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Sheer
Told over nine charged days, Sheer is the gripping tale of a controversial beauty mogul’s insatiable ambition and the slippery ground between empowerment and abuse of power.
It’s 2015 and Maxine Thomas, the founder and creative director of the cult makeup company Reveal, has just been suspended by her own Board for a scandalous transgression. Housebound in her New York City apartment, where she awaits the verdict on her future, Max recounts her version of the events that have brought her to this moment.
From her start as a precocious suburban child in the eighties to her decades as a workaholic visionary, Max proselytizes a sheer, dewy look—cosmetics through a female gaze—all while battling sexist investors, the whiplash of cultural change, and the mounting pressure to keep her sexuality a secret. But when Max’s story catches up to her present, she must contend with the cost of true transparency. Who has she become in her relentless pursuit of success? And what will happen if she loses it all?
It’s 2015 and Maxine Thomas, the founder and creative director of the cult makeup company Reveal, has just been suspended by her own Board for a scandalous transgression. Housebound in her New York City apartment, where she awaits the verdict on her future, Max recounts her version of the events that have brought her to this moment.
From her start as a precocious suburban child in the eighties to her decades as a workaholic visionary, Max proselytizes a sheer, dewy look—cosmetics through a female gaze—all while battling sexist investors, the whiplash of cultural change, and the mounting pressure to keep her sexuality a secret. But when Max’s story catches up to her present, she must contend with the cost of true transparency. Who has she become in her relentless pursuit of success? And what will happen if she loses it all?
300 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 13, 2026
30 people are currently reading
17014 people want to read
About the author
Vanessa Lawrence
2 books13 followersVanessa Lawrence is a writer, editor, and native New Yorker. For nearly two decades she covered the arts, fashion, beauty, design, and New York society as a staff writer for publications including Women’s Wear Daily and W Magazine. She has a BA in history from Yale University and an MFA in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence College. Ellipses is her debut novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
December 19, 2025
It is impossible to be an ambitious woman. Max is born in 1975 and is inspired to create a beauty brand at the age of 6. She starts doing makeup for women in high school, then during college she is able to secure an angel investor which alters her course forever. It’s a cult-following beauty brand, and cult stories never end well, so they?
The entire time she is closeted. The narrative spans Max’s life from age 6 to age 40. Interspersed with a 9 day period in 2015, we are learning the formative experiences for her building her brand.
This story was so engaging and so realistic that only 30% of the way through the story I started searching the author to see if she had experience at a female entrepreneur unicorn company. Surely she worked at Away, at Glossier?? This story is a deep dive in those types of stories, you can create a culture and create a monster. This is such a powerful story; you will find no heroes or villains. Max is a compelling character. She is so very real.
I am filing this as historical fiction. We do love to put a female entrepreneur on a pedestal and then knock her off of it.
This is a very nuanced story with so many layers. And I promise you won’t be able to put it down. When I was watching the Pee Wee Herman documentary I couldn’t help but think that if he wasn’t closeted, it may have played out differently. This may be true for this fictional story as well.
This is sure to be one of the best LitFic books of 2026.
Thanks to NetGalley and Dutton for the ARC. Book to be published January 12, 2026.
The entire time she is closeted. The narrative spans Max’s life from age 6 to age 40. Interspersed with a 9 day period in 2015, we are learning the formative experiences for her building her brand.
This story was so engaging and so realistic that only 30% of the way through the story I started searching the author to see if she had experience at a female entrepreneur unicorn company. Surely she worked at Away, at Glossier?? This story is a deep dive in those types of stories, you can create a culture and create a monster. This is such a powerful story; you will find no heroes or villains. Max is a compelling character. She is so very real.
I am filing this as historical fiction. We do love to put a female entrepreneur on a pedestal and then knock her off of it.
This is a very nuanced story with so many layers. And I promise you won’t be able to put it down. When I was watching the Pee Wee Herman documentary I couldn’t help but think that if he wasn’t closeted, it may have played out differently. This may be true for this fictional story as well.
This is sure to be one of the best LitFic books of 2026.
Thanks to NetGalley and Dutton for the ARC. Book to be published January 12, 2026.
November 20, 2025
ARC for review. To be published January 13, 2026.
3 stars
Quite the page turner about the cosmetics industry. Maxine Thomas is in her Central Park West apartment spending nine days waiting to see whether she will be ousted from Reveal, the makeup company she founded as a college student which is now a major player in the industry. While she waits she reminisces about how she started and what went wrong.
Ultimately this was some decent fluff and a whole bunch of people taking advantage of each other. I enjoyed reading getting an insider’s look at the cosmetics business (if the way it’s portrayed here is at all accurate,) otherwise just a beach book.
3 stars
Quite the page turner about the cosmetics industry. Maxine Thomas is in her Central Park West apartment spending nine days waiting to see whether she will be ousted from Reveal, the makeup company she founded as a college student which is now a major player in the industry. While she waits she reminisces about how she started and what went wrong.
Ultimately this was some decent fluff and a whole bunch of people taking advantage of each other. I enjoyed reading getting an insider’s look at the cosmetics business (if the way it’s portrayed here is at all accurate,) otherwise just a beach book.
September 10, 2025
I first started reading Sheer months ago, but I kept losing interest and moving to another book, and then coming back to finish a few chapters before getting distracted again.
I was drawn to this story because I love anything to do with the beauty industry, and this seemed like it would maybe take the form of an expose.
The writing format was in a sort of memoir-like style, and as a certified memoir lover that should have worked well for me. I think what held me back from loving this story was the cold way it was told. It was almost like reciting facts about a life that has no ties to the one telling it. It didn’t feel like she was recounting her own experiences, the authentic “voice” was noticeably missing.
The story itself was interesting to me, but it was hard to connect with what was happening when the writing style wasn’t clicking.
I think people who connect more with an actual plot would enjoy this, but for people like me who value characters emotional depth and storytelling… it might be a skip.
Thanks to NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I was drawn to this story because I love anything to do with the beauty industry, and this seemed like it would maybe take the form of an expose.
The writing format was in a sort of memoir-like style, and as a certified memoir lover that should have worked well for me. I think what held me back from loving this story was the cold way it was told. It was almost like reciting facts about a life that has no ties to the one telling it. It didn’t feel like she was recounting her own experiences, the authentic “voice” was noticeably missing.
The story itself was interesting to me, but it was hard to connect with what was happening when the writing style wasn’t clicking.
I think people who connect more with an actual plot would enjoy this, but for people like me who value characters emotional depth and storytelling… it might be a skip.
Thanks to NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
December 17, 2025
Sheer by Vanessa Lawrence unfolds like a fictional memoir, following Maxine as she recounts her rise from childhood ambition to the creation—and unraveling—of a cosmetics empire. As someone obsessed with all things beauty, I loved the behind the scenes look at building and maintaining a major cosmetics company; those details were fascinating and felt grounded and real. The novel has sharp, insightful commentary on women in business, womanhood, and the quiet, ever present misogyny that shapes success and failure. While the central reason for Maxine’s downfall is mostly withheld, it becomes clear if you’re paying attention, which I appreciated. That said, the ending ultimately felt lackluster to me, leaving too many questions unanswered and pulling some weight from an otherwise thoughtful, compelling read.
August 22, 2025
This book had me wanting to treat it like a business school case study while also questioning every makeup and skincare product I own. I loved how nuanced it was, it makes you wrestle with what it really takes to be successful (like in a big way). You know the main character has done something wrong, but the way she lays out her story makes you wonder if maybe she isn’t at fault. The push and pull of multiple timelines, and the way it exposes how messy accountability can get, had me glued to my kindle.
I did feel the ending was rushed. There’s so much more to explore in someone coming to terms with their actions. And honestly, it’s frustrating that a board full of rude, bigoted people gets to decide the fate of one singular bigoted person. It made me think about how tangled our culture of “accountability” has become. Cancel culture, power, who gets to judge…it’s messy. We can’t go back to the days when white men had everything handed to them, but I’m not sure the current system is fixing much either. At the end of the day, power still sits with the same groups. I don’t have the answers, but Vanessa Lawrence, you sure had me questioning a lot.
