What would happen if you took the walls down in between your two neighbors? Could you live in a commune style house with 6 adults and 5 children? That is what this book is about. Celia and Mark have decided to put their house up for sale with three children living in a small townhouse they need more room. The two other couples Hope & Leo and Stephanie & Chris, talk Celia and Mark into taking the walls down and making one big house. There are lots of things to work out, lots of problems to solve, and lots of love for all. It is a story of what makes a family, what makes couples, and what love can endure. I really enjoyed this book. Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for allowing me to read and review this book.

There was too much happening at once that I couldn't engage with any of the characters.

Excellent novel!! Three marriages, 6 friends and many, many points of view. A wonderfully told story. There are so many relatable areas for anyone that is or has been married. If not careful to keep the lines of communication open and honest one of these many, many storylines may be your story.

This is the type of novel that begs to be discussed at a bookclub meeting. I truly enjoyed the realism. At the end I think I said "Wow" out loud....thank you for allowing me to read this beautifully written, realistic look at married life.

Thanks to NetGalley, I received an advanced copy of this book! It was a quick and easy read, that I finished in 3 days. Which isn't that long for me. I think what kept me going was the subplots, between the main characters and a secondary character. I would have like to see more character development, and more drama between one of the married couples. I would definitely recommend this book, if you need something to read on a flight or on the beach!

As an introvert, reading the description for "Pretty Little World" by Elizabeth LaBan and Melissa DePino gave me shivers - three families combine their homes and disaster / self discovery ensues. Throughout reading the book I just couldn't stop thinking - how could anyone just give up their space, privacy, and in my case, sanity like that? And then I'd catch myself, because on the other hand as a mom, I can absolutely relate to the need for assistance from "the village", and how dependent you can be on others for your household to run.


"Pretty Little World" follows three couples and their families. Readers beware, the first chapters are a huge whirlwind of parents' names, kids' names, occupations, and complicated relationships! About twenty pages into reading this book, I sat it down to grab a piece of paper, because I desperately needed to draw a chart. As I continued to read, some of the characters became more solid and defined, but others continually meshed together for me. Part of that, I think, is my own failing as a reader ( drawing charts is a common strategy for me in books with easily confused characters, anybody else?). But much like the undeveloped plan the families cobbled together to combine their homes, some of the characters just felt underdeveloped and mechanical at times.


A few of the characters I did really enjoy, though - in fact, one of the characters I found most interesting in the book was Nikki, who isn't mentioned in the summary. Nikki is not part of the three families, she recently moved to the neighborhood to be with her fiancee. As an outsider looking into this weird cliquish thing happening, just like the reader, I was intrigued by her perspective. Nikki also had one of my favorite quotes from the book, as well:

" He's barely here anyway, and he's so focused on his job that I feel like I could switch souls with someone, and as long as my body was here to have sex with and to say good morning to every once in a while, he wouldn't even notice I was gone."


Yikes, right? Nikki's goes on to do some pretty troubling things and plays a role in the downfall of the communal living set up. So while I wasn't a huge fan of her choices, her story line was certainly unexpected and intriguing.


The thought I had most frequently reading "Pretty Little World" was just how important your own space is, and the book does a good job of showing why that is - in marriages, friendships, and for each person as an individual. For example, when the characters from different marriages came together to help each other, one of the benefits of their living situation, it felt like it was only for the purpose of a romantic relationship developing between the unmarried partners. To me, it was quickly obvious that this set up wouldn't last for long.


Towards the end of the book, one of the characters loses it on the nosy neighbor shouting that if she would just mind her own business, that their lives together wouldn't have been ruined. Which is of course ridiculous- the set up was doomed from the start, but not for the reasons I'd have suspected. Because beyond my own need for private time and space, the biggest problem for me in the book were the kids. The kids are very much background characters in the book, but in reality they are such a big part of a parent's life and logically a huge player in decision making. It seemed like there was very little discussion about how this huge move together would impact them. And for me, my son is why, no matter how introverted I am I don't think this set up would ever work for me. I can't take care of others kids like they are my own- and the writers did an excellent job exploring that idea.


