes friction in other parts of her life, especially with her girlfriend Alison. I thought this debut novel was interesting and liked the ending. And I like the NYC setting which is almost a character itself. But I couldn’t relate to Lily at times and a lot of her choices. (3.5 Stars)

For a debut novel ellipses has quite some good bones, however i felt it didn't quite deliver fully in the end. Now i don't think that every question raised in a novel needs to be answered but i felt some things brought up in the novel were left hanging (as opposed to open ended) and some just straight up didn't work. That said however Vanessa was still able to capture the all too relatable quarter life crisis which I think was helped in part by the autobiographical nature of the book. She raises the all too relevant race, gender, sexuality, identity analog vs digital issues that encompass the zeitgeist of the 21st century. Curious to see what she does next! 3.5⭐

Vanessa Lawrence's debut novel, "Ellipses," takes readers on a whirlwind journey through the high-stakes world of New York City's media elite, blending sharp wit with keen insight into the complexities of modern relationships and professional aspirations.

In this captivating narrative, we meet Lily, a young woman navigating the cutthroat landscape of Manhattan's media scene. When Lily is offered a ride home by the charismatic cosmetics boss Billie, she sees it as an opportunity to advance her career. However, what starts as a promising mentorship soon veers into a toxic dynamic, blurring the lines between guidance and manipulation.

Lawrence explores the pressures of ambition and the quest for authenticity in a digital age dominated by curated personas. Lily's journey through workplace microaggressions and struggles with her own identity resonates deeply, offering a poignant commentary on privilege, power dynamics, and the ever-evolving nature of modern relationships. What makes the novel unique is Lily's internal thoughts on race and sexuality amidst societal expectations and personal conflicts. Through Lily's eyes, readers are invited to confront the nuances of privilege and the subtle ways in which identity shapes our experiences. What sets "Ellipses" apart is Lawrence's sharp prose and incisive commentary on the trappings of success and the search for validation. Billie's magnetic allure serves as a cautionary tale, highlighting the dangers of placing one's worth in external validation.

Personally, I also especially appreciated the general career advice that Billie would give Lily through text. A good book is multi-faceted and people take away what is most meaningful to them. Being in a spot in my career where I am considering what's next, reading the career advice of a beauty mogul not afraid to ask for what she wants was empowering and somehow just what I needed to hear.

Ellipses is a poignant exploration of ambition, authenticity, and the pursuit of self-discovery in a world where digital facades often obscure genuine connection. Vanessa Lawrence has delivered a stunning debut that is sure to leave a lasting impression on readers long after the final page is turned. Highly recommended for fans of "The Devil Wears Prada".

This review can also be found on my blog here: https://thegoodleybookshelf.wordpress.com/2024/03/05/review-ellipses-by-vanessa-lawrence/

I was so excited about the concept of this book, and the intriguing promise of a story about an older, successful woman mentoring a younger woman, for better or for worse. But ultimately, I found it very difficult to read and less than interesting. It started off great, but it slowed down to such a halt that I sometimes wondered if the plot would ever be moved forward.

Ellipses by Vanessa Lawrence has such a promising concept—Lily, who is frustrated and feeling stuck within her career, meets B, a mega-successful businesswoman, who suddenly takes an interest in mentoring her. Through their texts, Lily develops a toxic and obsessive relationship with B, which spills into her personal life as well as her professional. I think Lawerence did a fantastic job of showing how all of these facets of life that Lily was working through are intertwined with that like feminism has to be inclusive, regarding race, age, sexuality, etc.

I received a digital ARC from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Interesting Read.

I was given an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) of Ellipses in return for providing an honest review. Despite making two attempts, I found it challenging to connect with the characters and the plot. During my initial read, I managed to progress to 20% before feeling disconnected and taking a break, exploring other books instead. On my second attempt, I pushed further, reaching around 35%, yet I still failed to develop an interest in the book. Overall, it simply didn't resonate with me.

Ellipses by Vanessa Lawrence is a debut novel of the author. Set in a world of social media and appearances, this novel takes a dive into several topics relevant in today's world.

Lily, a magazine writer, has aspirations. In the age of influencers and social media, she interviews individuals who, in reality, are different people. She gets stone walled by publicists, and her articles get edited to show what the readers want to read. Enters Billie, a successful woman who mentors Lily, through texts. It consumes her, and in the end, what does it cost her?