I loved getting this ARC copy in advance of the publishing date, I’m so curious to see the commentary when it does come out!
I did feel the ending was rushed. There’s so much more to explore in someone coming to terms with their actions. And honestly, it’s frustrating that a board full of rude, bigoted people gets to decide the fate of one singular bigoted person. It made me think about how tangled our culture of “accountability” has become. Cancel culture, power, who gets to judge…it’s messy. We can’t go back to the days when white men had everything handed to them, but I’m not sure the current system is fixing much either. At the end of the day, power still sits with the same groups. I don’t have the answers, but Vanessa Lawrence, you sure had me questioning a lot.
I loved getting this ARC copy in advance of the publishing date, I’m so curious to see the commentary when it does come out!
May 16, 2025
thank you NetGalley for this ARC!!
I actually really enjoyed this! though times have changed a lot since 2015, sadly a lot of the things regarding womanhood in this story are still true. I liked that the ending wasn’t the happy one that you’d expect. it ended on a more somber note which just reiterates the misogynistic issues highlighted throughout. the last 2 books I’ve read have had characters that lacked depth. Maxine was the total opposite. I felt like I KNEW her and felt all of what she was feeling. I also LOVEDDD the fictional autobiographical style that this had. similar to seven husbands in a way. this made me sad, angry, hopeful, and proud to be a woman all at the same time. STAND ON BUSINESS MAXINE!! 4/5!
I actually really enjoyed this! though times have changed a lot since 2015, sadly a lot of the things regarding womanhood in this story are still true. I liked that the ending wasn’t the happy one that you’d expect. it ended on a more somber note which just reiterates the misogynistic issues highlighted throughout. the last 2 books I’ve read have had characters that lacked depth. Maxine was the total opposite. I felt like I KNEW her and felt all of what she was feeling. I also LOVEDDD the fictional autobiographical style that this had. similar to seven husbands in a way. this made me sad, angry, hopeful, and proud to be a woman all at the same time. STAND ON BUSINESS MAXINE!! 4/5!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 13, 2026
It’s 2015, and Maxine is a Gen X success story. In the 90s and 2000s, she made headlines as the young founder of a trendy beauty brand. Her company, Reveal, was revolutionary for its light-touch products that showcased women’s natural beauty, and its edgy talking points, like the “post-orgasm glow” its cheek tint aims to create. But now the tides have shifted. Some sort of scandal has occurred, and the board is out for Maxine’s blood. As she waits to see if she’ll be ousted from the brand she founded, Maxine begins to write down her life story.
I really enjoyed this book. An aspect it absolutely nailed is the changing beauty and cultural trends from the 1980s until the mid-2010s. We see Maxine’s vision of natural beauty go from exciting and fresh to ho-hum, as the mid-2010s millennials embrace contoured everything. We also see how Maxine can go from fighting sexism to becoming a problematic boss, all while still thinking she’s in the right. Toward the end of the story, she becomes a bit of an unreliable narrator, and it’s a bit of a gut punch after rooting for her throughout the story…but it totally works. Most people who abuse their power were not born villainous, and neither was Maxine. She was shaped by the norms of her generation, the way she had to fight for success, and the corrupting power of wealth and privilege. She’s a complex character, and that’s what makes this book SO good. I definitely recommend it!
I really enjoyed this book. An aspect it absolutely nailed is the changing beauty and cultural trends from the 1980s until the mid-2010s. We see Maxine’s vision of natural beauty go from exciting and fresh to ho-hum, as the mid-2010s millennials embrace contoured everything. We also see how Maxine can go from fighting sexism to becoming a problematic boss, all while still thinking she’s in the right. Toward the end of the story, she becomes a bit of an unreliable narrator, and it’s a bit of a gut punch after rooting for her throughout the story…but it totally works. Most people who abuse their power were not born villainous, and neither was Maxine. She was shaped by the norms of her generation, the way she had to fight for success, and the corrupting power of wealth and privilege. She’s a complex character, and that’s what makes this book SO good. I definitely recommend it!
May 9, 2025
tldr; a solid read, i enjoyed it a lot!
i started this thinking it would be similar to american psycho (for some reason, i think the concept of CEO-focused “thriller” put me in that headspace) but really, it’s about a woman who just let herself get manipulated by everyone who thought they were better than her because they were of a different status, and she let it happen because she thought it was what she earned/deserved. i thought this was a really interesting concept and i loved the way that it was told in a significantly more intimate way than a lot of other books that center around the themes that this did. i started out the book really disliking maxine because of the way that she spoke about her life and the people around her, but she’s really a study of nurture over nature. you can see just how much potential for emotion that she had basically ripped away from her because everyone in her life told her to shove it down.
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this!!
i started this thinking it would be similar to american psycho (for some reason, i think the concept of CEO-focused “thriller” put me in that headspace) but really, it’s about a woman who just let herself get manipulated by everyone who thought they were better than her because they were of a different status, and she let it happen because she thought it was what she earned/deserved. i thought this was a really interesting concept and i loved the way that it was told in a significantly more intimate way than a lot of other books that center around the themes that this did. i started out the book really disliking maxine because of the way that she spoke about her life and the people around her, but she’s really a study of nurture over nature. you can see just how much potential for emotion that she had basically ripped away from her because everyone in her life told her to shove it down.
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this!!
May 8, 2025
I think when writing a pseudo-memoir, you have the opportunity to make it as sensational as your imagination allows. There was nothing sensational in here. I kept waiting for the juicy scandals, the jaw-dropping reveals, but they just never came. It was all very tame, and frankly a little boring.
Want to read
May 13, 2025oooh I'm intrigued!
October 20, 2025
2.5⭐️
Interesting...
"Sheer" tells the story of Maxine "Max", a beauty mogul on the brink of losing her cosmetic empire due to a scandal of immense proportions. Through flashbacks and recitations, she combs through how she came to this critical juncture; dissecting the past and questioning the future.
This had a lot of potential to be really interesting and thought-provoking. Going into this, I expected there to be a larger discussion of "cancel culture" or how dangerous social media can be, especially for women in power. Yet, I feel like there was something missing from this; some larger, grittier bit that would have pushed this over the edge.
What hurts this book the most, I fear, is the pacing. The aforementioned scandal does not become clear until the final chapters, and once it is, you begin to question all the history you waded through leading to that reveal. I'm all for suspense and creating tension, but at least give the reader some juicy tidbits to keep our interest going.
Even though the plot wasn't up to snuff, I will say the writing was pretty well done. There were actually some beautiful descriptive passages and good, poignant statements that helped keep me engaged. So, I'd say in this regard you have to take the meh with the good.
Overall, I'd say this was fine. It's not my cup of tea. Maybe others will enjoy it.
Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton for an ARC of this book!
Interesting...
"Sheer" tells the story of Maxine "Max", a beauty mogul on the brink of losing her cosmetic empire due to a scandal of immense proportions. Through flashbacks and recitations, she combs through how she came to this critical juncture; dissecting the past and questioning the future.
This had a lot of potential to be really interesting and thought-provoking. Going into this, I expected there to be a larger discussion of "cancel culture" or how dangerous social media can be, especially for women in power. Yet, I feel like there was something missing from this; some larger, grittier bit that would have pushed this over the edge.
What hurts this book the most, I fear, is the pacing. The aforementioned scandal does not become clear until the final chapters, and once it is, you begin to question all the history you waded through leading to that reveal. I'm all for suspense and creating tension, but at least give the reader some juicy tidbits to keep our interest going.
Even though the plot wasn't up to snuff, I will say the writing was pretty well done. There were actually some beautiful descriptive passages and good, poignant statements that helped keep me engaged. So, I'd say in this regard you have to take the meh with the good.
Overall, I'd say this was fine. It's not my cup of tea. Maybe others will enjoy it.
Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton for an ARC of this book!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I received a free ARC of Sheer via NetGalley. This is a story told over nine days, as beauty industry visionary Maxine Thomas goes from powerhouse to ousted and betrayed, her future hinging on whether or not her company’s board decides to fire her. Her distress compels her to write a sort of autobiography, which intersperses scenes from 2015 with her childhood, upbringing, and development of her company. But hers isn’t a simple story of starting from the bottom and working her way up. Maxine is a closeted gay woman, who draws on her attraction to women to develop her makeup.
Though her company, Reveal, is founded on the principle of emphasizing a woman’s beauty rather than concealing it, though Maxine is exclusively attracted to women, though Maxine writes extensively and with increasing vigor on the way misogyny affects her and her career, she seems to utterly hate women that she’s not attracted to. Women are either sexy or a travesty; well-dressed or worthless. Nose contour? Forget about it. These competing desires: to women, to be better than women, and to create visionary makeup products, compete in Maxine’s narrative to create an incredibly compelling narrative. The narration oscillates from beautiful and intimate to angry, betrayed, and insolent.
I generally hesitate to use the words “unreliable narrator.” I feel that the words get overused often, and are often used incorrectly. That said, Maxine’s narration does cause a lot of questions. By the end, the answers to most of those questions are revealed (Revealed, haha), which is to say that I didn’t find it difficult to parse reality from Maxine’s story. So, whether that makes her an unreliable narrator or simply a biased one is up to you, I suppose.
I liked this book! I found Lawrence’s writing engaging, comprehensive, and incredibly intentional. Overall, I give this book ⅘ stars.
Full review here: https://dowdymusings.wordpress.com/20...
Though her company, Reveal, is founded on the principle of emphasizing a woman’s beauty rather than concealing it, though Maxine is exclusively attracted to women, though Maxine writes extensively and with increasing vigor on the way misogyny affects her and her career, she seems to utterly hate women that she’s not attracted to. Women are either sexy or a travesty; well-dressed or worthless. Nose contour? Forget about it. These competing desires: to women, to be better than women, and to create visionary makeup products, compete in Maxine’s narrative to create an incredibly compelling narrative. The narration oscillates from beautiful and intimate to angry, betrayed, and insolent.
I generally hesitate to use the words “unreliable narrator.” I feel that the words get overused often, and are often used incorrectly. That said, Maxine’s narration does cause a lot of questions. By the end, the answers to most of those questions are revealed (Revealed, haha), which is to say that I didn’t find it difficult to parse reality from Maxine’s story. So, whether that makes her an unreliable narrator or simply a biased one is up to you, I suppose.
I liked this book! I found Lawrence’s writing engaging, comprehensive, and incredibly intentional. Overall, I give this book ⅘ stars.
Full review here: https://dowdymusings.wordpress.com/20...
August 6, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Sheer by Vanessa Lawrence is a fictional autobiography of Maxine Thomas, and her rise and fall as the beauty mogul of company Reveal.
Being inside Maxine’s mind was such a journey - through her storytelling, we learn about her past and what shaped her to become the beauty founder she is. She is driven, relentless, and above all, flawed. As a makeup lover myself, I couldn’t help but notice the parallels between Reveal and Glossier throughout the novel:
Though the book’s story was slow moving, told in chapters over 9 days in the present and weaving in stories from the past, I found myself completely immersed in Maxine’s story. Even if I was not surprised by where this book went, I enjoyed the journey to get there and found myself unable to put it down. Lawrence’s first-person narration of Maxine is a triumph, through the good, bad and the ugly. If there’s one bias I have, it’s my love for a problematic and flawed female lead, and Maxine fits this perfectly.
Definitely recommended reading when this officially releases early 2026.
January 3, 2026
4 stars for Sheer. I was invested in the plot throughout the book but I thought the ending was very rushed. I wished there were a few chapters following the reveal of why Max was suspended from Reveal and whether she makes a comeback.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the advanced copy. Sheer hits shelves on January 13, 2026.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the advanced copy. Sheer hits shelves on January 13, 2026.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
This book surprised me! Great way to kick off the year. What starts as a clear criticism of beauty standards and patriarchal corporations quickly twists into a seething portrait of the main characters gaze and abuse of power. I did not see it coming--and it paid off.
January 15, 2026
This was SUCH a brilliant page-turner and just perfect for Glossier and Into the Gloss (or Glossy by Marisa Meltzer) enjoyers. I was thrilled to find at a launch event that Vanessa did actually read Into the Gloss for research and was fascinated by Glossy, which came out when she was doing revisions for Sheer. I was also shocked that Glossy *wasn’t* part of the research for this book, because the talented and tortured “natural, dewy beauty” enterpreneur story (along with her conflicting marketing hurdles and DEI scandals) felt so familiar and *real*. It’s like Sheer was a Glossier’s enigmatic, more precise (fictional) predecessor from before the days of internet blogging. The (often historical) backdrop of this book throughout decades of pop culture, media and trends is highly entertaining and vivid, and the descriptions of makeup textures and effects are indulgent and delightful.
The writing style is so engaging and (as per Carolyn Ferrell’s words in the launch event) in confessional, almost 19th century style. Brutally honest and impossible to put down. I discovered the book itself initially through Netgalley but the ARC had been sitting in my Kindle for months—only to literally wrench me out of my reading block as soon as I picked it up, entirely coincidentally the day before release. I gobbled it up in two days (so I finished day of release, and got to immediately watch the event on YouTube!), and spent the entirety of the book highlighting parts that made my head buzz from complex interpretations of Max’s thoughts. The realisation that she is not, in fact, a reliable narrator at all hit me like a suckerpunch during the last 30%, after which I started questioning nearly everything I had read. (I was tickled by the admission that Vanessa Lawrence herself has no idea on what parts are fabricated by Max—She also knows only Max’s narration. I love to hear about this level of immersion from authors, and I was barely surprised by the admission.) Besides being the usual (yet rare) female entrepreneur story with cautionary undertones and a fight for relevence against age (the dreaded four-oh), Max’s being queer shifts *everything* … and makes it several times more interesting.
There is a lot of generational trauma in this book. Max’s outlook in life is shaped by the kind of adult woman she wants—and doesn’t want—to be based on her parents. Innately, she is highly driven and wishes to be exceptional. Unlike her mother, she never wants to be financially dependant on men (but is haunted by the fact that her brand, Reveal, is financed entirely by the worst kind of men). She vows to never succumb to inauthenticity and unrealistic beauty standards, and she might not wear heavy makeup but as she grows she sacrifices every material pleasure to preserve her skin and body’s youth, often identically to her mom. She also judges women who don’t perform femininity that she personally believes to be “real”, as opposed to fake and patriarchal. She hates that the makeup industry (again, often run by men, based on patriarchal desires) shames women’s natural bodies—but then she does the same to women whose natural proclivities are towards colour and drama in makeup, based on Max’s own desires of the idealised, “liberated”, beautiful woman. Is the authoritarian tone any different when it comes from a woman? Max makes poignant statements about how lesbians are treated as dirty and dangerous (especially when gender nonconforming) in contrast to gay men (and that straight women and gay men in the industry are so competitive against one another they barely even like women like she does). And yet, she herself has no respect for drag culture and legacies—in fact, as a cis (soft) butch she not only can’t relate to how diversely femmes internally *feel* about makeup as self expression, she is also barely aware of any makeup consumers outside of cis feminine women … who also happen to be the object of her personal desires.
Reveal’s entire motto is authenticity—natural makeup that “enhances, doesn’t cover” (though we must wonder if there is *any* kind of paint that doesn’t cover *something*) … yet Max is extremely closeted as a high profile figure, even after marriage equality is achieved in New York. Her paranoia that coming out would ruin her brand’s success is influenced by the plenty of abuse and harassment (emotional as well as physical) she faced from authority figures as well as peers (starting from her parents and friends as a child, to her company stakeholders as an adult). Specific pieces of the emotional plot were difficult for me to put together, but they magically fell into place when I heard Vanessa herself speak about the book. A point that particularly struck me was that—Not only was Max’s extreme compartmentalization unhealthy for her mental health, but her not being able to have a normal, liberated personal life and subsequently forcing zero work/life balance, then aiming her sexual experiences *back into her work* where it absolutely does not belong … led to her ultimately falling into a product marketing campaign that was morally unjustifiable. Initially of course, I found it genius and very sapphic and poetic that she developed products based on her lovers’ postcoital glow—and how she was able to run away from standards of consent around that since she never had a long term relationship. The way the products got more and more personal to her partners were, indeed, a slo-mo trainwreck.
