The God of Good Looks (Fig Tree, UK; William Morrow, US) by Breanne Mc Ivor tackles the double-standards of the Trinidadian beauty industry while simultaneously serving up a tantalising love story. Mc Ivor’s novel debut, following her short story collection Where There Are Monsters, employs epistolary narratives laced with satire to illuminate the taboos and troubling fixations lingering just beneath the surface of T&T’s status quo. Perspectives shift between dual protagonists Bianca Bridge and Obadiah Cortland, each caught on diametrically opposed sides of simmering romance and high-stakes makeup. Mc Ivor, herself a professionally trained makeup artist, eschews stereotypes of island idylls in her writing.