Review - Arabelle's Shadow by Fleur Gaskin

Release Date: November 19th 2012
Buy it: Amazon
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Everything in Arabelle's life is coming together. She has confidence, great friends, she's even dating Naak, a wealthy Thai socialite. But there are too many models in Bangkok. Arabelle’s broke, she can’t find an agent in New York, and Naak isn’t as wonderful as he first appears.

Slowly the Shadows creep back into Arabelle’s mind, bringing with them thoughts of hopelessness and despair. The vile Shadows know something Arabelle’s refusing to remember and, if she’s not careful, they’ll use it to destroy her.

Based on a true story, Arabelle’s Shadows takes us on a journey through the struggles of growing up, not quite making it as an international model, and attempting to overcome a crushing depression.

I would like to thank Fleur for sending me a copy of Arabelle's Shadow to read and review and to apologize for taking so long to read and review it.

When I was asked I wasn't sure if I actually wanted to read this book as it isn't something I normally read but I decided that I needed to broaden my genres and accepted the request and I am glad I did as the story taught me two things 1) don't judge a book by its genre and 2) don't judge people by what they do for a living.

This book isn't really about a model trying to make her way into the world but more about the model's depression and self esteem issues. I expected it to be about self centered models but it isn't.

I never thought that the life of a model was as hard as it actually is. A model is starving themselves to be thin, always auditioning but still not making enough money to actually live. It is probably different for the high profile super models that you hear about all the time because their in the papers for some reason or another. Some girls start modeling at a young age and they lose their childhood.

Arabelle is an insecure person and she is always struggling with depression and she wants approval badly. Her father makes her happy by telling her how proud of her he is until she realises that her father was drunk and that must have made her feel like he didn't mean what he said . I think more people should tell other that they are proud of them because this could just make someones day.

Arabelle needs someone who will love her for her, no matter if she fails an audition or if she is successful. A photographer would tell her she wasn't the right build for the job and would give her diet pills. Nothing was good enough to get her a job. Her shape and image were all wrong and all Arabelle wanted was to be just good enough so she can succeed.

All I wanted while reading the story was for Arabelle to get one job so that she didn't feel so low. Arabelle is struggling to stop the shadow from taking over her life and to stop it from telling her that everything she does is wrong.

The book is well written and because it was in a diary form it makes it easier to read. It is about depression and informs people that depression is not your friend.

I think unless a person has been in Arabelle's position then they will not fully understand her story or understand that there is a shadow that threatens to haunt us all if we let it.