Book review- The Regulars

I’m reading a lot recently, so here, have another book review.Disclaimer! Minor spoilers.

On my bedside table: The Regulars by Georgia Clark

Why I picked it up: It was all over my Instagram feed when it came out in the UK and all my ex colleagues were raving about it. It was forever on loan at the library so when I finally spotted a copy on the shelf I grabbed it and now I don’t want to return it ever.

What it is about: Evie, Krista and Willow are three best friends trying to make it through their twenties in New York. They are the Regulars: regular girls with regular jobs, cool but not popular, not ugly but not stunning-beautiful, never really standing out. Wannabe-journalist and passionate feminist Evie is a copyeditor at a glossy magazine, where her attempts to cover issues such as bisexuality, women’s representation and rape victim support are perpetually dismissed in favour of “Find your inner bad girl!” or “Is Facebook killing your sex life?” articles. Krista is a hot mess who dropped out of Law School in order to be an actress, but she’s forever late for her auditions and hasn’t paid the rent in the last seven months. Delicate and sensitive Willow lives under the pressure of her father’s presence, a successful film director who makes her photography look bland and lifeless.

But everything changes when Krista is given a small purple bottle containing a mysterious potion called Pretty, which has the ability to turn anyone into the sexiest, hottest version of themselves.

One drop, one week.

One by one, the girls give in and take the Pretty.  To their dismay, they soon find out that prosperous breasts, a flat stomach and shiny hair can in fact open many doors: Krista is offered a role in a movie co-starring her childhood crush, Willow finds inspiration to take photographs that will be exhibited at her first successful exhibition, and Evie gets to date her favourite writer and long-lived wet dream Velma Wolff.

But the Pretty has some side effects too (beside turning your insides out right before the transformation): Willow has to sacrifice her mental stability in order to capture the perfect angle, Krista is fired twice in consequence of accidents involving masturbating with a Tween King trophy and exposing her crush’s micropenis to the World Wide Web, and Velma Wolff turns out to be a bit of a bitch.

The Regulars is a brilliant Comedy of Errors that sees three ordinary girls experiencing the world from a different perspective, enduring a rollercoaster of emotions, gradually realising that in spite of a hot body it’s still them inside of it, and eventually learning that they don’t need the Pretty or any other magical elixir to be themselves, and to love their bodies and personalities just the way they are.

Would I recommend it: YES. This is one of the best books I’ve ever read. It’s such a page-turner: witty, clever, and most of all HILARIOUS. Go grab a copy NOW.