Smoke: How a Small-Town Girl Accidentally Wound Up Smuggling 7,000 Pounds of Marijuana with the Pot Princess of Beverly Hills

by Meili Cady Narrated by Romy Nordlinger

Overview

Combining the excess of The Bling Ring with the intimacy of Blow and the charm of Catch Me If You Can, an outrageous, entertaining and true story of an aspiring young actress' ill-fated friendship and unwitting alliance with a drug smuggling “heiress.”

Aspiring actress Meili Cady left small-town Washington State for the glamorous lure of Los Angeles. Young and alone, she was struggling to make her big break. Then she met Lisette Lee. Calling herself the “Korean Paris Hilton,” Lisette claimed she was a model and a Korean pop star, lived in a $1.2 million dollar apartment in West Hollywood, owned a fleet of luxury cars, and flitted from one red-carpet event to the next.

The connection was instant. Meili was enchanted by her friend's extravagant lifestyle, while Lee claimed Meili was the real thing in a town full of phonies. Soon, the financially strapped Meili became her friend's personal assistant-and found herself sucked into an audacious criminal enterprise. But when Meili finally realized what she was a part of it was too late-she was in too deep, caught in a terrifying relationship with a manipulative and abrasive con artist smuggling millions of dollars of pot into the Midwest.

Trapped in a precarious criminal world of money, drugs, and dangerous secrets, Meili struggled to understand the line between truth and lie. A once naive girl who fell down the rabbit hole, she could only watch helplessly as it all came crashing down around her. Smoke is her story-an electrifying tale of vice, corruption, hubris, and lost innocence as shocking and entertaining as The Wolf of Wall Street and Bringing Down the House.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

A wildly entertaining ride . . . has everything you loved about Serial, The Bling Ring, Blow, Catch Me If You Can, and even Orange Is The New Black . . . will have you at the edge of your seat.”-B&N Book Blog — B&N Book Blog

“[A] tale of love and loyalty gone awry [that] will keep fans of true crime reading.” — Library Journal

“Compulsively readable.” — Flavorwire

“Cady sends you careening down a rabbit hole where bad decisions are met with good humor…and a duffel bag stuffed with six-figures in cash.” — Allie Kingsley, author of The Liar, the Bitch and the Wardrobe

Flavorwire

Compulsively readable.

Allie Kingsley

Cady sends you careening down a rabbit hole where bad decisions are met with good humor…and a duffel bag stuffed with six-figures in cash.

B&N Book Blog

A wildly entertaining ride . . . has everything you loved about Serial, The Bling Ring, Blow, Catch Me If You Can, and even Orange Is The New Black . . . will have you at the edge of your seat.”-B&N Book Blog

Library Journal

03/01/2015
Cady moved to Los Angeles at 19 to become an actress. After struggling to find work and a close friend in the flashy city, she was introduced to self-proclaimed Samsung heiress Lisette Lee. The two became fast friends, and eventually Lee would manipulate Cady into helping her, along with other accomplices, to transport an estimated 7,000 pounds of marijuana from California to Ohio. Cady's story originally found success on her blog, House Arrest Girl, during her yearlong court-ordered house arrest. Cady's sentencing and court proceedings are told in limited detail in the memoir, as the bulk covers her relationship with Lee. Toward the end of the book, the author remarks that she overheard an officer state, "That has got to be the stupidest girl I've ever met in my entire life," referring to Cady in regard to her ability to be completely duped by Lee. Yet, despite the level of naiveté that seems to ooze out of every sentence, one can't help but relate to Cady's ignorance in the face of loving someone and trying to find acceptance. VERDICT While maddening, this thorough and aggravating tale of love and loyalty gone awry will keep fans of true crime reading. [Paramount Pictures recently optioned the rights to a Rolling Stone article about the crime, for a film to be directed by Craig Brewer.—Ed.]—Kaitlin Connors, Windsor Woods Lib., Virginia Beach

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173668851
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/24/2015
Edition description:	Unabridged

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