We Could Be Beautiful

Starred review from April 15, 2016
Posh Manhattanite Catherine West has everything but the family she's always wanted. But when she falls for the man of her supposed dreams, she unravels a web of deception that upends life as she knows it. "I was rich," begins Huntley's mesmerizing debut. "I owned a small business, I had a wardrobe I replaced all the time. I was toned enough and pretty enough. I moisturized, I worked out." And yet, despite the West Village apartment, the trust fund, the weekly massages, and the occasional soup kitchen shift ("I was also a really good person," she promises), Catherine feels existentially incomplete. So when she encounters William Stockton --at an art gala, obviously--she believes she's found her missing piece: handsome, well-bred, adoring, if oddly reserved, he is the man she's been waiting for. Plus, she wants children, and at 43, "the hourglass was running out of sand." But immediately, there is something amiss about stately William Stockton; just the mention of his name causes her ailing mother to slam shut. Then again, Catherine reasons, "even pre-Alzheimer's" her mother "had a tendency to hate people for no apparent reason." And so, within months, the pair is engaged. And still, Catherine cannot ignore the increasingly unsettling signs. Why won't her mother speak of him? Why is William so alarmed when Catherine sifts through his stash of innocuous childhood photos? And what is the meaning of the note from her former nanny, neatly taped in her mother's old diary--"we cannot trust anyone to care for us fully"? As elegantly plotted as it is--and it is--Huntley's debut stands out not for its thrills but rather for her hawkish eye for social detail and razor-sharp wit. It is more than a classic psychological thriller: it is also a haunting--and weirdly moving--portrait of love and family among Manhattan's flailing upper crust. An intoxicating escape; as smart as it is fun.

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May 15, 2016
Huntley's sleek debut is the story of Catherine, a Manhattanite who has everything a socialite could want: a gorgeous home on the Upper West Side; a quirky greeting-card boutique she keeps afloat with her trust-fund money; several people by her side, including her weekly masseuse; and the ability to toss thousands of dollars at every handbag or designer scarf that catches her eye. But something is missing. Her mother, suffering from dementia, is rapidly deteriorating; she never seems to get the chance to connect with her sister; and she's still nursing a broken engagement. When handsome, perfect William enters the picture, she's all too eager to be swept off her feet. He's rich, he's sophisticated, and he even has a connection to her family. But when Catherine's mother starts to blurt out only bad memories of William, Catherine begins to dig into her past. This is slow-burn suspensemore of a character study than a thrillerbut Huntley has expertly created her characters and ekes out just enough tension throughout, leading readers on a compelling trip to the unexpected conclusion.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

April 15, 2016

Catherine West lives the perfect life in Manhattan. She has plenty of money, left to her in a trust from her father, keeps a fabulous apartment, and basically does what she wants when she wants. But what Catherine doesn't have is the marriage and family she's always longed for. This fact puzzles her. After all, she's attractive and smart and has everything, so why hasn't she been able to make that connection? Enter William Stockton, the answer to her prayers. He's handsome and urbane and seems to fall as hard for her as she does him. Certainly, she has a few reservations, ones that are exacerbated by her Alzheimer's-afflicted mother, who appears to remember something very bad about William. Despite her misgivings, Catherine charges headlong into love and an engagement. VERDICT In her meditative psychological debut, Huntley explores the effect of the lies we hear from others and the ones we tell ourselves. The buildup is nicely done, but the emotional payoff doesn't live up to expectations. [See Prepub Alert, 12/5/15.]--Jane Jorgenson, Madison P.L., WI

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2016

Impeccably turned out but emotionally a wasteland, Catherine has two broken engagements behind her when she meets handsome, sophisticated William. This relationship looks to be a go, but Catherine's mother, distanced by Alzheimer's, claims to have bad memories of William as a boy. A big debut.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.