I was enthralled for the first half of this book and then it just teetered into absurdity. I really enjoyed the character development and inner monologue because that's the style of writing I prefer. At first I thought the change in POV from Nina to Vanessa was going to be super uncomfortable and jarring but I ended up really enjoying getting Vanessa's side of the story. Both characters' backstories felt real and fleshed out nicely and I could understand their motivations. And then the halfway mark hits and the marriage arc comes into play and they are going back and forth with the same scenes and into the future and I'm so confused by the timeline I just lost all my interest. I really couldn't find it in me to care after that point, and the ending felt nothing short of ridiculous.

A great mystery featuring grifters and their victims. The tension builds as the story progresses and poses the enigma of who is conning whom. A bit predictable but memorable characters and a well written plot line make up for that. Touches on the current topics of mental illnesses and social influencers as well as the footprint individuals leave on the internet. Well done at mixing the old hat with the con and antiques and old money with the current topical issues. I really liked this one.

Wow! This was my first book be Janelle Brown and it will definitely not be my last. I gotta admit, some of it was a little predictable, but there were definitely some twists and turns that I did NOT see coming. I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would. The bottom line to keep in mind when reading this book is, don't take everything - or everyone - at face value. 4 stars!

Are you sitting down? Are you ready to hear me fangirl about this book for twelve straight minutes? Because here we go. This is one of my new favorite books. So far, this is my favorite read of 2020. I don't even know if I can properly express how much I loved this book. It was just... it was SO GOOD.

So let's start with the story. I was immediately drawn into the world of grifters and the idea of con artists. Nothing will draw me in faster than those themes. And this book does not disappoint!! The entire set up for the long cons and the background with all the smaller, past cons was so well done and just so interesting. I was immediately sucked into this story.

I also just really loved the characters. Both Nina and Vanessa had a lot of unlikeable qualities and I wavered on who I sided with and if I liked them both or if I liked neither of them. But that's because they were real and human and they had pasts and flaws. And I honestly really liked the format of this book: I liked that the pov passed back and forth between them and we saw each through the other's eyes and then we moved to their pov and saw how flawed that perspective was and how it's really hard to know anyone at all or judge them by other's perceptions. But both of these women I thought were fascinating characters. And the fate that tied them together was just so well plotted.

This book is also just beautifully written. I highlighted so many wonderful passages. And, as I said, the pov shifts were a wonderful plot device. I loved reading things from one perspective and then switching, going back and seeing everything the other had missed.

This book is also a rather long one but it never felt too long. The story took so many twists and turns and definitely had a few tricks up its sleeve. It is a wonderfully written, well paced thriller. I HIGHLY recommend this book!! I will definitely be picking up a print copy and rereading this in the future. What a wild, wonderful ride!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House follow allowing me the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review. It was such a treat!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance review copy of this book.

I enjoyed Janelle Brown's Watch Me Disappear, and found Pretty Things to be a twisty thriller, too. It's probably my fault that I kept wanting this book to be something *more*--and that left me just a bit unsatisfied.

Thank you to Random House and #netgalley for the advanced copy for my honest review!

Synopsis: Nina Ross and her mother Lily, a con artist, lived a transient lifestyle as she grew up, going from city to city. One of the cities they settled was Lake Tahoe, where Nina felt the most stable until a traumatic event caused them both to skip town, again. Nina vows to return to Lake Tahoe to seek revenge. Vanessa Liebling, on the other hand, is a popular, trust-fund influenster - heiress of the Stonehaven estate in Lake Tahoe, who grew up entitled and rich. She struggles with her finances, personal relationships, and a broken engagement - so she speeds off to Stonehaven to find some solitude out of desperation. She is the perfect, vulnerable “mark.”

My Review:⭐️⭐⭐⭐.5 / 5 stars
This story is told from both Nina and Vanessa's POV and it is absolutely thrilling to read both of how they interpret a conversation. I breezed through this book in just 2 days and couldn’t wait to finish and find out what was going to happen! Vanessa really surprised me - she had much more depth to her than I initially thought when reading about her. I LOVED this book - Brown did such an amazing job making this a roller coaster all the way in and that little twist! You just never know what is going to happen! Highly recommended for a fun, mystery thriller!

Nina’s mom has been hustling her whole life to make ends meet. It seems inevitable that Nina will follow in her mother’s footsteps and when her mother’s cancer comes back and treatment costs are expected at over $500k, Nina knows she needs to up her game.

Several years earlier, she and Lachlan connected and started working scams together. When Lachlan suggests getting out of town and hitting a rich family in Tahoe, Nina knows the perfect target. One of her many hometowns in high school included Tahoe and there, she developed an unlikely friendship with Benny. Benny is a Liebling - an incredibly wealthy family and essentially an American aristocracy. Nina has held animosity against the Lieblings since they humiliated her and ran her and her mother out of town over a decade ago.

