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Sex and Vanity: A Novel Hardcover – June 30, 2020

by Kevin Kwan (Author)

4.0 10,186 ratings

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • GMA BOOK CLUB PICK • The author of the international phenomenon Crazy Rich Asians takes us from Capri to NYC, where a young woman finds herself torn between two men—and two very different cultures.

"Another riveting tale of privilege, culture and romance ... extravagant fashion and deceit, resulting in one truly modern love story." —CNN

On her very first morning on the jewel-like island of Capri, Lucie Churchill sets eyes on George Zao and she instantly can't stand him. She can't stand it when he gallantly offers to trade hotel rooms with her so that she can have a view of the Tyrrhenian Sea, she can't stand that he knows more about Casa Malaparte than she does, and she really can't stand it when he kisses her in the darkness of the ancient ruins of a Roman villa and they are caught by her snobbish, disapproving cousin Charlotte.

The daughter of an American-born Chinese mother and a blue-blooded New York father, Lucie has always sublimated the Asian side of herself in favor of the white side, and she adamantly denies having feelings for George. But several years later, when George unexpectedly appears in East Hampton, where Lucie is weekending with her new fiancé, Lucie finds herself drawn to George again. Soon, Lucie is spinning a web of deceit that involves her family, her fiancé, the co-op board of her Fifth Avenue apartment building, and, ultimately, herself as she tries mightily to deny George entry into her world—and her heart. Moving between summer playgrounds of privilege, peppered with decadent food and extravagant fashion, Sex and Vanity is a truly modern love story, a daring homage to A Room with a View, and a brilliantly funny comedy of manners set between two cultures.

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Popular Highlights in this book

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“When we align with the truth of who we are, all things are possible.”
Highlighted by 640 Kindle readers
“I think the most impractical thing one can do is not follow your passions.”
Highlighted by 417 Kindle readers
“You two have known each other over many lifetimes. You just don’t realize it yet.”
Highlighted by 235 Kindle readers

From the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

Review

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, Marie Claire, and New York Post • A Good Morning America Book Club Pick • A CNN "Perfect Summer Read" • A New York Times "New & Noteworthy Book"

"Kevin Kwan has had a singular influence on Asian American storytelling and Hollywood’s pop cultural landscape."
—Los Angeles Times

“With this sparkling confection of a potboiler, Kwan more than delivers on the promises of his title, and he does so with tongue planted firmly in cheek.”
—The New York Times

“Kevin Kwan has dedicated his fourth novel, Sex and Vanity, to two unique destinations. One is New York... the other is the Italian island of Capri... Both locales—rich, glamorous, and filled with their share of both insiders and outsiders looking for their ticket in—serve as backdrops for Kwan’s latest ode to love, class, and the problematic, hilarious search for happiness in a world spinning with too much of pretty much everything. Kwan… is an urban romantic and he’s also a keen observer of social mores and the Teflon charms of an offbeat character. Sex and Vanity is sharp, clever, and irresistibly drawn.”
—Interview

"On its face, the story is a zippy beach read, but Kwan engages with serious subject matter (racism, identity, and deep-rooted Asian classism) all while thoroughly lampooning the extravagance of the ultrarich... The best part is that like all of Kwan’s work, Sex and Vanity also functions as a vacation read — it’s funny, there are ridiculous, steamy sex scenes, and part of the book takes place at a luxurious destination wedding. It’s the kind of thing you can take to whatever beach substitute you’re working with right now (the bedroom with the most sun, or a patch of asphalt at the nearest park) and escape for a little while."
—The Cut

"Sex and Vanity [is] both homage to A Room with a View and very much in Kwan's style. It begins as Forster's book does — with a hotel room swap — and then spins off into its own gold-plated world, with a few unexpectedly serious stops along the way... Kwan's witty Sex and Vanity is a fine beach read.
—Chicago Tribune

"A romantic comedy set in New York and the Hamptons, and a nuanced exploration of race and identity."
—Avenue

"Another riveting tale of privilege, culture and romance... in a world of extravagant fashion and deceit, resulting in one truly modern love story that you won’t be able to put down."
—CNN

"A summer romp with a satirical sting."
—NPR

"Perfect for when your summer travel plans are on hold and you have wonderlust."
—theSkimm

"When the room with a view is Kevin Kwan's, things might get wild... There’s no other way you’re getting to Capri this summer. Here’s a ticket."
—The New York Times Book Review

