I first started reading Sheer months ago, but I kept losing interest and moving to another book, and then coming back to finish a few chapters before getting distracted again.
I was drawn to this story because I love anything to do with the beauty industry, and this seemed like it would maybe take the form of an expose.
The writing format was in a sort of memoir-like style, and as a certified memoir lover that should have worked well for me. I think what held me back from loving this story was the cold way it was told. It was almost like reciting facts about a life that has no ties to your own. It didn’t feel like she was recounting her own experiences, the authentic “voice” was noticeably missing.
The story itself was interesting to me, but it was hard to connect with what was happening when the writing style wasn’t clicking.
I think people who connect more with an actual plot would enjoy this, but for people like me who value characters emotional depth and storytelling… it might be a skip.

Thanks to NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As a woman who doesn't wear makeup or care much about the beauty industry, I still enjoyed this book. The main character is not a good person and deserved what happened to her. It was interesting to learn how beauty products are developed and how much they influence how women look.

Sheer follows the rise and fall of makeup mogul Maxine Thomas. The chapters alternate between present day and the progression of her younger years until the two meet at the end of the book. The story addresses issues such as sexism, power and privilege and throughout the book, Maxine has to prove her worth as a woman. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC.

Sheer does much to capture the essence of the 2010s 'girlboss' beauty guru era. Max's staunch traditionalism about how to market a business and how to move in the world as a queer woman blind her to faults both personal and professional. A thoughtful portrayal of coming to terms with one's place in the world through the eyes of a somewhat unreliable narrator.

Sheer follows minimalist makeup founder Maxine through an intense nine days, as she reflects on her life and waits to hear her fate as decided by her board of directors. Women and men always face different obstacles in business. This book adds another layer to that as our main character is a lesbian woman. All throughout the book I kept thinking about how different the situation would have been if Maxine were a man, or even a straight woman. It also had me questioning the ownership of art and ideas and inspiration. I loved it!

A solidly composed, philosophically intriguing novel about the female founder of a cult beauty brand and the lengths to which she goes to maintain her power, until it all comes crashing down. The somewhat odious voice of the main character, and the frame device of her writing a testimony in the face of a public scandal, were definitely the most interesting components and raised a lot of questions for me as the story progressed. Namely, I wasn't sure how I was supposed to feel about our main character, and I was apprehensive about where the angle of possible racial fetishization would go. But I thought it was ultimately handled in a smart way, with insights about how lesbians can play out problematic romantic/sexual dynamics as much as straight men - and sometimes more insidiously. I thought the conclusion made sense as inevitably where the story was going all along, but the final scene was a bit rushed/convenient; we could've dwelled in those last chapters just a moment longer. The prose has an interesting quality of sounding both highbrow and superficial, perhaps meant to emulate the narrator's overinflated sense of her own success tempered with the relative superficiality of her pursuits. Overall there was a ton to chew on in this story, with its themes of image, authenticity, self-esteem, and the changing social dynamics of America. Thanks to Dutton and NetGalley for the ARC; comes out January 2026!

This book had me wanting to treat it like a business school case study while also questioning every makeup and skincare product I own. I loved how nuanced it was, it makes you wrestle with what it really takes to be successful (like in a big way). You know the main character has done something wrong, but the way she lays out her story makes you wonder if maybe she isn’t at fault. The push and pull of multiple timelines, and the way it exposes how messy accountability can get, had me glued to my kindle.

I did feel the ending was rushed. There’s so much more to explore in someone coming to terms with their actions. And honestly, it’s frustrating that a board full of rude, bigoted people gets to decide the fate of one singular bigoted person. It made me think about how tangled our culture of “accountability” has become. Cancel culture, power, who gets to judge…it’s messy. We can’t go back to the days when white men had everything handed to them, but I’m not sure the current system is fixing much either. At the end of the day, power still sits with the same groups. I don’t have the answers, but Vanessa Lawrence, you sure had me questioning a lot.

I loved getting this ARC copy in advance of the publishing date, I’m so curious to see the commentary when it does come out!

I was drawn to Sheer because of the premise; I thought following this ambitious, successful, probably flawed woman would be fascinating. Unfortunately, the style and structure of this book didn’t work for me.

