Ravishing reminds us, in a time where such thoughtful, sensitive, and clear reminders are much needed, about who and what we are - as children, as adults, as family and society - to each other, and to ourselves. A standout read of the year for me, filled with gentle poignancy of what it is to be human, filled with want.

I did not finish this book. I’m not sure if it’s still too far from publication and so has many errors yet to be edited, but I found them extremely distracting.

I really loved the concept of this book, but not at all the execution. I thought the writing was clunky, and I just genuinely did not feel emotionally invested in the story or the characters. If this appeals to you, by all means give it a go it was just not my cup of tea at all.

I thought this was a decent YA dystopia/sci fi horror about beauty standards, but I do wish it had leaned a little further into the darkness. I also thought the writing felt a little young at times, even for YA, which was a little disappointing.

This is a book with so much potential. Unfortunately it fell flat for me. The theme of unrealistic and dangerous beauty standards, especially for BIPOC is so important to draw attention to, but the writing itself is just ok. It’s simplistic.

When Kashmira, looks in the mirror; all she sees is father’s face, a stark reminder of his abandonment of her and her brother Nikhil. . Evolvoir, a beauty product promises to change the users’ features. erasing flaws and accentuating beauty. Once Kashmira tries the product she is instantly hooked changing her features just enough as to not resemble her father any longer. At Evolvoir’s corporate offices, Kashmira’s estranged brother Nikhil is employed and at first welcomes the product and its fantastic abilities but slowly he begins to realise that the product is flawed and causes pain and disfigurement. What will a brother do to save his sister from a fate such as this?

Tender yet visceral tale of two estranged siblings caught up in an America where being white and beautiful leads to a vastly better life than being a young brown and poor person could ever imagine.

If you had the ability to use a cream that had the ability to change your appearance would you use it? This is the interesting question at the heart of Ravishing.

Eshani Surya's novel focusses on the experiences of Kashmira, a 17 year old girl living in Jersey. Her Indian heritage creates a complex dynamic, living the US with her father very much wanting to quash part of their heritage. A difficult home life with her father leaving has led to very complex and difficult emotions for Kashmira to manage. As she resembles her father her own face is a constant reminder of the trauma she has experienced.

This is where thinking about using a face cream to help you change your appearance makes you think about it in a new way. This isn't necessarily about vanity but could be used to help people with trauma. Would that be a good thing to do?

On the flip side of the narrative, Nikhail, Kashmira's brother works for the start up company that creates this product. The interesting part of this is that he soon believes that the product could be a force for good for people like his sister and others, particularly when there is such limited access to healthcare. This is where the story got me, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. A product that has the ability to completely redesign a person's face could have positive impacts; but could it really be a replacement to proper mental health support?

Surya describes start up culture with the idea of progress and fast-pace movement for rapid growth in a company well. The book and the concept of the cream product has ethical ramifications. I like how the book doesn't completely focus on a company reaching the "bottom line" but it does highlight how a company can develop quickly without necessarily thinking about the ramifications of a product. Just because you can, does it mean you should?

As you can imagine there are consequences to using the product. Kashmira starts to develop health symptoms that are concerning. Being a 17 year old girl, naturally she doesn't immediately halt using this product. We know that teenagers are at a vulnerable age, so they don't necessarily make the best choices for the long term. With her family life being a complex dynamic with an absent father and a mother that is emotionally absent, Kashmira is acting completely unsupervised. As an adult we all would say that she should speak to her mother about her health, but the reality of being 17 means that she doesn't. This is where I admire Surya's writing. Her portrayal of Kashmira is realistic - the insecurity of a teenage girl is apparent, which you empathise with.

The premise of the book interested me and it didn't disappoint. Surya's portrayal of the teenage experience highlights how beauty standards and parental expectations can be dangerous. She reflects the BAME experience in a poignant way highlighting how generational trauma can have lasting impacts manifesting in unexpected ways.

