Mirror, Mirror

A Novel

By: Cara Delevingne

Narrated by: R. Jones

Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

When one of their friends mysteriously disappears, a group of teens are forced to confront the challenges and secrets of their lives in this edgy and suspenseful coming-of-age tale from international supermodel, actress, and social media darling Cara Delevingne.

Among the students of Pimlico Academy, Red, Leo, Rose, and Naomi are misfits - outsiders who have found a safe haven in music and their band, Mirror, Mirror. For these 16-year-olds, fitting in at school is nearly as difficult as navigating their complicated home lives. Red has an alcoholic mother and a father who's never around. Leo's brother is in prison. Rose uses sex and alcohol to numb the pain of a brutal attack. Naomi's punk rock princess persona gives her the freedom to be her true self.

When Naomi mysteriously vanishes and then is found unconscious, her friends are shaken and confused. Could it have been an accident - or did someone deliberately try to hurt Naomi? If she was in trouble, why didn't she turn to them? How well do they really know their bandmate - and each other? If Naomi wakes up from her coma, will she ever be the same?

To understand what happened to Naomi, Red, Leo, and Rose must ultimately face their own dark secrets and fears and reconcile the difference between what they feel inside and what they show to the world.

Cara Delevingne reveals another facet of her amazing talent with this powerful novel about identity, sexuality, gender, emotional pain, the complicated world of social media, and the dangerous weight of appearances that are not what they seem.

©2017 Cara and Co Limited (P)2017 Orion Publishing Group

Raw, unscripted, real

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I was worried it was just another "a celeb thinks she can write" kinda book, but it wasn't. This book contains real content that needs to be talked and written about. I loved the characters and how vulnerable they all were and how they all had to deal with real stuff. People can recognise themselves in the characters. It was bloody brilliant.

AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY

it was a great story very compelling

held my interest the entire time favourite part was well dont wanna reveal anything lol

Amazing book!

Loved this so much!! So suspenseful and well written. Cara is a genius!!! x

A very important book for our times

Wow! Powerful. Important. These are the three best words I can find to describe Cara Delevigne's first novel, Mirror Mirror. I should start this review by mentioning that I am a huge fan of Cara's work, both as a model and as an actor. Like, she is my favorite model and I consider her to be the most underrated actor of her time. So, going into this book, I had monumental expectations. In the weeks before it came out, I was wondering in what ways my life would change from reading the book. I basically expected it to be one of the best stories I had ever read, as I couldn't imagine myself not connecting with the art from an artist I felt like I can relate to.

So, it was to be quite a challenge for this book to live up to my expectations, and part of me began to fear that it wouldn't, as often happens when expectations are too high. Let me tell you this straight: this book surpassed all of my expectations of it. It changed my perspective on life and altered they way I think forever (more on that later). It was more profound and more interesting, more engaging and I connected with the characters more than I even imagined possible (especially Red). And, as I read it for the second time, it just gets deeper and better.

But, what is this story? Well, it's a modern day fairytale really. It is a message of hope wrapped up in the turmoil of the mental and emotional diseases of the world. It tackles issues such as depression, addiction, substance abuse, gender identity, sexuality and the abysmal treatment of women in societies. It is also a story about how the lies we tell each other and the ones we tell ourselves keep us disconnected. And yet, it deeply highlights how it is through interaction with one another that we truly learn how to understand and define ourselves.

It is so mundane, which is what grounds it, and yet so lofty in its message of hope. This is precisely what this book and this story does so well. It provides a message of hope for our emotional health, peace of mind and social disfunction's by highlighting the relationships we have with ourselves, our environment and each other and choosing to make those issues important and daring to believe that we can conquer the metaphorical demons that reside in all three of those relationships.

But let's get more specific. The story is about 4 primary friends (Red, Rose, Naomi, and Leo), their relationship with each other, their relationship with their own families and each others families and their relationship with their surrounding environment. There are three other pivotal roles, that being the characters of Mr. Smith (the four protagonists' teacher), Ash (Naomi's sister) and Leo's brother Andy. The immediate families (parents and siblings, as applicable) of all four main characters also get plenty of exploration and are integral to the issues involving the main characters and are all very well fleshed out, intriguing characters in their own right.