This book has so many layers in it. It takes on marginalization, racism, ethnicity, the societal pressure to have children, the definition of success, microaggressions and the toxicity of the world we live in. There's so much to unpack in this novel. With all the diverse characters and the topics, this book is a thought-provoking book for sure.

Thank you, Penguin Group Dutton @duttonbooks, @penguinrandomhouse, for this book.

I wanted to like this more. I am a woman still early in my career and have worked in toxic work environments but, and I don’t know what it is, I wasn’t able to feel a connect with the female main character.

I read 60% of this book in one day…Something that rarely happens! I was captivated by the author’s writing and the concept (even though it has been done before).

The banter between the 2 main characters, and how the feeling of being on top makes you need to feed it every day no matter where it comes from was well executed.

I’m also VERY happy that the outcome was not what I expected.

Wonderful debut!

Lily, a young woman working at a fashion magazine in New York enters into a toxic mentorship with Billie, a high-ranking woman in the cosmetics industry. The pair originally meet at an event that Lily is covering. After Billie offers Lily a ride home, they exchange numbers and Billie begins mentoring Lily. At first, it feels like a huge honor as Billie has poignant advice regarding Lily's career. However, Lily starts to feel manipulated by and obsessed with Billie.

I found this book frustrating, but only in how relatable the main character, Lily, could often be. She could be indecisive, easily swayed by others (mostly Billie), and lived in her head.

Overall, I found this book to be sharp and interesting. I enjoyed Lily's observations on careers, relationships, identity, and living in New York. I'm excited to recommend this book to a number of people when it's released.

ELLIPSES
Vanessa Lawrence
…

I’m going to give you a synopsis and then I’m going to take it all back.

Every word.

In ELLIPSES we are following Lily. Lily is a writer for a New York magazine. She spends her time going to fabulous events and writing about them. One day at a fundraiser she meets a woman named Billie. From then Lily and Billie converse through text messages.

Billie is all that Lily wants to be. She knows the business, she’s established, and powerful, and when she talks people listen. We follow along as their relationship turns into something neither of them expected. That all happens in the book, and you can read the book that way, but it’s not what the book is about.

This book is not about New York, the media, or a career as a writer. This book is not about how blurry the lines get between a mentor and mentee. To me it’s not even about text messages or being left on read, waiting for the ellipses to turn into words we seek.

This book to me is about the feeling of invisibility.

Of being invisible in a world obsessed with being seen. Of not fitting into pretty little boxes you can checkmark. Not exactly being option one and not exactly being option two, the whole time not exactly being yourself. More an amalgamation of people you know, people you admire, and remarkably even those you don’t. Everyone and everything but yourself.

Because you are invisible, and no one wants to be invisible.

I loved this conversation. This is not a love story where the princess saves her in the end. This is the love story where the princess realizes she was the princess all along. Idolizing a royalty she held within.

Thanks to Netgalley, PENGUIN GROUP Dutton, and Dutton for the advanced copy and the opportunity to provide feedback!

ELLIPSES comes out tomorrow March 5th, 2024.

Make sure you pick up a copy!

ELLIPSES…⭐⭐⭐

Actual rating 3.5

I wasn't entirely sure about the premise of this book but thought I'd give it a try just in case I was being too hasty to judge without knowledge. I think the story had a lot of promise, and some areas were well done, but I honestly didn't get a truly toxic vibe from B. I think she was definitely aloof and not one to allow connections beyond surface, but I've seen that in a lot of professional females as a sort of armor so it didn't feel completely unexpected. Lily on the other hand, continually came across as whiny and fairly entitled, which wasn't at all appealing. I wanted to like her more, feel for her situation more, but everything kept pointing to her continually making her own bed to lie in. That's not to say that everything that happened to her was of her doing; she definitely had workplace horrors to deal with that no one should have to work with, but for the most part, she just wasn't likeable.

My thanks to Penguin Group/Dutton, the author and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

3.75 stars! I enjoyed this! It was a super easy read and I liked the writing style. I thought it was a unique way to tell a story but it worked for me.