I wanted to like this book…. but I didn’t. An earnest YA novel about the dangers of beauty standards for young girls, particularly when they are POC, particularly when they have experienced trauma, I think this book tried to ask thoughtful questions and analyse them in a meaningful way. For me, it fell flat. Recommend for those who like simple writing and journal/diary types of stories. This book isn’t epistolary, but the writing has the feeling of a searching journal entry. Asking questions directly and thinking through them rather than slanting at the items being probed via actions and dialogue in a story..

A dark, speculative, debut novel about two Indian American siblings ensnared in a rapidly growing beauty tech company for very different reasons. Kashmira, the younger sibling, wants desperately to remove any trace of her emotionally abusive father’s features from her own face by using NuLook, a facial reconstruction cream from a company called Evolvoir. Her recently estranged brother Nikhil is employed by Evolvoir, and is trying to use his position to influence positive change from the inside. Both siblings are unaware of the dangers associated with the product, and how it renders its users ill, and the chaos that ensues once this is brought to light.

I liked this book a lot, it hones in on the incendiary effect the beauty industry has on American youth, as well as expertly weaves in the societal pressures created by social media. The reality of working at a fast paced tech company where growth and expansion at all costs was eerily accurate. I also felt that the pacing, especially in the middle of the book, wasn’t consistent, and ultimately could have been edited a bit tighter to keep the thriller like feel of the plot in place from beginning to end.

Many thanks to Grove Atlantic + NetGalley for the ARC!

Ravishing reads a bit young at times but offers a very tender portrait of siblinghood and identity.

I was expecting a much darker story, something with a cooler, more inhumane atmosphere, but Ravishing is on the contrary very character-driven. It focuses on Kashmira & Nikhil's growth and how they grieve their relationship with their father. The sci-fi element is merely an excuse for them to realize the depth of his impact on them, heal, and understand who they are without him.
What I appreciated most were the friendships and their role in Kashmira and Nikhil's development. They were nuanced and had a softness at their core that both of them truly needed. I found the complexity of teenage girls friendships well represented, and Nikhil's romance lowkey gave me butterflies. It was sort of a relief to know they weren't truly alone in this but had loved ones there to support AND hold them accountable.
Plot-wise, I also found the technology at the core of the story fun -in lack of a better word-, and the various perspectives on it were actually believable and interesting.

However, I also must say I found the writing a bit clumsy at times. While I was really invested in both povs, I found the switch always a bit hard and it took me a while to get re-adjusted. I think it's because of the age-difference : Kashmira's 17, so her chapters felt like ya, whereas Nikhil is a young adult and widely different preoccupations.

3,25/5

A big thank you to NetGalley, Grove Atlantic/Roxane Gay Books, and the author for an ARC of this book!

Ravishing is a wonderful book from debut author Eshani Surya. I've heard people describe this book as "a 'Black Mirror' episode meets 'The Substance (2024)' " and I'm inclined to agree, although I think it's a more optimistic bildungsroman take on the subject matter. It circles around siblings Kashmira and Nikhil as the navigate the world after their toxic father files for divorce and leaves. Kashmira, a teenager, is dealing with the crippling insecurity and self hatred of being a teenager, while Nikhil is getting acclimated to his life as a new hire for the beauty company Evolvir. When a new beauty product by Evolvir is introduced to Kashmira that promises to completely re-do the structure of her face, she begins to constantly use the product, unknown to her that the product will change more than just her face.

The premise of this book had me hooked when I saw it on NetGalley, so naturally I had to check it out. I think the way that Surya weaves multiple topics together - such as parental abuse, teenage angst, racial intersectionality, colorism, the world of social media, and the reckless abandon of today's billion dollar tech and beauty industry - was endlessly compelling to me. The siblings' motivations for getting involved with Evolvir felt so real and empathetic, with both of them trying to move forward in the world while being held back by their past. Another thing that stuck with me was how believable Eshani Surya wrote the digital landscape. Most authors try to either sidestep social media or write it with a dystopian technocratic twinge that mischaracterizes it completely - but Surya is different. She illustrates the isolating and simulated world of her Instagram, Slack and TikTok-likes, while also acknowledging the very real emotions behind its users. Nikhil's work group chats feel like chats I'd see in a Discord somewhere, and Yukiko is an outstanding interpretation of the beauty guru influencer.

