Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl by Renee Rosen-a review

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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.

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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