Thin, Rich, Pretty by Beth Harbison

Released: July 2010

Beth Harbison is one of my new favorite authors after having discovered her in fall of 2009 when I read Shoe Addicts Anonymous (2007). The events that transpired in Secrets of a Shoe Addict (2008) even inspired me to open a new business (ahem), although short-lived, was very lucrative for me. I highly encourage you to pick up a Beth Harbison novel if you haven't already; I promise you'll fall in love.

Thin, Rich, Pretty begins twenty years ago, when three teenage girls are all outsiders in their own way and spending time at a summer camp. Holly and Nicola are best friends, whereas Lexi is a rich, beautiful girl whom the chubby Holly and shy Nicola envy -- and hate. Twenty years later, Holly and Nicola are still friends striving to overcome the same insecurities they worried about years ago, while Lexi finds herself alone and struggling to make ends meet financially.


With a crude event that took place years ago at summer camp put behind them, the three women still find that the experience in question still overshadows their present-day lives. As Holly, Lexi, and Nicola work toward their goals of becoming thinner, richer, and prettier respectively, they eventually discover that the past can finally be put behind them as new, beautiful, and major life changes await.

I personally enjoy Beth Harbison's novels because 1) they are truly laugh-out-loud hilarious and 2) they are so nostalgic! I love Harbison's pop-culture references to the 80s and 90s being a product of those times myself, so the value of her novels is sky-high for me. Just as Sandra's character regaled us with funny, yet horrible dating stories in the Shoe Addict series, Holly's worthless relationship with boyfriend Randy cracks me up just as much, if not more!

Thin, Rich, Pretty demonstrates the greatest of camaraderie between female friends and pokes fun at insecurities we all encompass to some degree. Although some aspects of the plot are unrealistic and silly, that's exactly just the point -- and it makes the novel that much more fun and enjoyable. Every character in Thin, Rich, Pretty gets what he or she deserves!

Beth Harbison is just too fun, simply put. You've got to read all of her novels. In addition to the Shoe Addicts novels, Harbison released Hope in a Jar in 2009 and her newest novel, Always Something There to Remind Me, will be released later this summer in 2011.