The rising action of Kashmira's developing dependency on Evolvir's new product, NuLook, and Nikhil's feverish defense of his company's services had me hooked, almost to the point of un-put-downable, but after the 50 percent mark, I think it sort of spins its wheels in place, and that's where it began to lose me a little bit and I started to skim. Of course, it's not without reason - a pivotal event occurs that makes brother and sister reevaluate their priorities, and it's warranted - but the prose and constant documentation of circumstantial minutiae starts to feel bloating to the characters and the falling action.

I think with a little fat-trimming after the 50% mark, it'd be a perfect novel, but it's still a solid read in its current state. Look for this book when it comes out in November if you like speculative fiction about the current day!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the gifted copy of this gem.

It's not my usual read but it was intriguing and I enjoyed the portrayal of the lengths people will go to to change their appearances in favor of fitting a beauty ideal.

I did find some grammatical errors but nothing that drastically took away from the reading experience.

Karishma faces the struggles of teen self-image, while her brother Nikhil wrestles with ambition and morality. Their story highlights the pressure and isolation of growing up as children of immigrants. A relatable read for anyone who’s felt unsure of themselves or their choices.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic (Roxane Gay Books) for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

While the premise intrigued me, I was expecting a more grounded dystopian or sci-fi narrative. Instead, the book leaned heavily into a YA tone that didn’t quite match my expectations.

The novel takes aim at the beauty industry, offering sharp commentary on its exploitation and manipulation, which I found to be its strongest element. However, the execution fell short for me. The prose felt uneven, and the pacing suffered under the weight of too many competing ideas packed into a relatively short novel. As a result, I struggled to stay immersed in the story.

Thank you to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic (Roxane Gay Books) for the ARC in exchange of a review.

I thought it would be more of a dystopian/sci-fi story but came across as YA.

Interesting exploration of how manipulative and predatory the beauty industry is.

The writing style didn't quite work for me and I struggled to engage with the story. There was too much going on in only around 300 pages.

Ravishing by Eshani Surya is a brilliant debut novel about an Indian American young woman who wants to change the way that her face looks. She gains access to a new beauty product that allows her to achieve this goal. However, the product causes horrible side effects. Ravishing covers so many issues including race, body image, health and family relationships. The character development is exquisite and I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Grove Atlantic and Roxanne Gay books for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is so. bad. The writing sounds like someone is just saying “and then this happened…and then this other thing happened…and then she went over there…and then…” just like a constant narration without any introspection or creativity. But then she wrote a make out scene where one dude “filled his mouth” with his tongue, “even the space behind the molars” and I’m sorry but WHAT. Oh and there were multiple descriptions of people shitting with more lurid detail than the sex scenes. Seriously, “she thrust, and thrust again” was talking about SHITTING. I kept reading parts out loud and no one believed this was a real book. What the hell. Roxane Gay your name is better than this drivel.

A great read that will appeal to all ages and lovers of twisty novels and pop culture.
Loved it and will recommend it far and wide to my patrons.

An impressive debut novel about the dark pitfalls of the beauty industry and its effects on the consumer, told through two protagonists who are both siblings.

Fresh from their parents messy divorce and daddy issues, Kashmira, a young indian-american teen is introduced to the innovative and life changing skincare cream, nulook and renulook by her former best friend, Roshni and with the help of the cream, her face literally transforms to something that she desires, anything to block out her dad's features on her. However, beauty is pain and she will experience the consequences of her actions and this is where the deuteragonist, Nikhil, who is her estranged brother and an employee of the company that creates this product will come into play.

Pace of this story is medium, not too fast but not too slow either and the characters are diverse. There's characters development especially on the two main protagonists.

Really recommended this book if you are looking for the horrors of the skincare or beauty culture as well as complicated family trauma.

the best way i can describe this is as a mix of the substance, black mirror and a coming-of-age novel. i had a good time with this! interesting family and relationship dynamics wrapped up in an almost dystopian cosmetic advancement that has its effects on more than just the surface level.