Pretty Things by Janelle Brown

“Spend enough time with any bestselling biography and you’ll come to the conclusion that greatness is practically guaranteed if you just do something reckless and wild.”
Nina once bought into the idea that her fancy liberal arts degree would lead to a fulfilling career. When that dream crashed, she turned to stealing from rich kids in L.A. alongside her wily Irish boyfriend, Lachlan. Nina learned from the best: Her mother was the original con artist, hustling to give her daughter a decent childhood despite their wayward life. But when her mom gets sick, Nina puts everything on the line to help her, even if it means running her most audacious, dangerous scam yet.
Vanessa is a privileged young heiress who wanted to make her mark in the world. Instead she becomes an Instagram influencer--traveling the globe, receiving free clothes and products, and posing for pictures in exotic locales. But behind the covetable façade is a life marked by tragedy. After a broken engagement, Vanessa retreats to her family's sprawling mountain estate, Stonehaven: A mansion of dark secrets not just from Vanessa's past, but from that of a lost and troubled girl named Nina.
Nina, Vanessa, and Lachlan's paths collide here, on the cold shores of Lake Tahoe, where their intertwined lives give way to a winter of aspiration and desire, duplicity and revenge.

Hi so maybe the first reason I picked up this book was because it is based in Lake Tahoe? (#sorrynotsorry) I love Lake Tahoe, and I was squealing along with Vanessa and Nina every time they looked out over Vista Point or stared poignantly into the Lake. To both of them, Lake Tahoe is more than a place; it’s a visceral feeling.
I also love the twisty stories surrounding cons, and this one gave me a run for my money. There were so many twists and turns that I did not see coming. The way that Vanessa and Nina are tied together is absolutely masterful, and I was genuinely curious to see what was coming next.
The plot is a bit slow in the beginning, as we work up to the con itself, but it helps set the scene and introduce us to the characters. There are several points where the same scene is written twice, once from Nina’s pov and once from Vanessa’s. This is literally one of my favorite things ever, and I ate it right up. I had some trouble keeping everything straight in my head, but I think that was more on me, not the writing itself.
I also liked the way that Vanessa’s Instagram fame is portrayed. As someone who spends a lot of time on Instagram, Vanessa’s feelings rang true to me at least. Though she is a victim of some very basic social media “issues”, the sub narrative is woven into the rest of the story well. However, I genuinely cannot believe that Nina took out six figure student loans to get a degree in art history (seriously??)
It was also refreshing to see all the characters humanized; we get to see what both Nina and Vanessa are going through. However, the “villain” is slightly over-the-top in this story, but it’s a delicious twist so it’s forgivable.
Overall, Pretty Things had two well-developed main characters and a well-paced storyline full of twists. With lies, betrayal, jealousy, and revenge, it’s a fantastically sneaky drama that I sped through in a couple of hours.