From internet stars Elle and Blair Fowler comes a scintillating new novel that takes readers
of the glitzy L.A. social scene.
After their make-up and fashion videos went viral on YouTube, sisters Sophia and Ava London are thrust into the exclusive life of the Los Angeles elite......more
From internet stars Elle and Blair Fowler comes a scintillating new novel that takes readers
of the glitzy L.A. social scene.
After their make-up and fashion videos went viral on YouTube, sisters Sophia and Ava London are thrust into the exclusive life of the Los Angeles elite. Here fabulous parties, air kisses, paparazzi and hot guys all come with the scene. Sophia finds herself torn between a gorgeous bartender and a millionaire playboy, and Ava starts dating an A-list actor. But as they’re about to discover, the life they’ve always dreamed of comes with a cost.
Beneath the glitter of the Hollywood social scene lies a world of ruthless ambition, vicious gossip…and betrayal. Someone close to them, someone they trust, is working in the shadows to bring the London sisters falling down. And once the betrayal is complete, Sophia and Ava find themselves knee-deep in a scandal that could take away everything they care about, including the one thing that matters most—each other.(less)
Warning: Harsh.
Let me preface this review by saying that I don’t fit into Elle and Blair’s target demographic, and I don’t typically read chick lit. I’m a senior in college who watches Elle and Blair’s videos if I’m looking for some light, brainless entertainment. In terms of books, I r......more
Warning: Harsh.
Let me preface this review by saying that I don’t fit into Elle and Blair’s target demographic, and I don’t typically read chick lit. I’m a senior in college who watches Elle and Blair’s videos if I’m looking for some light, brainless entertainment. In terms of books, I read a lot of YA, but I tend to choose books with depth and a larger, overarching meaning. I think that YA can be done really well, and that a lot of good quality books can come out of the teen genre. I don’t think Beneath the Glitter is one of those books. Also, I’m really hard on this book because generally, Elle tends to read quality books. It disappoints me that she might think her book is on par with hits such as Harry Potter because it so clearly is not.
On a technical level, this book has a lot of mistakes. I really wonder who their editor is, because they let a book go to print that was filled with basic sentence structure issues. Sentences are not supposed to be connected by “and’s”, and they are not supposed to be a paragraph long. I would bet money that neither Elle nor Blair has taken a creative writing class in their lives. And that’s disappointing, because who the hell gives a book deal to someone who doesn’t even deserve it? Ugh. This book also lacks a building plot. You know that arc of action that you learn about in creative writing classes? Yeah. This book completely disregards that. They jam the ~twist~ into the last few pages, and they don’t even explain it well, so you’re left with a “WTF just happened?” face.
I will say that I was pleasantly surprised with Sophia’s character, after you got below the “I’m a perfect girl who has everything she’s ever wanted” superficiality. I liked that she didn’t trust boys (although it was annoying that every boy she made eye contact with thought she was gorgeous). Ava’s character was a little more annoying; she lacked common sense and didn’t seem self-aware. I mean, a celebrity she’s been in love with for years all of a sudden wants to date her, and she’s not suspicious AT ALL.
I think this book will have a whole lot of appeal to Elle and Blair’s main fanbase: girls in middle- and high-school who are trying to escape from the reality of their mundane lives. Girls who are drawn towards older, prettier, more charismatic girls. Girls who are looking for idols. Girls who don’t know what quality literature is. I get that. I used to be like that. But I outgrew that phase of my life, and so this book doesn’t really appeal to me. I gave it a shot because I like Elle and Blair as entertainers, and I figured I had nothing to lose.
Beneath the Glitter would work a lot better as a memoir than a novel. I feel like it’s a cop out to write about their own lives. I mean, really? You didn’t have any more imagination than to glitz up your current lives and sell them? It’s actually laughable how it’s supposedly “loosely based on their lives”, yet Sophia, the older sister, has a deaf white cat that she can’t choose a name for. Ava, the younger sister, is bubbly and tends to think in all caps. On their list of “LonDOs and LonDON’Ts” at the end of each chapter, there are mentions of JustFab.com, MAC All That Glitters eyeshadow, and Elle and Blair’s Cellairis cell phone line. At one point, Ava and Sophia promote a shaving cream line; if I remember correctly, Elle and Blair took part in a similar event in real life.
My point is that if Elle and Blair are going to choose to write about real events, I don’t understand why they had to do it under the guise of fiction. This is probably the book snob in me speaking, but there are a lot more important and interesting stories that are out there, and it feels like Elle and Blair stole a book deal from a more deserving story. It’s like when you hear an auto-tuned song that is widely popular because of its catchiness, and then you compare it to an a capella, original arrangement of the same song. The former version just feels empty, compared to the real talent exhibited in the a capella version. That’s what reading Beneath the Glitter feels like; filling my brain with empty words and a meaningless story that, in all honesty, just doesn’t matter. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys matters. Delirium by Lauren Oliver matters. Hell, even Divergent or Harry Potter matter more than Beneath the Glitter does.
