A poignant and relatable novel, Looking Glass Lies captures the war women wage against themselves, and the struggle to see beauty reflected in a mirror not distorted by society’s unrelenting expectations.For most of her adult life, Cecily Ross has compared herself to other women—and come up short. After a painful divorce from her emotionally abusive husband, Cecily returns to her hometown of … to her hometown of Canyon, Texas, looking to heal.
But coming home isn’t what she expects. In a town as small as Canyon, her pain is difficult to escape—especially with her model-perfect ex–sister-in-law working at the town’s popular coffee-shop hangout. With help from her father, a support group, and an old friend who guides her to see her own strengths, Cecily may have a shot at overcoming her insecurities and learning to love again.
The true test comes when tragedy strikes, opening Cecily’s eyes to the harmfulness of her distorted views on beauty—and giving her the perfect opportunity to find peace at last.
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But coming home isn’t what she expects. In a town as small as Canyon, her pain her pain is difficult to escape—-especially with her model-perfect ex-sister-in-law working of a coffee-shop hangout.
This is a good story with believable characters. As a retired therapist, I think this book would be extremely helpful for anyone who struggles with self-concept or anyone who loves a person who struggles. The story contains an element of faith as well as cognitive therapy, although the author is certainly not a therapist. The story recognizes that happily ever after endings are sometimes incomplete and always involve hard work and time. I highly recommend this book.
When I first saw the marketing for this book prior to publication, I wasn’t sure if it was a self-help book or a novel. Well, now that I’ve read it, it tries too hard to be both. There are two topics this book touches on: women’s body image issues and men’s pornography. That’s a lot to try to tackle in one novel. The characters drew my attention and occasionally I could even relate to the women as they struggled to see themselves realistically according to … well, that’s where the story was weak to me. Sometimes there were literary quotes and sometimes there were scriptures given to motivate certain characters. It was a bunch of mixed messages to my way of thinking. If I’m not supposed to see myself as the world sees me, then why use worldly quotes? If I’m supposed to see myself as God sees me, then this book could’ve gone SO much deeper into leading women to God’s way of healing these issues. While I suspect that there is some correlation between men’s pornography and how that affects women’s self images, I felt the author was painting the issue with some pretty broad (no pun intended) brushstrokes. This author can weave a good story, and I plan on reading her other books. I applaud her for having the guts to even attempt tackling the sensitive area of women’s body issues and struggles. However, the correlation to men’s pornography, while possibly valid, really wasn’t supported well in the storyline.
Good insight into the female struggle of body image. Could relate to the characters as they might be your best friend, mother, sister or yourself.
Makes you want to know people like the main characters. Deals with realistic human hurts and how to overcome them.
This book was hard to put down but at the same time parts were hard to read. Low self-esteem affects more people than we realize and having been married to a verbally abusive husband plus having been bullied in school I could identify with the main character. Anyone suffering from even a minor low self-esteem should read this book.
This deals with the unrealistic expectations we put on ourselves and others to look and to be perfect. It’s especially hard for women, but the men don’t get a pass either. I loved the characters and the way they worked their way slowly through things. Good read!