Taking on new names and personas, Lachlan and Nina go to Tahoe and rent a cottage on the Lieblings property. Vanessa, Benny’s older sister, now runs the manor as both her parents are deceased. Coming off a breakup and desperate for validation, Nina and Lachlan see an easy target.

Full of surprises, unexpected twists, and backstabbing, this novel was unputdownable. Told from the perspectives of both Nina and Vanessa, it was hard to know who was the villain and who was the victim. The writing was excellent and it was easy to get lost in the pages. Absolutely pick this one up!!!

While the gorgeous book cover is what made me request the novel, the suspenseful and gripping opening immediately grabbed my attention as I first dug into the prologue and introduction of Nina Ross. It's clear that Janelle Brown's writing is captivating and descriptive. I was drawn in by the cinematic feel of the first few scenes and anticipated the rest of the book to play out like thriller.

Nina is a grifter and a daughter of an ex-con. Working alongside her boyfriend Lachlan, she steals antiques and luxuries from the rich to pay the bills. When her mother falls ill, Nina flies back to the West Coast and decides to pull one last con to save her ailing mother. They're target is Vanessa Liebling, who comes from old money and became famous about three years ago. But Nina has already had her mark on Vanessa for twelve years. As Lachlan and Nina make their way to Stonehaven, secrets of the past come back to haunt Nina.

The book pivots between the perspectives of Nina and Vanessa, but Brown does a great job at distinguishing the voices. Bringing reader's into the past lives of Nina and Vanessa, Brown brings to light that the two are quite complicated, more than just a money-envying grifter or a superficial trust-fund daughter. And as the novel goes on, they reveal more of their past and the flaws that have been setting them on the edge.

But as Nina lets her emotions get involved and technicalities get in the way, she soon finds herself in a hole that she needs to dig out of before it's too late.

I found the characters fleshed out very well, but seemingly at the cost of the plot. While the story began with flair and seductiveness, it quickly slowed down as the book took its time to set out the scam and its characters.

I enjoyed learning more about the characters as well as their flaws; however, I didn't feel an attachment towards them nor the suspense as the plot finally begins to unravel. The slow pacing and the constant back and forth led to an underwhelming ending.

However, I really did enjoy the character building and the writing in Pretty Things, and found it easy to empathize with the characters and their past. It was a good read nonetheless, and I would be interested in checking out the author's other novels.

Pretty Things is a slow build, character driven story. It is super long at almost 500 pages, but I really enjoyed it. We learn about Nina Ross and her backstory with the Liebling family. She blames the Liebling family for all of her troubles. We also learn about Vanessa Liebling and her family and what it was like growing up for her. These two women come together many years later as Nina and her partner, Lachlan, attempt to pull a con job on Vanessa. Nina has been watching Vanessa from afar as Vanessa is an Instagram Influencer, so she knows that Vanessa will be returning to Lake Tahoe and is renting out the small cottage on the grounds. Nina is in need of major cash as her mother's cancer is back and treatment is very expensive.

Pretty Things is told in alternating POV by Nina and Vanessa. While I liked getting both voices, some of it was repetitive as the scenes were the same ones just from the other's view point. That said, though, I really enjoyed this twisty, revenge story. Who is conning who? I would have given it five stars, but it was a little bit too long in places.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for my digital arc in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this book! When I read the summary I thought of this being more contemporary fiction, but there is a thriller element that surprised me. I am usually not a big thriller reader but I really enjoyed this one. Nina is a grafter, who got into the family business after needing to pay for her mom's cancer treatments. When her mom relapses again, they need to figure out a way to pay for experimental treatment. Her mark is Vanessa, daughter of old money and an enemy from her past. When Nina and her grafter partner/boyfriend go to Lake Tahoe to start the con, multiple tricks and turns between all three of them take place.

The story is through both Vanessa and Nina's POV. I loved seeing the story unfold through both their eyes. Janelle Brown did a great job showing how people interpret things so differently. The second half of the book is where things become really interesting, there are cons everywhere and twists you never see coming. This book is a great mix of genres for anyone to enjoy.

This book pulled me right in and kept me always wanting more. The secrets of the story were divulged at a fantastic pace, and the writing style held my interest at almost every turn. My only complaint would be that the back and forth in perspective should have happened at shorter intervals. At least in the beginning, I felt we would get too far into Nina's perspective just to go back a ways in the story to get Vanessa's perspective. This wasn't your average psychological thriller, but was definitely even better than I expected. I will definitely look for future work from this author.

