I enjoyed this novel about a young woman's ambition and desire to make a new life for herself by whatever means necessary. I felt the ending was a little rushed and Loretta's character wasn't fully developed but overall an entertaining read that promises more from the author in the future.

Margaret leaves England and reinvents herself as make up artist Loretta Darling in the golden age of Hollywood. She suffers some traumas and setbacks, but with the support of good friends, and a knowledge of toxic plants, achieves success.
A good beach read.

I enjoyed this book, particularly the beginning - it gets off to a really strong and punchy start. The characters are great, particularly Loretta.
If I have one gripe it’s that I think the pacing towards the end didn’t quite work. I wanted to know more of Loretta’s back story and I felt this was skimmed over a bit too quickly.
All in all though, a fun and entertaining read from a promising new author.

An enjoyable read telling the story of wannabe make up artist Loretta’s arrival in Hollywood. Would recommend for lovers of Funny Girl by Nick Hornby, City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert and Seven Husbands by TJR. It was a fun read and I liked that it wasn’t focused on the typical wannabe actress trope. It just felt a little cliched and lacking in sophistication in parts, this combined with the ending feeling rushed meant it was a 3 star read for me.

A pleasant enough frolic through Hollywood's heyday through the eyes of a make up artist. An enjoyable light read

A great book set in the Hollywood of yesteryear. Loretta deals with a lot of ups and downs but triumphs in the end. Lovely story and great characters.

This a good beach read. I'll be honest it wasn't for me but I think I was expecting too much, I was thinking Taylor Reid Jenkins style of writing and while there is bit of that it's no where near as outstanding.

It's really fact paced and moves quick because of this there is much character development which meant I couldn't warm to Loretta at all.

It is told in the first POV in Loretta's voice it spans time and place but really lacks background and its needs pacing to really make you want to keep reading. There is hints that something went on back home
In England this done via letters which held my interest but I was let down in the end as I had worked out what was going on early on but had hoped to be wrong. The ending is also too "Hollywood Happy Ever After" which means the book is almost confused in what it wants to say.

The writer makes a good attempted to leave you thinking and challenged with her focus on how Hollywood worked pre Me2 but unfortunately she lacks the skill to really achieve this. It doesn't work in the way the plot and characters are written. There is one particularly harrowing scene that should promised but it isn't followed up well enough and as such any impact is lost.

I liked the idea of an make up artist working in Hollywood instead of the usual actress it was a quirky take, and if the writer had stayed with the lighter aspects though out instead of trying to make it more hard hitting and thought provoking it would have worked really well and made the book stand out. I really enjoyed the make up tips also there were a fun addition.

The characters lacked developed and were quite flat. One of the things I love about TJR writing is how she captures people in a few words, gives them backstories and makes them come alive unfortunately this book didn't do that.

All that being said it's a solid debut novel worthy of three stars but needs work to be great. It is an airport impulse buy to loose yourself in whist in the sun, but leave it by the pool for someone to read it's not a keep on your bookshelf to read again kinda book.

Margaret, fresh off the boat needs a new start in America after a murky past in England. The lights and glamour of Hollywood are beckoning and while Margaret -now Loretta adores the movies as much as the next gal, its her skill with the make up brush that will get her up close and personal with the stars. Featuring an eclectic cast of tinseltown characters from the seedy underbelly of Sunset Boulevard to the lofty heights of the Academy Awards, the story of Lorretta Darling is both a cautionary tale and a beacon of hope for all ambitious woman everywhere.

I struggled to get into this, initially but it grabbed me eventually and it was a fun read. I never quite felt that Loretta lived up to her full potential as a character which is why this is only three stars for me.

This was a quick romp of a read. I got serious Evelyn Hugo vibes, minus some of the things that really made me love Evelyn Hugo. The writing was fine and the pace was fast - definitely some TWs here though. I'd give this a 2.5 rounded up!

I flew through this, and I imagine fans of TJR and Hollywood-themed novels will enjoy. I liked that this wasn't a typical Hollywood story and I appreciated the perspective of a wannabe makeup artist to the stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoyed this book. It’s actually a 3.5 star for me. Whilst reading this really reminded me of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo but it just didn’t grip me in quite the same way. Very enjoyable though.

All of the characters are interesting & well-rounded. The plot is good & while it is coming off the back of the Me Too movement, it doesn’t feel too in your face. Sometimes when something is blatantly connected to something big like that it can be a bit off-putting but this wasn’t. There were a few typos in this arc version which confused me (suddenly the main character has the surname of Robert’s?) but will it was an enjoyable book. The one thing I would say I wished the author made a bit more of the ending in terms of speaking about the protagonist’s past. This is hinted throughout the book but when you’re actually told the real story it seems to go by pretty fast. However this was an entertaining read overall.

Thank you to the author, publishers & NetGalley for granting me access to this arc for an honest review.

***advance review copy received from NetGalley in return for an honest review***

A fun read, if not a particularly original one. We are introduced to the main character as she swindles her way into passage to America, and then further cons her way to Hollywood - but, for me, Loretta (as she renames herself) never really quite lives up to that first flush of potential. She starts out with promise but never attains as much bite as we see in those first pages.
That said, it’s still a readable, pacy story.