—Book Tour— Title: A Beautiful Rival Author: Gill Paul Publisher: William Morrow @williammorrowbooks Genre: Historical Fiction Pub Day: 9/5/23 Thank you, partner @bibliolifestyle + @williammorrowbooks for the #gifted copy and having me on this book tour!
Historical Fiction fans who are looking for something a little more lighter and fun, do I have the book for you! A Beautiful Rival by Gill Paul is a dishy cat and mouse tale about beauty industry legends Elizabeth Arden & Helena Rubinstein. It takes place from the beginning of 1915 all through the end of 1946 with back and forth timelines narrated by each woman. The title is spot on because boy did these women have a rivalry! They were always one-upping each other getting a hold of each other’s products and testing the ingredients; Helena even was able to have a spy working for Elizabeth for quite sometime. They hired ex-husbands and made friends with each others circles to get the dirt on each others businesses and lives.
This book covers:
▪️Anitsemitism
▪️WWI
▪️Stock market crash in London
▪️Stock market crash in US
▪️When Hilter was rising to power and people liked him 🤯
▪️WWII
Rating: I was really invested in this book for the first 100 pages then it sort of got a little repetitive and tiresome. However, I did read this in a day and overall can say I enjoyed it. A change of pace from heavier HF, though it does take place over of quite a few important events! I loved hearing about Elizabeth Arden’s red doors on Fifth Ave. Prior to this book I wasn’t as familiar with Helena Rubinstein. It looks like her company was sold in the 60s after her death and is what L’Oreal is now. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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