It really gives “The Devil Wears Prada” so if you like that movie you’ll probably like this! There were so many parallels between Lily and B and Andy and Miranda. Even Lily and her friends and Alison reminded me of Andy and her friends and boyfriend at points. It even ended similarly to me. But it was able to be its own story as well.

I think because I myself am a Journalism major, and while I don’t have a writing job like Lily, I could understand the struggles she was going through with her job. There was the New York City setting, so if you live there or love the big city this will appeal to you!

It was a book about Lily and her life, trying to navigate relationships, friendships, work and her own self worth and happiness. If you don’t like a very character driven book, this may not be for you.

There were a lot of plotlines happening. I thought a couple of them could have been cut out so it wouldn’t have been as busy, but I didn’t mind it so much.

There was Lily’s relationship with Alison and their ups and downs; whether Lily wants the commitment of living with her or keeping her independence. Then it’s the struggles with her career and how she is being overlooked and overbooked, and if she should strive for more. The mix of her friends and comparing herself to them; feeling like she should get married and have kids even if that’s not what she wants. It touched on her sexuality, not that she was questioning it, but it talked about the struggles she went through being bi. It also talked about her struggles being half Asian and how it affected her life in how people treated her. It wasn’t mentioned that often, but it was talked about it.

I really enjoyed reading about her relationship with B, even though it was purely through texting (hence the title of the book, which I thought was perfect). It was so intriguing to see Lily’s feelings toward her and wanting her approval while also making sure not to get sucked into her opinion too greatly. Her journey with that struggle throughout the book was so interesting to me.

I thought Lily was a good main character and B was such a cool character to me. I don’t blame Lily for her feelings toward her at all. I’m glad where Lily ended up thought.

I loved how it switched from Billie to B to Billie. It was so well done. It really signified where their relationship was at in those periods of times.

It had kind of an abrupt ending but I liked how it tied together and how Lily’s life and career path went.

I gave it a 3.75 stars because while I did enjoy this I just feel like there was something missing that I can’t quite put my finger on. I enjoyed the characters and the setting, I could picture all the settings and the food and the weather that was described. Maybe because there was a lot happening at once that I couldn’t fully connect to it.

If you like books with women as the main focus, this would be for you.

Ellipses follows Lily as she grapples with her identity working in the corporate world. She finds herself in a mentorship with B, a powerful woman in the beauty industry, which makes her life more complicated.

I found the plot a little bit all over the place and the ending a tad overwhelming but overall was interesting seeing Lily’s world.

I’m of the optimistic opinion that nearly every book has value. Some books are great on their own merit. Others fall short of the highest praise but have one or two elements that appeal to your unique tastes. Some are light and enjoyable; others are a slog to get through but leave a nice aftertaste upon completing them. There’s another category, however, which is that rare book that causes you to appreciate another more through its inadequacy.“Salt books,” if you will. You wouldn’t eat a pinch of salt, but sprinkled over a nice stew, it really brings out the flavor, doesn’t it?

Ellipses by Vanessa Lawrence falls within that last category.

A few months ago, I read the highly-praised Alice Sadie Celine by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright. At the time, I was underwhelmed by the book that Kirkus Reviews praised for its “lighthearted romp, melancholic tone, and critique of sexual mores.” However, after reading Ellipses, I feel that I may have been too harsh. Vanessa Lawrence’s attempt at capturing a similar dynamic (queer women, mentor-mentee relationship, dubious sexual mores) left a much more sour taste in my mouth.

At roughly 20%, I noted: “what is the point of any of this?” This is Vanessa Lawrence’s debut, so I was prepared for some amount of debut hiccups — overabundance of unnecessary detail; telling rather than showing; plot contrivances — and those were present, to be sure. However, I feel the largest problem with this book is the lack of confidence in the writer’s own craft. Put simply: this is a book that does not trust its readers.

People are messy. We do things for selfish, petty reasons. We lie to our partners, our friends, and ourselves. When you write character-driven literary fiction “set in the glossy world of New York City media,” I expect a certain amount of moral complexity. I am an adult; I understand that the views of the author do not represent the views of the characters. I can read about characters doing morally questionable things without assuming those are the views of the author. I repeat these mantras not only to ward off any potential criticisms of my critique, but to assert that I do not need multi-paragraph diatribes explaining why characters’ actions are wrong immediately following those actions in-text.