The book is written like a memoir of the narrator, Max, recounting her early life and how she built her beauty brand. Despite this confessional format, I felt like the narrator was at arm’s length the entire time. She describes everything very coldly and clinically. Much of the book consists of telling the reader things instead of showing them. As the book develops, we see more how unreliable she is, but it almost feels like it doesn’t matter because her emotional experiences so rarely make it onto the page.

I liked seeing how a queer woman navigated her life in the 80s and 90s, though I would’ve liked to see more of Max’s feelings about being closeted and never being in a serious relationship. We don’t really know if she feels sad, conflicted, or totally okay about hiding her sexuality. Although she has a slew of hookups, most of these seem to have very little effect on her (aside from serving as inspiration for her business). Max rarely displays vulnerability in these pages, which is fine for crafting a caricature, less so in a literary novel aiming to explore the motivations and complexities of a businesswoman.

The author withholds the details of the inciting event until the very end, which frustrated me. We know that Max is facing a board vote that could remove her from the company, but we don’t know why or what led up to this. Personally, I didn’t enjoy waiting until the end to know the details, though some readers might be fine with this structure.

I received an ARC from Dutton via NetGalley for an honest review.

Sheer by Vanessa Lawrence is a deceptively nuanced story that tackles themes of power, sexuality, and privilege from a unique perspective.

Sheer, told in first person, begins in 2015 with a successful makeup company’s female founder’s fall from grace. We’re not told exactly what caused this fall from grace, but the implication is that she’s been cancelled—like, really cancelled—and in danger of losing the company she built. The founder, Max, decides to write down her life experiences and chronicle her rise and fall in an effort to “tell her side of the story.” We learn that she developed an interest in cosmetics at a young age, and that her interest grew in tandem with her growing sexual attraction to women. Max learned early on to hide her sexual orientation. Instead of dating or forming relationships, Max pours her heart, soul, and sexual energy into her cosmetics company, Reveal. Reveal’s ethos centers around enhancing women’s natural beauty rather than hiding perceived flaws, and Max draws inspiration for her products from her sapphic desire. We watch as the lines between Max’s redirected sexuality and her company become increasingly blurred and ultimately lead to her cancellation.

Since the narrative is told as a memoir written in Max’s voice, the writing style veers toward slightly amateurish. After all, Max is a makeup designer, not a professional writer. But Lawrence is careful not to allow the simple prose to distract from the narrative. If anything, Max’s stark vulnerability and beauty-trained eye make the story more compelling. She’s a unique protagonist both in circumstance and personality; her sexuality and ambition are simultaneously her greatest strengths and greatest weaknesses in the cosmetic business world of the late nineties and early aughts. Her marginalization as a closeted lesbian and woman in corporate cosmetics coexists with her privilege as a celebrated femme white CEO, and Lawrence plays with this particular alchemy for full effect in her commentary on privilege, power, feminism, and race.

This might be controversial, but I would classify Sheer as historical fiction. The story moves from the eighties up until Max’s cancellation in 2015. Sheer engages significantly with the shifting social and cultural landscapes between the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s, and it’s fascinating to see how Max advances from disruptive visionary to out-of-touch CEO as beauty standards and social expectations shift and change.
Sheer pulled me in and impressed me at every turn. It’s a layered and thematically strong text that is worth a read by those who enjoy literary fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Penguin Group Dutton for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Sheer is a fast paced, quick read, that I enjoyed very much. The plot is told in the book's description and laid out in the beginning, even so, while reading, I was hoping the inevitable would not happen.

Sheer would be a good discussion book.

Thank you NetGalley and Dutton for the ARC of Sheer by Vanessa Lawrence.

This book didn’t stand up for me. Of all the books that chart a similar type of story, it didn’t have a fresh enough take to be memorable.

When I first read the description of SHEER by Vanessa Lawrence, I couldn't help but think about Marisa Meltzer's 2023 book "Glossy" about the founder of Glossier. I could not wait to sink into SHEER. Sadly, I struggled to engage with story about Maxine Thomas, the founder of "the cult makeup company Reveal," who has just been suspended by her own Board for a scandalous transgression. As Maxine waits for the Board's decision in her super-luxe NYC apartment, she delivers her backstory in the form of a memoir.

