Would recommend for fans of…
💄 Promising Young Woman
💄 MaXXXine
💄 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Old Hollywood stories always suck me in, especially if they incorporate some thrills. The Unforgettable Loretta Darling has all of that and more, as this story about a Hollywood make-up artist looking for vengeance manages to blend together the best parts of the historical fiction and thriller genres.

The story starts with Loretta arriving in California, only to realize that her husband is not the man she thought. And after finding herself in a difficult situation, she decides to seek revenge. There’s a strong sense of spunk and fight that courses through the story. From the very start, it’s clear that Loretta doesn’t suffer fools (or lecherous men). Loretta’s character was the highlight of the story for me, and I’m sure fans of character-driven stories will feel the same way. I really enjoyed getting to read a story where the main character starts off strong and only gets stronger as the story goes on.

There’s a lot of details about the Hollywood studio system in the 1950s, which I appreciated, but all of that detail means that sometimes the story can lean more into historical fiction territory, which may be unexpected for those who are looking for a straight-up thriller. I’d recommend sticking with the story though, because the ending really makes it worth it.

The Unforgettable Loretta Darling is out now. Thanks to Harper Paperbacks for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Described as "An aspiring makeup artist takes on predatory Hollywood in this addictive debut novel with bite—a sultry, thrilling blend of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Killing Eve, and A Promising Young Woman. " I was very excited to get stuck into this story.

My thoughts:

- Initially I was intrigued by Loretta's schemeing and means of getting her way to Hollywood and the job she wants despite the men around her
- Unfortunately after Loretta gets to Hollywood the story really started to drag for me, the pacing was not ideal
- I adored the concept but felt the execution didn't live up to it, the characters could have been more fully developed and the pacing was slow.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

DNF at 18%. Unfortunately, nothing about this book, aside from the blurb, captured by attention. The writing style didn’t grip me, and Loretta isn’t a particularly interesting character to me. I also felt that the story’s start lacked something to drive forward the plot, and without it I just didn’t feel any urge to read on. As I did not finish this novel I will not be reviewing it on any platform.

I picked up and started and restarted this book many times. It has a great premise. It just didn't deliver for me. I had a hard time connecting to characters and in a character driven book, that just won't work. I hope it finds its audience!

DNF at 40%. Honestly, I really tried to get through this book, but I found myself bored at about 20% and then when the conflict happened I was a little interested, and then it slowed down again. I just think the pacing is very off and honestly I did not like Loretta all that much to keep me invested.

Thank you to Netgalley for granting me an ARC in return for an honest review.

I could not really enjoy this book like I intended. It had a great premise but it was hard to get into. The characters lacked development that I like to see and it was hard to follow at times. I give it a solid 3 stars because I thought it was good at the beginning but around the middle it seemed to really fall apart.

This was a fun, breezy read for me and I enjoyed Loretta's hijinks through Hollywood. My girl got the job done!
With that being said, I did think there was some fine tuning that could've gone into this story that would raise it from a 3 star read to a 4 star one. And that's mainly the slow pacing in the first half and the romance. The female friendships were such a sparkling light, it was disappointing to have a romantic relationship that felt so lackluster!

This was very unique, a fresh story on Hollywood and one that I really enjoyed overall!
I also LOVE the cover!

This was such a fun mystery/thriller type of book with engaging characters and dialogue throughout the entire time. I was never bored. Thank you for the opportunity to review early.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for the ARC of this book.

2.5 rounded down to 2.

This book just didn't do it for me. It was very much the opposite of unforgettable. It's set in the golden age of Hollywood which I love, but that's about the only thing I loved about it. It's categorized as a thriller and I can't, for the life of me, understand why. There was nothing thrilling or exciting about it. In fact, it was so slow I could hardly bring myself to pick it when I had time to read.

What is the plot about? Her becoming a makeup artist or a feminine vigilante? The vigilante part could have been really exciting, but the story is so bogged down in makeup talk and other nonsense, it never becomes much of anything. It flits from one strangely unrelated scene to the next. The blurb of the book says she's running from a dark past - when we are confusedly presented with the dark past, it's so entirely anticlimactic it's almost funny. I could see the reveal coming from the very beginning.

The book just moved at snail's pace and it didn't hold my interest at all. Golden Age Hollywood has all the potential to be something unforgettable, but this just wasn't it.

