The Glow looks into the ‘Wellness’ industry, capitalism, American healthcare, how we market things, and is a mildly sartorial take on it all. There is a layer of darkness to it, but I felt like I was waiting for the book to take that to the next level, but I still felt slightly underwhelmed by the end.

None of the characters were likeable, bar our main character Jane, who frankly still isn’t overtly likeable. I found myself drawn to her desperateness though, even though it’s a desperateness that she tries to hide. She’s 29 years old, mired in medical debt, and is finding things a bit hopeless at her PR job. She decides to focus in on this place called Fortpath, that she finds on Instagram, in an effort to keep her job. Fortpath is fronted by a woman called Cass, who, frankly, looks like a dream. Glowing skin, incredible, free spirited. The epitome of who you’d want to be, and she captures Janes attention.

Jane spends the weekend there, staking the place out, and there’s lots of…interesting mediations, and bee pollen sprinkled zucchini. She believes she can market Cass into something bigger, turn her into a full money making brand, envisioning a way of shaking off her medical debt in the process.

It’s certainly a book that makes you think, and leaves you with some questions. There’s also a level of…when you market something, and you have a certain demographic in mind, there’s not always a guarantee that it will stay within that space. You may be thinking you’ll just take money from healthy, rich, middle to higher class white women, but then then you’ve also got a dying woman drinking nothing but mushroom tea.

I honestly think this would make a pretty good choice for a book club pick, as I think there’s a lot of discussions to be had about this book, it’s characters, and the topics it touches upon.

Despite it not reaching the heights I thought it might, I still quite enjoyed it, and think it’s a very interesting approach to the Instagram-esque wellness takes.

Thank you to Netgalley, and Headline, for the early copy to review.

A change from the usual thriller I read I found this book compulsive reading … centring around Jane whose PR career hangs in the balance as she visits a well-being retreat for ‘research’ purposes where she meets the beautiful Cass and her husband Tom … what unfollows is an insight into todays well-being culture that woman are obsessed - Jane sees the retreat as a life changing opportunity in more ways than one . Complex entertaining characters - a storyline with many layers which I really enjoyed

I loved this book!!!!!!
I wasn't sure what to expect but truly it just jumped right into a chamber of my little millennial heart and set up camp there.
Jane was a brilliant character in that she was absolutely duplicitous and at times completely jarring, yet for some reason I still ended up rooting for her. That is a skill that many authors have been let down by, particularly in this branch of storytelling.
The relationships between Jane, Cass and Tom (and Daniel) were absolutely bizarre but I was so bought into the concept of their characters that I just truly believed it made sense.
This was a brilliant satirical view of the wellness industry and the plague that is social media on our lives. When everyone is a product who stands to profit? Absolutely brilliant. Will be recommending this one!

Loved this! Super refreshing and hilariously relatable to anyone working in PR or 'wellness' trends - as well as probably also to all millennials!
I read this in one sitting and enjoyed beginning to end - so good!

Funny, fresh and modern, is how I’d describe this debut by Jessie Gaynor. It’s different – I’m not sure I’ve read anything quite like it – and, whilst it doesn’t always work, it’s sparky and zesty enough to keep you turning the pages.
I always enjoy an unlikeable heroine, and Jane is unflinchingly honest and fully aware of her flaws. ‘What is about her you don’t like about yourself?’ was a question her mother used to ask, which made me smile in recognition.
Cass is enigmatic and fascinating, Tom sweet and melancholy. And, of course, what happens when you finally achieve everything you’ve been searching for? Will Jane finally be fulfilled or left wanting? No spoilers…
Thank you to NetGalley and Tinder Press (Headline).

What a cool concept! A character driven novel which focuses mostly in the three main characters, their wellness retreat and their path to success. Really loved the cover as well!

i honestly enjoyed this book so much! the cover drew me in a lot - it was so pretty and i always pick books on covers (don’t we all do that though?). i wasn’t expecting to like this book as much as i did and think that this book will definitely be picked up and LOVED by bookstagram and booktok when it releases! i really hated jane as a character though but i think that may have been intentional by the author? i could be wrong though.

this book was such a fun and incredible read! and it was UNPREDICTABLE- i find it hard to find books that are like this as i tend to figure out what’s going on or how the story is going to end before the midpoint of the book. i love the blur between reality and social media in this book. i do think that people tend to forget that there are lives to be had outside of social media.

i’m not too sure if this was a debut book or not, as i haven’t read any other works by gaynor, but if this is then this is a FANTASTIC debut. i am definitely going to keep renewing this book in my netgalley shelf until i can get my hands on the physical book!!

thank you to netgalley and random house for early access to this book!