This backstory approach could have worked; however, it ends up feeling like most of the book is "telling." It's hard to engage with it on an emotional level, especially be Maxine approaching the telling in an unemotional, often under-described way. It also felt impossible to connect with Maxine's voice. I'm all for a female founder and CEO to sound as ego-centrist and pompous as any male. Maxine earned it. But there was something so flat about her voice that I just could not connect with her or care about her story or the outcome of the Sheer's Board's decision.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton Books for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sheer by Vanessa Lawrence is a fictional autobiography of Maxine Thomas, and her rise and fall as the beauty mogul of company Reveal.

Being inside Maxine’s mind was such a journey - through her storytelling, we learn about her past and what shaped her to become the beauty founder she is. She is driven, relentless, and above all, flawed. As a makeup lover myself, I couldn’t help but notice the parallels between Reveal and Glossier throughout the novel:

Though the book’s story was slow moving, told in chapters over 9 days in the present and weaving in stories from the past, I found myself completely immersed in Maxine’s story. Even if I was not surprised by where this book went, I enjoyed the journey to get there and found myself unable to put it down. Lawrence’s first-person narration of Maxine is a triumph, through the good, bad and the ugly. If there’s one bias I have, it’s my love for a problematic and flawed female lead, and Maxine fits this perfectly.

Definitely recommended reading when this officially releases early 2026.

I deeply enjoyed the exploration of misogyny, lesbiphobia, and ambition in this novel. The writing was engaging and the story flowed well.

Sheer is a story of female ambition and desire told through the founder of a Glossier-type beauty company. This book really shined in the last third-- it had renewed energy, a synthesis of ideas, and a page-turning conclusion that brought the faux-memoir style home. I just wish the first half had a bit more of that excitement and had more twists and turns that one would hope for with a tell-all pitch. I found the themes though to be fresh and thought-provoking.

Thank you for providing this ARC! I will be including my review in my June/July reading wrap-up on my TikTok account.

A compelling insight into the mind of a results-driven, morally ambiguous female entrepreneur. I thought it was engaging from the start and the split timelines worked well, building suspense up to the reveal (pun intended). I liked that you were made to trust the narrators point of view, but *spoiler* that in the end it became clear she wasn’t reliable. I did feel that the reveal of what she had done could have been made bigger - in the end it was only a very small portion of the book, but I would have liked to see more of the aftermath and exactly what was being said online, and to see more of the scope of the scandal (eg news coverage, how widely spread it was outside of social media) to make the encounter with the child and mother in the park feel more real. I thought the ending was slightly rushed - her *spoiler* come to Jesus moment could have been more drawn out again; the pacing was slightly rushed at the end! Overall, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to adults looking for books about morally ambiguous women (a category I personally love). Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

This was such a fascinating read! This book follows Max from ages 6 to 40 where we follow her journey of building her beauty brand. This story was so believable that there were times I had to stop myself from searching about the main character. Max is so real and powerful, you will not want to put this book down.

One of my favorite literary fiction reads of the year so far!

Once I started reading SHEER by Vanessa Lawrence, I couldn't put it down. Maxine (Max) Thomas, the founder of the cult makeup company Reveal, has been suspended by her own Board for something scandalous. To pass the time while the Board deliberates on her future, she writes her story, starting from childhood and up to the present day, giving us glimpses into who she is and how she got to where she is today. I was very into the fictional confessional- and autobiographic-style of this one.

A lot of buzz about this one but, while I enjoyed it, I'm not sure I was compelled enough by the protagonist to worry what happened to get her ousted from her company. However, the setting of a Glossier-like corporate beauty brand is spot on in today's culture. I think there was just maybe too much of an emphasis on her backstory and rise up through her own passion for make-up. The pacing was a bit draggy, as the present timeline focuses on the protagonist post-fallout, where she's spinning her wheels, and the past sections move a bit slowly, too. Beautiful cover!

perhaps because i just read a similar b0ok within the horror genre with many twists and turns, this one fell flat for me. it was good writing, that goes without saying, but the payout for the amount of investment they have you go through just didn't seem worth it by the end. hm.