I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Canelo in exchange for an honest review.Natural Beauty may be one of the hardest books I've read in a while to place. Our unnamed narrator finds herself working for the mysterious beauty and wellness company, Holistik, after a string of bad luck in her life leaves her near-destitute. Once a promising pianist, now she sells strange dystopian-esque beauty products (though tbh we see very little of this). She also meets and falls for another young woman who is distantly involved with the company.
Even when writing this summary, I struggled greatly to describe this book because it is not really plot or character-driven in the traditional sense. The narrator has a compelling story and mind which went a long way to keeping me engaged with the story going on, but if anything I would say this is a world-driven book. Even then, the elements of the world remain in the background and I found this quite difficult as a reader. The blurb gives no indication that this is meant to be futuristic or dystopian and yet it was the only way I could reconcile what was going on with any kind of reality. I felt quite unsure at any one time that I really understood the world the book was taking place in and this dimmed the horror somewhat, especially early on.
Having said that, I really enjoyed this book. It was a fairly easy read in terms of pacing and length, and particularly near the end, the horror kicks in properly and you get some really intense scenes. My main issue is I can't really place why I enjoyed it so much. I think the main character does provide some much-needed grounding in the story which otherwise would feel quite absurd (and often still does) but I wouldn't say she drives the story either. The horror elements are often a little confusing and/or so removed from reality as to not quite hit their mark. I normally dislike body horror but it didn't affect me much in this book because the descriptions were so abstract. I think the message about the beauty industry is lost due to the ridiculous nature of much of the horror and that's a real shame. It left the book feeling a little YA and indeed, I started to wish I was reading Only Ever Yours by Louise O'Neill instead. That book covers many of the same themes but in a much more grounded way, despite the absolute dystopian setting.
Overall, this review seems quite negative but I would actually recommend reading Natural Beauty. It has a lot of interesting ideas, set pieces and themes going on. I wish the characters were more emotionally-driven and that the world/horror elements were more grounded in reality but this book still has a lot to offer and I think I'll remember it for a long time
Overall Rating:
3.5/5 stars
