Ani (pronounced Ah-nee, not Annie) FaNelli, at 28, seems to have the perfect life. On her finger she proudly wears the gigantic emerald ring that her fiancΓ©, handsome blueblood Luke Harrison, placed there. They live together at an impressive zip code in Manhattan, and he pays most of her expenses including designer clothing and handbags. She writes for THE WOMEN'S MAGAZINE, and enjoys the cutthroat and superficial world of writing for a magazine in the Big Apple. Obsessed with her size, she tries any diet that will aid her in becoming a size 0, in celebration of their upcoming elegant wedding at the Harrison family estate. She is a phony on the edges of the upper crust New York society that she longs to become part of. She wears a perfect mask but underneath are deep, dark secrets that are threatening her future. Ani wants to be loved for who she truly is. She has re-invented herself so completely that Ani does not really know who she is, and the mask is starting to crack under the constant strain of perfection. Her perfect life is a perfect lie.
At 14, Ani was disgraced and thrown out of a Catholic school for being caught with drugs. Her ambitious mother, wanting Ani to be part of the upper social strata, enrolls her in Bradley, an exclusive and prestigious co-ed prep school. Once there, Ani's goal is to be accepted by the right group. She gets in a lot of trouble as the new girl there. What happens to her one night with four male classmates brings her public humiliation and scorn. The shocking trauma and nightmares follow her. Her story is filled with unexpected twists and some violent and shocking details. I found her decisions totally unacceptable and stupid.
This is the debut novel from Jessica Knoll and the film rights for it have been acquired by Lionsgate with Reese Witherspoon producing.
As I followed Ani's journey, I changed from really disliking her to rooting for her. This plot is addictive, heartbreaking, filled with topics that touch on today's issues, such as rape, bullying, and peer pressure. I think you will have a difficult time laying this book down until the final page. Great read.
In a riveting debut novel that reads like Prep meets Gone
Girl, a young woman is determined to create the perfect
lifeβhusband, home, and careerβuntil a violent incident from
her past threatens to unravel everything and expose her most
shocking secret of all.
Twenty-eight-year-old New Yorker Ani FaNelli seems to have
it all: sheβs a rising star at The Womenβs Magazine,
impossibly fit, perfectly groomed, and about to marry Luke
Harrison, a handsome blueblood. But behind that veneer of
perfection lies a vulnerability that Ani holds close and
buries deepβa very violent and public trauma from her past
that has left her constantly trying to reinvent herself. And
only she knows how far she would go to keep her secrets safe.
When a documentary producer invites Ani to tell her side of
the chilling incident that took place when she was a
teenager at the prestigious Bradley School, she hopes it
will be an opportunity for public vindication. Armed with
the trappings of successβexpensive clothes, high-powered
byline, a massive engagement ringβshe is determined to
silence the whispers of suspicion and blame from her past,
and prove once and for all how far sheβs come since Bradley.
Sheβll even let them film her lavish wedding on Nantucket,
the final step in her transformation.
But perfection doesnβt come without cost. As the wedding and
filming converge, Aniβs meticulously crafted facade begins
to buckle and crackβuntil an explosive revelation offers her
a final chance at redemption, even as it rocks her
picture-perfect world.
Equal parts glitz and darkness, and with a singular voice
and twisting plot, Luckiest Girl Alive reads like Sex & the
Cityβif Carrie Bradshaw had a closet full of skeletons
instead of shoes. In Ani FaNelli, Jessica Knoll has created
a complex and vulnerable heroine who youβll be rooting for
to the very last page.
No excerpt available.
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