(Slight spoilers going forward.) Throughout the book, Max is certainly very … well, white. (Surely her disinterest in gender diversity intersect here.) The gaze through which she views her brown muses is for sure just slightly more “othering” than how she viewed the white ones for product inspo. This glaring subjectification vs objectification dynamic is where her being masc4femme REALLY intrigued me. As she grew older and more resentful of how society puts an expiry date on women, it led to her increased bitterness towards DEI, an aggressively millennial venture—even though she had been so progressive in her own generation. This echoes how feminism, a movement never free of internalised tensions, sidelined women of her mother’s generation as well by making stay-at-home wives and mothers less respectable, forcing them to try to exert relevance through criticism and emotionally manipulating younger folks. In addition, Max criticized how business was soaked in masculine shows of power such as blatant intimidation. Max’s first conquest as a young college student seeking legitimacy and maturity was a brown woman many years her senior. Caroline ended the relationship when she realised Max’s age and that she had completely unintentionally groomed Max, just a little bit. In many ways, Caroline remained “the one that got away” and Max’s only long-term relationship. There was a deep and dark narrative satisfaction when Max, in her thirties, herself purposefully pursued a much younger brown woman, continuing a complex dynamic involving *both* the masculine and feminine cycle of abuse of power she herself had experienced in the industry. (The involvement of an impeccably bright Asian American brown baddie was somehow the cherry on top. I am surrounded by so many iterations of Amanda in real life.)
I realised as I read the epilogue that all the energy I had used to grasp at the threads of meaning woven through the book were all going to be beautifully confessed and explained. (Very validating for me as a reader—like finally learning whodunnit.) The ending was so, so good. There were so many sentences throughout the book that were deliciously meta, or simply highly quotable. I don’t usually take notes while reading but for this novel, I had to. Sheer feels so essential to any sapphic reading list that I am appalled it didn’t exist until today. It’s an incredibly culturally relevant read in the late 2020s, and I am running, not walking, to pick up Vanessa’s debut novel, Ellipses, which appears to be a rhyming story from the PoV of the bisexual, brown, and highly anxious Asian American abusee.
Thank you to Netgalley, Dutton and the author for an e-ARC!
The writing style is so engaging and (as per Carolyn Ferrell’s words in the launch event) in confessional, almost 19th century style. Brutally honest and impossible to put down. I discovered the book itself initially through Netgalley but the ARC had been sitting in my Kindle for months—only to literally wrench me out of my reading block as soon as I picked it up, entirely coincidentally the day before release. I gobbled it up in two days (so I finished day of release, and got to immediately watch the event on YouTube!), and spent the entirety of the book highlighting parts that made my head buzz from complex interpretations of Max’s thoughts. The realisation that she is not, in fact, a reliable narrator at all hit me like a suckerpunch during the last 30%, after which I started questioning nearly everything I had read. (I was tickled by the admission that Vanessa Lawrence herself has no idea on what parts are fabricated by Max—She also knows only Max’s narration. I love to hear about this level of immersion from authors, and I was barely surprised by the admission.) Besides being the usual (yet rare) female entrepreneur story with cautionary undertones and a fight for relevence against age (the dreaded four-oh), Max’s being queer shifts *everything* … and makes it several times more interesting.
There is a lot of generational trauma in this book. Max’s outlook in life is shaped by the kind of adult woman she wants—and doesn’t want—to be based on her parents. Innately, she is highly driven and wishes to be exceptional. Unlike her mother, she never wants to be financially dependant on men (but is haunted by the fact that her brand, Reveal, is financed entirely by the worst kind of men). She vows to never succumb to inauthenticity and unrealistic beauty standards, and she might not wear heavy makeup but as she grows she sacrifices every material pleasure to preserve her skin and body’s youth, often identically to her mom. She also judges women who don’t perform femininity that she personally believes to be “real”, as opposed to fake and patriarchal. She hates that the makeup industry (again, often run by men, based on patriarchal desires) shames women’s natural bodies—but then she does the same to women whose natural proclivities are towards colour and drama in makeup, based on Max’s own desires of the idealised, “liberated”, beautiful woman. Is the authoritarian tone any different when it comes from a woman? Max makes poignant statements about how lesbians are treated as dirty and dangerous (especially when gender nonconforming) in contrast to gay men (and that straight women and gay men in the industry are so competitive against one another they barely even like women like she does). And yet, she herself has no respect for drag culture and legacies—in fact, as a cis (soft) butch she not only can’t relate to how diversely femmes internally *feel* about makeup as self expression, she is also barely aware of any makeup consumers outside of cis feminine women … who also happen to be the object of her personal desires.
Reveal’s entire motto is authenticity—natural makeup that “enhances, doesn’t cover” (though we must wonder if there is *any* kind of paint that doesn’t cover *something*) … yet Max is extremely closeted as a high profile figure, even after marriage equality is achieved in New York. Her paranoia that coming out would ruin her brand’s success is influenced by the plenty of abuse and harassment (emotional as well as physical) she faced from authority figures as well as peers (starting from her parents and friends as a child, to her company stakeholders as an adult). Specific pieces of the emotional plot were difficult for me to put together, but they magically fell into place when I heard Vanessa herself speak about the book. A point that particularly struck me was that—Not only was Max’s extreme compartmentalization unhealthy for her mental health, but her not being able to have a normal, liberated personal life and subsequently forcing zero work/life balance, then aiming her sexual experiences *back into her work* where it absolutely does not belong … led to her ultimately falling into a product marketing campaign that was morally unjustifiable. Initially of course, I found it genius and very sapphic and poetic that she developed products based on her lovers’ postcoital glow—and how she was able to run away from standards of consent around that since she never had a long term relationship. The way the products got more and more personal to her partners were, indeed, a slo-mo trainwreck.
(Slight spoilers going forward.) Throughout the book, Max is certainly very … well, white. (Surely her disinterest in gender diversity intersect here.) The gaze through which she views her brown muses is for sure just slightly more “othering” than how she viewed the white ones for product inspo. This glaring subjectification vs objectification dynamic is where her being masc4femme REALLY intrigued me. As she grew older and more resentful of how society puts an expiry date on women, it led to her increased bitterness towards DEI, an aggressively millennial venture—even though she had been so progressive in her own generation. This echoes how feminism, a movement never free of internalised tensions, sidelined women of her mother’s generation as well by making stay-at-home wives and mothers less respectable, forcing them to try to exert relevance through criticism and emotionally manipulating younger folks. In addition, Max criticized how business was soaked in masculine shows of power such as blatant intimidation. Max’s first conquest as a young college student seeking legitimacy and maturity was a brown woman many years her senior. Caroline ended the relationship when she realised Max’s age and that she had completely unintentionally groomed Max, just a little bit. In many ways, Caroline remained “the one that got away” and Max’s only long-term relationship. There was a deep and dark narrative satisfaction when Max, in her thirties, herself purposefully pursued a much younger brown woman, continuing a complex dynamic involving *both* the masculine and feminine cycle of abuse of power she herself had experienced in the industry. (The involvement of an impeccably bright Asian American brown baddie was somehow the cherry on top. I am surrounded by so many iterations of Amanda in real life.)
I realised as I read the epilogue that all the energy I had used to grasp at the threads of meaning woven through the book were all going to be beautifully confessed and explained. (Very validating for me as a reader—like finally learning whodunnit.) The ending was so, so good. There were so many sentences throughout the book that were deliciously meta, or simply highly quotable. I don’t usually take notes while reading but for this novel, I had to. Sheer feels so essential to any sapphic reading list that I am appalled it didn’t exist until today. It’s an incredibly culturally relevant read in the late 2020s, and I am running, not walking, to pick up Vanessa’s debut novel, Ellipses, which appears to be a rhyming story from the PoV of the bisexual, brown, and highly anxious Asian American abusee.
