This book was crazy! Belle has always been obsessed with skincare, watching Dr. Marva’s YouTube videos each morning and night and following along with her own array of creams, lotions, and potions. Shortly after her mother’s death, Belle uncovers that Mother, too, shared this obsession. What’s more, Mother was a member of a luxurious, exclusive spa in the mansion at the cliff’s edge. Just what will Belle need to give up in order to get in? I will say it again—this book was crazy! I literally cheered at the end. Dark, twisted, and so utterly delectable. I loved it!

This was a highly anticipated read after reading and loving Bunny last year. But I’m sad to say, I don’t think I was the right audience for this. It was quirky and bizarre and I felt like I was missing most of the symbolism and metaphors. I’m a very literal thinker and reader so this did not work for me. The characters felt very flat, without much depth. I struggled with the pacing a bit. Overall, strange and unique but not for me. If you’re looking for a read that’s more than a little out there, give it a try.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster, Mona Awad, and NetGalley for the gifted copy in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up. This book makes you feel the obsession! Like our main character, Belle, I was sucked in to the fever dream that was La Maison de Méduse. It was a great way to critique the beauty industry and its unrealistic expectations. How much of yourself are you willing to lose to achieve the impossible? I really enjoyed the frequent word slips that hammered home this critique, but I can see where some would feel they were too on the nose. However, my main issue with this story is that it was too long and repetitive. In particular, the flashbacks to her childhood were too long. I felt taken out of the present time story. Shorter snip-its of the past would have worked better for me as a reader.

I really wanted to like this one! I just don’t think it was for me.
Now, I really liked her other books so this might just be a matter of right book wrong time.
I will definitely try to read this again and hopefully at a better time.

To quote the Grateful Dead, "what a long, strange trip it's been." This book is so trippy! I love how it takes a look at the obsession with beauty and the lengths people will go to get that perfect skin and glow. Then, it is creepy AF in the "spa" that Mirabelle goes too. Half the time, I was wondering if things that were happening had actually happened in the past or were they in her mind. I kept thinking look beyond your obsession and see what's really happening here!

Mirabelle leaves Montreal for California when her mother is found dead on the rocks at the ocean. A fall, they say. What she didn't know was how much her mom had changed before her death. There is a lot of damage in the past between them. She finds out when she is invited into the "spa". Things go bonkers from there.

This book has everything from Tom Cruise to "red jellyfish." It was a very interesting story and hard to put down.

Thanks to Negalley and Simon Element for a copy for review.

This book was incredibly captivating and well-done. It was disorienting and confusing in a way that perfectly reflected the protagonist's lack of understanding about her situation. It was not so confusing that it was frustrating, but rather it was confusing in a way that made it mysterious and very intriguing.
Awad's use of imagery in this novel is incredibly impressive. She beautifully and skillfully uses jellyfish, roses, color, and more to create a stunning, haunting story.
My only complaint is that things began to drag a little bit towards the middle of the book. However, once the pace picked back up, it began to move quite rapidly.
Overall, this was an incredibly fascinating book with so much to say about the beauty industry and grief. Awad's writing coupled with the topics of the novel create something that is so alluring and impossible to put down.. I still do not know exactly what happened, but I do know I enjoyed it. My experience with this book was a lot like that with Awad's other book, 'Bunny," a bit of a fever-dream that left me wondering but still satisfied. I am looking forward to reading more of her work in the future.

This may be the most eerie book I have ever read. Science Fiction meets the beauty industry, While a tale of selling your soul for beauty sounds fiction, is it too different from the influencers in our world today?

I tried to give this author another chance after Bunny but this book was wayyy too weird for my taste and I only got 5 pages in

I liked this more than All's Well but less than Bunny. It was fascinating, then repetitive, then fascinating again. I was dreading reading it given how much I've been hit over the head with anti-beauty-industry content lately, but I thought it was handled in a fascinating way. Mona Awad I'll love you forever.

Reading much like a fever dream, Rouge is a sinister fairy tale that revolves around a strained mother-daughter relationship and the beauty cult that drew them both into its malevolent web. Throughout the story, Awad brilliantly explores the toxicity of the beauty industry and the complex grieving process after losing a parent. Horror-tinged, surreal, and full of vivid imagery. I highly recommend for spooky season.

Rouge was surreal as hell. Slow at first and I can't say that I ever understood what was happening but as my confusion built, our main character was deteriorating and I had to know what was going to happen to her.

I felt as though the writing kept me at arms length and I was struggling to connect but I think that was an intentional choice now that I've finished.

This book is as hard to review as it is to describe so I think Mona Awad has done her job here. Bravo.

This had everything going for it, but just didn’t pull it off like I was hoping for. So many elements that I expected to figure out which was the main one (vampires? Fairytale retellings, and if so, which one?) by the end, but never quite did. Perhaps that was the point, but for me, it just didn’t work.

Mira/Belle returns to La Jolla from Montreal after the mysterious death of her estranged mother. Despite their emotional and physical distance, the two women have one thing in common: an obsession with beauty. Upon arrival, she is faced with more questions than answers - these questions lead her to a strange mansion on the hill that offers exclusive beauty treatments - but at what cost? As Mira/Belle is sucked more and more into the mansion and its secrets, the danger mounts. Will she get out in time? And fully intact?

I adore Mona Awad's writing. It's lush and atmospheric, and I can't get enough of it.

In Rouge, the tone changes significantly as the main character gets more and more involved in the ultra-elite, mysterious world of specialty skincare. It becomes an obsession, and the lines between reality and imagination blur frequently.

