So we adore hearing from our readers. One such reader, Shannon, told us about a great book she read recently so we thought we’d share a little about it. Check it out below & pick up a copy of The Finishing Touches for your next chick-lit read!

“The only truly waterproof mascara is an eyelash tint.”

This is one such example of the helpful and witty tips you will find at the beginning of each chapter in Hester Browne’s new novel, The Finishing Touches.

Browne tells the story of Betsy Phillimore, an orphan left on the steps of the London finishing school, Phillimore Academy, with a note asking to have her daughter raised as a lady and adorning her wrist is a curious bee shaped charm. Betsy is taken in by the owners to be raised by Lady Frances Phillimore and the kind staff. Betsy dreams of being allowed to attend the school and is disappointed when the Phillimores decide she should go to college instead.

Years later, Betsy returns to find the school she loved in disarray and desperate for money and students. Betsy decides to take on the task of trying to save the school from its dusty curriculum like lessons on how to pluck a pheasant and other irrelevant tasks. Betsy comes in with worldly ideas to teach single women such as how to open a bank account and deal with toxic exes. She employs her friends to bring in fashion and dating advice to bring the school into the 21st century, along the way, wondering if she will ever find out who her mother was. Can she save the school and learn where she comes from?

The Finishing Touches tells a charming, polished, and original story that is witty and fun while all along giving good advice for the cosmopolitan woman of today.

Has anyone else read The Finishing Touches? What’s some of your favorite chick literature?

Thanks, Shannon!

photo courtesy of Simon & Schuster