Smoke

How a Small-Town Girl Accidentally Wound Up Smuggling 7,000 Pounds of Marijuana with the Pot Princess of Beverly Hills

By: Meili Cady

Narrated by: Romy Nordlinger

Combining the excess of The Bling Ring with the intimacy of Blow and the charm of Catch Me If You Can, an outrageous, entertaining and true story of an aspiring young actress’ ill-fated friendship and unwitting alliance with a drug smuggling “heiress.”

Aspiring actress Meili Cady left small-town Washington State for the glamorous lure of Los Angeles. Young and alone, she was struggling to make her big break. Then she met Lisette Lee. Calling herself the “Korean Paris Hilton,” Lisette claimed she was a model and a Korean pop star, lived in a $1.2 million dollar apartment in West Hollywood, owned a fleet of luxury cars, and flitted from one red-carpet event to the next.

The connection was instant. Meili was enchanted by her friend’s extravagant lifestyle, while Lee claimed Meili was the real thing in a town full of phonies. Soon, the financially strapped Meili became her friend’s personal assistant—and found herself sucked into an audacious criminal enterprise. But when Meili finally realized what she was a part of it was too late—she was in too deep, caught in a terrifying relationship with a manipulative and abrasive con artist smuggling millions of dollars of pot into the Midwest.

Trapped in a precarious criminal world of money, drugs, and dangerous secrets, Meili struggled to understand the line between truth and lie. A once naive girl who fell down the rabbit hole, she could only watch helplessly as it all came crashing down around her. Smoke is her story—an electrifying tale of vice, corruption, hubris, and lost innocence as shocking and entertaining as The Wolf of Wall Street and Bringing Down the House.

Naive Meili

The audio was well read but the story line was boring. The whole time I couldn't believe how naive the main character was I couldn't relate to naivness, and quickly grew a disapproval of her character.

Good choice

Great story, fun and easy to listen to. I looked forward to getting back to the story after a hiatus.

Nobody is THAT Naive!

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

A much younger reader, perhaps teenagers or young 20 somethings may enjoy this book. I suspect younger readers may be able to identify with Ms. Meili Cady's purported claims that she accepted ALL the claims of the "Samsung heiress" because they had one mutual friend. Perhaps it may even prove to be a positive message for young people to question new friendships.

Any additional comments?

In my experience persons who are attempting to embark a career as an Actor in Los Angeles California, are not so naive and innocent as Ms. Cady would have the reader believe that she was during this chapter of her life.

So in addition to questioning Ms. Cady's judgement, I could not help but wonder if this memoir is another avenue to the fame she herself seeks.

For example, I certainly understand why anyone would wish to make friends in a new city. But why, (in the age of the internet), she did not do a search on the woman who claimed to be an heiress of the Samsung dynasty, when she immediately felt those gut "red flags" that we experience, alerting us to be wary.

Moreover, Ms. Cady claims to have avoided the pitfalls of drugs throughout her entire youth, but is offered cocaine by a captivating stranger, and still doesn't know that this person is dangerous? Really?

The bottom line is this: I think this could have been an interesting and insightful memoir if Ms.Cady would have taken some responsibility to for actions. Instead, - I suppose as the title indicates - Ms. Cady claims that she was simply too stupid to realize that she was participating in not one, but several illegal behaviors.

Therefore, from my standpoint the book is a disappointment.