Beautiful Girl

BEAUTIFUL GIRL is a dark and intriguing story with gorgeous writing, an array of disturbing, maddening, sympathetic, likable and detestable characters facing a number of tough issues, and a chilling and suspenseful mystery. It’s the story of a girl who is battling the demons from her past, who is trying to find a way to move on from an unhealthy relationship that left her heartbroken, who is trying to be there for her friends who need her help, and who is trying to learn to be strong, to be happy, to like herself.

The weight of the story is immediately apparent, as the author paints a haunting and melancholy picture with the prologue. And as the story progresses things becomes even more serious, even darker and more disturbing. Glimpses of Nicole’s life as a ballerina, of her parents, of her ex-boyfriend Zach, and of the way things used to be with her roommates versus the way they are, reveal a past and present filled with pain and anguish and someone who is desperate to fight to survive it all.

Told using first person narrative, readers will be able to more easily connect with Nicole, who is insecure, at times self-absorbed, sympathetic but not always likable. They’ll know only what she knows, when she knows it, adding to the apprehension and building tension. They’ll be able to know just how she feels about her friends and how she perceives them, making them more relatable than they would otherwise be.

Author Lida James took a risk by tackling so many difficult issues in her story – among them assault, stalking, eating disorders, mental illness – introducing a character who is incredibly flawed, and whose friends can hardly be called that. But in doing so she created a story that is distinctive, that allows readers to make an emotional connection – positive or negative – to the story and its characters, and that challenges readers to enjoy a story that might be out of their comfort zone.

BEAUTIFUL GIRL is a sad, scary, twisted, disturbing, hopeful, moving, provocative, engaging, interesting and thought-provoking story and a throughly entertaining read.

Beautiful Girl is the first book I’ve read from Paper Lantern Lit’s publishing imprint and it’s definitely set my expectations pretty high for their future books. Lida James’ debut novel has pretty much everything readers could want: suspense, romance, mystery, and betrayal. I was hooked from the moment I picked it up.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about Nicole when I first started the book. She’s not an easy girl to like and it was hard for me to figure out if she might be a little bit crazy. She definitely seemed like she might be a bit of an unreliable narrator. She was paranoid and a little obsessive when it came to certain people in her life. She was also very confused about guys. She was a little bit of a tease and that was probably my biggest issue with her. She had 3 or 4 guys interested in her and it seemed like she just played them all. I had no clue which one of the guys she was truly interested in although I knew which one I thought she should be interested in. Henry was the only guy that seemed to be really good for Nicole. He was sweet and charming and a little shy. He was good for her and didn’t bring out the bad side of her like Justin or Zach did.

As for the mystery, I saw part of it from the start but there were many things that managed to surprise me throughout the course of the book. Things kept happening and I’d expect one person to be doing them only to find out later that it was someone else. I think Nicole’s paranoia really added to the mystery. There were times when I was sure she was right about whoever was attacking her and other times I was sure she was just losing her mind. It kept things interesting, that’s for sure.

The friendships in the book really did very little for me. Nicole’s roommates were supposed to be her friends but I saw Monica more as a frenemy than anything and Kate was barely there for most of the book. I just didn’t understand any of the draws for the friendships and I thought they were actually quite mean to each other. They definitely had more of a relationship that involved a lot of backstabbing and jealousy.

Overall, Beautiful Girl is a thoroughly interesting read that will keep you on the edge of your seat. It definitely fits into the new adult category since it deals a lot with sex, drugs, alcohol, and other explicit content but it’s not done for the shock factor alone. I’d highly recommend this one for fans of suspense.