Early in the plot, our heroine, Lily, 32-going-on-23 (seriously, this woman did not act like a woman in her thirties. If this was meant to be a character trait, I have no idea what purpose it served) does some light cyberstalking of her mentor-cum-crush, makeup mogul Billie Ashton, and discovers a decades-old article about Billie’s takeover of a rival company. The rival CEO gushes about Billie’s “women-supporting-women” energy, only to immediately be deposed and replaced after the paperwork is signed. Lily (yes, their names rhyme) goes through all five stages of grief over this fairly banal corporate merger: she’s angry at Billie for weaponizing feminism; she wonders if Billie would face the same scrutiny if she were a man; she berates herself for caring what Billie did years ago, long before they were even in the same circles; she feels her view of Billie shaken; etc. etc. All of these conflicting reactions are not left up to the reader to mull over. They are spelled out, explicitly, in agonizing detail, over the subsequent pages.

My note reads simply: Why????

Our heroine, Lily, is a passive character. She is someone who decisions happen to. She does not make them herself. Despite this, her internal monologue seems to have opinions on everything, from veganism to colorism to meritocracy in media circles, fashion, the future of print media, the optics of operating as a bisexual woman in lesbian spaces - at a certain point, I was exhausted. When a friend of hers from college mulls over the possibility of marrying his partner, Lily assures the reader “there is nothing wrong with this… [however] he might always wonder if [the decision] was motivated by a hidden need to assimilate.” Huh? This point seemingly comes from nowhere. We have no idea why Lily might feel this way. We have no idea if her friend feels this way. Like so many other ideas, it appears at random and disappears just as quickly. We know from Lily’s conflict with her girlfriend, Alison, that Lily is a commitment-phobe; is fear of assimilation a reason why? Fuck if I know. I’m not even sure if the author does.

Which brings me to another — well, I’m not sure if I can call it a critique, exactly. Comment, perhaps? Our main character is a bisexual woman of color (biracial; her mother is from Shanghai and her father is white) working in New York City as a society pages writer for a women’s magazine. At the end of Ellipses, she quits her unfulfilling society pages job to publish a semi-autobiographical novel about her relationship with a toxic older woman. Vanessa Lawrence is an East Asian writer working in New York City who previously worked the society beat. This is her first novel. Is this autofiction? If so, this would explain some of my complaints about Lily’s inner monologue. Normally, I don’t like to speculate on authors’ private lives, but when the author and her main character were even published in the same magazines (Women’s Wear Daily), well….

One does wonder.

Aside from the larger structural flaws, I have a few minor nitpicks. The abundance of detail, as I mentioned earlier, began to drive me up the wall. By the fifth time I’d read a multi-sentence description of haute couture at a black tie event, I was exhausted. Description is good! Description helps us to fill out the world of the narrative! But what purposes does describing gorgeous gowns at an event full of gorgeous gowns tell us? Why do we, the readers, need to know that the annoying unnamed vegan model wore a turquoise gown and that Annabelle, another minor character (there are many minor characters; another one of my notes: who is this person???) carries a hot pink clutch? Why does Lily’s narration tell us she rolls up her sleeves because she’s hot, only for the book to repeat this information twice more in the next three sentences?

The order and frequency of information matters. When you craft a narrative, deploying character-building details 80% of the way through your novel is confusing. Revealing plot points in a frankly unnecessary prologue is juvenile. Sentences are crumbs: sometimes we find our way out of the forest. Sometimes, all we have are the scraps.

And sometimes, we don’t even have scraps. Sometimes, we just have the salt.

[My review will be live on March 05. This post is scheduled to go up on my blog and will be public then.]

Ellipses really failed to live up to my expectations when it came to the "toxic" mentor/mentee's relationship. A huge sell for me, I expected to feel the toxicity and the high stakes off the page as I read. Instead, I found myself living Lily's day-to-day in the most mundane way possible.

