Swan Huntley

Let me introduce you to a character you'll love to loathe: Catherine West.

Catherine, our first person narrator in Swan Huntely's debut novel [b:We Could Be Beautiful|27190202|We Could Be Beautiful|Swan Huntley|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1449076433s/27190202.jpg|47232078], is a trust-fund wealthy Manhattanite. With the automatic monthly deposit of $80,000 from her trust fund, Catherine's days consist of shopping, spa treatments, redecorating her apartment, spending as little time as show more possible at the boutique stationary store she owns, and visiting art galleries. It's at one of these art galleries where she meets the very handsome and charming William Stockton.

Huntley takes us through William and Catherine's relationship with a building sense of mystery. (The description on this book uses phrases like "spellbinding" and "psychological" which seem a bit too strong for what is at play here). Still, there is a sense that there's more than meets the eye with William, and Huntley deftly builds to a conclusion that I did not see coming.

Even more enjoyable for me, however, was the pitch-perfect tone of Catherine West as an uber-privileged 1 percent-er who is completely out of touch with reality. She's so privileged she doesn't even know how privileged she is. In this regard, Huntely has created a believable character without making her cartoonish.

A solid 3.5 star debut.

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday for a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review. show less

In Getting Clean With Stevie Green, by Swan Huntley, Stevie Green heads back home to help her mom pack and move. This goes so well that Stevie starts a decluttering business helping other rich people solve their non-problems of too many Vespas filling up their massive garages. It's the same income bracket of We Could Be Beautiful, by the same author, only with a California style instead of a Manhattan style.

This is an unusual returning-home story where money isn't a motivating factor. show more Stevie's not broke. There's no stress about getting enough clients for the decluttering business. Stevie's mom gives her the main house and buys her a car. Instead, Stevie's focus is all on self-improvement. Steve's quit drinking, which used to be the central focus of her life. Her relationship with her mom is improving, too. It turns out neither of them like cooking, so they have takeout next to the pool every night, because that's rich people growth. Stevie's not just decluttering her clients' bonus rooms and garages, but clearing her own life, too.

It's slightly ridiculous in the non-problem way lifestyle fiction often is, but some of that is what makes it a fun read. Stevie is aware of the absurdity of her clients' shopping addictions or inability to do laundry, too. She knows it's ridiculous to pretend she's on a cleanse instead of being sober.

The central question of who was behind a high-school drama keeps coming back. At first, I thought Stevie was going to learn to let it go, and discover that it doesn't actually matter that an unknown someone 20 years ago really didn't like the popular girl! But then Stevie gets drawn back to her high school boyfriend and her high school bestie/hookup, and it's clear that this is still forefront in her mind. Almost like that's what she needs to declutter...

Overall, this was a fun story about family bonds and second-chance romance that doesn't always go the way you expect. show less

The main character of this book, Catherine West, is a wealthy, self-absorbed, spoiled and entitled 43-year-old woman - but despite all that, you kind of want to like her. She does seem to gain some insight into her life towards the end but not enough to make me want to root for her. She wants to fall in love and get married so much that she totally ignores the many warning signs and red flags that crop up about her fiancee, and the author telegraphed the ending so it wasn't as much of a show more shock as it could have been. Catherine seemed so dim about the whole situation that I felt she had pretty much received her just desserts. For a debut novel, I guess it was a fairly good effort. show less

Imagine Cordelia Chase from Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a forty-something native New Yorker. Imagine she still isn't married to the perfect man of perfect taste who doesn't want her for her money. Imagine she wants this man and his baby so much that she'd be willing to compromise her rigid and privileged morals to get them (and the 10 million dollars that will come with the baby from her trust fund). Imagine that the perfect man of perfect taste wants that 10 million dollars even more than show more Cordelia does. show less