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The Finishing Touches

by Hester Browne

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287790,997 (3.74)4
A fading English finishing school is about to get a twenty-first-century makeover thanks to business-savvy Betsy Phillimore. But Betsy may have bitten off more than she can chew for she must first win over the school's snobby headmistress and its handsome but risk-averse treasurer. Returning to London also means facing her own unfinished business, as she crosses paths with her sexy girlhood crush ... and blowing the dust off clues to a lifelong mystery: who were her parents, and why did they abandon her?… (more)
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Showing 1-5 of 7 (next | show all)
Wonderful! Delightful! Charming! I enjoyed this just as much as I had her Little Lady Agency books. I had loads of fun reading how Betsy revitalized the school and trying to solve the mystery of her parentage at the same time. ( )
  wisemetis | Jan 14, 2023 |
Sort of like Katie Fforde ( )
  PattyLee | Dec 14, 2021 |
Betsy takes on the colossal task of modernizing her family's bankrupt finishing school to fit the 21st century. With enrollment down to four students, something needs to be done fast, or the school will be forced to sell. Betsy enlists her friends to help her teach classes in how to budget money, buy flattering clothes, and gracefully deal with awkward social situations.

Betsy also tries to track down her birth mother, who abandoned her on the school's front steps when she was a baby. A gold digger is chasing Betsy's clueless adopted father. Finally, Betsy's longstanding crush on her best friend Liv's older brother may not be one-sided after all.

This is a delightful book. Betsy is both charming and practical, and I want to read more about her and her friends. ( )
  soraki | May 18, 2013 |
I had been delighted to spot this Hester Browne book on the shelf since I had loved The Little Lady Agency series and despaired that it had ended a few years ago! While The Finishing Touches holds a completely different story with new characters, Ms. Browne's writing still sparkles with the same delightful fun I have come to adore! I enjoyed Betsy and many Franny-isms that she shared and tweaked to fit the modern times! Manners, once learned and mastered, are definitely timeless - and I would have definitely loved to attend the Phillimore Academy for Young Ladies! ( )
  theepicrat | Mar 20, 2011 |
Hester Brown's "The Finishing Touches" is set at an English finishing school in London that has seen better days. The school's spiritual leader Franny has just died, and the school's old fashioned ways has left it with just four hopeless and spoiled students. When the owner of the school asks his adopted daughter, Betsy, to try to figure out how to bring back the school's old glory, she decides a rapid modernization campaign is necessary to bring the school back to life. But will Betsy save the school before it's too late?

"The Finishing Touches" was a cute concept, but I feel like it needed more substance. The main characters--Betsy, her friend Liv, and the girls at the school--all seemed interesting enough, but I kept wishing that they would actually DO something. The novel felt like exposition, exposition, and more exposition, with very little action until the very end. When the action started it was very good and I enjoyed reading it, I just wish it had started on page 50, instead of on page 350. Ms. Brown is obviously a talented writer, and she did a great job developing the relationship between Betsy and Liv and Betsy and her adopted mother Franny. I just wish she had put some of that talent into developing an interesting and cohesive narrative throughout this novel. ( )
  bachaney | Aug 17, 2009 |
Showing 1-5 of 7 (next | show all)
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Deep in the discreet matronly bosom of Mayfair, Halfmoon Street hid the last remaining secret of London society.
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A fading English finishing school is about to get a twenty-first-century makeover thanks to business-savvy Betsy Phillimore. But Betsy may have bitten off more than she can chew for she must first win over the school's snobby headmistress and its handsome but risk-averse treasurer. Returning to London also means facing her own unfinished business, as she crosses paths with her sexy girlhood crush ... and blowing the dust off clues to a lifelong mystery: who were her parents, and why did they abandon her?

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