Month: June 2019

Rouge is the story of three women who become entrepreneurs in the beauty industry in the 1930’s.  It follows their careers as they invent different types of cosmetics and the reason why they were invented.  It is the story of how women can be ruthless when they are climbing the all important “ladder” of success, and how each will step on the other’s toes to make it first to the top.

The story begins as the women’s rag to riches stories are each told. And how backstabbing between them never stopped, even when they all had succeeded.  For them it was not just the climb, but the obsession of staying at the top and trying to push everybody else down.  These women become obsessed with fame, power, fortune and social standing and will do anything, including murder, to stay there.

Josiah Herzenstein (Josephine Hertz) was born a Polish Jew who had to keep her heritage a secret.  When she leaves Poland to come to America she becomes a workaholic in order to prove her worth and creates a cosmetic company which skyrockets her onto the global stage.

Constance Gardner is her rival.  She too had ideas on what women would like, only her approach was a bit different.  She, like Josephine, has secrets of her own.  Secrets which could destroy her company.  And she skyrockets to fame as well.  Both women despise each other, and are jealous of the other’s fame and power. Unfortunately they feel there can only be room for one cosmetic heiress.

Cee Cee Lopez worked for Constance for many years.  She too had an invention which was overlooked.  As an African American woman her journey is very different than Josephine and Constance.  She will do anything to be the first African American woman to become a millionaire in the cosmetic industry.  When a situation occurs and she breaks with Constance she sees this as her chance.

Included in the intriguing story are of course love affairs, heartbreak and intense hatred among the rivals.  With everyone trying to vie to be the most extraordinary cosmetic genius, and each plotting against the other, can anybody survive?

This was such an interesting read with a different story.  It truly had it all.

Rouge comes out June 25.

Thank you to #NetGalley #St. Martin’s Press #Rouge #Richard Kirschenbaum for the advanced copy.

Buy-book link: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250225108

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About the author:

RICHARD KIRSHENBAUM is CEO of NSG/SWAT, a high-profile boutique branding agency. He has lectured at Harvard Business School, appeared on 20/20, was named to Crain’s New York Business’s “40 under 40” list, and has been inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame. He is the author of Under the Radar, Closing the Deal, Madboy, and Isn’t That Rich? and the New York Observer‘s “Isn’t That Rich?” column. He lives in New York City with his wife and three children.

ROUGE Blog Tour Q&A with Richard Kirshenbaum

1. How did you become inspired to write ROUGE?

“I’m part of the first generation of men to have worked for the first generation of female entrepreneurs and executives. As an ad man, I also ran many cosmetic accounts throughout the U.S., from Avon to Revlon, and much in between. I was inspired by the female entrepreneurs who founded the first multi-billion dollar female driven industry, and was surprised that there hadn’t been a novel about the industry before this.”

2. Can you talk about your research process?

“Over the past thirty years, a lot has been drawn from biographies of well-known people who run these cosmetics companies. As a novel, Rouge is a compilation of characters based on women and men who founded these companies. I often draw from those biographies. I also do an enormous amount of research online. Today vs. 25 years ago, where you had to go to the New York Public Library, it’s a joy to be able to access so many articles and books online. I think it’s really important, when writing a period piece, to understand world events that happened during that time.  It’s hard to set a book in the 1920’s and place your character at a bar, if that’s when prohibition was in effect. So unless you really understand what’s going on in the world, you can’t give an accurate portrayal. One has to do a year-by-year deep dive if you’re writing historical fiction.”

3. How was the experience of writing ROUGE, a novel, different from your last book, Isn’t That Rich?, which was nonfiction?

“Essays are mostly observational and contemporary, so I was always intrigued by the people I know and some of the ridiculous things that occur in a certain group. Creating fictional characters is actually in many ways more rewarding for me. I believe that when you create strong characters and come up with a great plot line with characters who drive the story, it’s fascinating to bring so much life. It’s the ultimate creative process.”

4. Tell us about some of the locations where you wrote ROUGE?

“In the acknowledgements at the back of the book, I include places, as well as people. I was inspired from writing in different locations. For example, in the villa in Jamaica where Ian Fleming wrote his James Bond novels. You can rent out the villa, which includes a manual type-writer, and it’s really inspiring to write in a place like that with such literary significance. It inspired me to write something worthy. Every time I go someplace, it adds to the tapestry of what I’m writing about.”

5. What’s the last book you read?

Currently reading: Three Men on a Diet: A Very English Approach to Losing Weight by George Courtauld.

 

Colleen (Lena) Donahue has made a point of not returning to her childhood home where her parents own an Irish pub in North Carolina for over 10 years.  As a travel writer living in New York, she has tried to forget her past, especially her own sister’s betrayal on Lena’s wedding day.

But unfortunately for Lena, she cannot hide from her family anymore.  With her father Gavin’s recent diagnosis of Alzheimer’s she must return to face a sister she has not spoken to in years, a brother who loves them both but is overwhelmed with keeping their business afloat, and a father who is slipping slowly away from them.

They decide to give their dad a party and are putting together a memory book of stories and pictures to hopefully assist him with his memory.  The book is to be filled with past memories from when they first bought the Irish pub when Colleen was born.

But then Lena begins to discover some of the stories and dates don’t match and that just doesn’t make sense.  Are they just mistakes or is something else going on?  Are there family secrets that have never been told?

Lena, Hallie and Shane must act quickly to find out the truth before their dad looses those memories.  And are any of them really ready for what he might reveal if he can even remember them?

The Favorite Daughter is the story about sibling rivalry, grudges, disappointment and hurt.  It’s also about family secrets and coming together as only family can no matter what the circumstances.  It’s about the bon between brothers and sisters that no one can break.

It’s also about the reality of what happens as a brain begins to be ravaged by Alzheimer’s and how it affects not only the person, but everyone around them.

Thank you Goodreads and Berkley/Penguin Random House for the advanced copy.  The Favorite Daughter is out right now.

This is book 21 in the Hannah Swensen murder mystery series.  I must say things are beginning to heat up in Lake Eden!

I had stopped reading the series at Book 20, but NetGalley sent me the most recent book, Chocolate Cream Pie Murder, and I read that and loved it so much I decided to read the books I had skipped.

In these later books, Fluke has learned the art of surprise and each one’s ending is more exciting than the previous one.

In Banana Cream Pie Murder, Hanna and her new husband Ross have just come home from their honeymoon cruise.  As they try to adjust to married life coincidentally a murder happens.

Hannah’s mother Delores hears a noise coming from her downstairs neighbor’s condo and when she goes to find out what it is she finds her neighbor, Victoria Bascomb, a former actress, now director of the local community theater dead, and next to her is one of Hannah’s Banana Cream Pies. Hannah immediately gets on the case.  Bascomb is the sister of the Mayor of Lake Eden and had a few enemies in the town.

One of her most difficult investigations to date, there seem to be no suspects and Hannah keeps us guessing as to who did it almost up to the last page.  But she saves the last page for even more shocking news!

As usual there are a slew of mouthwatering recipes included after most chapters, something I have decided I look forward to.

The Hannah Swensen series is not rocket science, but just an enjoyable romp into the world of cozy mysteries.  I am glad I have decided to join Hannah again.