Pretty Things by Janelle Brown is a thriller that has so many twists that you won’t see coming. The characters are raw and unexpected and the dual narrator format gives an interesting perspective. It is a story that not only gives the reader a mystery to solve, it also provides a look into the relationships we have with others.

There is so much about the plot of Pretty Things that can’t be revealed without spoiling it. However, the concept of a grifter and an heiress whose worlds collide is just the tip of the iceberg. Janelle Brown takes the con artist trope and kicks it up a notch. The plans are elaborate, but the stakes will surprise the reader.

❀ WELL-DEVELOPED CHARACTERS

Nina and Vanessa are both well-developed characters that at first are hard to like. As their flaws are exposed and more of their backstories are revealed, I started to appreciate each of them for different reasons. Vanessa seems quite superficial at the beginning, but as she transforms, the plot takes on an interesting twist.

❀ MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIP IS SURPRISING

The relationship between Nina and her mother is one that really surprised me. I enjoyed reading about their bond and the way that it seemed like the two of them against the world. Her mom wanted a better life for Nina, but the grifter lifestyle is one that neither of them can escape easily.

❀ TWISTY WITH A CONTEMPORARY FEEL

If you love a twisty thriller that has a contemporary feel, Pretty Things is one for your spring TBR. The characters and the plot will surprise you. I also just discovered that it is going to be adapted into an Amazon series staring Nicole Kidman, so it is sure to be one to watch as well.

<i>Pretty Things</i> is told through the eyes of the two main characters – Nina Ross, a 28 yr old college educated con and Vanessa Liebling, a 30-something heiress and Instagram influencer. It builds and twists as each woman tells her side of the multi-layered story of how their lives intersected. Combining family history with contemporary issues, intriguing manipulations and scams, the plot develops slowly before careening first in one direction and then another.

After a strong opening, the pace slowed as backstories were developed. Just when I was beginning to wonder where it was all going, Janelle Brown started throwing curveballs. The characters were complex – unlikeable, at times, but also sympathetic.

Bottom line, I found <i>Pretty Things</i> to be an engaging and entertaining read with some impressive, and mostly unexpected, twists. A combination of social commentary along with numerous secrets and lies, this was one smart thriller with a satisfying conclusion.




FYI - I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Nina is a second generation grifter, a talented thief that uses social media to spot and follow the conspicuously wealthy, then set up an opportunity to rip them off. But now Nina has gone straight; her college education has made it possible to earn an honest living. However, her mother’s chemo bills are stacking up, her mom too weak to find and execute her own ten-finger specials, and so Nina finds herself back in the game.
My thanks go to Net Galley and Random House for the review copy. This book is for sale today.

Vanessa Fucking Liebling is an heiress, a spoiled daddy’s girl that has found an avocation as a social media influencer. She thinks nothing at all of dropping tens of thousands of dollars for a single dress that she will wear once; she is courted by upscale manufacturers of women’s clothing, accessories, and you-name-it, and she flies free of charge to famous cities around the world with a small coterie of women like herself, the chosen ones that have the Instagram followers that make their endorsements so valuable. But when her father dies, Vanessa soon learns that the money problems he’s tried to tell her about are indeed real. With her party budget in the crapper and a schizophrenic brother to look after, Vanessa ditches the New York fashionistas and heads to the family’s vacation home, Stonehaven, located in Lake Tahoe, California. She is about to come nose-to-nose with destiny.

Our two protagonists, Nina and Vanessa, are featured alternately in the first and third person respectively; in addition, we catch snippets of their earlier lives and the critical events that have molded them.
Though Nina is a crook, I find her easier to like and bond with than Vanessa. Nina, despite her dishonesty, cynicism, and the immense chip on her shoulder, is an underdog, a scrappy fighter determined to better herself and to take care of her mama. She isn’t a violent offender, and the marks she steals from are so filthy stinking rich they hardly notice the loss of a wristwatch here, an antique vase there. It’s hard not to feel that if the world were a fairer place, the dilettante wouldn’t have that much stuff to start with, and Nina wouldn’t have to scramble to get by and take care of her sick mother.

Vanessa, by contrast, is a much harder sell. Brown develops the hell out of this character, showing her gradual awakening as she realizes how shallow her entire existence is, and how devoid she is of any true friends. At first I am having none of it. Poor little rich girl indeed; cry me a river! But Brown keeps chipping away at my resistance, and eventually I see Vanessa as a flawed human being with problems, rather than a rich person that deserves whatever karma comes her way.

My first book by this author was Watch Me Disappear, a glorious work of suspense that kept me enraptured till the last twenty percent, at which point I was consumed by dismay. Therefore I read this book with avidity, and yet at the same time I am on the alert, wondering if this story will also be resolved with a you’ve-gotta-be-kidding-me ending. My fears prove groundless. The main storyline as well as the smaller bits all come together in a way I find deeply satisfying. The ending is a complete surprise.