Thank you to Netgalley, Dutton and the author for an e-ARC!
August 28, 2025
Sheer follows the rise and fall of makeup mogul Maxine Thomas. The chapters alternate between present day and the progression of her younger years until the two meet at the end of the book. The story addresses issues such as sexism, power and privilege and throughout the book, Maxine has to prove her worth as a woman. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC.
September 18, 2025
*To be published January 13th, 2026*
The good is that this book had great commentary on the beauty industry, queer experience, power dynamics, misogyny, women in the workplace, and even a little bit about fetishization of Asian Americans and other “exotic races,” as the book says.
The neutral is that this book could barely hold my attention. I am not interested in the minutiae of running a beauty company and creating and launching products, and it was tough to slog through that to get to the meat of the story! It’s also almost impossible to find one fully likeable character in these pages, which puts a damper on the whole reading experience. Overall, this is not a bad book by any means, and I’m glad I read it but it took more effort to stay engaged than I expected.
Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC!
The good is that this book had great commentary on the beauty industry, queer experience, power dynamics, misogyny, women in the workplace, and even a little bit about fetishization of Asian Americans and other “exotic races,” as the book says.
The neutral is that this book could barely hold my attention. I am not interested in the minutiae of running a beauty company and creating and launching products, and it was tough to slog through that to get to the meat of the story! It’s also almost impossible to find one fully likeable character in these pages, which puts a damper on the whole reading experience. Overall, this is not a bad book by any means, and I’m glad I read it but it took more effort to stay engaged than I expected.
Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC!
July 8, 2025
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Penguin Dutton for the opportunity to read a eARC in exchange for a thoughtful review. Sheer is a fascinating book and one that I found extremely engaging to read, even if it was imperfect. The narrative is presented as a memoir being written by the main character, Max(ine) Thomas, whose career is falling apart after a scandal that we learn more about as the plot progresses. We hear Max recount her career as she leads us up to the final moment, where we find out which direction her future will take and what the consequences will be for her actions.
There is a lot that Sheer does very well. For one, the voice is strong and we really get a sense of Max as a character and an understanding of where her hostility and guardedness comes from. Still, you do get the sense early on that she may not be a reliable narrator of events. The reveal at the end of the book regarding Amanda, for example, felt foreshadowed because of the language Max uses to describe Amanda early on in their relationship. I also think Sheer has a lot of valuable things to say about the experience of being a queer woman when it wasn't fashionable to be a queer woman and what that means in an age of online media where broadcasting the labels associated with your identity has become a form of social currency. There is an inherent tension between Max and the women younger than her that she can never quite smooth out because her perspective is so tied to her experience.
I thought the author did a solid job at hinting that something might be missing from Max's recounting of the events involving she and Amanda, without hitting you over the head with specifics too early. The dualing perspectives between Amanda and Max both feel grounded and true to their characters. Since the book is on the shorter side, I did think that some of the side character plots suffered from lack of air. Ellen was central to the action but I never felt emotionally connected to her story or impacted by her choices. The role of race in the story also felt, at times, a bit shallow. I wanted Max to be forced to reckon a little more with the version of herself that she was presented with, particularly with regard to her lack of intersectionality.
Sheer does owe a lot of its DNA to other lesbian narratives, I thought a lot about the movie Tár while reading this book, and those similarities did help me predict the "twist" in the last pages. I was hoping the author would take things in a different direction, but nothing felt unearned or out of left field. All in all, I was left wanting more from Sheer, but what the book does give us is definitely wildly entertaining and, on a more serious level, presents a perspective on girlboss feminism, lesbian identity, and power dynamics that is well worth reading and engaging with. 3.75/5.
There is a lot that Sheer does very well. For one, the voice is strong and we really get a sense of Max as a character and an understanding of where her hostility and guardedness comes from. Still, you do get the sense early on that she may not be a reliable narrator of events. The reveal at the end of the book regarding Amanda, for example, felt foreshadowed because of the language Max uses to describe Amanda early on in their relationship. I also think Sheer has a lot of valuable things to say about the experience of being a queer woman when it wasn't fashionable to be a queer woman and what that means in an age of online media where broadcasting the labels associated with your identity has become a form of social currency. There is an inherent tension between Max and the women younger than her that she can never quite smooth out because her perspective is so tied to her experience.
I thought the author did a solid job at hinting that something might be missing from Max's recounting of the events involving she and Amanda, without hitting you over the head with specifics too early. The dualing perspectives between Amanda and Max both feel grounded and true to their characters. Since the book is on the shorter side, I did think that some of the side character plots suffered from lack of air. Ellen was central to the action but I never felt emotionally connected to her story or impacted by her choices. The role of race in the story also felt, at times, a bit shallow. I wanted Max to be forced to reckon a little more with the version of herself that she was presented with, particularly with regard to her lack of intersectionality.
Sheer does owe a lot of its DNA to other lesbian narratives, I thought a lot about the movie Tár while reading this book, and those similarities did help me predict the "twist" in the last pages. I was hoping the author would take things in a different direction, but nothing felt unearned or out of left field. All in all, I was left wanting more from Sheer, but what the book does give us is definitely wildly entertaining and, on a more serious level, presents a perspective on girlboss feminism, lesbian identity, and power dynamics that is well worth reading and engaging with. 3.75/5.
August 21, 2025
4.5 stars
Sheer by Vanessa Lawrence is a deceptively nuanced story that tackles themes of power, sexuality, and privilege from a unique perspective.
Sheer, told in first person, begins in 2015 with a successful makeup company’s female founder’s fall from grace. We’re not told exactly what caused this fall from grace, but the implication is that she’s been cancelled—like, really cancelled—and in danger of losing the company she built. The founder, Max, decides to write down her life experiences and chronicle her rise and fall in an effort to “tell her side of the story.” We learn that she developed an interest in cosmetics at a young age, and that her interest that grew in tandem with her growing sexual attraction to women. Max learned early on to hide her sexual orientation. Instead of dating or forming relationships, Max pours her heart, soul, and sexual energy into her cosmetics company, Reveal. Reveal’s ethos centers around enhancing women’s natural beauty rather than hiding perceived flaws, and Max draws inspiration for her products from her sapphic desire. We watch as the lines between Max’s redirected sexuality and her company become increasingly blurred and ultimately lead to her cancellation.
Since the narrative is told as a memoir written in Max’s voice, the writing style veers toward slightly amateurish. After all, Max is a makeup designer, not a professional writer. But Lawrence is careful not to allow the simple prose to distract from the narrative. If anything, Max’s stark vulnerability and beauty-trained eye make the story more compelling. She’s a unique protagonist both in circumstance and personality; her sexuality and ambition are simultaneously her greatest strengths and greatest weaknesses in the cosmetic business world of the late nineties and early aughts. Her marginalization as a closeted lesbian and woman in corporate cosmetics coexists with her privilege as a celebrated femme white CEO, and Lawrence plays with this particular alchemy for full effect in her commentary on privilege, power, feminism, and race.
This might be controversial, but I would classify Sheer as historical fiction. The story moves from the eighties up until Max’s cancellation in 2015. Sheer engages significantly with the shifting social and cultural landscapes between the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s, and it’s fascinating to see how Max advances from disruptive visionary to out-of-touch CEO as beauty standards and social expectations shift and change.
Sheer pulled me in and impressed me at every turn. It’s a layered and thematically strong text that is worth a read by those who enjoy literary fiction.
Thank you to NetGalley and the Penguin Group Dutton for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Sheer by Vanessa Lawrence is a deceptively nuanced story that tackles themes of power, sexuality, and privilege from a unique perspective.
