I was a bit hesitant before picking up this book cz of the cover cz I’m not into too much romance in a way , but I was really glad I picked it up cz it reminded me of the series I used to watch while I was young like Gossip Girl and Pretty little liars as it had all the aspects that you might think about not just love but about friendship , betrayal, love, hate, discovering once self, gossip, modeling world, and all the emotions that comes with all the messed up situations that you might face, so it was really worth my time for real.
I learned a lot from this book :
First, friendship as it was a huge part of the book.
as the it has to be built on trust and caring also sharing your life with no lies or secrets cz lies and secrets for sure will ruin that relationship also jealousy can ruin it as it builds black dotes inside someone’s heart. Caring should be mutual from both sides, to be listened to while also listening to others problem it is a two way thing cz you might lose your friends if you only cared about yourself, and also friendship is something is precious cz you can’t gossip about anyone unless if the other person is so close to you, and you need it to be able to stand again after every bad thing that might happen to you , so you should be able to trust them to help you while being through a lot If you don’t trust them that means they are not real ones.
Second, Love was something else in this book, I learned love isn’t about just being in love but it is more about a journey to discover the real you and who you really wanted to be, it is not a way to have things it is a precious thing that makes you comfortable with your own skin no need to pretend to be someone else for the person you thought you loved , the love should make you feel happy comfortable cared about not just a tool to become in a higher position or to look very classy or anything like this, and that I should stay way from toxic relationship and that I should choose carefully when I have to, cz one mistake can cause you to lose the right person, and not every one is the right for you, you might find someone else who deserves you better than what you thought is right so take ur time in love never be the fast type, and that betrayal is never a solution for anything but once you betray your love know that there is something wrong in your current one and you should it end it right away.
Third, discover yourself is a journey you take to know who you really are as in this journey you should filter the people around you and choose the right ones that you want them to stay next to you, cz not everyone is healthy some are toxic and they might ruin who you are and everything you have worked for, and once you get to know who you are never hesitate and just take the right step and keep going in this direction.
Let’s move to the story:
The story starts when Libby goes to charlie’s party and cheat on her bf with a guy and that guy turns out to be a paparazzi and then he decides to blackmail her, his silence about this are for exactly 10 dates and that’s when things starts, all the things that Libby do to hide that one mistake she did and how this 10 dates changed her and the way she thinks and how her heart work also how it changed her carrer and her relationship with everyone around her from her bf to her friends, and it was really an amazing journey you will enjoy, as you won’t get only the story of Libby but all the brat pack and their inner world and how they gossip not only about others but about themselves and how they hide secrets form each other and how they might ruin each other if they had the chance they won’t leave a chance not to gossip about something, and also we get to see what the models have to do to really reach the place they want, and as the story goes on we see how Libby friendship with the pack will change how did she affect them and how they affect on her next, the plot twist was amazing I really liked how things picked up and stayed intense till the last page, as the ending was satisfying in a way but not the cheesy one it was just the percfect one that keeps you wanting to know more and read more.
Let’s move to the characters :
Libby: the main character I couldn’t but fall in love with her she was honest wit herself and what she really wanted to be when she put her mind into something and she would do everything to be in the place she wants to be so she just do everything she could without caring about the consequences, also I loved how she was honest with herself about who she loved and who she needed to let go of , she has made a great journey to discover who she really was and she never hesitated about it , she was smart enough to do so. The only thing I hated about her which was even though she loved her friends but she never really cared about them in a good way or listened to them that the only treat that made her lose many things but at the same time this same treat taught her who really was there for her and who was not.
Went: He taught me love can be genuine and some situation might make you do things you don’t want to but at the same time it gives you and experience you never thought of and might lead you to a place you wanted but never thought about doing it this way, so you just go and do what you have to do , he was that good character bad character that you can’t but fall in love with he is this type of personality that makes you wanna love and show the true side of yourself wither it was bad or good just be the true self, his kind of live is so cute and the way he express it is even more cute, as he only blackmailed libby to get to know her also he had to do all the shitty things to libby and her friends just for a good reason , like you can’t hate him after this, my fav character.
Charlie : the devil in the book and all the problems happens cz of her she is the leader of the pack but at the same time as she sounds very devilish i know she might had a dark past that made her act this way and I really wanna know a back up story about her hopping that the author consider doing a sequel about her and the whole pack.
Anita: Libby’s closest friend and her neighbor also a part of the pack she had to find her way in the modeling world and she had to do a lot of things just to reach the top but she always ended up losing as she was always there for libby but libby wasn’t there for her att all she decides to turn her back to her friend the one who broke her the most.
