Beauty expert, author, and LGBTQ+ advocate Carlos Valenzuela‘s new book, How to Wake Up Pretty: Because Life’s Too Short for Dignity, is a sidesplitting collection of aging stories mostly from a queer perspective. Perfectly wrapped in Valenzuela’s signature style and sass, the book talks about triumphs, challenges, and even salacious moments that come with the golden years.
Brimming with irreverence and sass, Valenzuela takes on aging head-on in How to Wake Up Pretty like a refreshing bouquet whose high notes are sass and wisdom, with undertones of queerness and his Mexican heritage—a voice with which readers from all walks of life will identify.
The variety of characters and situations are a true testimony to reminding us that aging and laughter are essentially to be human and serve to underline that there is no “gay aging”–there’s only aging. Valenzuela’s storytelling brings to the forefront universal truths with a queer twist—a true celebration of commonalities that unite us all bound by laughter.
Valenzuela’s books, Letters to Young Carlos; Camaleón: The Lost Years Living in the Closet; and Magical Thinking in Hairdressing, delve into self-discovery, identity, and resiliency. How to Wake Up Pretty again challenges the status quo with this deliciously defiant look at what it means to get older while remaining true to yourself.
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