I love Gill Paul's historical fiction, and loved this book as much as I loved MANHATTAN GIRLS. A fascinating look at the lives of two powerful women as well as the history of cosmetics culture and industry.

See link https://historicalnovelsociety.org/a-beautiful-rival-by-gill-paul-elizabeth-arden-and-helena-rubenstein-push-each-other-to-greatness/

I have known about Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein's beauty brands as long as I can remember, but wasn't aware of their long standing rivalry. Both women had such fascinating live that were full of hardships and hard work to get to where they were, and the fact that their brands are still available to sell all over the world says something. A great read if you want to learn about 2 fascinating women.

Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden were two of America’s skincare pioneers as well as the first women to move make-up from the unsavory realm of the theater to something a nice girl could wear. A Beautiful Rival is historical fiction about their bitter rivalry seasoned with salacious details about their personal lives. Their antics and business tactics were so outrageous and unethical they made Rockefeller and Carnegie seem like pals. Fun, wealthy women behaving badly reading.

I absolutely loved this book .
A wonderful look in the th behind the scenes of the cosmetics world .

This was such a wonderful book! Gill Paul never disappoints. I loved the writing and the characters were so well done.

This was the first book I read by Gill Paul. I thoroughly enjoyed this book about the rivalry between Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubenstein. The author gave lots of information about both of these early business women. Well, drawn characters, and a great sense of place. I recently read a historical fiction novel about Estee Lauder. It was fascinating to read about all these three women in the beauty industry had to go through to prove themselves as successful business women. I highly recommend this book.

Whenever there is a new book written by Gill Paul I am there. This book showcases the rivalry between Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubenstein. Set in the 1920's and 1930's they were very successful at a time when women were not in business, but rather at home being wives and mothers. Their feud continued across the globe, through two world wars and the Great Depression. The research and writing were on point and the story was amazing. I don't know when her next book will be out, but I'll be waiting.

Paul brings cosmetics powerhouses Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubenstein to life at the height of their cosmetic empire in the early twentieth century and brings readers through the 1910s and the First World War to the other side of World War II. Alternating between their perspectives, readers explore the two womens’ highs and lows in their personal and professional lives, from relationships to horse racing to the tragedies of both World Wars and the Depression. Paul’s characterization of the two women really brings them to life, and she appropriately handles their complexities and character flaws even when they become ugly. The rivalry and relationships between these two women are incredibly fascinating and immersive, and Paul brings this complex dynamic to life by switching between their perspectives and showing how the actions of one of the two affected the other, providing a micro-example of the cause-effect nature of history. Paul’s descriptions, language, and settings, are fascinatingly detailed and descriptive, drawing the readers’ attention to the world that these two women inhabited. A Beautiful Rival is another historical fiction masterpiece by Paul, who has seamlessly combined character, setting, emotion, and historical era in this incredibly compelling and immersive read.

I thoroughly enjoyed this look at rival cosmetic entrepeneurs Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden! Author Gill Paul did a fantastic job showing what it was like to be a woman in business in the early part of the Twentieth Century, and she also brought both World Wars to life with heartbreaking details of the horrors of anti-semitism before and after WWII. Thank you to Netgalley, William Morrow, and the author for the librarian preview copy.

A Beautiful Rival by Gill Paul follows the stories of Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein. While Paul starts out slow, she does a nice job moving seamlessly between the two womens’ stories and weaving them together. A tremendous amount of information about the women and the beauty industry fills the pages without being tedious or feeling like a textbook. A well written and interesting read.

Told in alternating points of view between beauty mavens Helena Rubenstein and Elizabeth Arden, Paul’s novel begins with Arden’s reaction to the rumored opening of the first US business by Rubenstein, who had already established a reputation for upscale beauty salons in Europe. In the opening salvo of what would be a back-and-forth campaign of one-upmanship and sabotage between the two, Arden uses her contacts within New York society to make sure Rubenstein doesn’t score a Fifth Avenue location for her new salon. For the rest of their lives and careers, the two would spar to be the premier name in beauty products. Both share the accolade of convincing an at first reluctant female public that cosmetics weren’t only for actresses and harlots, but were tools every woman needed and deserved to be beautiful, espousing the theory that there are no ugly women, only lazy ones. With the application of the right products (Rubenstein premiering the idea of “medicinal herb formulas” discovered through meticulous lab techniques instilled in her by medical training ) and the judicious use of cosmetics (the concept of different skin types needing different products another of their innovations) any woman can become the beauty she is meant to be. Both suffer heartache and loss, both persevere with steely determination and iron-fisted control over their empires, both becoming some of the first millionaire female entrepreneurs. Rubenstein had to contend not just with prejudice against females in business (both raised their own money to fund their businesses, as banks wouldn’t lend to women,) but also discrimination against Jews. (In one instance, denied purchasing a condominium apartment in a New York high rise by its antisemitic manager, Rubenstein does an end-around, buying the whole building and evicting the manager.) Both end up far from their roots—Rubenstein initially exiled from Poland to family in Australia by her father for refusing to marry his choice of husband, Arden growing up on a small Canadian farm; both are ruthless, stealing staff from one another and planting spies in their rival’s business. And both create a billion-dollar industry where nothing before existed, literally changing the faces of the world’s female population. A fascinating look at the lives and loves of the two women who created the modern definition of “beauty.”

Thank you to William Morrow, William Morrow Paperbacks and to NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

I have read most of Gill Paul's books and was very excited when I saw that she had a new book coming out. This one seemed like it was a great topic: The Rivalry between Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubenstein.

I didn't know anything about either of them so this book was a real treat. There are a lot of funny moments in this book and some sad ones as well. I love Historical Fiction and this is one that I will definitely be recommending to all of the library customers that are also fans of Historical Fiction.

