Pretty Stupid

by Gwynyth Harper

It’s 1973, and Mariposa ‘Posie’ Flores is a spunky, fabulous, and at times, goofy New York City club icon. The outfits she wears out clubbing are the things of legend, but when she goes flat broke, her reputation is at stake. Repeating an outfit would demolish everything she’s worked towards. For a relentless and slightly (extremely) delusional woman like her? That won’t do. So obviously it’s time to get a credit card and go into unnecessary debt! Unfortunately, without a father, she’s only got one way to get a credit card to continue dominating club floor fashion and that’s through marriage. That’s okay! She has four completely unaware ‘boyfriends’ to choose from! After very little consideration she chooses Alexander ‘Xander’ Pierce— the audacious, sarcastic, and clumsy son of her the mayor of NYC. Also, the only person to really realize her airheadedness is all an act. Xander is shocked by the news they were even in a relationship, but he agrees to an engagement thinking it’ll please his father who’s been pushing him towards a goal of becoming President of the United States. Simple goal, right? His constantly dark under eyes show how easy the burden of that aspiration been on him. To Xander, a party girl like Posie won’t fit anywhere in those plans, he’ll placate her to keep her from doing anything too insane— she was talking about marrying one of those random other ‘boyfriends’ he’s just now learning about after all—and soon enough she’ll run for the hills. Unbeknownst to him Posie’s infatuation with him actually is genuine. She’d already fallen for him long ago and she has no intentions of letting go. The credit card was simply the perfect excuse and soon enough she’ll have him falling even harder for her.

397 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 8, 2024

Reviews

[Ana Beatriz]

What a great book, I love Gwyn stories since I read them on TikTok. And this book just proved how great of a writer and storyteller she is, this book made me laugh and cry and kept my heart very warm. I absolutely loved it and I can't wait to read more of her stories.

[clairea, or clara]

posie and xander's love is VERY personal to me and everything about them makes me giddy and happy, but one of the reasons why this book is so good is the passion and dedication the author put in every detail, from the subtlest easter-eggs to the way each character moves throughout the story. their relationship is three-dimensional; they’re both flawed and commit mistakes throughout the story, but instead of dealing with this in a ‘black and white’ way, gwyn created layers that added depth to their relationship, resulting in a love that feels real. there’s the passion and the sexual attraction but it goes beyond, it’s a soul connection, it’s about falling in love with the other person’s essence. posie and xander are friends, best friends, before everything; they grow and learn and evolve so much together. and this depth isn't exclusive to the main couple, for the secondary characters too have their own time to shine, with flaws and particularities that make them more nuanced and likeable — aside from their own potential that may be explored in the future.

I've been in love with these characters for quite a while now, and being a fan of the author's work in the original tiktok swipe-stories, I was incredibly happy to have this book in my hands and beyond proud of how far gwyn has come! it's only the beginning of an intricate universe, and I am extremely excited to see what's in store for us!

[Samantha]

easily my favorite book of the year!!!

i may be a bit biased because i'm friends with the author and have loved her writing for close to two years now, but this book is just the perfect romance. it made me laugh, cry, blush, scream (internally) and just fall in love with and care immensely for the characters. i can't wait to read more from gwyn!!!

content warnings (from the book): emotional parental neglect, discussion of child sexual abuse, sexism and verbal harassment, mention of drug and alcohol use, alcoholism, hypersexuality

[Lauren Seyfferth]

5 stars solely bc I was obsessed with these stories on tiktok and I cannot believe there is a full book and that Alexander Pierce lives on

[Ruby Walsh]

when i die bury this book with me.
i love gwibswib <3