My one small criticism at the outset was the schtick about Nina’s mother’s chemo. It’s been done, and done again, and done again. I’m thinking I’d like the story better if she would just let the grifter be a grifter, rather than carrying on about poor, dying mom. However, there’s an additional twist at the end that I did. Not. See. Coming. In the end, this book is the total package. I wouldn’t change a single thing.

Highly recommended. Get this book now!

This was an amazing book. It kept me on my toes the whole time. I didn’t know which side to be on with the book as the author was amazing in creating real life flawed people like you and I. With these characters we see their reasons and the understand why they are doing what they so even if it is wrong or illegal. This book is so good and I am so thankful to the publisher Random House, Janelle Brown, the author, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this before the publishing date.

A fun read that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the end! Here's a story that incorporates modern-day innovations. Vanessa, an Influencer, sets the stage for a story with twists and turns. Yet, the ever-prevalent theme of good vs. bad, rich vs. poor, and revenge haunt the pages of this book.. At the end, the reader will have to determine if right wins out, which makes it a little different from others in this genre.

This book was not at all like the typical thrillers I read. I really enjoyed this story, and I was pleasantly surprised by the twists. I thought I had it figured out and I was way off, which is refreshing since most thrillers follow the same exact formula.

I really felt connected to the characters, specifically Nina, who was doing what she had to do to take care of her sick mother. I thought the story flowed nicely and gave enough backstory to make it believable. I liked the alternating points of view between Nina and Vanessa. It was interesting to see how each character was reacting to the events unfolding.

5 stars. This is a book I will be recommending to everyone!

So you see, I called the plot twist within the first 30 pages of the book. Not only did I call it but it took approximately 70% through for it to actually get interesting. I found this one in credibly slow with no pay off in the end. 400 pages of slow just for the twist to be the one I guessed at the beginning. It had an interesting premise that could have been proved well for a mystery/thriller but it just missed the mark, unfortunately.

"When a body goes down in Lake Tahoe, they say, it does not rise again. The frigid temperature of the lake, it’s vast depths, conspire to keep bacteria at bay. What once was human fails to decompose. Instead, the body is doomed to drift along the lake bed, in perpetual limbo; just more organic matter joining the mysterious menagerie that lives in Tahoe’s uncharted depths.”

What an incredible way to begin this suspenseful novel.

Readers of PRETTY THINGS are in for a treat. This book has more twists and turns than a rollercoaster.

Oh the naivety of youth. As author JANELLE BROWN details the life of high schoolers Nina and Benny, it is easy to picture the two misfits finding each other and only after having built a foundation of friendship do they take the leap of faith into a relationship. I am positive that everyone can remember their first real relationship. It is easy to visualize the intensity of their feelings. Nina and Benny never forget each other and their puppy-love has ramifications that span decades.

Vanessa is Benny's sister. She is the golden child to Benny's black sheep. As a twenty-something, she becomes what all Millenials seem to aspire to, that is an Instagram Influencer. She flits through the world wearing designer clothing and is constantly posting photographs of herself on her Instagram feed.

There are so many people who post every moment of their lives online, hoping to be followed by hundreds of thousands of people. What Vanessa, as well as other Instagramers don't seem to think about, is just who is following their feed and why.

In addition to the role the internet plays in the plot of Pretty Things, also included are characters who have grown up in extreme wealth, never having to actually work for their money. Of course there are also their polar opposites, people who have lived hand-to-mouth and the things they are willing to do to make their lives easier. Dysfunctional family dynamics, mental illness, anger, fear and greed also have their places in this twisted tale.

In PRETTY THINGS someone or maybe several someones are following people's Instagram posts for nefarious purposes and the dangers of the internet loom large. This tale is a warning to all those who post online to be wary of what they put out on the world wide web.

The author writes with such precision and suspense that it is little wonder the film rights of this book have already been scooped up. Mega-Star Nicole Kidman has already been cast in one of the lead rolls.

With themes that everyone living in this age of Social Media can relate to, PRETTY THINGS is going to be the Number One book on Bestseller Lists for many, many weeks to come.

This book fully deserves every single one of 5 out of 5 Stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

***Thank you to NetGalley and to the Publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book.***

One of the best new thrillers out for 2020 in my humble opinion! Janelle Brown has DELIVERED! Twisty and juicy. Nina and Vanessa are such well written characters! I personally love Nina the most. Love her back story. I want more. I'm ready for more Janelle Brown books to be honest. Thank you netgalley for giving me the chance to dive into this book that SO many people are talking about now!