The rest of the pack were just as interesting as everyone else , hope I can see a back up story of every character in this book, cz I’m really intreseted in all of them,
The books was really amazing and I enjoyed it so much, hope one day I can see it as a movie cz it is worth it as I was able to imagine each and every scene of the book in a way I didn’t think I will , so now after this long review I will leave you with some quotes I loved from this book:
She couldn’t remember the last time a guy had given her the time of day and had a conversation with her that consisted of more than a dozen words. It was making the butterflies in her stomach fly around like little psychos.
Libby wasn’t sure if it was the intoxicating smell of cigarettes on his breath or the fact that his hands felt so good wrapped around her, but he was right
but she knew that if the roles were reversed that she would have reacted in the exact same way. They all thrived on the gossip, no matter who it was about
no matter how much of a ‘secret’ it was. Realistically in Hollywood, a secret was better defined as something kept between friends, and their friends, and their friends
It didn’t help that his green eyes, the ones that she remembered well from the first night they’d met, sparkled like hell every time he smiled
At the same time though, she knew that the longer she spent in this conversation, the more she would feel like she was stuck in a nightmare that she just wanted to wake up from
They were her family, no matter how much they bitched about each other. They were her family and she loved them
As she mulled it over, she realized that whilst she was angry, part of her was also sad. Missing someone tended to do that to a person, especial y when it was someone you love
she was quick and witty, and he found that unbelievably sexy
She stil loved him, and it was moments like this, and him saying things like this, that made her realize that he still loved her too. Despite the crazy interrogations, the long distance, and the fights, he stil loved her
f she was being honest, for some reason his touch on her skin somehow felt uncomfortable, almost like an itch that she couldn’t scratch
Now she associated the expensive gifts with apologies, fights, and the low points of their relationship. She knew that Hollywood girls lapped up this kind of thing, and she had for many months, but the same old song and dance was just getting stale now. Rather than filling her up, the gifts just made her feel empty
Whether it was because he genuinely didn’t know or because he didn’t care, Libby wasn’t even sure anymore
entirely surprised that Ace had let her down again, that is. She was, however, very surprised at how stupid she had been to believe that this time was going to be different
Real guys didn’t say things like this.
Real guys didn’t tell girls that they were worth getting to know better. Real guys didn’t tel girls that they were more than what they appeared to be on the surface
It was what he had wanted, so he decided that whatever he was doing correctly he was going to continue to do it, which probably meant laying off the smart-ass comments for now
“I don’t get the chance to have many real conversations with the people in my life so thanks
He didn’t even know if she realized how vulnerable she was being and how much more it made him want her
Wentworth looked at her, straight into those dark brown eyes, and he knew that this was his moment if he wanted it to be. She was looking at him like maybe she was waiting for him to say something. She was also looking at him like maybe she was waiting for him to do something, but that could have easily just been his ego talking
She was maintaining his eye contact, and it felt like they had been staring into each other’s eyes for days. Wentworth was trying to control the look in his, to make sure his lust wasn’t showing, but he wasn’t sure how well he was doing that. He could almost feel the lust exploding out of him with each second that passed
She wanted to close her eyes and surrender to this moment, and it made her so nervous. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, and she could hear it in her ears. It was taking every bit of concentration to remind herself to breathe
It was strange to feel it today though because she wasn’t sure if that heartache was to do with the boyfriend that she was sure she stil loved and had betrayed, or whether it was heartache for the other boy in her life. The one that wasn’t even supposed to be in her life at al . The one that made her feel things that she wasn’t sure she’d ever felt before. The one she knew she could never be with. Whether it was because of Victoria’s Secret or Ace Thatcher, she knew that she could never let herself love Wentworth Turner
There was something ridiculously sexy about the way she spoke his name that just made his insides do all kinds of ridiculous gymnastic stunts. It made him thankful that she called him
Trying to give her what she needed right now, what she wanted. If only it was that simple. If only he knew what she needed and what she wanted. If only he knew what he wanted other than to hold her for as long as she would let him
She was pretty sure he knew how she felt, and as scary as that was, the scarier part was not knowing how he felt. Even though she wasn’t ready to tell him how she felt, she knew that she needed to hear how he did
Libby could sense his hesitation. Like he knew what he had to say but he was holding back because of what his words were and what they would mean once he said them
I don’t want this to be another night you wake up tomorrow and regret,” Wentworth final y said
A silence enveloped them, the only sound being the late-night San Francisco traffic outside their window
only a few seconds before she opened her eyes again. Her eyes locked with his as she final y spoke the words that she had been holding back for so long. The words she knew would change everything.
