Grabbed this on a whim because it looked like a fun read and it was! Some of Helbig's stories and lists had me laughing out loud! I could have done without the Grandma Windbreaker and the Mall of America parts. They brought it down to a 3 star book for me.

"Fashions fade but dumb is forever."

I hate the star rating system. In the context of this book, I hate it because I want to give it a better rating than Helbig's last book, because I can see a marked improvement in her writing. At the same time, I don't want to give it any more than 3 stars, which for me means it's a perfectly adequate book. So, I guess I'd say in terms of quality, Helbig's previous book was probably around a 2.5 - pretty middle of the road; it wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't the best thing I'd ever read - and this book closer to a true 3 to 3.5 star.

Helbig's humour, I think, lends itself better to video, and perhaps that is because that's really the medium she has been working on for so long. With this book, she has a better grasp on putting her humour into print that her last one. This book also showed a big improvement in terms of focus and motivation - this book really feels like Helbig is telling a point of view, whereas her last book felt a little bit like she was trying to piece together something of a coherent point based off a smattering of writings that were only vaguely related. This book feels so much more solid and cohesive.

The introduction to this book, which is emotionally more vulnerable than I think any fan will agree any of us has ever seen Helbig, really helps drive this home. By sharing a part of herself that she has not with us via Youtube, Grace opens a door that her last book kept firmly shut. There was something lacking in Grace's Guide that is present in Grace & Style. Again, such an improvement.

On the other hand, it is a fun humour book, which I enjoyed greatly, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend to everyone or call fantastic. I admit that I am harder on humour books and YouTuber books than most other genres I read. I'm sure some people would say this stems from some sort of jealousy - as a person who has spent years on my own writing, I find it frustrating that every YouTuber is getting book deals, many of whom admit they had never thought about writing a book until this whole YouTubers writing books thing blew up. As a fan, I know how hard Grace works and it makes me want to put this prejudice aside, because her efforts are so evident in the improvement between her two books. But it doesn't change the fact that overall, this is just a medium book for me. Grace is still figuring out how to be a writer, how to put a cohesive book together, how to make her brand of humour applicable to print.

If you are a fan of her videos, absolutely read this. It is really worth it as a fan, for the introduction alone. However, I think Grace is still at a point where her books don't quite shine on their own the way they do when paired with her videos. It's only when the book on its own really stands out that she will be a really, really great writer.

her other book was better

3.5 stars

The fact that a light book took me 3 months of fighting aggressively to read it and winds up with me skipping through (and not even to the end) might be all I need to say.

I love Grace! I didn't super love the first book but I would argue that in terms of readable content it was better than this book.

I had to skip all the sweatpants diaries entries. I had to skip the 'if you wear your makeup like this, this is my joke about how the rest of your life is' paragraphs. Which is to say clearly this is why I didn't finish the book. Was more work trying to figure out where the advice was buried in here than I wanted.

I know that if you want lifestyle advice your first bet probably isn't going to be to read a comedian's book but since I like Grace's YouTube (and podcast) I figured why not give it a chance? Funny and informative! Sadly, not so much of either for me

So I had the bug to try reading more audiobooks and I only got as far as 2...for now. After thoroughly loving Yes Please by Amy Poehler I was all set for some more hilarity. To that end I picked up Grace Helbig's Grace & Style: The Art of Pretending You Have It. This is part memoir (a very small part) and part irreverent fashion and beauty guide. If you're unfamiliar with Grace she's a comedian with a super funny YouTube channel (as well as a YouTube series with fellow comedian Mamrie Hart) and this is actually her second book. The book starts off with Grace relating some very personal stories about her struggles with body image but lest you get the idea this is a very serious book it's more about trying to take things less seriously and accepting yourself flaws and all. I really enjoyed the personal anecdotes and how they related to her changing opinions and tastes when it comes to mainstream fashion and beauty standards. She also discusses how differently she views herself now that she has increased visibility due to her career. I think this would be especially good for a young woman in high school or just starting college as that's when we're most vulnerable to the pressures from media. (Note: I don't ever think we're completely immune to it but I do think there are times in our development when it's an especially powerful influence.) Because I consumed this book via audiobook format I felt I was at a bit of a disadvantage when she talked at length about specific beauty products, tips, and how-to's because I'm fairly sure the physical book had a plethora of visual aids. I do want to point out that there was a large portion of the book dedicated to a 'sweatpants diary' which I suppose was meant to be a metaphor for the pressures of the media effecting how we perceive fashion but I found it exceedingly odd. (Also, I found myself nodding off more than once during it.) For those that need reminding that fashion and beauty in general are completely subjective this is a great resource. For someone looking for a hilarious pick-me-up it's a bit short of the mark. 5/10

Non-fiction November 2016

I listened to the audiobook and that was hard. Grace is energetic and her narration is great but this type of book which involves lots of lists is hard to listen to. Halfway through some lists I forgot what grace was listing. Additionally the “what type of blah blah” are you sections were hard to follow for similar reasons. The most engaging part are the Sweatpants Diaries. I believe it would be a very different experience in print

Why exactly I checked this out when I have an extremely vague idea of who Grace Helbig even is, I'm not sure. At times, her humor was quite good and entertaining. At other times, my attention wandered quite considerably. Why did she spend so long listing various style options that exist in the world? Not even ones that she recommends, just that exist. Strange. Contrary to most other reviews, I actually liked the Sweatpants Diaries the best -- that was the only place in this book where I felt a strong 'moral', except for the brief part about self-image at the beginning. The Sweatpants Diary took that theme that the self-image part brought forward and really brought it home to a point for me; that your label or size doesn't matter nearly so much as what you believe and act upon.