Ann Wertz Garvin

Thanks to Amazon Prime and Lake Union Publishing for a digital copy. All comments and opinions are my own.

Loved this! It was funny, clever, honest, and realistic even though it took place primarily on the Universal Studios movie lot. I liked the juxtaposition of the make-believe of Hollywood movies and the real life experiences the characters were dealing with – tax fraud, bankruptcy, single parenting, grief/loss, self-esteem, abandonment, and betrayal.

In some ways this was an adult coming-of-age story of main character Poppy Lively, who learns her accountant has stolen every single dollar, and the IRS is expecting her to pay back all she owes. Living in Wisconsin, Poppy is offered a job out of the blue by her long-ago boyfriend. She drives her old van to California to work in the wardrobe department on a Hollywood movie set, a job she’s not qualified for but desperate to take in order to be able to pay her daughter’s college tuition.

While the topics are serious, the writing is clever and witty, with humor on every page. Themes of friendship, feminism, and trust are woven into this enjoyable novel that I’ll be telling everyone to read.… (more)