How looking beautiful has become a moral imperative in today's worldThe demand to be beautiful is increasingly important in today's visual and virtual culture. Rightly or wrongly, being perfect has become an ethical ideal to live by, and according to which we judge ourselves good or bad, a success or a failure. Perfect Me explores the changing nature of the beauty ideal, showing how it is more dominant, more demanding, and more global than ever before.Heather Widdows argues that our perception of the self is changing. More and more, we locate the self in the body--not just our actual, flawed bodies but our transforming and imagined ones. As this happens, we further embrace the beauty ideal. Nobody is firm enough, thin enough, smooth enough, or buff enough-not without significant effort and cosmetic intervention. And as more demanding practices become the norm, more will be required of us, and the beauty ideal will be harder and harder to resist.If you have ever felt the urge to "make the best of yourself" or worried that you were "letting yourself go," this book explains why. Perfect Me examines how the beauty ideal has come to define how we see ourselves and others and how we structure our daily practices-and how it enthralls us with promises of the good life that are dubious at best. Perfect Me demonstrates that we must first recognize the ethical nature of the beauty ideal if we are ever to address its harms.

Recover. Rinse. Repeat. Dana Bowman can’t escape the lure of perfectionism, trying to be a flawless wife, mother, and person in recovery. When Dana experiences a short-lived relapse during the Christmas holiday, she has the startling realization that recovery is more than just giving up alcohol. In this funny and revealing follow-up to her best-selling book Bottled, Dana reflects on how we live in a society of excess, always pushing ourselves to do and be better. However, it doesn’t take her long to realize that self-care and getting over herself is the key to happiness.

All fifteen-year-old Katie Camilleri wants is the perfect first kiss from the perfect guy—and now he's just magically appeared in her bedroom, completely naked! When Katie and her best friend accidentally cook up a gorgeous teenage boy in the kitchen (seriously—he's like a long-lost Hemsworth brother), things are looking up for Katie and her plan to lock lips. But it turns out spontaneously creating a human being named Guy is slightly more complicated than Katie could have anticipated. Guy is wholly devoted to Katie but can't pin down why. Her high school classmates can't figure out what a hot guy like him is with her. And to make matters worse, her BFF isn't on board with this new romance. Plus, the longtime boy from next door is suddenly all kinds of moody. So is the "perfect" boy the right boy for Katie, after all? From the author of What I Like About Me comes a hilarious twist on the 1985 pop culture classic "Weird Science." Jenna Guillaume uses her signature humor and relatable voice to delight and also explore themes of body image, friendship, and supporting character asexuality.

Supermodel and super CEO of our time Tyra Banks and her mother Carolyn show readers why when you kick perfection to the curb and showcase your unique beauty ain't nobody gonna stop you! In Perfect Is Boring, Tyra Banks and her mother, Carolyn, get raw, real and cray-in-a-good-way as they share what they’ve learned on Tyra’s journey from insecure preteen to supermodel and entrepreneurial powerhouse. Though she’ll be the first to tell you she is not her daughter’s best friend—‘cause she ain’t that kinda mama!—there’s no doubt that Carolyn’s signature mix of pep talks and tough love got Tyra to where she is today, and here they pay it forward to empower readers with a reminder that perfect really isn’t all that. Whether they’re writing about watching Tyra’s most imperfect moment go viral (Does “Be Quiet Tiffany!” ring any bells?), no-holds-barred sex talks or how they’ve overcome everything from fashion industry discrimination to media fat-shaming and a misguided attempt at a music career, they never lose their sense of humor or we-got-your-back-spirit. Full of smart, wise, and often hilarious lessons for mothers, daughters, fathers and sons everywhere—including “Take Responsibility for Yourself,” “Lip Gloss + Pizza Sauce = Boss,” and “Fix It or Flaunt It”—Perfect Is Boring is a must-read for anyone who needs a kick in the booty, a pat on the back, or a good reason to laugh-out-loud.

In this twisty psychological thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Before, an actress plays both sides of a murder investigation. “[A] rich, nuanced, highly literary take on the Gone Girl theme.”—Booklist (starred review) Claire Wright is desperate. A British drama student in New York without a green card, she takes the only job she can get: working for a firm of divorce lawyers, posing as an easy pickup in hotel bars to entrap straying husbands. But then the game changes. When one of her targets becomes the suspect in a murder investigation, the police ask Claire to use her acting chops to lure him into a confession. From the start, she questions the part she’s being asked to play: Is Patrick Fogler a killer? Or is there more to this setup than she’s being told? Claire will soon realize she is playing the deadliest role of her life. Praise for Believe Me “For readers who enjoyed the paranoia factor in A. J. Finn’s The Woman in the Window or the unreliable narrator of Paula Hawkins’s The Girl on the Train.”—Library Journal “Produces a bobsled run’s worth of twists.” —Publishers Weekly “An intense, stylish psychological thriller.”—Good Housekeeping “A dark and haunting thriller . . . A superb evocation of conflicted emotions, this never lets you guess what’s coming next.”—Daily Mail “I so enjoyed it—what a twisty, exciting read.”—Sabine Durrant, author of Lie With Me

“Imperfect World … Perfect Me! is a step-by-step handbook to living the full life that is found only in Jesus Christ. In her transparency, Karen shares her testimony regarding some of her own personal struggles. She explains how she overcame the obstacles each situation presented by trusting God, applying His Word, and knowing her identity in Christ. “Karen covers everything from having a personal relationship with Jesus to marriage to self-esteem and gives encouraging truths from God’s Word that will move you from a mindset of defeat to a mindset of faith, all rooted in the promise of God.