"Part of the novel’s fun is that Kwan is in on the joke: He excels at satirizing the uber-rich. He’s also an Olympic-level name-dropper. If I had a dollar for every reference to an A-list designer or brand mentioned here, I’d be — well, still not a fraction as wealthy as these characters... Kwan’s trademark snark, which hooked “Crazy Rich Asians” fans, remains on display in this new offering... readers who follow suit can revel in the kind of extravagances that sound like a dream after months of isolation and anxiety during the coronarvirus pandemic."
—The Washington Post

"The Shakespeare of Status Anxiety... Dishy and delightful, filled with all sorts of bad behavior performed in couture. But as loose and fun and compulsively readable as they are, Kwan’s novels are also very clearly the work of someone who spends much of his social time paying extremely close attention."
—The Atlantic

"A razor-sharp rake on the one percent... Like Truman Capote or Dominick Dunne before him, Kwan seems to be writing from inside the rarefied rooms where his stories take place—and he doesn’t pull any punches."
—Town & Country

"Deliciously modern... drama, diamonds, and satire galore.
—Vanity Fair

"Kevin Kwan's new book is his most decadent yet."
—Entertainment Weekly

"Kwan’s latest novel Sex and Vanity is a retelling of E. M. Forster’s A Room With a View. In Kwan’s hands, the classically white, British tale’s setting gets an update from the early 1900s to the 2010s, trading in a cast of characters from England’s stuffy upper crust for one of lavish, jet-setting Asian socialites."
—Bustle

"A deliciously fun romp from Capri to Manhattan and East Hampton. Kwan is in fine form, gleefully name-dropping luxury brands and socialites as he spins a heartfelt, satirical tale that observes the price of fame, fortune and following your heart.”
—BookPage

"True love will find a way, even among the status-obsessed and filthy rich... [With] irresistibly knowing humor and delightful central characters... While he’s engineering the timeless love story and continuing our postgraduate education in all the things money can buy, Kwan manages to take a few swipes against snobbery and racism. Nice. This is the only way you’re getting to Capri this year. Why resist?"
—Kirkus

“Kwan follows up his Crazy Rich Asians trilogy with an intoxicating, breezy update of E.M. Forster’s A Room with a View... Kwan exploits the Forster frame for clever references—including Merchant and Ivory—and provides amusing footnotes. Kwan also relishes describing lavish meals and haute couture clothing, as well as Isabel’s decadent wedding and Cecil’s imaginative, over-the-top proposal. There are moments both catty and witty... [A] delectable comedy of manners—the literary equivalent of white truffle and caviar pizza.”
—Publishers Weekly

About the Author

KEVIN KWAN is the author of the international bestsellers Crazy Rich Asians, China Rich Girlfriend, Rich People Problems, and Sex and Vanity. Born in Singapore, he has called New York’s West Village home since 1995.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

VII

Arco Naturale
Capri, Italy

George found Lucie sitting on a stone bench, staring out at the Arco Naturale, a gigantic natural limestone arch that rose out of the mountainside 650 feet above the sea.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

Lucie fixed her eyes out on the view, purposely not looking at him. She knew there were bloodstains on his shirt, and she couldn’t bear to see them. “How did you know I was here?”

“I didn’t. After leaving the piazzetta, I just felt like coming here.” Lucie could feel her jaw tighten. Why was he always showing up where she least wanted him to be? She got up from the bench and leaned against the green iron fence that faced the sea, hoping he would get the message.

George inhaled, as if about to say something.

“Please . . . don’t speak! Please don’t tell me what happened to that man. I don’t want to know,” Lucie blurted in a choked voice.

George walked up to the fence and stood near her. Just beyond the fence, the arch towered over them, rising so unexpectedly and improbably out of the cliff it looked like it could have been placed there by aliens. Through the arch was a perfect view of the sea hundreds of feet below, the water glowing in lustrous shades of aqua-marine.

They took in the otherworldly view in silence, and after a while, George spoke. “The first time I came here, when I was about twelve, I was so blown away by the sight of this arch that I thought it had to be a vortex. Like maybe some sort of gateway to a parallel universe. I wanted to leap through the arch and be transported somewhere else in time.”

"I wouldn’t mind being somewhere else in time right about now,” Lucie said numbly.

