Customer Reviews

Such a Pretty Face

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This story is well-written, however, the theme was less interesting than suggested by the blurb. For such a cliche storyline, the author did remarkably well with the delivery.

The denouement was beautiful.

I bought this book to try out the author as I have never read one of her works. It was pretty good. A few of my problems with it though are
1: It's written in first person point-of-view. I really hate that. 1st person POV is just not my cup of tea, even though it was done well here. I just wish I'd known beforehand.
2: I didn't care for the main character (Mia) until the end of the book. She is overweight and has a overcritical mother, an underweight younger sister that the never finds fault with and a inattentive (and somewhat critical herself) wife. All these things (which are fine to have in a character) coalesce into Mia having low self-esteem and probably a little self hatred. She self-flagellates, which is just unattractive.

The other love interest (besides Mia's wife) is Ryan, a very likeable character, but we don't get to hear her point of view because the book is written from Mia's POV. Overall the story is good and kept me interested. There is good chemistry between Mia and Ryan and the book resolves nicely.

SPOILER ALERT
Also, there is was a gray area of whether Mia cheated on her wife. I personally think that they had broken up beforehand, but it is raised as an issue in the book. So if any hint of adultery turns you off, this story may not be for you.

Mia just had so many things going on in her life that she needed to get straight....,...this book just shows you how a relationship that you thought was the best is really not the best........it just makes it real how some people no matter what their sexual orientation is may just be with someone just becuase they think it's right and not about how they truly feel........you just can't settle for anything just to be in a relationship.......i was just so happy that mia finally stood up for herself and was able to be truly happy.......Loved the book.

Great plot, great characters, great sex scenes. Gabrielle Goldsby is a master. And this ain't just for lesbians, folks. Goldsby deals with conflicts and emotions that anyone with a heart (or libido) can understand. Her portrayal of Mia Sanchez--a young woman dumped by her lover for "letting herself go"--sparkles with emotional accuracy.

I hope Goldsby's work finds a wide range of eager readers. 5 stars for you, Ms. G.

Congratulations to Gabrielle for reaching the finals of 2008 LAMBDA LITERARY AWARDS for her novel Wall of Silence.

Robin Meloy Goldsby (who is not related to Gabrielle but wishes she could be)is the author of Piano Girl: A Memoir and the solo piano artist featured on Songs from the Castle and Twilight

Could not put this book down. The author taps into the human insecurities that we all share. With humor and may I say passion the author spins a tantilizing tale that grabs you from page one!

This novel totally held my interest. Mia is a very believable person. From the outside she seemingly has it all: she's hugely successful broker whose clients she conservatively nets returns of 13 percent or more on investments, a beautiful new home, a partner of four years who is a successful photographer and family that live close by.

The book takes off on page one and doesn't stop. Not to give too much away but we find Mia rather a morose perhaps bitter person having to deal with a colleague who will stop at nothing to undercut her business, her partner up and leaves her without warning telling her she doesn't love her as she walks out the door for 5 month swimsuit photo shoot in Fiji, her mother is remote and constantly critiquing her, her insecure sister (whose husband ogles Mia at every meeting) and her father who doesn't address her directly but once at the sit down family meal.

Luckily Mia has a wonderful self confidence and she reaches her limit. The highlight of the story for me was her determination to do right by herself and the humor she uses to keep her ship afloat.

I adored Ryan, admirable and sincere. Ryan's background could have made her ripe for all sorts of hangups but she is steadfast and true.

This was a super read that I couldn't put down until he last fabulous page. At almost 250 pages this novel was wonderfully full.

Don't miss the author's other novels -
Wall of Silence
The Caretaker's Daughter
Never Wake

Taken (almost) completely by surprise, Mia Sanchez is in shock when her partner Brenda announces she's going to work in Fiji for the next five months and she's fairly certain she wants out of their relationship. Not to mention, Brenda is going to work with swimsuit models and she tells Mia she's let herself go recently. What is Mia to think? Not really sure what to make of the situation, Mia is certain of a few things - she doesn't love Brenda, she's gaining weight at an alarming rate, her family is dysfunctional, and the contractor - Ryan - who is remodeling her office is hot.

Once Brenda is gone, Mia begins to make subtle changes in her life like hiring Ryan to renovate her home. A growing attraction, coupled with confusion over where she's left things with Brenda, make Mia's life a proverbial Hell in the short-term. This confusion is making life difficult for Ryan, who has family problems of her own and isn't trusting where relationships are concerned.

There is a lot of angst for the reader while waiting for Mia to figure things out. Ryan is stoic and patient, but ultimately has to move on with her own life. It's a great story well worth your while to read.

This book actually has an entertaining story to it, and is well worth reading. I enjoyed it quite a bit. A little more explanation could have been made to some of the financial concepts in the book, such as "business formula" but that is my only complaint. I would definately recommend this one.

Having liked "Wall of Silence" and having heard good references about this book, I started reading "Such a Pretty Face" with some expectations. The fast paced writing at the beginning of the book did promise to deliver an interesting romance. However, quite soon, I began to feel uneasy with the plot, the first time being the situation where Ryan after giving Mia, whom she barely knows, a ride to a business meeting, says she will wait as long as it takes in the car and in the cold for Mia to finish her meeting. This is a story going on in Portland, Oregon, a big city where there are taxis and not in the middle of nowhere ...
The blurb is quite misleading since Mia does not aim at get even with Brenda. Actually, Mia is already in lust with Ryan before being dumped by Brenda. And after being clearly dumped by her partner, (how many interpretations can there be to the phrase "I don't think I'm in love with you anymore" ?) in one of the many unlikely situations in the book's plot, Mia uses her relationship with Brenda to postpone having sex with Ryan.
Anyway, this is a romance having as a background theme trying to overcome insecurities and, in Mia's case, starting to feel good about yourself by improving your body image. The narrative, which is shown from Mia's point of view, spends too much time with this improvement of body-image obsession and less time than it should on Ryan, that has her own troubled past and insecurities, and on some of the secondary plot threads, like Mia's problems at work and her relationship with her family. Gabrielle Goldsby shows some talent in her writing and maybe, next time, with a better plot, she will write a good romance.

This book was excellent. Well-written and edited, I was able to just sit back and go along for the ride, the ups and downs, and I look forward to more such efforts from this author. The characters weren't perfect, but their flaws and circumstances were used to create conflict and move the plot along, rather than just being annoying, or seeming to be added to create random color. The inner journey was strongly expressed, perhaps due to the first-person point of view, but that's something I look for in my books. Each of the character actions and interactions flowed along with the plot, and there were no jarring moments where you were left grasping for reasons to explain "why did she do that?" The characters act like real people. Also, while descriptions may suggest it, this isn't a love-triange, which is a mercy because those kinds of stories generally annoy me. From the first sweet flirtations, the stops and starts, interactions with supporting characters, to the final resolution, it was all an enjoyable journey, in which some pretty intense issues (family, loyalty, abuse, eating disorders, occupational sabotage, trust) are handled with poise and an appropriately light touch by the author: dealt with seriously, but not dwelled upon in a way to take us away from the central story of Mia and Ryan (and Pepito (and Brenda)), and of Mia's journey towards self-confidence and self-fulfillment, something by which we can all be inspired.