RaveUSA Today... gets at the core of just how life\'s twists and turns, choices and moments can consume us – and how beautiful that entanglement can be, despite the hardships ... As the story unfolded, I was engulfed by the characters\' internal dialogues and the sagas that tied them together, while entwined storylines – including infidelity, questions of identity, past choices that their owners can\'t be proud of – threatened to change their relationships permanently ... Weiner brings to life the difficulty that exists in all of us as we evaluate our life\'s course, wrestling with decisions we have left behind while navigating emotions that so often feel impossible to understand ... a quick read, but a deep one, and hints at that pandemic haze that maybe we’ve all felt. The one in which life has been turned upside down and stopped, but has brazenly sped ahead, too. While the book does not address the pandemic directly, it does touch on the changes in environment, the time spent cramped in our houses with some of our loved ones while remaining separated from others ... And with its Cape Cod setting that evokes seashells, cool water, melting ice cream and summer bliss, it\'s sure to be the must-have beach bag item this year.
Laurie Elizabeth Flynn
RaveUSA Today... kept me up all night – literally. I tore through the book in less than 24 hours, forcing my eyes to stay open as if the remaining pages wouldn\'t be there in the morning ... Finishing the novel, I lay in bed, unsettled by a plot that features women quite literally ripping each other apart over jealousy, pettiness and revenge. The girls are not so nice.
Susie Yang
RaveUSA TodayThere\'s nothing better than a novel with an unpredictable plot. And White Ivy, Susie Yang\'s debut novel out this week, is exactly that ... keeps readers on their toes the entire way ... Just how far Ivy is willing to go to get what she wants may seem unsavory, but Yang\'s expert character development leads the reader to grapple with Ivy\'s choices and morality just as much as she does as Ivy pursues the aspirational life she crafted during adolescence.
Rachel Beanland
RaveUSA TodayI was gripped. In less than 10 pages, I became a mere subject of the audience, allowing Beanland\'s storytelling ability to overpower me, rather than taking the story in consciously and internally commenting ... What\'s remarkable is not how quickly the book hooked me, but how it held my attention during and after reading. After spending a pleasant afternoon flying through the first 96 pages, I woke up at 3 a.m. thinking about the plot. I simply couldn\'t put it out of my head. I finished in two days ... The juxtaposition of tragedy set against the backdrop of a vacation city makes the story all the more compelling ... Beanland takes readers through a family saga brimming with intimacy, bringing them as close to a fictional character as can be ... The greatest stories don\'t necessarily have happy endings. And Beanland\'s wraps in a way that satisfies a reader\'s appetite by essentially opening a new chapter for the Adlers and closing the old one for readers ... While I felt I wanted more when I turned the last page, mostly I felt awe. I sat for a minute, taking it in. Not unlike one would do, taking in the sunset on a beach – perhaps in Atlantic City.
Chuck Palahniuk
PositiveUSA Today...[Palahniuk] has packaged the most important lessons he learned over the years and has communicated them in a way that others can digest easily ... He shares wisdom on the writing process, and advice on how to add texture, hold authority, build tension – the list goes on ... The book\'s purpose, he says, is to serve those who would like to learn but don\'t have the access or the means to afford that kind of education.
Prince
RaveUSA TodayThe Beautiful Ones is for everyone ... It doesn\'t matter whether you\'re a Prince fanatic or if your interest is simply piqued by all things music or pop culture: The book is worth picking up ... not a read, but an experience, an immersion inside the mind of a musical genius. You are steeped in Prince\'s images, his words, his essence ... while it offers insight, the book may leave you feeling muddled – but that\'s not a negative. The way the book is structured simply makes one want to read it again, to leaf through the pages and be immersed in Prince\'s world ... The book can be a starting point for a Prince fascination, or a continuation of long-standing admiration. Either way, it will deepen the connection of any reader with the musical icon.