“Follow me.” George moved suddenly, and Lucie thought for a second that he was actually going to hop over the fence. Instead, he began heading toward the trail that led down the mountainside. She debated whether she wanted to follow him and then thought, What the hell.

Lucie walked a few paces behind George as they headed along a steep paved trail and then down a long set of steps that wound along the thickly forested part of the island.

“Pablo Neruda would hike this trail every day when he lived on the island,” George said.

Lucie said nothing, but she was surprised by this bit of trivia coming from George. He didn’t seem like the type to read poetry. At the bottom of the steps, they rounded a corner and she found herself standing at the mouth of a cavern. She realized with an unexpected jolt that they were at the Grotta di Matermania. It was one of the places she had put on her must- see list— a natural cavern that was one of the most ancient archaeological treasures of the island.

“You wanted to go somewhere back in time, so here we are,” George said.

Lucie wandered into the cavern, where walls and stairways had been carved out of the limestone to create different levels and spaces within. This was once a nymphaeum for the ancient Romans, she thought, placing her hand against the cavern walls, strangely warm to the touch, and wondering what mystical rituals these ruins must have witnessed through the ages. She could feel a strange energy pulsating throughout the cave, the same energy she felt when she had visited other ancient sites like Stonehenge and the Mayan tem-ples at Tulum.

At the back of the cavern rose a natural formation that resembled an altar, no doubt the focal point of ceremonies when the cavern was itself a temple. Lucie climbed up to stand in front of the altar and closed her eyes. She wasn’t religious by any means— her mother’s family was Buddhist and her father’s was nominally Episcopalian— but something compelled her to say a silent prayer for the man in the piazzetta.

When she opened her eyes, George was nowhere in sight. She wandered out of the cavern, but he wasn’t there either. Should she head back up the steps, or keep going down the trail? She decided to explore a little further, feeling a bit annoyed with herself as she wandered along a path that seemed to be taking her farther and farther down the hill. Where would this lead to? Why in the world was she even looking for George? Hadn’t she told him she wanted to be alone? There was something about George— something in the way he spoke, his mannerisms, and his whole vibe— that she found so unsettling, and yet here she was thinking about him again.

It dawned on her that she had never really known an Asian guy before. Asian women, like her mother, Isabel, and so many of her classmates, had naturally always been part of her life, and at Brear-ley there had even been three other half- Asian girls in her year. But somehow she had lived her whole life hardly ever interacting with an Asian boy. Freddie didn’t count at all— in striking contrast to her, he took after their father in appearance and behaved like the quint-essential WASP, right down to his smelly old Sperrys. Strangers meeting them never thought they were related, and someone even mistook Freddie for her boyfriend once. She had met some of her male Chinese cousins from Seattle and Hong Kong when she was younger, but they barely made an impression. Of course, it didn’t help that she had gone to an all-girls school like Brearley and lived her whole life on the Upper East Side. Sure, there were a few Asians here and there at the private schools around her neighborhood, but most of the Asian boys in the city went to Stuyvesant,* or so she heard. Plus, the guys she had known were all Asian Americans, and George was nothing like them. He was a Chinese boy from Hong Kong who had spent a few years in Australia. So what exactly did that make him? He didn’t seem Australian, despite his quasi-Aussie accent. He was much more Chinese in his ways. He sounded strange, he moved strange, he dressed strange. He probably smelled strange too.

Just when she decided to turn around and retrace her steps to the Arco Naturale, Lucie suddenly caught sight of something through the trees. Down the hill was the most spectacular house perched on top of a little peninsula that jutted out into the sea. The red house was rectangular in shape, but its entire back facade comprised reverse pyramidal steps leading from the ground all the way up to the roof, which was a huge flat patio. It was the coolest house Lucie had ever laid eyes on, and, feeling compelled to get a closer look, she kept on the pathway until she came to a set of steps leading to the house. There was no gate, but painted on the top step was the word PRIVATO.

“Private property,” a voice behind her said, startling her. She turned to see George standing on the pathway just above her.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that! Where did you go?”

“I thought you needed some alone time, so I went exploring a bit further.”

“This house is quite incredible.”

“It’s Casa Malaparte, one of the greatest houses ever built. Wanna take a closer look?”

“You just said it was private property.”

“I don’t think there’s any harm walking a bit farther to get a better look.” George began walking down the steps, and Lucie followed a bit skeptically. When they reached the house, a man suddenly popped his head out a window and called down to them.

