Absolutely brilliant. How can a girl with nothing end up the toast of the tabloids? Becky is selfish and self centred, but i could not help but like her tenacity and enterprise . After a life of knock-backs and with those she comes into contact realising she is a fraud and trickster, she still comes out on top. An excellent re telling of the original story, bringing it bang up to date.

A loose retelling of Vanity Fair, with an enjoyably despicable Becky Sharp. This book was easy to read, the characters were enjoyable to follow and the plot flowed smoothly. I enjoyed how the author translated the characters into a modern era.

'People tell me that you're one to watch,' Laura said starring George right in the eye. 'That you're a man who's going places. So I'd think twice before you start labelling women as evil bitches. I get called that a lot, or words to that effect.'
'But you've never met the woman. if you had then - '
'I've met enough strong, ambitious women who'd be admired and promoted a hell of a lot quicker if they were men. But because they have tits and two X chromosomes, they get called bitches instead,'

Yes ,Yes and Yes! This is the part of the book where I did the totally cheesy fist pump in the air and actually cried 'Yes, you go girl!'. I loved this little speech that Laura Steyne gives to (not so) Gorgeous George after she has pulled of a 'bloodless coup' of her Father's publishing company. Unfortunately, Laura Steyne is not our main character and this speech does not happen until 89% of the way through the book and up until then I was '80% through, but 100% done with this story' as I told a friend.

Our main character is an enterprising young woman called Becky Sharpe who claws her way to the top of society, or at least to the upper echelons of social media fame, only to have it all fall down around her, and then of course she re-builds again. Becky is certainly not lacking in gumption or determination but she does seem to be lacking in morals and truth be told common decency, the more I read the more I felt myself channeling The Dowager Countess from Downton Abbey and thinking of Becky Sharpe as a 'jumped up little strumpet'.
As for the epilogue , well I shuddered at the thought of that as you just know she would find away to cut Wills and Harry and everyone else from the line of succession and become Queen Becky.


Becky's one time BFF and the second female lead is Amelia Sedley who quite frankly is lacking a back bone for the majority of the tale and you just want to give her a good shake and tell her to wake up and realise what is going on. Thankfully, she does get a backbone around 80% of the way through the book and becomes a worthwhile character but for the main part you wonder why you are even reading about her???

Now, I know this is a modern re-telling of Vanity Fair, which in all truthfulness, I have never read. I watched the Reese Witherspoon movie once as a teenager and thought the whole thing was awfully dreary and dull so was never inclined to read the book. Therefore, I can't help but wonder if I have missed the point of this updated retelling? Or, because I know the barebones from the movie, would someone who has no knowledge of Vanity Fair find it much more enjoyable as then certain aspects of the book would be a surprise?

Ordinarily, I am a HUGE Sarra Manning fan! 'Unsticky' and 'You Don't Have To Say You Love Me' are two of my all time favourite books and I think I managed to finish both of them within 24 hours of getting them, while 'After The Last Dance' and 'Lets Get Lost' never fail to leave me in floods of tears as Sarra's writing weaves such a magic tale that you can't wait to know the ending but at the same time you never want it to end.
However, for me, this book was no where near as good as the others and until the end I didn't detect Sarra's sparkle and flair. It felt more to me that the first 80% of the book was too focused on being true to the original Vanity Fair that Sarra's voice got lost amongst William Thackery's and it was only in the last 20% or so of the book when current events such as the phone hacking scandal,the Times Up movement and the Women's Marchs were included that I felt I could hear Sarra again.

Would I read this again - Yes, I think I would re-read to see if I liked it better on a second go round, but I won't be rushing to recommend it to friends.

This is a very tongue-in-cheek humour type of book. It had a good few giggles in it and I really enjoyed reading it. Highly recommended.

Sarra Manning is one of my favourite authors ever. She absolutely made my teenage years with her “Diary of a Crush” series and have followed her books ever since.

Whilst this book wasn’t my favourite of Sarra’s, this was still a fantastic read. I enjoyed it very much.

It is fantastically over the top, and a wonderful piece of escapism and realism.

Can’t wait for more of Sarra Manning’s books!!!

A contemporary retelling of Thackeray's Vanity Fair, The Rise & Fall Of Becky Sharp is the most perfect summer read: light, frothy, and always entertaining. I found myself rooting for the frankly sociopathic anti-heroine, Becky, as she encounters everything from upper class nice-but-dim types, to acting dynasties, sleazy Tory MPs, and Murdoch-esque media barons on her ascent to success.

This modern updating of Vanity Fair is huge fun. Manning follows Thackeray’s plot exactly even keeping the same names for her characters: Becky and Amelia now meet on Big Brother; George is a Tory MP, the Pitt Crawleys are an acting dynasty, and Steyne is a Murdoch-alike media mogul. Funniest is Jos Sedley, re-located to California and owner of a power ball company (“How are your balls, Jos?”), his bulk now due to being over-muscled.

Manning skewers contemporary life through Becky’s Instagram fame-for-being-famous, and no-one really comes off well. All the same, it’s hard not to cheer on Becky, as we do with the original, as she schemes, manipulates and claws her way through life, ever irrepressible, no matter what life throws at her. Thackeray’s plotting seems more relevant and contemporary than ever in this amusing, scathing update.