Besides some disappointing plot holes (there was a ton of build up of conflict between two characters, Mark and Celia, and then we weren't privy to the conversation that they finally had about their problem! Really!?!) overall I did enjoy reading this book. It raised some interesting points and questions about how and where we draw the line as families and individuals- what is private, shared, and why. "Pretty Little World" has a lot of potential and such an interesting message- but at times the dots just weren't connected and the writing made it difficult to find those moments for me. Despite some frustrations, "Pretty Little World" represented and explored many angles of the complicated relationships of adults- a family and an individuals need for space, and the connections we make that can bolster or break us.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via Net Galley.

All I can say about this book is who cares. The premise is interesting, three young families decide to make their Philadelphia row houses more commodious by taking down the walls that separate the first floors. They are all such great friends, they practically spend all their time together anyway, what could go wrong?

Of course things go wrong -- but I couldn't care less because none of the characters are developed at all. I feel like I know less about them now than before I started the book.... How is that possible?

Thank You to Lake Union Publishing for providing me with an advanced copy of Elizabeth LaBan and Melissa DePino's novel, Pretty Little World, in exchange for an advanced review.

PLOT - In a suburb of Philadelphia, three sets of neighbors living with shared walls, have developed deep friendship. Mark and Celia, with their large family, are beginning to feel that they need a bigger house, and they tell their friends that they will soon be moving out of the neighborhood. Their neighbors, Hope/Leo, and Stephanie/Chris, are distraught over this news. A possible solution presents itself, when the shared wall between Mark/Celia's and Stephanie/Chris' house develops a large hole. The couples decide to hire a professional to remove the shared wall and open up Hope/Leo's wall, allowing the three families to share their lower floors, functioning as a larger family unit. Can this experiment work? Are they putting their friendships at risk?

LIKE- I was drawn to the concept of Pretty Little World. Whether fiction or non-fiction, I like stories of alternative lifestyles and family groups. Coming from an extremely small family, I like the idea of the importance of friends, and that friends are the family that you choose. In theory, I really like the idea of families choosing to live together and caring for one another. However, after reading Pretty Little World, I can see where this nice idea, has some major problems,

The issues that LaBan and DePino create for their characters in their new living arrangement are intriguing. For example, when living in a group, the couples found themselves shifting focus away from their own relationships and family units, in efforts to work as a team, this ultimately created friction. Rather than turning to their spouses, some characters turned to other people for emotional support, creating a distance from their spouse. There was a nice, subtle twist, with the realization that it is okay to have different types of connections with other people, but this only works when you put your spouse first.

Hope experiences a moral crisis when she is in charge of watching the kids play outside and a car narrowly misses hitting them. Hope reaches for her own daughter first, and this action makes her feel like she should not have the responsibility of caring for the other children, a revelation that crushes her. I thought this was one of the most riveting and honest moments in the story.

DISLIKE- The structure could have been stronger, perhaps starting, Pretty Little World, after the couples had already made the decision to live together, as their tight bond was very clear and the reason for their decision did not need to be drawn out with a long opening. Their leap to moving in together seemed too easy, rushed, which would have also been eliminated by changing the starting point. The concept and characters, kept me engaged, even though it was slow to start and had clunky moments.

Speaking of clunky, the subplots were uneven with regard to my level of interest. The story of Mark's infidelity with a sexy, younger neighbor was one of the more interesting subplots, especially when his secret is discovered. I was less interested with Chris, who quite honestly, was the least memorable character.

There is a reoccurring fear that their life style will be discovered. I wasn't sure why this was such a huge deal? There didn't seem to be a real consequence from being "found out" other than some people might disapprove. This fear needed to have higher stakes or needed to be lessened. I could believe one character expressing worry over being discovered, but I didn't believe the overall paranoia.

RECOMMEND- No. Pretty Little World, has an interesting concept, and was an okay read, but when there are so many amazing stories waiting to be read, okay doesn't cut it.