A quirky, fast-paced novel that will keep you entertained to the end. I found the writing style a tad confusing but all in all an enjoyable read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy!

This book was just okay to me. Parts of the setting and time period really kept me intrigued, but the pacing of the book dragged. I didn't feel like every plot point and character was fully developed yet was ready for things to speed up and resolve. I'm sure others will enjoy this but it was just a like for me.

The Unforgettable Loretta Darling reminded me a lot of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo with hollywood being its main backdrop as well as the 'rags to riches' theme. It does however bring its own fresh and exciting perspective on the whole moving to LA to chase your dreams by making it a story about a makeup artist. I think it's largely forgotten (or overlooked) that not everyone who goes to Hollywood with a big dream dreams of being a famous actor. Though I largely enjoyed the book, I am of the opinion that the story and writing would have benefited from a third person point of view as opposed to the first person pov. I also felt that some of the plot points were abandoned halfway and would've benefited from being explored more and given better endings rather than being left unceremoniously which left the book feeling "undercooked" in parts. This however was a galley and most of this may have been fixed in the final copies. This story has a lot of potential and I would still recommend it. Spoiler alert (maybe)...::: im a sucker for a well exacted revenge so extra points for that lol
Thanks to Harper Perennial and Paperbacks for the Netgalley

3.25 stars 

This is a quick-paced read that I read in an afternoon, despite being over 400 pages--I'm a sucker for an Old Hollywood setting. This book follows Loretta (not her real name) as she blackmails and showboats her way into moving to LA and starting a job as a makeup artist to the stars. Forced to grow up quickly and learn that you can almost never trust a man, Loretta proves herself someone to mess with, all while evading her dark past and navigating the politics of Hollywood in the 1950s.
I enjoyed all of the movie magic parts of this as well as some of the darker elements of the book, but with how they're presented in the blurb I was a little disappointed with how much focus those dark bits actually got. I didn't really connect to most of the characters or feel many of the relationships along with them, but it still kept me entertained enough to keep reading, and I did appreciate the female friendship aspect. I was hoping for a little more panache from the ending, but overall I had a good time reading this! Thanks to Harper Perennial and the author for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed The Unforgettable Loretta Dalring after going in not knowing much about what the book was about.

It really felt like a mishmash of genres and I wouldn’t say it fits into one category neatly. It felt the most like historical fiction with bits of romance and mystery intertwined. It very much had an old Hollywood vibe.

I enjoyed the character of Loretta and my favorite parts of the book were her female friends with Alice, Sally, and Primrose. I didn’t really feel invested in the romance but I didn’t feel like the reader got a good sense of who the love interest really was as a character.

I think the book could be improved by wrapping up a few plot points a bit better but overall I was satisfied with it!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the arc.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the advanced copy. This is the first book that I have read by Katherine Blake. The Unforgettable Loretta Darling follows Loretta as she moves to Hollywood to become a makeup artist to the stars. Along the way, Loretta meets a variety of characters. Loretta seeks revenge on men who have wronged her. I enjoyed the book. It had similar vibes to the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I did have a tough time during the middle of the book. I feel like it was a bit too long.

I was so excited about this one! The cover was gorgeous, and the premise had me hooked—I love an Old Hollywood story. However, I found myself wanting a little more from THE UNFORGETTABLE LORETTA DARLING. I liked the overall voice and writing style, thought the plot was so interesting, but had a difficult time with the pacing. The story felt a little slow at the beginning, but then much more rushed near the end, which was a little bit jarring as a reader. Still I thought this book was really promising, and if you are a fan of Hollywood stories (especially those set in Old Hollywood!) that will keep you on the edge of your seat, it's definitely worth giving THE UNFORGETTABLE LORETTA DARLING a try! Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial and Paperbacks for the ARC.

I'm so sad to say that I wanted this book to be so much more than it was. The premise itself feels fun and evocative, but the execution felt like a reimagining of other works.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper for the ARC of this title.

This was the platonic ideal of a beach read for me - fizzy and frothy, propulsive enough that you're mentally willing to handwave places that feel a little too coincidental plot-wise, researched enough from a history level that it feels genuine. This was deeply unserious in a great way; I devoured it over the course of a day.