Review: The Regulars

The Regulars
Georgia Clark
Published August 2, 2016

Best friends Evie, Krista, and Willow are just trying to make it through their mid-twenties in New York. They’re regular girls, with average looks and typical quarter-life crises: making it up the corporate ladder, making sense of online dating, and making rent.

Until they come across Pretty, a magic tincture that makes them, well...gorgeous. Like, supermodel gorgeous. And it’s certainly not their fault if the sudden gift of beauty causes unexpected doors to open for them.

But there’s a dark side to Pretty, too, and as the gloss fades for these modern-day Cinderellas, there’s just one question left:

What would you sacrifice to be Pretty? - from Goodreads

The Regulars is the perfect summer beach read - it's fun, playful, racy, and even a little relatable.  And that cover?  Absolutely adorable.

The story follows three friends (Evie, Krista, and Willow) as they are introduced to Pretty, a magic potion that makes them gorgeous (and unrecognizable) for a week.  Evie is a copy editor at a magazine; Krista is a struggling actor; and Willow is a photographer trying to get out from under the shadow of her famous father.  Evie really believes that her looks are holding her back in both her career and her personal life, and even though she tries to resist, she decides to try Pretty.  Krista's reasoning is the most straightforward - if she were better looking, she'd get more acting jobs and be able to pay her bills. 

Krista is fun and flirty (and smart - she got into law school but quit to be an actor), but she just can't get it together.  She is chronically late and can't get her spending under control. Evie is the feminist of the group.  She isn't climbing the career ladder very quickly, and she thinks Pretty will help her in a new assignment at work.  Her ideas for more articles empowering women have been falling on deaf ears, and she hopes to make more of an impact with a different face.  Willow was probably my least favorite character - it's clear that she has serious self-esteem issues, suffers from depression, and is holding onto issues from her childhood.  Her boyfriend Mark seems like such a sweet guy, and Willow uses Pretty to change her appearance and trick him into cheating on her.  She is so self-sabotaging!

I think this book is a clever and fun commentary on how our society values beauty - these girls deem themselves only average-looking and believe their lives would be so much better if they were beautiful.  I mean, who hasn't thought that maybe they'd get more dates or a promotion at work if they were just taller or had a more symmetrical face or a better body?  However, as the story goes on and Pretty doesn't change their lives in the ways they expected it to, I think it becomes obvious to the characters that happiness and success are not just about having a pretty face.

3.5 stars: Provocative, funny, and easy to read, take The Regulars on your next vacation!