Bibliocrack Review: Unsticky by Sarra Manning

I'm still just a little bit protective of my feelings over this book. Do you ever feel that way after finishing a book that completely threw you for a loop (in the very best way)? I feel distinctly protective of our relationship, the book and I. I'm still mulling over the way things ended on my lunch break and as I lie in bed waiting to fall asleep. Because it took me by such surprise, and because I fell in love with it so fast and hard, I'm just not at all sure I'm ready to talk about the experience. But enough of my book reviewing eccentricities. I've held onto my feelings long enough and it's time to let them see the light of day. Because Unsticky did a bit of a number on me. This is my first foray into Sarra Manning's body of work and I'm kicking myself for waiting so long to find out for myself what the rest of you have been going on about. For those of you not familiar with her work, Ms. Manning is known for her contemporary young adult titles, which have been published on both sides of the pond. This is her first contemporary adult title and, unfortunately, it's only available in the UK. I ordered my copy from Awesome Books after reading Sabrina's excellent review over at About Happy Books. I seriously ordered it that very day and looked forward to its arrival in my mailbox each day after that. 


A side note: I do love reading a novel that's never been edited for an American audience. I get lost in the wonderful wording and in the different sensibility that seems to pervade the whole. Definite bonus factor here.


Grace is having a bad 23rd birthday. Make that a very bad birthday. Her boyfriend decides it's a good idea to dump her in the handbag section of her favorite department store on her birthday and then storm out in a huff of seriously dubious righteous indignation when she doesn't handle it with the utmost grace and decorum. But things get even weirder when she is shortly spirited out of the shop by an unidentified male who seems both appalled at her tears and bent on absconding with her to have a drink. Monumentally confused and emotionally wrung out, Grace gets as far as sitting down at a table with the mysterious Vaughn before her common sense kicks in like a champ and she beats a path out of there. But it's not the last she's heard of Vaughn. He has a proposition for her that involves a six-month stint of playing the role of his girlfriend at a series of high-profile art soirees  in exchange for, well, cold hard cash. Appalled and offended, Grace has no intention of accepting his outrageous offer. But then she gets to thinking. Her life hasn't exactly been coming up roses lately. She's massively, massively in debt due to a pesky habit of binge shopping whenever things get too grim. And things get grim pretty often, what with soaring credit card bills, her demeaning and thankless job in the fashion industry she loves, and her inability to extend a meaningful relationship beyond the three-month mark. And so it is with much trepidation and not a little bit of terror that she accepts Vaughn's offer, signs a contract, and enters a whole new world.


There's no denying it. I just . . . I just could not tear my eyes away from this story for the entire 448 pages of the book. Something about Grace and Vaughn immediately dug into my character pleasure center and made a home there. They were so real, so horribly, horribly isolated from the world around them. And it was incredibly gratifying to watch them come to grips with both the extremely unpleasant and the achingly beautiful aspects of their own realities, when forced to see them through the lens of the other's perspective. Especially as they hailed from diametrically opposite worlds and there is little to no incentive to be anything other than brutally honest when your "relationship" is built on the most unsentimental and mercenary of contractual terms. Honestly, there was just so much pain, possibility, and ruthlessly reined in emotion lying between these two that I was an absolute goner. All I could do was watch in exquisite agony as they hurt each other and misunderstood each other and loved each other over and over again until something had to give. I was so involved it almost didn't matter to me what that something was or how it ended. Almost. Of course it mattered to me. But the ride itself was such a pleasure, I would have loved Unsticky for that alone. Happens that I love it for its ending as well. Though I (as always seems to be the case) could have done with a teensy bit more in the way of declarations. But that's me. Part modern-day Pretty Woman, part up close and personal, present-day Pygmalion, it's a winner in my book. If you're a sucker for immeasurably flawed characters, blistering romance, and vintage clothing, then this is the book for you. Unsticky rocked my little bookish world and instantly transformed me into a card-carrying member of the Sarra Manning fan club. 


Linkage
About Happy Books Review
Emily and Her Little Pink Notes Review
Paper Back Novel Review