When Becky Randle reaches her eighteenth birthday, life isn’t so great. Her mom has died, and she won’t be able to afford the trailer she’s lived in all her life if her fast food job lays her off.
Then she meets Tom Kelly.
A recognizable name to almost anyone in the world – Tom Kelly has a hand in almost any industry, but primarily is known for fashion – and being insanely wealthy.
He offers to make her three dresses – one red, one white, and one black. He tells her that by wearing these dresses Becky will be transformed into the most beautiful woman in the entire world.
Thinking he’s insane, but not seeing a better offer, Becky accepts.
And Becky becomes Rebecca – gorgeous, stunning, publicity-hounded Rebecca.
Underneath, though, isn’t she still just Becky?
First off I want to say that the cover of Gorgeous, I think, is very pretty and eye-catching. Agree?
Second, what was the first thought that came to mind when I finished Gorgeous?
I’m glad it’s over.
I know! It’s terrible!!! As a bibliophile, I really hate giving negative reviews (seems to be happening more lately, been having a ho-hum streak), and I never want to dissuade readers!
I also want to be honest.
For me, even when Gorgeous was trying for an optimistic tone, it was pessimistic. There was a lot of negativity, mostly through gossip. I know that Paul Rudnick has written for Entertainment Weekly, and at times it almost felt like I was reading a book length rant on social commentary or something. Not pleasant. I usually skip those articles anyway.
Also, there’s a TON of swearing. Listen, I deal with swearing – I get it, people swear. But, really?! This was pretty much every single page – excessive! The Lord’s name was taken in vain a TON, too. Again, I have to deal with this in novels, but my goodness! Talk about pushing the boundaries on what is tolerable! This language limitation only spurred on the negative vibe Gorgeous gave off.
Then, there’s the fact that Gorgeous has long winded, purposeless narration. We read pages of gossip-column like “memories” or information on fictional celebrities. It just went on and on. Again, felt more like a long, real-life gossip column than a book.
For me, the story was not that original and was full of crass, crude moments – sucking the class out of what little was redeeming about the novel.
You know, I hate to disagree with Meg Cabot – who has a praising blurb on the book and a high rating for the novel on Goodreads – but Gorgeous was NOT a book for me.
Maybe it will be for you?
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