This is a collection of essays and illustrations and not-easily categorized oddities from Touchstone and author Julie Houts. They range from single page one-frame sight gag comics, to very bizarre, almost absurdist fables. There are also a number of puns and clever wordplay. Some of the entries are darkly humorous (Four Horsewomen of the Apocalypse) and some are just sad with a little drizzle of sarcastic humor (Fiddle). I enjoyed quite a lot of this book, though I am in no way the target audience (fashion savvy young professional women).

The art is original and technically solid. There is a lot of technical expertise 'hidden' in the relatively simple drawings. I really enjoyed the odd little rat cartoons which serve as a kind of Greek chorus to the narrative.

It's not all that often that an artist is a capable wordsmith. Julie Houts is enviably competent at both tasks.

I did enjoy this book and can recommend it to anyone who enjoys and appreciates sarcasm aimed at modern life, including ridiculous health trends, high fashion, conspicuous consumption, entitlement and shallow/ridiculous people.

It's relatively short, 220 pages, and release date is 24 October, 2017.

This is humor for someone else. And truthfully, there are a few funny bits, that I sort of smirked at, and the pictures are nice. Yes, the pictures are the best thing in the book, so yeah, that is the extra star.

This book is not aimed at me, and I am not the intended audience. Not sure who the intended audience is, but I would not want to be friends with them, or invite them to my house, or pass them on the street. I think it is people who read Vogue, although the description of this volume says that she is Instagrams favorite illustrator. Obviously in some circle of hell that I don't read. None of the illustrators that I follow are this...boring.

OK, two stars too, for the occasionally funny bits that somehow pop up amongst all the drek that she fills this book with.

Really, pages and pages about the life and death of a ficus tree? I got bored on the first page.

Pages and pages about how her sister attacked her with wet "sock juice" was mildly disturbing, more than funny.

Pages and pages of how a girl has an idea that Lady Diane was her secret mother, and how upset she was when she died.

Then, the bright moments, such as a one page illustration which says:
<blockquote>Today on the blog we'll interview yet another gorgeous white woman in her gorgeous white washed space, and look at all her gorgeous white things and ask her questions about how she got her gorgeous white life and how it feels to be living such a gorgeous white life surrounded by her gorgeous white things.</blockquote>

or this one:
<blockquote>So, basically, what we're trying to do is identify a way that we can use feminism and social activism as a tool to sell more clothes in a way that feels organic and on-brand.</blockquote>

And, now, you don't have to bother to read the book.

You're welcome.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

I don't think I am exactly the target audience for this book, which seems more aimed at folks deep into the world of Instagram influencers and aspiring models. However, the drawings are charming and often funny, and a couple of the pieces -- particularly "The Four Horsewomen of the Apocalypse" and the final bit, a journal from the perspective of "Tree," who is purchased to liven up a high-end fashion store -- are laugh-out-loud hilarious. Probably much funnier for folks who live in New York or L.A., but I'm just a simple country librarian. ;)

Not my style and I was not able to fully commit to this book at all. I did love the artwork, though.

Not really my thing. Best of luck to other readers though.