So no, I don’t think this is quality literature. I think that it accomplishes what it sets out to do, which is to provide vapid entertainment to a younger crowd that’s looking for older girls to look up to. It’s not a meaningful story. It doesn’t have character development, strong writing, or a complex plot. And I think that’s my issue; I take it personally when books are a waste of words. It’s totally fine for me to have two sisters making money off of YouTube videos, because it’s not like you can get a whole lot of depth from a ten minute video, anyway. But I hate it when people mess with books. I hate it when there are really shitty books out there that get published because they’re going to sell, while there are really GOOD books out there that aren’t getting published, because maybe there’s less demand for them. It makes me sad. Books are supposed to be about stories that demand to be told. And Elle and Blair’s story (or Ava and Sophia’s, since this is ~fiction~) just doesn’t need to be told. It’s nothing special. It gets depicted on E! all the time. It just doesn’t matter.(less)
This looks horrible. It sounds just like the characters and plotline are over-glamourized versions of what these two sisters want their lives to be.
This looks horrible. It sounds just like the characters and plotline are over-glamourized versions of what these two sisters want their lives to be.(less)
*yawn* this book is written ether by people who are mediocre writers or ghost writers...probably the second choice. This is just another person with a little fame that is trying to get money from teen boppers by making an unoriginal book loosely revolved around there "glamorous life". These LA style......more
*yawn* this book is written ether by people who are mediocre writers or ghost writers...probably the second choice. This is just another person with a little fame that is trying to get money from teen boppers by making an unoriginal book loosely revolved around there "glamorous life". These LA styled books are completely unoriginal. I used to love these girls but now they are money hungry and they just want to make an easy book to make money off of young teens. Please parents be aware of what you want your kids to be influenced by. I am glad to be a hard worker and live my "unglamorous" life away from people that are only worried about being a "socialite" in a city. If you MUST read a book like this just go read lauren Conrad's book or I'm sure in your library you can read hundreds of books just like this for free.(less)
Warning: Another Review Saying the Book Is Average
Back-Story: I went ahead and purchased this when it was on pre-order. I don't watch many of either of the sister's videos but I do watch enough of Elle's obviously to know that they had written a book. Considering that Elle reads so many ......more
Warning: Another Review Saying the Book Is Average
Back-Story: I went ahead and purchased this when it was on pre-order. I don't watch many of either of the sister's videos but I do watch enough of Elle's obviously to know that they had written a book. Considering that Elle reads so many quality books, I figured it was worth shelling out the measly 12 or so dollars to give the book a chance.
A few days after I did the pre-buy, Elle read some pages from the book on one of her videos and instantly I was thinking, "Okay, maybe I didn't want to be so hasty and buy it already," because it didn't really sound like a well put-together, interesting book.
Review: It took me about a week and a half to read it, mostly because I have a ton of chapters to read in college and didn't have much time to read it even though I am a fast reader. Finished it today.
Looks- The cover is cute. I wouldn't expect anything less from them. The overall look is really nice, including the font.
Content- First of all, something I really don't like in books is spelling errors. There are quite a few of grammar/spelling errors in the book, even some repeats such as saying "chose" instead of "choose" in at least two different cases. I didn't mind the sentence structure being poor sometimes because it isn't really a book geared towards higher thinking or anything.
It's a pretty average book. That's really all I can say for it. It didn't wow me. It didn't fascinate me. It didn't make me think about anything. It's really just an average read that is nice to read when you want to keep your mind off of things. It's light and doesn't take much brain power to read. The plot was so-so. Nothing really exciting. I feel like the "fight" between Ava and Sophia was pointlessly drawn out and unrealistic. I don't know any sisters who are that close to start with who would not talk to each other for that long about what's bothering them, including me who is completely afraid of talking about my emotions.
The plot kind of felt like it was just going nowhere. Characters randomly pop up without much character development. Instead of going on about how the kitten doesn't have a name (and still didn't after the entire book), they could've written about the different boys that the girls were having problems with since that was a major part of the book.
In all, the last three chapters of the book are about the most exciting thing that happens. I think that last three chapters of the book is about the only redeeming part.
I think anyone from around junior high to high school would probably like this book a lot. Their writing is definitely geared towards those who watch their videos which is the junior high to high schoolers. It's the type of stuff that they like to read in that age group.
Likes: The fact that there isn't a lot of inappropriateness in it, meaning I liked that there wasn't crap like sex or needless language. Somewhat relatable, ex. Like when Ava was freaking out about talking to Liam and kept writing in all caps. It's a mindless, easy read which I like once in a while.
Dislikes: Kind of boring. Plot didn't really go anywhere. Not much character development, meaning characters were flat and boring mostly. Spelling/grammar errors. Also, minor thing but I think it's deceiving to put it as "A Novel." A novel is pretty much synonymous with "one," when this is obviously going to be at least a trilogy.
Overall:
Recommend? No. Unless you like super-easy reads.
Purchasing the Next Book? No. I'd much rather save my money and rent it from the library if I see the reviews are any good.(less)
I won an advance reader's copy of this book and therefore had the chance to read it before it came out.