Sheer, told in first person, begins in 2015 with a successful makeup company’s female founder’s fall from grace. We’re not told exactly what caused this fall from grace, but the implication is that she’s been cancelled—like, really cancelled—and in danger of losing the company she built. The founder, Max, decides to write down her life experiences and chronicle her rise and fall in an effort to “tell her side of the story.” We learn that she developed an interest in cosmetics at a young age, and that her interest that grew in tandem with her growing sexual attraction to women. Max learned early on to hide her sexual orientation. Instead of dating or forming relationships, Max pours her heart, soul, and sexual energy into her cosmetics company, Reveal. Reveal’s ethos centers around enhancing women’s natural beauty rather than hiding perceived flaws, and Max draws inspiration for her products from her sapphic desire. We watch as the lines between Max’s redirected sexuality and her company become increasingly blurred and ultimately lead to her cancellation.
Since the narrative is told as a memoir written in Max’s voice, the writing style veers toward slightly amateurish. After all, Max is a makeup designer, not a professional writer. But Lawrence is careful not to allow the simple prose to distract from the narrative. If anything, Max’s stark vulnerability and beauty-trained eye make the story more compelling. She’s a unique protagonist both in circumstance and personality; her sexuality and ambition are simultaneously her greatest strengths and greatest weaknesses in the cosmetic business world of the late nineties and early aughts. Her marginalization as a closeted lesbian and woman in corporate cosmetics coexists with her privilege as a celebrated femme white CEO, and Lawrence plays with this particular alchemy for full effect in her commentary on privilege, power, feminism, and race.
This might be controversial, but I would classify Sheer as historical fiction. The story moves from the eighties up until Max’s cancellation in 2015. Sheer engages significantly with the shifting social and cultural landscapes between the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s, and it’s fascinating to see how Max advances from disruptive visionary to out-of-touch CEO as beauty standards and social expectations shift and change.
Sheer pulled me in and impressed me at every turn. It’s a layered and thematically strong text that is worth a read by those who enjoy literary fiction.
Thank you to NetGalley and the Penguin Group Dutton for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
When the book opens, we learn that Maxine, the founder of a make-up company, is the focus of a scandal, though the details are not yet revealed. Unwilling to be seen in public, she stays in her apartment and begins writing what amounts to her memoir, beginning with her first experience with makeup at age six and detailing her growing up in suburban NJ and coming to NYC for college. She then writes about the trajectory of her company, Reveal, including her relationship with Ellen, the Park Avenue matron who becomes her first investor.
What we also learn through this memoir is the fact that Maxine is a very closeted lesbian who avoids relationships in favor of one-night stands. She uses these liaisons to inspire her ideas for new makeup products, focusing on the color of a lover's skin and other physical aspects.
While the book takes place in 2015, Max's downfall begins in 2008 as Ellen becomes disillusioned with her leadership and recruits a group of wealthy male investors, the most recent of whom will finance the company if he can get it ready to be acquired by another entity. That low point in her career is when Max makes a series of fatal mistakes, not just the one that is the cause of the scandal, but her decision to stubbornly cling to her vision and ignore changing trends in beauty products.
There's a lot to reflect on in this book, principally, of course, about Maxine and the tyranny of the closet as well as the evolution of a visionary who is unable to move past her own delusions, including the ones she uses to rationalize her role in the scandal. At one point, Max's friend and coworker, Elizabeth, tells her, "Your version of living right now is unsustainable," a statement that pretty much sums up this book.
I found the book instantly engaging and maybe less so in the middle third as Max recounts the early years of the company and her complicated relationship with Ellen. The book speeds up once it's clear that Max is on a downward trajectory.
The reviewer in the NYT called Max "unreliable," which seems to me to be not quite accurate. I would call her delusional, which becomes more and more clear as we learn about the scandal, especially in the last chapter, when we hear from another perspective (written in the second person, which was interesting).
I'm going with 5 stars here because this is a book that I can't get out of my head and for that reason 5 stars are warranted.
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.
What we also learn through this memoir is the fact that Maxine is a very closeted lesbian who avoids relationships in favor of one-night stands. She uses these liaisons to inspire her ideas for new makeup products, focusing on the color of a lover's skin and other physical aspects.
While the book takes place in 2015, Max's downfall begins in 2008 as Ellen becomes disillusioned with her leadership and recruits a group of wealthy male investors, the most recent of whom will finance the company if he can get it ready to be acquired by another entity. That low point in her career is when Max makes a series of fatal mistakes, not just the one that is the cause of the scandal, but her decision to stubbornly cling to her vision and ignore changing trends in beauty products.
There's a lot to reflect on in this book, principally, of course, about Maxine and the tyranny of the closet as well as the evolution of a visionary who is unable to move past her own delusions, including the ones she uses to rationalize her role in the scandal. At one point, Max's friend and coworker, Elizabeth, tells her, "Your version of living right now is unsustainable," a statement that pretty much sums up this book.
I found the book instantly engaging and maybe less so in the middle third as Max recounts the early years of the company and her complicated relationship with Ellen. The book speeds up once it's clear that Max is on a downward trajectory.
The reviewer in the NYT called Max "unreliable," which seems to me to be not quite accurate. I would call her delusional, which becomes more and more clear as we learn about the scandal, especially in the last chapter, when we hear from another perspective (written in the second person, which was interesting).
I'm going with 5 stars here because this is a book that I can't get out of my head and for that reason 5 stars are warranted.
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.
November 23, 2025
Wondering if this book is right for you? No worries—because RedReviews4You has already read it.
⭐ Red’s Review Notes
- 📖 Premise: Beauty mogul Maxine Thomas faces scandal and recounts her rise.
- 🎭 Themes: Ambition, morality, masks, societal arbiters of success, LGBTQ identity woven into compromise.
- 🎬 Resonance: Reminded me of *Citizen Kane*—ambition defining and distorting a life.
- 💡 Takeaway: Not just about beauty—it’s about the price of success and the identities we negotiate.
- 🌟 Personal Note: I won this ARC through Goodreads, and I’m glad I did.
🔖 *Quick notes for deeper reads, with themes that matter.*
⭐ Red’s Review
Vanessa Lawrence’s debut novel explores the rise and unraveling of Maxine Thomas, founder of a cult beauty company, whose scandal forces her to confront the choices that built her empire.
At first glance, Sheer might appear to be an insider’s account of the cosmetics industry, but Lawrence uses that setting as a lens for larger questions about ambition, identity, and the costs of success. The narrative unfolds over nine days, with Maxine recounting her life story in a voice that is both confessional and calculating. Lawrence’s prose captures the allure of beauty culture while exposing its artifice, creating a tension between empowerment and exploitation.
The novel’s greatest strength lies in its moral complexity. Maxine is neither hero nor villain; she is a woman whose drive for success leads her into gray areas that feel both inevitable and tragic. At times, the book recalls Citizen Kane in its exploration of how one life can be defined -and distorted - by ambition. Lawrence’s sharp observations about society’s role as arbiter of success add depth, though some readers may find the insider detail occasionally overwhelming.
Ultimately, Sheer is less about makeup than about the masks we wear, the compromises we make, and the consequences we live with. It is a tightly plotted, thought‑provoking debut that asks what drives us all; and whether success is ever worth its price.
I received this ARC through Goodreads; opinions are my own.
⭐ Red’s Review Notes
- 📖 Premise: Beauty mogul Maxine Thomas faces scandal and recounts her rise.
- 🎭 Themes: Ambition, morality, masks, societal arbiters of success, LGBTQ identity woven into compromise.
- 🎬 Resonance: Reminded me of *Citizen Kane*—ambition defining and distorting a life.
- 💡 Takeaway: Not just about beauty—it’s about the price of success and the identities we negotiate.
- 🌟 Personal Note: I won this ARC through Goodreads, and I’m glad I did.
🔖 *Quick notes for deeper reads, with themes that matter.*
⭐ Red’s Review
Vanessa Lawrence’s debut novel explores the rise and unraveling of Maxine Thomas, founder of a cult beauty company, whose scandal forces her to confront the choices that built her empire.
At first glance, Sheer might appear to be an insider’s account of the cosmetics industry, but Lawrence uses that setting as a lens for larger questions about ambition, identity, and the costs of success. The narrative unfolds over nine days, with Maxine recounting her life story in a voice that is both confessional and calculating. Lawrence’s prose captures the allure of beauty culture while exposing its artifice, creating a tension between empowerment and exploitation.
