Jillian Lauren

Pretty is the not-so-pretty, utterly riveting, non-stop frantic and compulsively readable saga of Bebe Baker, a heroine who knows her way around a serious binge. The prose, at times, drives with such ferocious urgency that the words seem not so much written as willed onto the page. Pretty stands out as a triumph of survival testimony.

Pretty is the real deal, a harrowing journey from darkness to light to real life. Bebe's unflinching, street-level search for salvation absolutely floored me, and Jillian Lauren's writing shimmers throughout with wit and authenticity.

Jillian Lauren writes with stunning, furious authenticity about self-destruction and the bitter road toward redemption. Pretty will knock the breath right out of you.

“Bebe’s in-your-face voice is one of the novel’s strengths… At times Bebe is maddening, but in Ms. Lauren’s skilled hands, she never stops being heart-wrenchingly sympathetic.”

Lauren's novel is well-crafted, quick, and absorbing...

Jillian Lauren’s writing has a velvety, visceral edge that compliments her beautifully descriptive prose that is guttural in its realism, yet soothing in its familiarity. Lauren is a truly gifted writer with the voice of a street-wise angel.

Pretty is tragically-heartbreaking, determinedly-inspiring and masterfully-written. As it was with her first book and memoir: Some Girls: My Life in a Harem, Lauren’s fictional debut proves, yet again, that she has what it takes to leave an indelible mark.

...this hard-edged coming-of-age tale will find an audience on both sides of the adult-YA divide.

Some Girls is a heart-stoppingly thrilling story told by a punk rock Scheherazade. Lauren writes with such lyrical ease - the book is almost musical, an enduring melody of what it is to be a woman.

Some Girls would have been riveting even if Jillian Lauren had merely illuminated the murky world of high-class prostitution for the general reader. The fact that she does so with humor, candor, and a reporter's gimlet eye is an added delight. But Some Girls also undertakes the deepest challenge: it reveals how and why a middle-class kid like Lauren found herself in such a line of work--and how she got out.

Lauren... is a deft storyteller, imparting equal parts poignant reflection and wisdom into her enlightening book. A gritty, melancholy memoir leavened by the author's amiable, engrossing narrative tenor.

[Jillian Lauren is] a gifted writer. Compelling.

Wow, what a story! Jillian Lauren’s Some Girls is the most exotic sex worker memoir I’ve ever read. Imagine being paid to play with the richest men in the world? Few women dare to speak of their youthful sexual adventures with such honesty and clarity. I can’t wait for the movie

Catfights, mad cash, priceless jewels -- what’s a young girl from Jersey to do? Welcome to the sultan’s harem, a secret world filled with artful seduction and parties that never end. What starts out juicy quickly turns soulful in this elegantly crafted, multi-layered stunner of a memoir. Lauren strikes the perfect balance between light and shadow in her spellbinding tale of one woman’s exotic search for identity and true love.

Lauren is a gifted and lyrical writer whose coming-of-age tale has the reader firmly under its spell by the end of the first paragraph. Her emotional insight is deeply penetrating, allowing us to feel kinship with her even as we marvel at her rarefied adventures. Lauren generously brings us along for an amazing ride as she seeks, and then finds, meaning and connection in her life. I couldn't put it down.

Jillian Lauren's Some Girls takes readers into a world so dramatic, it seems almost too far out to be true. But the bracing realism that infuses her storytelling lifts the veil of harem life and shows us the gritty truth of life in fantasy-land. Her transformation from dream girl-for-hire to rock-n-roll mama proves that resilience and reinvention, more than diamonds, are a girl's best friend.

Some Girls reads like a swiftly-paced novel, but gets under your skin in a way fiction can't. This is a striptease of a book, sexy and mesmerizing at first, but at the end a very real woman stands in front of you, exposed and vulnerable. I couldn't put it down, and when I was done, I couldn't stop thinking about it.

While the surprising and exotic subject matter is sure to pique interest, Lauren’s graceful, introspective prose lifts her unusual memoir far above the level of mere titillation.

Incredibly Engaging. Lauren is a gifted writer - full of ease, humor, and grace.

Too good to read just once!