Paul Rudnick

When 18-year-old Becky Randle's mother dies, she is whisked away from a Missouri trailer park to New York City, where fashion designer Tom Kelly offers to transform her into a glamorous "Rebecca"--a girl fit for a prince--but soon she begins to fear that she's on the road to losing touch with her real self.

Gorgeous

Jessica Nottingham

While I didn't love this book, I can say that it surprised me how much I ended up enjoying it. You might have seen me post how utterly baffled I was when I first started this. Paul Rudnick's story isn't something I've read before. It's completely out in left field, and yet that's what kept my attention. Even when I didn't love Becky. Even when I had no idea what was going on. I was intrigued enough to want to keep going. Gorgeous gets points for that.
 
Here's the thing about Becky Randle: at first she was pretty tough for me to like. I had nothing in common with this quiet, introverted, mousy young girl from a trailer park. It grated on me that she was constantly putting herself down, and refused to come out of her shell simply because she didn't think she was worthy of it. I cringed as she simpered about the popular girls, and how the guy she liked didn't even know she existed. I wanted to scream, "Come on Becky! It's only HIGH SCHOOL!". Then, things took off and suddenly I wasn't so annoyed with her anymore. Only completely absorbed in her transformation.
 
The Becky that comes out on the other side of this story, although I still never fully felt invested in her, was much different that the one I first met. Stronger, more sassy, and just that slight bit more comfortable in her own skin. What I did love about her journey was how she addressed all the madness that ensues in Hollywood. How we idol worship, how the very rich behave, and how beauty makes us do crazy things. Becky gets a piece of all of this, and it was engrossing to watch her battle between her old self and the person that fame was trying to turn her into.
 
I suppose this is a fairy tale of sorts, when you get right down to it. Almost like a Cinderella story, but without all the overly sappy parts. Although there is a fair bit of adorable romance. The saving grace for me was Becky's best friend Rocher (pronounced like the fancy chocolate of the same name) and her spit-fire, completely-loyal-best-friend personality. I should also warn you that there are many instances of what we shall call "adult language" in this book. That, more than anything, stuck out to me while I was listening to the audio book. Rocher cusses a lot.
 
That being said, the story ended up sweeping me up by the end. It still never made total sense, and I still had tons of unanswered questions that were eating at me, but I'll concede that it was an interesting ride. If nothing else, Gorgeous gets credit for being so original. It takes a story that we all think we've seen before, and puts a spin on it that is out of this world. So, I'd say give it a shot if it jumps out at you as something you'd enjoy! You might be pleasantly surprised.

Jessica 

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I was fortunate enough to receive a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review and my first thought was that the cover was really, really cute. And I found that thought to be rather silly of me to think when taking in consideration the title as well as the plot.

Which, speaking of the plot, I was really pissed off that people didn’t get the plot. Because I thought that the idea behind the story, the impossible nature and the borderline incredibly strange parts, was rather obvious. 

While I do believe that not everything is bound to be someone’s cup of tea, I was disappointed that not everyone fully understood that it was meant to be exactly how it came across. I think if they'd seen what I saw in the novel, they wouldn't have taken it so seriously and loved it for the enjoyable, slightly strange and charming novel it was.

For me the only way to describe it was: funny, impossible, warm and full of heart. Entertaining; thoroughly cute. Sometimes bordering on ridiculous but only in the most endearing of ways. Yes, in spite of any flaws, Gorgeous is genuinely a fun and light read that will having you laughing and wondering what else is possible in your world. By the end of the novel, some of you will be left feeling great and humorous.

Gorgeous

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