The novel’s greatest strength lies in its moral complexity. Maxine is neither hero nor villain; she is a woman whose drive for success leads her into gray areas that feel both inevitable and tragic. At times, the book recalls Citizen Kane in its exploration of how one life can be defined -and distorted - by ambition. Lawrence’s sharp observations about society’s role as arbiter of success add depth, though some readers may find the insider detail occasionally overwhelming.
Ultimately, Sheer is less about makeup than about the masks we wear, the compromises we make, and the consequences we live with. It is a tightly plotted, thought‑provoking debut that asks what drives us all; and whether success is ever worth its price.
I received this ARC through Goodreads; opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy
** I received a complimentary ARC of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own**
4 / 5 Stars
Overview: The story was unique and engrossing. While the main conflict was not meant to be a huge plot twist, I felt the ending was surprising and gave me a lot to think about. I enjoyed following this story of a woman growing from being young and vulnerable to a confident cosmetics leader.
This is for readers who want:
- A world set in the makeup & beauty industry
- Nostalgic fiction (Set from 80s to today)
- Ambitious, creative woman main character
Setup: Maxine Thomas reflects on her journey from growing up in the American suburbs through the 80s to creating her own makeup empire. She might lose an executive position in her own company and while she awaits the decision, she remembers the pivotal moments that shaped how she displayed her sexuality, her prioritization of relationships, and of course, her connection to female beauty.
Thoughts: I really enjoyed this story. The premise was quite unique and as a makeup-lover, I enjoyed hearing her perspective on the beauty industry. This was a great "watch her as she grows" type of plot. It was gritty at times and starkly honest (from her perspective). She was rational and efficient in her story telling, consistent with her approach to life. But, in the moments she stops, when she realizes she had misunderstood, or got it wrong, those moments made me think of times in my life I might need to analyze deeper. As I grow into my early thirties, just a few years away from the main character, confidence in knowing your path and priorities seems so important. How else can you make sure you're leading the life you want unless you know where you want to go? I liked this story because it was an example of someone who was so confident, who intentionally walked through forks in the road, and showed that sometimes moving so steadfast can be a hindrance as well. It made me realize, sometimes back tracking, or exploring different directions can help you verify this is the right place to go. Thank you, Sheer, for the entertaining tale that made me realize a bit more of myself!
4 / 5 Stars
Overview: The story was unique and engrossing. While the main conflict was not meant to be a huge plot twist, I felt the ending was surprising and gave me a lot to think about. I enjoyed following this story of a woman growing from being young and vulnerable to a confident cosmetics leader.
This is for readers who want:
- A world set in the makeup & beauty industry
- Nostalgic fiction (Set from 80s to today)
- Ambitious, creative woman main character
Setup: Maxine Thomas reflects on her journey from growing up in the American suburbs through the 80s to creating her own makeup empire. She might lose an executive position in her own company and while she awaits the decision, she remembers the pivotal moments that shaped how she displayed her sexuality, her prioritization of relationships, and of course, her connection to female beauty.
Thoughts: I really enjoyed this story. The premise was quite unique and as a makeup-lover, I enjoyed hearing her perspective on the beauty industry. This was a great "watch her as she grows" type of plot. It was gritty at times and starkly honest (from her perspective). She was rational and efficient in her story telling, consistent with her approach to life. But, in the moments she stops, when she realizes she had misunderstood, or got it wrong, those moments made me think of times in my life I might need to analyze deeper. As I grow into my early thirties, just a few years away from the main character, confidence in knowing your path and priorities seems so important. How else can you make sure you're leading the life you want unless you know where you want to go? I liked this story because it was an example of someone who was so confident, who intentionally walked through forks in the road, and showed that sometimes moving so steadfast can be a hindrance as well. It made me realize, sometimes back tracking, or exploring different directions can help you verify this is the right place to go. Thank you, Sheer, for the entertaining tale that made me realize a bit more of myself!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
*Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC*
Written in a very traditional literary fiction style Max intellectualizes rather than feels her personal history in an effort to survive a major controversy and the possible loss of her company. As is common in Lit-Fic Max is a flawed character that has to come to terms with her view of reality not aligning with the realities around her. The first half of the book sets her up as a naive but ambitious entrepreneur that makes easily glossed over mistakes. As more of her story is revealed her warped worldview comes more into focus and that's where is gets particularly interesting.
Her relationships with Ellen, Elizabeth, and Amanda all display different facets of her conceitedness. Her lack of care for these supposedly important women foretells her downfall. Her interactions with Amanda are particularly telling as she clearly sees what she wants to see throughout their relationship. Instead of trying to understand that women have varied experiences and points of view she attacks anything and anyone she deems wrong. Lawrence did a phenomenal job crafting a character that is complex, flawed, and real.
Mild spoilers. After reading I had so many what-ifs. What if Max had chosen to come out instead of remaining in the closet? If she had lived more authentically, would she be more receptive to other viewpoints? What if she had challenged her biases, instead of assuming they are universal? What if she had listened and grown with feedback instead of insisting her vision was the only way? What if she treated her partners as people worthy of respect instead of lifeless muses? In the end, I am sure Max had many of the same questions for herself.
Overall, a gorgeous take on the limits of white feminism and the depth of harm caused when a powerful person centers themselves at the expense of those around them.
Written in a very traditional literary fiction style Max intellectualizes rather than feels her personal history in an effort to survive a major controversy and the possible loss of her company. As is common in Lit-Fic Max is a flawed character that has to come to terms with her view of reality not aligning with the realities around her. The first half of the book sets her up as a naive but ambitious entrepreneur that makes easily glossed over mistakes. As more of her story is revealed her warped worldview comes more into focus and that's where is gets particularly interesting.
Her relationships with Ellen, Elizabeth, and Amanda all display different facets of her conceitedness. Her lack of care for these supposedly important women foretells her downfall. Her interactions with Amanda are particularly telling as she clearly sees what she wants to see throughout their relationship. Instead of trying to understand that women have varied experiences and points of view she attacks anything and anyone she deems wrong. Lawrence did a phenomenal job crafting a character that is complex, flawed, and real.
Mild spoilers. After reading I had so many what-ifs. What if Max had chosen to come out instead of remaining in the closet? If she had lived more authentically, would she be more receptive to other viewpoints? What if she had challenged her biases, instead of assuming they are universal? What if she had listened and grown with feedback instead of insisting her vision was the only way? What if she treated her partners as people worthy of respect instead of lifeless muses? In the end, I am sure Max had many of the same questions for herself.
Overall, a gorgeous take on the limits of white feminism and the depth of harm caused when a powerful person centers themselves at the expense of those around them.
August 24, 2025
I was drawn to Sheer because of the premise; I thought following this ambitious, successful, probably flawed woman would be fascinating. Unfortunately, the style and structure of this book didn’t work for me.
The book is written like a memoir of the narrator, Max, recounting her early life and how she built her beauty brand. Despite this confessional format, I felt like the narrator was at arm’s length the entire time. She describes everything very coldly and clinically. Much of the book consists of telling the reader things instead of showing them. As the book develops, we see more how unreliable she is, but it almost feels like it doesn’t matter because her emotional experiences so rarely make it onto the page.
I liked seeing how a queer woman navigated her life in the 80s and 90s, though I would’ve liked to see more of Max’s feelings about being closeted and never being in a serious relationship. We don’t really know if she feels sad, conflicted, or totally okay about hiding her sexuality. Although she has a slew of hookups, most of these seem to have very little effect on her (aside from serving as inspiration for her business). Max rarely displays vulnerability in these pages, which is fine for crafting a caricature, less so in a literary novel aiming to explore the motivations and complexities of a businesswoman.
The author withholds the details of the inciting event until the very end, which frustrated me. We know that Max is facing a board vote that could remove her from the company, but we don’t know why or what led up to this. Personally, I didn’t enjoy waiting until the end to know the details, though some readers might be fine with this structure.