The story itself is a mystery thriller, with a plot filled with twists and turns and big reveals. And, I typically don't care too much for plots in stories. I find myself more interested in character display and/or development and 'am perfectly happy just watching or reading about people live their lives because I want to understand human beings better through art; that's what I want out of art, that's what I look for. And, often times characters simply service the plot. But, this is the glorious type of story where the plot services the understanding of the people in it. Plot points, plot twists and reveals all lend to expanding our understanding of all of the characters, and that is perfect plot formation, in my opinion.

So, for my final point, there was something in this book that made me second guess my own biases and assumptions about the norm. I can't mention what it was without ruining the big reveal (those who have read it will likely know what I am referring to), but it shook the very foundation on which my perceptions of the subject matter resided upon, of which I felt rather shameful about. I really learned something about myself through the process of reading this book. Funny thing was that I was going through a related crisis of my own, and yet this book still opened my eyes to my own stereotypical perceptions. I will forever remember the lesson I learned in this book, as I now see the world in such a different way.

I really don't know what else to say. And, Cara says most of what's so important about this book in the introduction and Q&A at the end. Mirror Mirror is just that. It is a mirror to ourselves and to the state of society. It is a reflection of our prejudices, our disconnection, our pain, our suffering, the hurt we cause others, our lies, our truths and our disbelief in ourselves. And, I have personally experienced many of the issues these characters face, as I'm sure many others who read this book have as well. And yet, it provides evidence in support of the idea that we can sort through our differences, learn to not hate each other, learn to love each other, and learn to love ourselves, which are all things we could use a lot more of.

If there is a primary message, i would say it is that it is the lesson of self love and the realization that we are special and cool and worthy of praise and affection, as we are and for who we are. After all, as the book proposes, isn't it true that we are, each and every one of us in our own way, the fucking fairest of them all? I couldn't agree more, and see self love as the only way to learning how to love each other better.

As an aside, a movie should be made of this book. And, as an actor I would love to take part in the creation of such meaningful and impactful art.

Muu bueno si si

Te toca en los feels y te los menea pa un lao muu chido este pes

Captivating!

This book surprised me and I truly enjoyed it. Yes it is a darker theme but it is really well done.
The performer did an excellent job and I would listen to other narrations by her.

I won't give away any of the story, it has some good twists in it that at least I didn't see coming.

Overall, great story, great performance and I would highly recommend.

Beautiful and tragic Story

I loved the story is original, I love Red and Rose, and the narrator The narrator is amazing, I fell in love with her voice.

Amazing debut novel

If you could sum up Mirror, Mirror in three words, what would they be?

I don't think I can, other than to say that these are very real teenager characters.

What did you like best about this story?

The characters all had their private battles and were not one-dimensional teen cutouts you normally see in YA novels.

Which character – as performed by R. Jones – was your favorite?

The story was written from Red's point of view, so Red is an easy favorite but the narrator does an amazing job giving each character their own specific voice.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Without giving away spoilers, a major reveal near the end of the book left me just as shell shocked as the characters felt. I listened to the novel again to see if I had missed some clues and while there are subtle ones, there are twists that keep you guessing about what happened and what is happening as the story progresses until the answer smacks you in the face.

Any additional comments?

The end was a bit cheesy, all the characters got their happy endings and everything had a nice bow. It was nice after everything the characters went through that they finally got to be truly happy, but some resolutions just seemed too quick and easy, especially in situations that had been getting progressively worse throughout the novel.This is definitely a young adult novel, not for children or young teens. There is a lot of swearing, the characters say the f-word over 200 times throughout the novel. There are also storylines about attempted murder, kidnapping, child abuse, and sexual assault, all of which are described in detail.

Inspiring

having my skepticism to whether I'd find relateable content in this book being a male reader, i decided to give it a chance out of my love for cara and all that she does.
intern i found many moments in this novel like a mirror staring back, earning its title and giving excitement and relief throughout the story really leaving a mark and strong build upon the characters within.
overall i am astonished and was almost sad to see the story end, but glad that it left off where it did leaving room for more and the reader content for what comes next as there is much to be said.
i recommend this book to anyone wanting a sense of realism in a fictious setting. 10 out of 10

Outstanding!

First of all I’d like to point out the superb reading done by R. Jones. It was so easy to tell the difference between each character because of the variety of accents and tones she was able to portray. Lovely! As for the story I’m shockingly impressed by Delevingne’s writing style. The story was much better than I anticipated and the content truly reached my heart. A definite recommend!