The Smart One and the Pretty One

by Claire LaZebnik

Book Overview

In this "witty and stylish" novel, two sisters take on modern relationships -- and find a suitor in a jokingly arranged marriage (Holly Peterson, bestselling author of The Manny). When Ava Nickerson... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446582069
• Release Date: September 2008
• Publisher: 5 Spot
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.9" x 0.9" x 5.1"

Customer Reviews

I loved this touching and charming novel

I picked this book up because I was drawn to the cover (I'm a sucker for anything pink!) and was expecting it to be typical chick lit. Far from it! In the hands of another writer, Claire LaZebnik's story about two sisters - combative, competitive, looking for love- would be lightweight fluff but instead, The Smart One and the Pretty One is funny and moving and much more deeply drawn. I especially love that LaZebnik respects her readers by not wrapping everything up in a fancy pink bow at the end. She injects realism into her characters and their story and makes us truly care for them.

Claire LaZebnik Nails It

I love a good sister story and found this one, "The Smart One and the Pretty One," thoroughly enjoyable. It's not a stretch of the imagination to guess we have two interesting young women, one a responsible lawyer, and the other a recently fired spendthrift, each traveling through life on a different path. It's just that during the course of this tale, their paths lead to the same place: home. It's similar to the novel In Her Shoes: A Novel by Jennifer Weiner, however, this is a new pair of sisters with a different set of challenges. The writing is very good and the characters well developed. The pretty one, Lauren, moves back to her childhood home in LA after a stint in New York for two reasons: She's fired from her job and she learns her mother has breast cancer. Meanwhile, Ava, the smart sister, is still in LA busy with her job as an attorney. They are both beautiful in a Julianna Margulies kind of way, but Lauren has learned to flaunt her beauty with stylish fashions, while Ava hides it by wearing bad shoes and skirts that are too long. It's very clear that they hold their labels closely. This is annoying. BUT, to counter these characteristics, they both have a wonderful sense of humor, a great rapport with one another, and are both very much like their extremely likeable mother, Nancy, who undergoes chemotherapy throughout the story. We see them deal not only with their mother's cancer treatment, but also with their love lives (or potential love lives), and each learns more about herself and her sister by the last page. Very well done and my favorite of LeZabnik's three novels. Michele Cozzens is the author of It's Not Your Mother's Bridge Club.

I adored this book!

I adored this book! I can't say enough good things about it! I knew exactly where Ava was coming from and found myself being eager to see what she did with herself for my own benefit! I really can't think of the last time that I identified with a character in a book so much. I don't dress to impress and hate wearing makeup! And like in the book, my little sister has done my makeup on occasion. And Lauren, also what a great character. Even though I didn't identify nearly as much with her as I did her sister ,Ava, I saw a bit of my sister in her. Russell was so sweet, I loved him too! These characters were real people to me. (This MUST be made into a movie!) So besides the fact that I felt like those characters were very real to me, this book was just funny. Your everyday, can't help it funny! That's just who they were. I loved that and found myself laughing often while reading this. Also the whole plot, the idea that people that knew each other as children, but that are now strangers, are thrust together in a variety of situations. It made for some great set-ups and sneaking around on Lauren's part. Ava is so stuck in her ways that Lauren has to trick her into being social with anyone other then their family. My only unfulfilled wish for this book would have been to see the ending drawn out a bit more, maybe just 20-40 more pages. Without giving away anything, I wanted to hear Russell's thoughts a bit more on a particular character.

The Smart One & The Pretty One

Ava and Lauren are two modern sisters who look pretty much alike but see the world in completely different ways. Ava, the older sister, is a lawyer and the responsible daughter. She dresses professionally but plainly with as little fuss and bother as possible. Lauren on the other hand, makes her living buying clothing for retail stores and is a little bit of a clotheshorse. When Lauren really racks in the debt and can't continue to pay her bills AND her mother is diagnosed with breast cancer she decides to pack it in and come home. Ava helps Lauren sort out her bills and Lauren helps Ava sort out her love life but neither sister is particularly gracious about the help she is receiving. Ava makes Lauren sign a contract stating how Lauren won't buy anything unnecessary for the next six months. Lauren decides to get even when she finds a betrothal contract their parents jokingly made several years ago and sets Ava up with a man the she is unknowingly engaged to. This sounds like a fairly stereotypical plotline but the author's ability to describe the situations and the easy, witty dialogue between not just the sisters, but all the characters makes this novel stand out from all the others. I really enjoyed this book.

Witty & Real

This was a great story about two sisters who are more alike than they would like to admit. I loved the witty repartee between Ava and Russell. It was subtle but hilarious. I totally identified with Ava, although she was often more than a little too stubborn and obtuse. However, I really felt like this was a real story that also dealt with the issue of a parental unit with cancer rather well. I can't wait to read the rest of her books!