Vanessa Lawrence is clearly a gifted writer, but I really struggled with some of her prose. Oftentimes, while I did find myself enjoying the book and wanting to read it, my mind would wander and when I came back to I really hadn't missed anything of importance. She took great care in writing very vividly, but that really took away from a better crafted relationship between Lily and B. I acknowledge that maybe that was the point: B was ever elusive and distant; nothing more than a buzz in Lily's phone promising her a connection before fluttering away before it ever came to fruition. However that didn't actually make for the toxic relationship I was expecting (and began to hope for).

The lack of true stakes in Lily's life when it came to B made it all fall very flat for me in the end. SPOILERS AHEAD: Lily was never at risk of losing her job or her relationship because of B. B was never a real threat in any real sense of the word, even emotionally as we are made to want to believe. B was just there. The exchanges were dry and offered nothing more, nothing less to the plot. Why include B's "accidental" dildo photo if there were no true repercussions? Alison doesn't find out, Lily doesn't confront B, B doesn't try to lure Lily into asking about it... again, what was the point?

I wanted to finish Ellipses and I am glad I did. I am afraid it won't be memorable enough of a novel for me to want to reread it in the future. With the expectation that Lily and B's relationship delves into something toxic, it felt like a letdown to not see that come to fruition.

Thank you Penguin/Dutton, Vanessa Lawrence, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Lily is a woman in her thirties who works as a magazine writer New York City, where she writes about and interviews influencers, actresses, and fashion designers. But the print magazine she writes for is not going that well in sales, and the bosses of the magazine move more and more to the website of the magazine and to social media. Lily feels at a standstill in her work life, where she has to deal with racial micro aggression because she is half Asian and personal life, where she is dating her girlfriend Alison. When she attends a gala for Alzheimer in Manhattan for the magazine, a woman names Billy Astor who is a big name in the glossy magazine scene, rolls down her town car window and offers Lily a ride home and mentorship. Lily and Billy start a connection, where Billy becomes a mentor of Lily to help her writing career in the right direction. Lily hopes. But the texts slowly start to influence Lily's life in a toxic and unhealthy way.
The storyline of Ellipses starts very promising. Lily feels like a woman with a lot of problems, where every other person might think of as minimal problems. Her work life is not very problematic it seems, and her love life with Alison is less problematic as Lily portrays it. (I think that Alison was very kind and more stabile in her actions than Lily)

Then over to the text mentorship she has with this Billy person (it is not very detailed described who this Billy is, is she a stylish but rude magazine editor in chief like Miranda Priestley in The Devil Wears Prada, does she has good intentions or not? The reader has clearly has to find this out herself, to never get a real answer on this Billy's person. The ending truly leaves you with even more questions, as everything Lily seemed to want the whole book long, she gets presented on a silver plate by Billy, and then...she refuses it all!! It truly left me wondering why the author made this choice in the story The storyline and the ending, it all was okay but it felt repetitive at many points when Lily had a problem with work or with Alison and went to a text with Billy for some guidance, where Lily mostly doesn't agree with anyway. If Lily was more likeable character with some more self confidence I would have liked her and her story more. It truly would have added more to the story if we also read Billy's point of view Shortly said, I had expected more of this book.

Fair warning to anyone who’s worked in or around women’s magazines for the last 10 years, that reading Vanessa Lawrence’s Ellipses might give you a smidge of PTSD. It certainly had me cringing at my memories of the out of touch, real-life editors who acted exactly the way they’re depicted in her debut novel.

I loved (and loathed, a little!) the realism on display, because Lawrence absolutely nails the toxicity of the gilded, glossy world of New York City’s elite media scene. That being said, ultimately it's less the razor-edged examination of a toxic female power dynamic I was expecting, than it is a meandering slice of life starring a frustrated, stagnated, queer magazine writer.

Ellipses by Vanessa Lawrence was a pretty good literary fiction story.
A thought-provoking debut. And one I really enjoyed reading.
Lawrence’s writing is so easy to follow that I flew through the book.
This book is interesting, entertaining, witty, and compelling. I’m so happy to have read my first Vanessa Lawrence novel.
I will most definitely pick up Vanessa’s next title as I did enjoy her writing.

Thank You NetGalley and Dutton for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

I am so thankful to DuttonBooks, Vanessa Lawrence, and Netgalley for granting me advanced access to this laughable yet serene novel before it hits shelves on March 5, 2024. I was such a fan of the prose and can't wait for others to check this one out.