To be honest, I really didn't expect much from this book. I was glad that I won a copy of it, because I was curious but didn't want to buy it. This is my first time reading an advance r......more
I won an advance reader's copy of this book and therefore had the chance to read it before it came out.
To be honest, I really didn't expect much from this book. I was glad that I won a copy of it, because I was curious but didn't want to buy it. This is my first time reading an advance reader's copy, so I'm not sure how much changes between it and the final published copy, but one of the first things I noticed was the Blair's name is spelled "Blaire" on the top of every page. I also noticed a lot of grammatical errors, but I have a feeling that might just be the writing and not a mistake.
As for the actual novel, I was really disappointed with the character development. I've watched enough of Elle and Blair's YouTube videos to know that Sophia and Ava London ARE Elle and Blair Fowler. I know they have said multiple times that the characters are only based on them, but there were details (one blonde and one brunette sister, the blonde sister being in a sorority and having a partially deaf cat) that are taken directly from their lives. Therefore, I couldn't help but read it with their faces in mind for the character, which kind of took away from the imaginative aspect of reading the book.
I was also disappointed with the storyline, because there were major gaps that I couldn't help but notice. The whole relationship between Ava and Liam, for one, seemed like it was only thrown in there because it wouldn't have been a story about Hollywood without a main character dating a celebrity. Liam was an incredibly dry character. It was obvious that the authors didn't know if he should be a good guy who isn't right for Ava or a bad guy disguised as a good guy. Their relationship seemed forced and childish, and Liam seemed to disappear toward the end of the novel for the sake of a better storyline.
Lastly, the story sets itself up for a sequel, but not in an interesting, cliff-hanging way. Frankly, I was left feeling confused and frustrated. Even if they plan on writing a sequel, there were plot points that needed to be cleared up before the end of this book. I didn't like or relate to the characters and I wasn't overly interested in the plot, so I'm not sure I would read a sequel if they were to write one.
This book is acceptable if you want a light, fluffy beach read, but even with that in mind I wasn't impressed.(less)
Really excited about this one, wonder why everyone is rating 1 star? Give them a chance!
Really excited about this one, wonder why everyone is rating 1 star? Give them a chance!(less)
Don't rate it before you read it!
I love Elle and Blair and I can't wait to read this! :)
Don't rate it before you read it!
I love Elle and Blair and I can't wait to read this! :)(less)
Chick-lit is not for me, I can say that now.
The story was fun, simple, and cute but I'm not good at
these types of books. I still love Elle, but this just wasn't for me.
My friend is reading it now, she is liking it so far.
-R.D.
Chick-lit is not for me, I can say that now.
The story was fun, simple, and cute but I'm not good at
these types of books. I still love Elle, but this just wasn't for me.
My friend is reading it now, she is liking it so far.
-R.D.(less)
OMGGGG!!!!Beneath the Glitter was far better than I expected!!! Taking place in LA the book is about sisters Ava and Sophia London who have a dream of establishing their makeup brand...In the mist of everything they become famous and problems between the sisters stir...Ava(Blair) is the naive,bubbly......more
OMGGGG!!!!Beneath the Glitter was far better than I expected!!! Taking place in LA the book is about sisters Ava and Sophia London who have a dream of establishing their makeup brand...In the mist of everything they become famous and problems between the sisters stir...Ava(Blair) is the naive,bubbly,and younger sister who loves taking risks and exploring all the joys in life. Sophia(Elle) is the older,mature,and wiser sister..
Ava meets her celebrity crush Liam Carlson and they soon begin dating(i personally think Liam was dating Ava for publicity reasons). Through the rush of it all, Ava is head over heels and is upset that Sophia doesn't feel the same way about Liam. Sophia on the other hand,has recently broken up with her college sweetheart Clay,but doesn't know the reason for the sudden break up. Sophia soon begins boytoxing with friend Lily(not wanting or looking for romantic relationships)and soon finds a line of guys swooning for her.
With all the publicity of Liam and Ava's growing relationship, the London sisters are fastly becoming LA's eye candy and in front of gossip magazines.The sisters are soon offered a makeup line and rest opens up from there...
In all, Beneath the Glitter was a light read,romance,ya,and chicklit. Perfect for any teen girl looking for a few chuckles and smiles :)))
*Beneath the Glitter was sent to me through a Goodreads Giveaway*(less)
This book should have been titled "Gag Me With A Spoon." That sums it up. Just ridiculous and empty thoughts thrown together into a book (aka 80's Valley Girl all over again). I'm confused as to why these two are so popular on Youtube when there are far more intelligent and less shallow girls making......more
This book should have been titled "Gag Me With A Spoon." That sums it up. Just ridiculous and empty thoughts thrown together into a book (aka 80's Valley Girl all over again). I'm confused as to why these two are so popular on Youtube when there are far more intelligent and less shallow girls making videos, but I take it they're the type to milk it for all it's worth (or all they're worth).(less)