The Smart One and the Pretty One
Author: Claire LaZebnik
ISBN: 9780446582063
The Smart One and the Pretty One by Claire LaZebnik tells the story of two sisters who look alike but couldn’t be more different.
Ava Nickerson is a smart and accomplished lawyer. She takes pride in her work and could care less about fashion and beauty.
Lauren Nickerson works in a shop and takes pride in being beautiful, loving fashion and cares a great deal about appearance.
Lauren moves to California with Ava when she loses her job and finds out that her mother has cancer. Lauren is annoyed when Ava starts picking on her about her finances and when she finds a “joke” contract that her mother and her friend drew up that betroths Ava to Russell Markowitz twenty years earlier, Lauren decides to take it a little too seriously.
Lauren sets Ava up on several unexpected dates with Russell, but before Ava knows it..she is falling in love.
I really loved this book. I’ve never read anything by LaZebnik until now (though I will certainly be changing that).
The dynamic between the two sisters reminds me so much of my own relationship with my sister Jamie. LaZebnik truly captures what it is to have a sisterly relationship…including the whole love/hate aspect.
The side stories about Ava and Russell, Ava and Lauren’s mother and Lauren and the man from the hospital keep the story moving along nicely, and kept my interest.
I found myself falling in love with Russell right along with Ava. At times, I wanted to smack Ava upside the head because she clearly had no idea how great Russell really was, but true to Ava’s personality, it takes her a bit longer than the rest of us to realize that.
If you want to read a great book about a true sisterly bond…definitely pick this one up.
4.5/5
The best books are the ones in which I fall in love right along with the main characters! This one sounds great — and I love, love, love books about sisters. I think it's because I'm so close to mine. 🙂 Great review, really looking forward to reading this one!