Fashion, makeup, Hollywood, a famous dance troupe and the suspense of a killer on the loose? As April wakes us up from the dreariness of winter, these stories provide a touch of glamor to light up our reading life like the first tulip of spring brightens the garden!
We begin with FIFTH AVENUE GLAMOUR GIRL by Renee Rosen, in which she illumines the life of one household name by pairing her with a fictional friend. After her father’s fraudulent financial dealings shatter Gloria’s wealthy, privileged life, she flees to New York, changes her last name to Downing, and for the first time in her life, has to find a job and survive on her own. Starting as the clean-up girl at a hair salon, she meets ambitious, enterprising Estee Lauder, who creates beauty products in her home, then demonstrates and sells them at beauty salons. The two become friends, Estee advising Gloria that she can become whatever she wants if she envisions herself as a success. Gloria begins to realize the truth of this when she lands a job at Saks Fifth Avenue—re-entering the world of glamour and luxury she knows so well, albeit as a saleswoman rather than a customer. The novel tracks their friendship as each climbs in her career, fighting for success in a business world controlled by men who believe women should not be entrepreneurs or managers, but housewives and mothers. Details about the world of fashion and beauty add an extra flair to this story of abiding friendship.
New York is also the setting for our next story, THE SPECTACULAR by Fiona Davis. It’s 1956, and everyone knows that a girl’s dream is to marry and have a family. But for nineteen-year-old dancer teacher Marion Brooks, the prospect of wedding her high school sweetheart seems more trap than dream. A chance to audition for the famous Radio City Rockette precision dance troupe catapults her from the ordinary into a life of arduous rehearsals, spangled costumes and an exhausting performance schedule. But her new career is interrupted when the “Big Apple Bomber,” who has been terrorizing the city for sixteen years, sets off an explosion at the theatre. Anguished, Marion seeks help from her friend, psychiatrist Peter Griggs. As the police desperately search for a way to find the killer before he strikes again, they call on Peter, who has been developing a new technique called “psychological profiling.” Marion is pulled in, too, ultimately taking a terrifying risk to try to bring the bomber to justice. Full of wonderful details about the Rockettes and their traditions, Davis’s book brings the 1950s theater world of New York to sparkling life.
We move from Hollywood to Vietnam-era Iowa in THE SUNSHINE GIRLS by Molly Fader. The story begins in the present day, when now-famous movie star Kitty Devereaux attends BettyKay’s funeral, shocking BettyKay’s daughters Abbie and Clara, who thought their mother was a simple Midwestern nurse and mother. Told in alternating timelines between the 1960’s and the present, we see the unfolding of BettyKay and Kitty’s lives from the time they meet as unlikely roommates in nursing school in 1967—BettyKay the small-town girl dreaming of a career, Kitty the beautiful, smart city girl who relies on her looks and wit. Though the paths they take diverge, the two maintain an enduring friendship as events and choices carry them through life. After Kitty’s surprise appearance, Clara is determined to probe the mystery and discover the truth about the mother she thought she knew. Fader’s story takes us from war-torn Vietnam to the glamour of Hollywood, where Kitty eventually takes the sisters and the twists and turns that link these two different lives are revealed.
Our last story takes place in the city of ultimate glamor—Paris. Also a duel-timeline novel, Christine Well’s THE PARIS GOWN introduces us to three friends, Claire, Gina and Margot, who meet in 1950 Paris while taking cooking classes at the Cordon Bleu. While Parisian Claire dreams of becoming a famous chef, American Gina and Australian Margot, both daughters of wealth, are attending the school as a “finishing” before marriage. In addition to cooking, the three bond over their love of fashion, especially Dior. Lingering before the windows of the atelier, they share hopes and dreams for the future—including the desire to one day own a Dior gown. Fast-forward to 1956: Claire is working at her father’s brasserie when wealthy Madame Vaughn, who lives above the restaurant, gives Claire a stunning Dior gown. Meanwhile Gina, whom Claire expected to meet again when she honeymooned in Paris, instead arrives alone, her engagement broken after her father lost his money. Now a journalist, Gina wants to settle in Paris and pursue her dream of being a novelist. When Gina’s father begs her to attend an embassy ball to try to convince her former fiancé to invest in his new business, she is torn. Claire urges her to attend—and offers her the Dior gown. When they go to the atelier to have it fitted, they discover their old friend Margot working there under an assumed name, displaced to Paris by events she doesn’t want to reveal. But the magic of the Dior gown has the power to change all their lives. Wells’s vivid descriptions of the food, fashion and terroir of 1950s Paris makes the novel a true delight to the senses.
Ready to be transported and entertained by tales of beauty, glamour and intrigue? Take your pick and bon voyage!
Real, intense, passionate historical romance
Award-winning romance author Julia Justiss, who has written more than thirty historical novels and novellas set in the English Regency and the American West, just completed her first contemporary series set in the fictional Hill Country town of Whiskey River, Texas.
A voracious reader who began jotting down plot ideas for Nancy Drew novels in her third grade spiral, Julia has published poetry and worked as a business journalist.
She and her husband live in East Texas, where she continues to craft the stories she loves. Check her website for details about her books, chat with her on social media, and follow her on Bookbub and Amazon to receive notices about her latest releases.
No comments posted.
© 2003-2025 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy