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 Princess of Park Avenue
by Daniella Brodsky
Introduction
Princess of Park Avenue is a delicious self-indulgent treat
right up there with a leisurely soak in an aromatherapy infused
bubble bath with scented candles, a glass of icy bubbly and a
plate of Godiva, without the hangover or calories. Yes, I know.
It's probably shocking to imagine a work-a-maniac no-nonsense
person like me glued to a "chic lit" book that covers the
traditional plots including the emotionally available boybum,
the rich but sensitive "good" guy that finishes after the rat
hottie and the narcissistic band of pampered bitches.
It's true that my desk is
normally stacked miles high with work related reading materials
ranging from Allure, Vogue, Bazaar, Glamour and InStyle to the
Wall Street Journal, Barons and Business Week. Thoughts of
reading "recreational books" for pure enjoyment trigger pangs of
guilt that pointedly remind me how far behind I am on my "HairBoutique.com"
related homework.
So no, I would normally never
consider picking up a work like Princess of Park Avenue, let
along reading it from cover to cover, as I did with relish.
But someone sent me the book as a gift that arrived right before
Thanksgiving. While the rest of the male fam watched blood
and guts post-turkey movies I sat glued to Daniella's fabulous
fictional tale. The heroine is Lorraine Machuchi (think
Sandra Bullock for the movie version) who is plucked from her
Brooklyn home and thrust into the opulent day-to-day doings in a
ritzy New York super salon. Yeah I know, it may seem
highly unlikely in reality, but hey, this is a work of fiction
and so its okay to totally buy into the fabulous fantasy.
Lorraine is a Brooklyn/New City based Cinderella that proves
that with hard work and holding onto your dreams you win your
own salon and the prince who just happens to have a tricked out
Mercedes.
It would be cliché to say that
Princess is a "good read" but truth be told, it's not only good,
it's fabulously fantastic. If you know me, you know that
my momma taught me that if I can't say anything nice, then say
nothing at all. But in this case I have nothing but
superlatives to say.
The plot is definitely chic-lit
predictable but that makes the book even better. Who wants to
read a fun book that is a downer? Not me. Daniella
does a fabulous job of bringing each of the characters to life
with smoothly constructed dialogue and detailed descriptions
that are crisp and snappy. By the end of the book I felt
like I really knew Lorraine and the other main characters to the
point that I would be able to predict how they would react to a
new crisis.
Because the talented author has
done hard keyboard labor as a free lance writer in the hair and
beauty trade (Cosmopolitan, Self, etc.), the story held a lot of
very true-to-life tidbits ranging from notes about currently
popular hair and beauty products like L'Oreal and Yon-ka to
realistic references to painting miniscule root focused
highlights on a spoiled rotten "princess" client.
The technical accuracy to many of
the happenings in the salon made the book so entertaining while
incredibly interesting. I often caught myself wondering if
Lorraine was loosely modeled after one of New York's current
hair color divas. Hmmm, I would muse, could it be Rita
(Hazan), Sharon (Dorram) or Beth (Minardi)? Nah.
Probably not, but it was fun to wonder.
I loved that the Tony hair salon
was set inside Henri Bendels, one of my favorite haunts when I
am hanging out in The City. I could close my eyes and
visualize everything that Lorraine saw from the couture fashions
to the gorgeous gowns like the one she snagged for a special red
carpet event.
Yes, I really did read every
single page in the entire book. In fact, I actually whipped out
my famous color-coded flags for some of the pages so I can go
back in the future and check out the references to various
industry references.
If you are addicted to chic lit,
Princess of Park Avenue is an absolute must. If you're not
addicted but love a great read that sweeps you up in the first
chapter and carries you deep into the make-believe world of the
characters, pop on over to Amazon.com and click your mouse on
the Buy Now button.
As for me? I plan to
survive Christmas Day football frenzies with Daniella's other
two works which I haven't yet read -
Diary of a Working Girl and
The Girl's Guide To New York Nightlite.
Beside giving Princess of Park
Avenue 5 stars out of 5 and a major Kudos From Karen, I have
just one thing to say to Daniella................girlfriend, we
need to talk.
Buy The Book
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Berkley Trade (December 6, 2005)
ISBN: 0425205371 |