Books of the future: Sheer

Lawrence, Vanessa- Sheer

Some thoughts about this book:

-I enjoy reading books with intelligent and/or creative characters who work hard. I like seeing what they can do, and what their processes are like. It's part of the reason why I like watching The Bear. The main character of this book has a real vision for what makeup should look like and a talent for applying it. She founds a makeup brand before she's out of college, and it's a big hit.

-The MC is accused of sexual harassment- that's not a spoiler, the book happens in the aftermath. It's not always easy to read about, but it is unusual to read it from a woman's perspective. The MC is a lesbian who kept that a secret as much as she could at work (it's set in the 90s mainly), and she has a relationship with her assistant.

-It was fun to read about trends of the 90s and 00s, when I was young.

The MC is stuck at home, unable to go to work while the board of her company are deciding what to do about her. She founded the company, but she had financial help in a way that makes her vulnerable, which gives the story some suspense. Even though she's in trouble for doing something awful, I was rooting for her because there were people around doing awful things to her. (Spoiler: Although part of that rooting for her was hoping that she'd take a good long look at what happened and reassess, and that's what happens.)

The book takes part over about a week and a half, and the MC is writing a long document of how she got started in the business and What Happened. Sometimes I didn't like the MC, but I liked reading about her. I disliked the people who were mean to her more than I ever disliked her.

This comes out on Jan. 13th, so I'm barely getting this out before it's publication day. I get these galleys at library conferences and then don't read them fast enough. I am determined to do better this year.