There are a lot of themes at play here as well: memories, and the fact that they can't always be trusted; a parent's desire to protect their child at all costs; and the damage that can be done by impossible beauty standards. But it never feels like the book is forcing lessons on the reader; rather, it feels like you arrive at these themes naturally as the plot unravels.

Mona Awad is an author that I've grown to love and trust, and I thoroughly enjoy allowing her to take my hand and lead me into her layered, immersive worlds.

Note: I received a review copy of this book from NetGalley.

I wanted to love Rouge so much and at some points I really did. Awad writes about beauty standards, self-hatred, and the way that envy poisons the mind in a way that feels both genuine and biting. That being said, at many times the book seemed to get a bit lost in itself. The mother daughter relationship didn't strike me particularly hard and the dreamy sequences were so dreamy that they became difficult to engage with. If half stars were allowed this would probably be a 3.5

This book is an actual fever dream. We bow to Mona Awad and all the ridiculousness that her perfect brain produces.

Did I 100% understand what I just read? Not exactly. Did I love it? You KNOW I did. Just go with it.

Belle and her mom are both obsessed with all things skincare and have the kind of relationship a therapist would salivate over. When her mom dies mysteriously with some weird links to cult-ish spa, Belle finds herself in the same spot longing for their treatments. Only things are feeling pretty sinister and she’s starting to forget big details about her life. And did I mention there’s jellyfish and roses everywhere? And Tom Cruise??

And by all means, keep staring at the cover like a fool like I did, thinking it might give a clue. 🤦🏼‍♀️ But that imagery! 😍

Awad shines brightest when she’s in the weeds of story making me FEEL all of her luscious descriptions. This story is gorgeous and gross and clammy and slimy and salty and I felt all of these things simultaneously. I need this book to come with a scratch and sniff sticker.

Also I gotta give Duolingo a pat on the back because that lil baby owl had me understanding pretty much all the French words sprinkled throughout the book. 👏🏼

If you love Bunny (🙋🏼‍♀️), cool girl lit fic (🙋🏼‍♀️), Moshfegh (🙋🏼‍♀️🙋🏼‍♀️🙋🏼‍♀️), a twisted fairy tale, beauty industry satire, or you have a healthy fear of jelly fish go ahead and grab this one.

The freakiest beauty fairy tale ever!

It'll make you want to do a full skincare routine and stay away from spas.

Mona Awad knows how to gross me out and he utterly compelling at the same time and I love it!

Thank you to NetGalley and S & S for an early copy of this book! I loved Bunny and gave it five stars so I had really high expectations for this book but unfortunately it just wasn’t for me. I think this book will have many people who enjoy its weirdness but for me the plot felt too slow moving, especially in the first half when I really need to be hooked by a story. I also found the sort of stream of consciousness writing style (I can’t think of a better way to describe it) to be hard for me to focus on and stay engaged with. I’m not sure if it was because of this writing style or not, but I had a hard time connecting to Belle as a character and I just couldn’t get into the story. All that being said, I do think this was a really cool and unique concept for a book and I really look forward to reading future books from Mona Awad!

Thank you to NetGalley and S&S for this e-book copy!

Rating: 3.5 stars

This was my first Mona Awad book and I can say that Awad's writing style is very intriguing. I wasn't sure what to expect since many people rave Awad's books for being bizarre but fun reads. This book was definitely bizarre but also a very fast read for me. Rouge follows Belle as she experiences grief due to the mysterious and sudden passing of her mother. She finds out her mother frequented a spa before her death and Belle decides to check it out. Right away, Belle is sucked into the lifestyle this spa offers and she slowly discovers secrets about the spa, her mother, and herself. The first half of this book is very slow but once it picks up it just keeps going with the plot progression. I finished this feeling empathy for Belle as it was obvious the spa was taking advantage of her and her mother. I did feel like the fairytale aspects of this was a bit forced at times and not needed when it came to this story but outside of that I enjoyed it. I recommend checking this out during the spooky season. Also expect to not understand everything that's happening and focus on Belle's journey.

this is my second awad book and i can't wait to read the rest of her backlist. i loved the mix of fairytale and horror in this and was unnerved during most parts. this was definitely an unforgettable read just like bunny.

Whatever just happened to me was executed very well. 4 scars. I mean, stars.

It took me about one-third of the book to be immersed in the tone. Once I was, I truly enjoyed the unsettling, labyrinthine atmosphere and uncertain narrative voice of Rouge.

Rouge features a spa for wellness, but all is not well. It's almost become a trendy topic in literature in the last 5ish years: the beauty and wellness industries and their insidious hooks into people, especially women, and especially women who don't fit the white European beauty standard. I liked Rouge's exploration of this topic and the others it touches on (complicated familial relationships, grief) because Mirabelle's confusion and obsession prevent the book from being ham-fisted in its messaging. There is undoubtedly evil in the quest to meet unrealistic, racist, and capitalism-driven beauty standards, but both in Rouge and in real life, that evil is insidious. It's less of a mustache-twirling charlatan or a Nurse Ratched with a Botox needle and more of a vaguely icky feeling about what is expected of us as we move through the world.

Worse, that icky feeling isn't a straightforward condemnation of our devotion to our beauty regimens. We receive affirmation from looking good, from how people treat us when we capitulate, from looking how we think we deserve to look. I mean, of course Mirabelle spent the book confused and beguiled. We might not have had a red jelly treatment, but we've all been there.