“’Sera, Giorgio! Come va?”

“Va bene, Niccolò. Possiamo dare un’occhiata?” George replied
.
“Certo!”

Lucie looked at George in surprise. “Wait a minute, you speak Italian? You know him?"

“I do. He’s the caretaker. I was here yesterday looking around.”

“Why?”

“Why not? I’m thinking of doing a project inspired by the house.”

“Project?”

“I study sustainable environmental design at UC Berkeley.”

"Oh,” Lucie said. She was beginning to see him in a whole new light.

They climbed up the steps to the flat white roof, which was like a viewing deck for the most glorious panoramic views of the Gulf of Sorrento. Lucie walked as close to the edge of the roof as she dared to and looked out, taking a deep breath. The sun was beginning to set, making the calm sea shimmer in the most seductive shades of gold. She was feeling so much lighter all of a sudden, and she felt almost guilty about it.

George was sitting on the top step of the roof, gazing up at the island and the seagulls that circled endlessly around the jagged peaks. Lucie sat down next to him, finally feeling like she had to say something.

“I’m so ashamed,” she began. “I don’t know why I ran away.”

“You don’t need to explain.”

Lucie sighed deeply. “I took a CPR class back in high school. I even got an A, believe it or not. But today . . . I dunno . . . I could’ve done something. I should’ve done something! I was having the love-liest time just sitting in that café, and then suddenly out of nowhere this terrible thing happened. I just . . . froze. And then I couldn’t face it, and my body just took over.”

“It was a traumatic sight. I wanted to run too. I wanted so much not to be there, but no one was doing anything.”

“I don’t know how I’m ever going to walk through the piazzetta again.

”“You left your shopping bag at the café.”

“I know. I was going to head back there eventually and get it. I also skipped out on my bill.”

“I tried to pay for you, but the waiters wouldn’t let me. They waived it.”

“They did?”

“I did get your bag for you. But . . .” George paused, giving her a sheepish look. “I’m sorry, I threw the bag away.”

“What? Why did you do that?”

George turned away from her. “I didn’t want you to have to see it. It was all splattered with blood, even inside. There was blood on the sandals.”

Lucie said nothing for a moment. She thought of how trivial those sandals had suddenly become to her. In the course of one afternoon, everything had changed. In the blink of an eye, someone had died. Someone’s father, someone’s husband, someone’s friend. People would be shocked and grieving. She didn’t even know the old man, and she was grieving for him. If only she had done something, if only she had started giving him CPR sooner, he might have survived. How was she going to sit through the dinner tonight at the Michelin-starred restaurant that everyone else was so excited about? How would she be able to enjoy Isabel’s wedding? How could she begin to enjoy anything ever again?

George peered into her eyes with that same intensity that used to freak her out, but she somehow found it soothing now. It was as if he could read every single thing going through her mind.

“Can I tell you a story, if I promise it has a happy ending?” he asked.

“Sure, I guess.” She stood up, and they began walking along the roof toward the water.

“Once upon a time, there was a girl who sat in a café on the square in Capri, enjoying an afternoon drink . . .” Lucie froze in alarm. She was about to cut George off, when he said, “I know you didn’t want me to say anything, but I think you need to know the old man in the piazzetta is okay. We managed to revive him.”

Lucie stared at George wide- eyed as he went on with his story.

“While I was doing CPR on him, the doctor arrived. He was this young guy in board shorts carrying a black leather case, and he had a defibrillator inside. He gave the man a shock with the machine, and he started to breathe again.”

Lucie didn’t know what was happening to her. She began hyperventilating uncontrollably, and then her entire body started to heave with sobs. She leaned on George, weeping into his shoulder in relief.

George put his arm around her and continued to speak in a soft, steady voice: “The old man was British, and his wife arrived at the piazzetta right as we revived him. She had been down the street shop-ping at Ferragamo. By the time I left, he was sitting up in a chair, getting treated by the doctor while his wife scolded him for running off . . .”

