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A review by chelseyclark
Grace & Style: The Art of Pretending You Have It by Grace Helbig
3.0
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.
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.