Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl by Renee Rosen-a review

Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl by Renee Rosen-a review

 

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Google Play /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date April 25, 2023

It’s 1938, and a young woman selling face cream out of a New York City beauty parlor is determined to prove she can have it all. Her name is Estée Lauder, and she’s about to take the world by storm, in this dazzling new novel from the USA Today bestselling author of The Social Graces and Park Avenue Summer.

In New York City, you can disappear into the crowd. At least that’s what Gloria Downing desperately hopes as she tries to reinvent herself after a devastating family scandal. She’s ready for a total life makeover and a friend she can lean on—and into her path walks a young, idealistic woman named Estée. Their chance encounter will change Gloria’s life forever.

Estée dreams of success and becoming a household name like Elizabeth Arden, Helena Rubinstein, and Revlon. Before Gloria knows it, she is swept up in her new friend’s mission and while Estée rolls up her sleeves, Gloria begins to discover her own talents. After landing a job at Saks Fifth Avenue, New York’s finest luxury department store, Gloria finds her voice, which proves instrumental in opening doors for Estée’s insatiable ambitions.

But in a world unaccustomed to women with power, they’ll each have to pay the price that comes with daring to live life on their own terms and refusing to back down.

•••••

REVIEW:FIFTH AVENUE GLAMOUR GIRL by Renee Rosen is an adult, fictionalized historical tale about the rise of cosmetics giant Estée Lauder told through the eyes of Gloria Downing.

Told from first person perspective (Gloria) following two separate timelines (1938-1946) and (1984) FIFTH AVENUE GLAMOUR GIRL follows down on her luck Gloria Downing as she struggles in the wake of losing everything after a scandal that destroyed her family, sending her father to jail. Working as a shampoo girl in a local Manhattan salon in 1938, Gloria would meet struggling cosmetics entrepreneur Estée Lauder, as Estee ventured into a world dominated by men. With the ongoing depression, and an economy about to be devastated by war, Gloria found herself jobless, on the outside looking in until landing a job at Saks Fifth Avenue. As Gloria’s star began to rise from counter girl to buyer, Estee would push the boundaries of friendship, desperate for a chance to promote her beauty line at Saks Fifth Avenue.

Neither Gloria Downing nor Estée Lauder were who they represented themselves to be. Having had to reimagine the face they presented to the world, Gloria would disown the father who brought down the family with a financial scandal, and Estee chose to put business before family and love. Gloria will have loved and lost twice before finding her own happily ever after, and only one man would ever hold Estee’s heart but Estee was always looking for something more and exciting. Estee and Gloria’s often embattled relationship would result in a lifelong friendship between two people whose secrets and lies were but one scandal away from total implosion.

FIFTH AVENUE GLAMOUR GIRL is a fictionalized account of Estée Lauder’s foray into, and her rise in the world of perfumes and cosmetics. Some of the information is based in fact while much of the story is a fantasy brought to life from the mind of Renee Rosen.The premise is entertaining, engaging and interesting; the characters are larger than life yet real and vulnerable.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy

Share

Park Avenue Summer by Renee Rosen-Review & Giveaway

PARK AVENUE SUMMER by Renee Rosen-Review & Giveaway


Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo / Google Play

About the book: Release Date April 30, 2019

Mad Men meets The Devil Wears Prada as Renée Rosen draws readers into the glamour of 1965 New York City and Cosmopolitan Magazine, where a brazen new Editor-in-Chief–Helen Gurley Brown–shocks America by daring to talk to women about all things off limits…

New York City is filled with opportunities for single girls like Alice Weiss who leaves her small Midwestern town to chase her big city dreams and unexpectedly lands the job of a lifetime working for Helen Gurley Brown, the first female Editor-in-Chief of a then failing Cosmopolitan Magazine.

Nothing could have prepared Alice for the world she enters as editors and writers resign on the spot, refusing to work for the woman who wrote the scandalous bestseller, Sex and the Single Girl. While confidential memos, article ideas, and cover designs keep finding their way into the wrong hands, someone tries to pull Alice into this scheme to sabotage her boss. But Alice remains loyal and becomes all the more determined to help Helen succeed. As pressure mounts at the magazine and Alice struggles to make her way in New York, she quickly learns that in Helen Gurley Brown’s world, a woman can demand to have it all.

••••••••••••

REVIEW: PARK AVENUE SUMMER by Renee Rosen is a stand alone story of women’s historical fiction focusing on a young woman in 1965 whose short lived career as the personal secretary to Helen Gurley Brown jumpstarts a life of love, loss, and professional success as a world renowned photographer.

Told from first person perspective (Alice) PARK AVENUE SUMMER follows twenty-one year old, single woman Alice Weiss as she ventures to New York City in 1965, to experience the life her late mother had always promised. With the help of her mother’s one time best friend Elaine Sloan, Alice will be hired as the personal secretary to Cosmopolitan’s new editor in Chief, Helen Gurley Brown, who along with Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem changed the world. As Helen struggles to keep Cosmo afloat, Alice battles the office gossip, lies, betrayal and manipulation, and her own heart breaking relationships.

PARK AVENUE SUMMER is an imaginative retelling that takes liberty with the events surrounding the first few months following Helen Gurley Brown’s entry into the world of magazine publishing. From boardroom squabbles to rampant employee departures, through the eyes of twenty-one year old Alice Weiss, we are witness to period in time that started the feminist revolution in North America. Our heroine’s venture into the world of publication is the stepping stone to a successful career as a photographer for Cosmo, as well as several popular women’s magazines. A fascinating and captivating piece of women’s (historical) fiction meant to entertain and intrigue.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy

FOLLOW: Website /Facebook /Twitter / Instagram /Bookbub /

Renee Rosen is the bestselling author of historical fiction. Her novels include Windy City Blues, White Collar Girl, What the Lady Wants and Dollface as well as the young adult novel, Every Crooked Pot. Her most recent novel is Park Avenue Summer (April 30, 2019 from Penguin Random House/Berkley).

Renee is a native of Akron, Ohio and a graduate of The American University in Washington DC.  She now lives in Chicago where she is at work on a new novel, The Social Graces, a story about Mrs. Astor and Mrs. Vanderbilt vying for control of New York society during the Gilded Age. (Coming in 2020 from Penguin Random House/Berkley).

She frequently visits with book clubs (either in person or via Skype/FaceTime) and is available for speaking engagements. For more information, feel free to contact her using the contact form.

 

Renee Rosen’s Publisher  (Penguin Random House) is offering a paper copy of  PARK AVENUE SUMMER to ONE (1) lucky commenter at The Reading Cafe.

1. If you have not previously registered at The Reading Cafe, please register by using the log-in at the top of the page (side bar) or by using one of the social log-ins.

NOTE: If you are having difficulty commenting after logging onto the site, please refresh the page (at the top of your computer).

2. If you are using a social log-in, please post your email address with your comment.

3. Please follow RENEE ROSEN on Facebook.

4. Please follow PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE on Facebook.

5. LIKE us on FACEBOOK and then click GET NOTIFICATION under ‘liked’ for an additional entry.

6. LIKE us on Twitter for an additional entry.

7. Please FOLLOW us on GOODREADS for an additional entry.

8. Please follow The Reading Cafe on Tumblr

9. Giveaway is open to USA only

10. Giveaway runs from April 29-May 4, 2019

Share