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Doubleday; First Edition (June 30, 2020)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0385546270
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0385546270
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.44 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.44 x 1.33 x 9.57 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #140,083 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #89 in Humorous American Literature
- #371 in Asian American Literature & Fiction
- #1,364 in Humorous Fiction

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Kevin Kwan

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KEVIN KWAN is the author of Crazy Rich Asians, the international bestselling novel that has been translated into more than 30 languages. Its sequel, China Rich Girlfriend, was released in 2015, and Rich People Problems, the final book in the trilogy, followed in 2017. For several weeks in 2018, the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy commanded the top three positions of the New York Times bestseller list - an almost unprecedented single-author trifecta, and the film adaptation of Crazy Rich Asians became Hollywood's highest grossing romantic comedy in over a decade. In 2018, Kevin was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. For the latest news and information, please visit:

www.kevinkwanbooks.com

https://instagram.com/kevinkwanbooks/

https://www.facebook.com/KevinKwanBooks

https://twitter.com/kevinkwanbooks

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Kelly

Comical, Sexy, Flirty, Fun

Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2020

Verified Purchase

I absolutely loved this book. I actually found it better than the CRA series even more because it did not hold as many extravagant, prolonged, detailed scenes. This was the perfect length. I absolutely adored the characters of Lucie and George. Freddie, Rosemary, and Auden were some of my favorites. Kwan sets up the characters so that each had their own personality and style. Absolutely adored them all. Even Cecil, I had a love hate relationship with.

I also loved how he incorporated, very discreetly characters from the CRA series. (I won’t give the names but I found at least 2. Make sure you read the footnotes too.)

This book made me feel like I was bathing in glitter off the Almafi Coast while sipping a custom made cocktail after getting massaged all morning long. The romance was dirty, but also comical at parts. There was passion behind the love and different relationships.

It also explores how we visualize our own family and how we think our family sees us. That was important to look at as a 28 year old. Lucie starts out 19 in the book and the fast forward part puts her at 24. A perfect age for finding oneself and learning about love and life.

I found myself laughing, giggling, blushing and totally immersed in this work. I really hope there is a sequel to this one! @lets.get.biblio

19 people found this helpful

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J. Medina

A fun, quick read that I devoured in a day.

Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2020

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As a huge fan of the CRA series, I was very excited to read this book. I love Kwan’s style of writing, it is sarcastic but with a purpose, it is very descriptive in that you feel as if you are right there with the characters, and I sure do love those footnotes. I was not aware going into this that it was a retelling of A Room With a View, but as I have not read the original, I can only review this book as is.

The first half of the book is in Capri, where Lucie and her cousin Charlotte are attending a lavish wedding. Lucie meets George Zeo and cannot stand him, but yet is drawn to him, drawn in such a way that in fact she gets herself in a bit of an awkward sitch and is caught by Charlotte. The second half of the book is set in Manhattan, a few years later, and Lucie is engaged and preparing for her own upcoming lavish wedding when George reappears in her life. She is drawn to him yet again, which causes a problem as he is not whom she is currently engaged to.

There were so many elements to this story that made it both complex and light and I liked the mix of both. The way Kwan handles racism as well as pokes fun at the super rich is what he does best, in my opinion. As an example, Lucie is biracial and struggling with her identity, but yet she is engaged to Cecil who comes from a wealthy, powerful family, and his marriage proposal alone to her was oh so extra and not really her style. But was she mad at it? No. And you wouldn’t be either.

I read this in a day, it was a fun, quick read, and very enjoyable.

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Carpool Book Club

Really Fun!

Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2021

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This was the perfect Spring Break beach read on a trip with kids. It was quick, easy and mindless: I didn’t have to read intently to follow and enjoy the content.

In typical Kwan fashion, there are cultural Easter eggs everywhere and the camp meter is sky high. In that sense, the book actually has more depth than it initially appears. For anyone looking to lose themselves in the lives of the ridiculously rich and not delve too deep into a realistic story or character study...pick this one up. It’s a fun one! A pro: the book is short enough that I never got bored with the vapidness. Had it been any longer, I fear I might’ve lost interest.

P.S. For lovers of “Crazy, Rich Asians”...this is more of the same with a different setting and different characters but with a plot that isn’t as defined (IMO). Personally, I liked “CRA” more than this story.

P.P.S. 3 stars doesn’t mean this book wasn’t an enjoyable read, it simply means it’s not a literary masterpiece in the conventional sense.

DESCRIPTION:

On her very first morning on the jewel-like island of Capri, Lucie Churchill sets eyes on George Zao and she instantly can't stand him. She can't stand it when he gallantly offers to trade hotel rooms with her so that she can have a view of the Tyrrhenian Sea, she can't stand that he knows more about Casa Malaparte than she does, and she really can't stand it when he kisses her in the darkness of the ancient ruins of a Roman villa and they are caught by her snobbish, disapproving cousin Charlotte. "Your mother is Chinese so it's no surprise you'd be attracted to someone like him," Charlotte teases. The daughter of an American-born Chinese mother and a blue-blooded New York father, Lucie has always sublimated the Asian side of herself in favor of the white side, and she adamantly denies having feelings for George. But several years later, when George unexpectedly appears in East Hampton, where Lucie is weekending with her new fiancé, Lucie finds herself drawn to George again. Soon, Lucie is spinning a web of deceit that involves her family, her fiancé, the co-op board of her Fifth Avenue apartment building, and ultimately herself as she tries mightily to deny George entry into her world--and her heart. Moving between summer playgrounds of privilege, peppered with decadent food and extravagant fashion, Sex and Vanity is a truly modern love story, a daring homage to A Room with a View, and a brilliantly funny comedy of manners set between two cultures.

3 people found this helpful

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SeattleBoomer

A Perfect Beach Read

Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2020

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There’s not a lot of plot here, and the outcome is predictable, but this book is a hoot. Along with over the top descriptions of how the rich live, the author has a lot of fun playing with pretentiousness. Every character is introduced with their credentials-elementary, middle, high school, college, you get the picture. There are end notes to verify or correct claims made by characters or explain things as needed.

I found this to be a great escape during the Corona quarantine, and heaven knows we all need that. I found parts laugh out load funny. And the descriptions of Capri sent me on the trip I’m not taking this summer.

48 people found this helpful

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Irma Doaty Stuart

Really good read - can’t wait for the sequel!

Reviewed in Canada on August 31, 2020

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Characters are relatable. Really liked the story and the way it was developed.
I could have done without the notations about the meaning of the Chinese expressions.

SWEATA BACHYAS

A MUCH NEEDED ROMCOM IN THIS COVID SITUATION 🖤

Reviewed in India on September 5, 2021

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Book: Sex & Vanity
Author: Kevin Kwan
Genre: Fiction (contemporary)
Rating: 3.5⭐️/5 (Rounded to 4🌟)

My thoughts:
This was the first Kevin Kwan book that I finished, and one of the novels which I adored for its good humor. It was a light read and found myself laughing out loud on multiple occasions 😂

The plot basically revolves around family, love, and listening to your heart. The extravagant and lavish culture with the impeccable taste of food and places of the author is just what made this book so fun!

If you’re still at home and need an escape from the present Covid infused reality, this is definitely the book for you!

READ IF YOU LIKE👑:
-Contemporary romance
-fun and quick read
-classic enemies-to-lovers
-second chances
-themes of a lavish lifestyle, cultural norms, and races
-funny Asian MC’s
-destination wedding scenario
-luxurious descriptions of Capri and NYC
-steamy moments 🔥/5

CW: mentions racist remarks and classism

🚫What I didn’t like:
-lack of depth of character development
-relatively cliché characters, making it a bit annoying
-rushed plot

Overall, if you’re looking to get lost in the world of elite, some fun, flirty and casual reading and plan to get out of a reading slump, this modern romance is it! Romantic comedy lovers, this book is for you.

Q: Which place in the world would you love to visit if COVID gets out of scene and you’ve easy access to money and visa?
A: Italy tops my list! Spain is a close second 😫

2 people found this helpful

Rebecca

Getting old...

Reviewed in France on June 1, 2021

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Same formula as his other books

One person found this helpful

Elena, Windsor

Love it!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 30, 2020

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Kevin Kwan has done it again. I start reading and couldn't stop. Story is captivating and is a page turner. I have also realised what I like about Kevin Kwan's books. He is describing in details places and cousins of different countries, that I find myself constantly checking names and places and putting a mental note to visit some of the places. It is almost like watching a movie so clearly I can see places he is describing. Will buy any other books Kevin Kwan will write without any hesitation.

4 people found this helpful

Susanne T.

Great book!

Reviewed in Germany on July 15, 2020

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I loved the book. Once started I couldn't put it away - even though there's no suspense storyline.
But the way it's written it catches you all the way through. Again, you get a good picture about the rich and high society and their struggles in life.

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Sex and Vanity: A Novel Hardcover – June 30, 2020

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