“That I want you,” Libby said, “all of you, and I don’t care why anymore
She had wanted this moment for longer than she was happy to admit, and probably even longer than that. She had wanted him for so long, and she was done caring about what it would mean for her career and her relationship. She had wanted Wentworth Turner for so long, and she was done caring about anything else
Wentworth watched her careful y as a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, starting at the left corner, as usual. Her eyes moved between his and the concrete beneath their feet, making it look like her eyes were almost completely closed as they stood in silence. Wentworth could feel his heart beating frantical y in his chest as he waited for her to say something
Everything was his fault, and now he could feel in the pit of his stomach that things were starting to crumble around them. Whatever it was between him and Libby was about to be over
but she wasn’t the only reason their relationship was as broken as it was. She wasn’t the only reason they were standing there, amongst the wreckage of all those broken pieces
“You only hear what you want to hear and when I tel you something is wrong you completely disregard it and think you can patch it up with some expensive piece of jewelry or some fancy dinner
It broke Libby’s heart to see the look in Wentworth’s eyes. He was clearly hoping for a different outcome, one that didn’t involve Libby and Ace staying together
“maybe you’re in love with how he made you feel. Like he made you feel like you were just some normal girl, rather than the socialite and supermodel you actually are. He fel in love with the Libby underneath all the Hollywood crap, and it made you feel good and happy. Maybe you’re just in love with that feeling he gave you
Maybe the part of her relationship with Wentworth that made her so happy was the fact that, for the first time in a long time, she could just be herself. Maybe what made her happy was being a normal girl. One who didn’t have to worry about any of the pressures of being a Hollywood girl
Somewhere along the line, she stopped feeling like she had to be there on those dates with him and instead felt like she wanted to be there. She wanted to spend more time with him and eventual y found herself wanting to be closer to him, both
physical y and emotionally. She found herself craving their conversations and at the same time craving his touch, so it felt wrong to tell the girls about the situation without adding in the back story
“That’s what happens when you think you can keep secrets from The Pack and pul the wool over our eyes,” Charlie muttered
All she could hear was her heart beating in her ears and all she could feel was the tears welling in her eyes. It seemed like a stupid thing to cry about, and she knew she was too old to cry about something as trivial as losing every single one of her closest friends, but she couldn’t help herself. She felt the first tear roll down her cheek as she heard a knock at the front door
but I wouldn’t change it. I got to know you in a way that I could have only hoped for. I got to know you, Libby, and you are even more kind, beautiful, and smart than I ever thought one person could be.”
Wentworth was hoping that his words, as vulnerable but truthful as they were, would be a good place to start on the road to making things better between them. He was hoping that pouring out his soul to her would make her realize that what he felt for her was real. That this wasn’t a game to him
Wentworth looked at her as she spoke and when she finished, she looked him dead in the eye and that was it. It was the moment he felt his heart sink because he had been wrong.
He was worried that she didn’t know exactly how deeply he felt about her. He was worried that she thought he planned al it all in San Francisco, but it turned out that the problem was that he had hurt her, and he could see that now in her eyes. He had hurt her so deeply five years ago when he was there at her mom’s funeral taking photos of her to profit off. It was at that moment when she looked up at him that he also knew that it was over. There was no way to repair their relationship. There was no coming back from this. Five years ago, he had ruined any chance of being with her, and he hadn’t realized that until tonight
Come find me if one day you see the light,” he said “The light that you’ve brought to my life,” Wentworth answered. “The light that I’ve always seen in you
Libby Evans was so much more than he could have ever predicted when he started thinking about her more and more after that day at LAX; back when all he wanted was the chance to spend more time with her. Now al he wanted was for her to be happy and he didn’t think that involved him anymore
I’m only human and having them overlap was a choice I made, even though it wasn’t a great one.”
“Sure,” Peyton nodded. “We’re all only human and we’re all entitled to make some mistakes. I really think that people forget that about celebrities and the rich and famous. We’re in the public eye but that doesn’t mean we’re going to be perfect all the time!
“I never like to think of my bad decisions as mistakes,” Libby said, reaching for another piece of Pepperoni pizza to keep her cool. “I like to cal them life lessons.
In your light, we see the light’,” Peyton replied.
“Oh my God,” Libby gasped