I received an ARC from Dutton via NetGalley for an honest review.
The book is written like a memoir of the narrator, Max, recounting her early life and how she built her beauty brand. Despite this confessional format, I felt like the narrator was at arm’s length the entire time. She describes everything very coldly and clinically. Much of the book consists of telling the reader things instead of showing them. As the book develops, we see more how unreliable she is, but it almost feels like it doesn’t matter because her emotional experiences so rarely make it onto the page.
I liked seeing how a queer woman navigated her life in the 80s and 90s, though I would’ve liked to see more of Max’s feelings about being closeted and never being in a serious relationship. We don’t really know if she feels sad, conflicted, or totally okay about hiding her sexuality. Although she has a slew of hookups, most of these seem to have very little effect on her (aside from serving as inspiration for her business). Max rarely displays vulnerability in these pages, which is fine for crafting a caricature, less so in a literary novel aiming to explore the motivations and complexities of a businesswoman.
The author withholds the details of the inciting event until the very end, which frustrated me. We know that Max is facing a board vote that could remove her from the company, but we don’t know why or what led up to this. Personally, I didn’t enjoy waiting until the end to know the details, though some readers might be fine with this structure.
I received an ARC from Dutton via NetGalley for an honest review.
October 23, 2025
Sheer is a sapphic, power-hungry novel that shows the climb from a closeted girl with a dream to the fall of a cult makeup company’s CEO, Maxine Thomas. The story is in the present time, but Maxine documents her own story spanning the 80s up to the fallout of her career in 2016. We learn that the inspiration and success of her brand’s hero products are derived from one-night stands that turn into muses. That is, until one indulgence threatens to ruin it all. This novel exposes the sinister nature of whitewashing by popular makeup companies and by white women themselves.
The structure and pace of this book are fantastic. It was so easy to read and kept me interested until the last page. Maxine’s character arc was masterfully developed, and we experience her transformation from a downtrodden teen into someone who embodies many qualities she once hated in others. The story shows that women can be predators too, and how racism in the beauty industry can manifest. We’re so close to Maxine’s perspective that it takes a second to realize, wait, she is actually not innocent in her own story. As much as she tries to validate her own experience, it becomes clear that she is not the victim she thinks she is. Lawrence does an excellent job of bringing you so close to Maxine and then pulling you back to “reveal” the bigger picture.
My only gripe is the ending. I don’t feel like the last few pages were in line with what we’ve seen of Maxine’s character. No spoilers.
All in all, a 4-star read for me. I look forward to reading more work from Vanessa Lawrence.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thank you, @netgalley and Dutton, for this arc e-book in exchange for an honest review.
The structure and pace of this book are fantastic. It was so easy to read and kept me interested until the last page. Maxine’s character arc was masterfully developed, and we experience her transformation from a downtrodden teen into someone who embodies many qualities she once hated in others. The story shows that women can be predators too, and how racism in the beauty industry can manifest. We’re so close to Maxine’s perspective that it takes a second to realize, wait, she is actually not innocent in her own story. As much as she tries to validate her own experience, it becomes clear that she is not the victim she thinks she is. Lawrence does an excellent job of bringing you so close to Maxine and then pulling you back to “reveal” the bigger picture.
My only gripe is the ending. I don’t feel like the last few pages were in line with what we’ve seen of Maxine’s character. No spoilers.
All in all, a 4-star read for me. I look forward to reading more work from Vanessa Lawrence.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thank you, @netgalley and Dutton, for this arc e-book in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you to @prhaudio for the #gifted audiobook in exchange for my honest review. Thank you also to @duttonbooks and @netgalley for the advance digital copy. All opinions are my own.
Sheer explores the high-pressure world of beauty startups, following Maxine, a founder navigating the personal and professional costs of building a company in an industry obsessed with perfection. The novel sits in an interesting space: parts of it feel shallow yet the story itself is clearly feminist at its core. Through Max’s journey, the book examines women’s ambition, image and beauty standards, and the ways race and sexuality are packaged and commodified within the beauty industry.
The most prominent element of the book is its deep dive into the mechanics of makeup and brand-building. The level of detail around product development, marketing, and the day-to-day reality of running a beauty company felt well-researched and immersive, and readers fascinated by the inner workings of the industry will likely find this aspect compelling. The audiobook narration by Brittany Pressley was also a highlight as her performance was polished and confident.
Where the book struggled for me was in its central character. I had very little sympathy for Max, and I found it hard to emotionally connect with her decisions or motivations throughout the story. While the social commentary is thoughtful and often sharp, it didn’t fully come together in a way that kept me invested. Ultimately, Sheer was a miss for me personally, but readers with a strong interest in the beauty industry may have a very different experience.
Sheer explores the high-pressure world of beauty startups, following Maxine, a founder navigating the personal and professional costs of building a company in an industry obsessed with perfection. The novel sits in an interesting space: parts of it feel shallow yet the story itself is clearly feminist at its core. Through Max’s journey, the book examines women’s ambition, image and beauty standards, and the ways race and sexuality are packaged and commodified within the beauty industry.
The most prominent element of the book is its deep dive into the mechanics of makeup and brand-building. The level of detail around product development, marketing, and the day-to-day reality of running a beauty company felt well-researched and immersive, and readers fascinated by the inner workings of the industry will likely find this aspect compelling. The audiobook narration by Brittany Pressley was also a highlight as her performance was polished and confident.
Where the book struggled for me was in its central character. I had very little sympathy for Max, and I found it hard to emotionally connect with her decisions or motivations throughout the story. While the social commentary is thoughtful and often sharp, it didn’t fully come together in a way that kept me invested. Ultimately, Sheer was a miss for me personally, but readers with a strong interest in the beauty industry may have a very different experience.
October 13, 2025
I would like to thank Net Galley and Dutton Publishing for the opportunity to read this as an ARC. This is a hard book for me to review. I really liked it, until I didn't. I was fascinated, until I wasn't. It started out strong and seemed to fall off a cliff for me. It is fiction, and is the supposed memoir of Maxine Thomas, a woman who started her own cosmetics company. The story takes place in 2015, and Maxine, at the age of 40, is hiding in her house, conferring with lawyers. Something has happened, but we don't know what. The Board of Reveal, Maxine's company, is meeting in several days and she may well be fired. Maxine uses this time to write her memoirs, from her growing up and her attraction to makeup ( and women) through her starting of her business, to the present. She may be an unreliable narrator, however, the story is compelling at first.The reveal of what caused her current problem takes a long time to be explained, and this may have been my problem with the book. It was teased and teased, but when it was finally explained, the book seemed to finish in a rush. For me, the ending was unsatisfying. I liked the story, and the juxtaposition of a sheer make up named reveal, and Maxine's need to hide first her youth and then her sexuality.There are some standard tropes ( the overbearing men in power , for example), but overall I like a lot this book. I just had a feeling at the end of missing something in the narrative. This is an author I will look for in the future.
August 25, 2025
A solidly composed, philosophically intriguing novel about the female founder of a cult beauty brand and the lengths to which she goes to maintain her power, until it all comes crashing down. The somewhat odious voice of the main character, and the frame device of her writing a testimony in the face of a public scandal, were definitely the most interesting components and raised a lot of questions for me as the story progressed. Namely, I wasn't sure how I was supposed to feel about our main character, and I was apprehensive about where the angle of possible racial fetishization would go. But I thought it was ultimately handled in a smart way, with insights about how lesbians can play out problematic romantic/sexual dynamics as much as straight men - and sometimes more insidiously. I thought the conclusion made sense as inevitably where the story was going all along, but the final scene was a bit rushed/convenient; we could've dwelled in those last chapters just a moment longer. The prose has an interesting quality of sounding both highbrow and superficial, perhaps meant to emulate the narrator's overinflated sense of her own success tempered with the relative superficiality of her pursuits. Overall there was a ton to chew on in this story, with its themes of image, authenticity, self-esteem, and the changing social dynamics of America. Thanks to Dutton and NetGalley for the ARC; comes out January 2026!
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