This book did not disappoint! I was intrigued first by the unique cover and title, and then pulled in by the description. Despite the explosion of instagram influencers, sponsored content, and the almost cult-like following of certain beauty brands and ‘ambassadors’ there are very few books which address this topic. This title is really well driven by the main characters in the book, particularly the protagonist Jane who you both see yourself in and also hope not to be too much like, and forces the reader to consider the psychology and motives behind a lot of the content we see online and on social media in this digital age.

LOVE LOVE LOVED this! Such a great glimpse into the snarky and darker side of PR & influencing. As someone who works within the field it was incredibly well written and so interesting. Cass is such a beautifully written hurricane of a character.

A bit of a slow burner, THE GLOW is a cutting take on the wellness industry told from the perspective of a cynical millennial desperately seeking validation. Would recommend for a holiday read.

3.5 rounded down

The "cult of wellness" is an oft used phrase in the 21st Century, and one that is increasingly being incorporated into novels (Nine Perfect Strangers and Self Care immediately spring to mind) and forming the subject of a non-fiction offerings (The Gospel of Wellness: Gyms, Gurus, Goop, and the False Promise of Self-Care).

A topic which blends the desire of an individual to reach a form of fulfillment with consumerism is ripe for exploration in a novel, and that is exactly what The Glow sets out to examine. The protagonist, Jane, a 25-year-old working in PR, keeps up an appearance of having made it spends her days promoting products that she doesn't believe in to insecure women just like herself, whilst privately being crippled by debt from an essential medical procedure she couldn't afford to have. One day she stumbles across a wellness retreat in New Jersey via Instagram, attracted by the impossibly beautiful Cass who runs the retreat, and decides she must attend to meet Cass and see if the retreat is the next big thing that propels her career.

I won't go into the plot too much more but the novel is smart and has some incisive comments to make on the wellness industry. As the blurb correctly surmises: "Are helping people and making money mutually exclusive? And once you become a girlboss, can you ever go back?". Recommended!

Unpredictable, Unexpected..
Jane, PR, is breezy and bright and a big seller. Jane, herself, is actually none of those things but she is determined although becoming increasingly anxious by virtue of a deluge of unpaid bills. Jane, herself, is on the verge of a dilemma. When she discovers Cass, via instagram, she thinks that she may well have found the next big thing. This wellness guru may well be Jane’s ticket to the top. But.. will she? Sharp and biting, unexpected and unpredictable, this satirical look at the wellness industry is rather a delight.

This book was super unique and I can totally see it being a bookstagram favourite once it’s released. Being super familiar with the PR industry I appreciated it a lot and could relate in some aspects, and I liked that Jane (the main character) was increasingly unlikeable throughout the book as it kept me gripped. love love love!

Jane is a young woman saddled with medical debt and who struggles to find herself. Friends, careers and lovers come and go easily but nothing seems to stick. Until she comes across Cass, a wellness guru who offers her healing services as part of a weekend retreat. Her PR career is going down the drain fast and so she latches on to Cass who has all the charisma but none of the business acumen and decide to turn her into the new sensation. I'm not the target audience for this book but I found it a fun read anyway. I love the world of PR and I have a keen interest in marketing so the book had me giggling away at some of the practices pulled by that industry. The sheer tenacity of the main character is remarkable if not particularly likeable. An easy read, indeed.

"The Glow" by Jessie Gaynor was such an engaging read!

Focusing not necessarily on the world of social media influencers but their makers, Gaynor casts Jane, a PR specialist, as a protagonist. Even though Jane can package people and ideas and push them as premium products, she doesn't have her own life under control. Avoidant and with history of abandonment issues, as well as inability to deal with own life-admin, Jane wants to belong and she directs her desire towards people behind small healing retreat, Cass and Tom.

As readers, we follow Jane immersing herself in toxic dynamics between a charismatic leader and people who surround her, often acting from a place of trauma and wanting to be seen. It's an art to create such a current story with believable characters, yet portrayed in a quite exaggerated way. The storyline was not predictable at all, which definitely added to the pleasure of reading "The Glow". On top of that, Gaynor doesn't spare anyone: the rich, the precarious, the enlightenment seekers and those who are supposed to facilitate healing are treated with the same criticism.

This is a must read for anyone who enjoys a good book!
Absolutely loved the characters, the plot - impossible to put it down.
Certainly recommended!

The Glow by Jessie Gaynor is a novel that digs into the world of Instagram influencers and the wellness industry. I was less interested in the sections about Tom and Cass but did enjoy the characterization of Jane as someone struggling to find validation.