Book review: Luster by Raven Leilani

Who could resist the pull of the red lips on the cover of Luster? And true to first impressions, the story intimate, pushing boundaries in love.

But unfortunately, the boundaries that were pushed just weren’t realistic to me.

The story follows Edie, who is working a dead-end admin job, sleeping with the wrong men and failing to break into the art world she craves. Then she meets Eric, who seems to have his life together. He treats Edie better than the other men in her life … except that he is married.

Somehow, the story develops into Edie inviting herself to a party at Eric and his wife’s house, and, I really don’t know how the author thought this could be credible, she moves in.

Edie befriends the couple’s daughter, to whom her parents seem to think Edie can provide an example of how to live. Or at least a friendship.

The whole time I was reading Luster, I thought that there had to be some kind of twist that explained the arrangement, but it never came.

What had started off as a fun and funny book about relationships, in a very distinctive voice, just ended up being too ridiculous for me.

It’s not a book that I could recommend.