Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl
Author: Renée Rosen
Reviewer: Ang
Rating: A
What I’m Talking About:
Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl is an enlightening look into the life of Estee Lauder and her fight to become a household name in cosmetics, through the voice of her best friend Gloria.
Using the bonds of female friendship Ms. Rosen does a lovely job of bringing us into Estee’s world of trailblazing determination, while showing the reader what true friendship looks like and requires. Gloria and Estee are beautifully written, multifaceted, broken women fighting to be more in a world that wants them to stay exactly in the roles society has assigned them. While Gloria struggles to figure out who she is, what she is capable of after her world collapses around her, she meets Estee who is determined to become more than anyone thinks is possible.
In addition to writing rich, colorful characters, Ms. Rosen does a fantastic job of allowing the reader to step into the elegance and beauty of the 1940s and 50s as they share Gloria and Estee’s journey. The settings are described in such precise detail that the reader can feel the heat and humidity of Miami and the cold gray slush of the New York winters. I felt the setting was rich enough in description that the readers are able to see the fabrics of Saks and smell the cosmetics.
Gloria and Estee aren’t the only well written characters, like the settings, the secondary characters are rich, strong, and layered, offering dimension and depth to an already emotional and inspirational story line.
If you are looking for a story of the underdog overcoming the impossible and wanting to root for strong intelligent women as they go from outcasts to successful, powerful women living life on their own terms, then you want to pick up Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl by Renee Rosen.
My Rating: A Loved It
Ang
About the Book:
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 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.
Release Date: April 25, 2023
Publisher: Berkley
Series: Standalone
Genre: Historial Fiction
Format(s): paperback (432 pages), e-book, audiobook
Book Source: Publisher/ NetGalley
Purchase Info:
Amazon (affiliate link)