Gill Paul does it again! I can't wait to see what she comes up with next!

For fans of Fiction and Historical Fiction.

I don't know what I have been doing with my life that I am just now reading a historical fiction novel by Gill Paul! A Beautiful Rival: A Novel of Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden sucked me in immediately, and I was instantly drawn into this story of two very different but also eerily alike women who knew exactly what meant to work hard for what you have. I knew absolutely nothing about Rubinstein OR Arden heading into this book, and I feel like I learned so much about both of them. Even with the liberties Paul took with the storyline, so much of it was based on real-life that it still all felt very real. Paul's writing is fantastic and so engrossing that I literally started the audiobook and listened to it all the way to the end in one sitting.

This isn't a movie that I know of, but it should be and if this got optioned, I would definitely watch it in any capacity be it film or TV. Some parts broke my heart and left me with tears in my eyes, while others made my mouth drop open with the lengths these women would go to while they were competing with each other. If you are going to read A Beautiful Rival, I would recommend the audiobook if you enjoy them because it is done so well. Even though the viewpoints alternate between both Rubinstein and Arden, there is only one narrator, and somehow Lisa Flanagan managed to make herself sound like two people! It is seriously impressive, and she did a fantastic job. If you have ever wondered about either of these women or the empires they built, I highly recommend picking up this insightful and compelling novel and getting lost in the drama.

A Beautiful Rivel by Gil Paul spans from 1915 to 1946. Its an epic story of determination, will and fortitude.

This story alternates chapters about the history of cosmetic titans Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein and their infamous rivalry that spanned decades. At a time when wife and mother were supposed to be the highest goals for women, these two ladies created products and used the latest scientific technology to bring skincare to women.

I did not know anything of the rivalry of Elizabeth Arden and Helen Rubenstein.prior to this book.  Once I started reading, I could not get enough of the history and these two women. They worked hard and made difficult choices. As women, they were not always respected, especially Helen as a Jewish woman.  

It also never occurred to me how vicious the skincare industry could be. And I was fascinated reading about sabotage, spies and possible copy-cat products.

Despite their triumphs and setbacks, fears and uncertainties, I am left with the thought of how similar they truly were. You would have thought that being women in a man’s world, they would have supported each other, but instead the focus on product and being the best divided them.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Avon Books for this beautifully researched and written story by Gil Paul, an always must read author for me.

A Beautiful RIval is an historical fiction novel imagining of the lives of beauty queens Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubenstein. The chapters alternate between Elizabeth and Helena, two amazingly driven women who - one could argue - made the beauty industry what it is today. The story takes us through the ups and downs of their lives, and how each of them would do just about anything to take the other down.

What the author does really well is reveal to the reader the underlying motivations of the characters. The truth of who they were can be felt through the setting and dialogue. Overall, the novel seemed historically accurate. However, the ending - by the author's own admission - did not actually happen, and to me seemed a bit contrived.

If you enjoy historical fiction or Gill Paul's earlier novels, you will find A Beautiful Rival to be a satisfying and enjoyable read! Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for an advanced e-reader copy of this book.

Rival skincare pioneers is a less interesting subject to me than the women Gill Paul typically chooses for her historical fiction novels, but I’ve enjoyed her work immensely in the past, so I decided to give it a whirl.

As I somewhat expected, I enjoyed this one less than some of Paul’s previous novels, but she did a terrific job with the material she had to work with and I appreciate both the research and the imagined portions of the story.

Both subjects, Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden, are admirable for their ambition and work ethic. But while I quite liked Helena, Arden was objectively a bad person and it’s tough to get past that and to read a story that feels a bit like it’s both sides-ing an anti-Semitic fascist sympathizer. It’s a lot easier to like Rubenstein in spite of her absentee parenting and pettiness in business than it is to forgive Arden for her bigotry. That she was an active sort of bigot negates any “these were different times” pleas for the tempering of the modern reader’s feelings on the subject.

And unfortunately, that impacted my enjoyment of the book. While I appreciate Paul not lionizing a deeply flawed person, there is just isn’t much to like about Arden aside from her love of horses, even if you can respect her toughness and ambition.

Quick and Dirty⁣
-dual POV historical fiction⁣
-female titans of business⁣
-spans multiple decades⁣
-highly character-driven⁣
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Thoughts⁣
I'm a sucker for historical fiction with a feminist lens, so A Beautiful Rival certainly caught my attention when I read the synopsis. The appeal of following these two pioneering businesswomen, Helena Rubenstein and Elizabeth Arden, on their journey to power, fame, and fortune was too strong to resist. It reminded me of the recently published Renee Rosen novel, Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl which focuses on a later titan of business, Estee Lauder. While I thoroughly enjoyed many aspects of this book (keep reading), I will say that it is a slow read without much in the way of "action," so people who struggle with character-driven novels should keep that in mind. The characters were, though, well-developed and three-dimensional. Although it's written from a third-person POV the reader still gets the benefit of the inner dialogue/thought processes of the two MCs which helps flesh out the characters. You get to know their strengths and weaknesses, warts and all as some might say. That, to me, made this book special. They are both completely different and very much alike, which kept the tit-for-tat aspects of the book entertaining. The constant conniving and undermining were fun and kept the book moving along at a good pace (as did the relatively short chapters). My favorite part of this book was that we follow both women over many decades, seeing the world through their eyes as major events (Great Depression, WWII, etc.) happen around them. Overall, this was a solid HistFic that I think many readers will enjoy if they love character-driven novels about pioneering women!

I found this story uninspiring. Both women had great success and suffered tragedies but the story focused mainly on the petty rivalry between the two women. I wasn’t drawn to either character.

Four stars. Wonderful characters and plot.! Will be recommending and reading anything in the future from this author. Thank you for the title.