The Finishing Touches

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.

I really liked The Little Lady Agency series, so I was quite excited to read a new book by Hester Browne.

The story starts out quite similarly: a girl from a titled family finally gets a use out of the many etiquette lessons. She has to save her childhood home: a finishing school. And she also gets an excellent chance to snoop around, in the hopes of finding her biological mother, most probably a past student.

I was somewhat disappointed in the story. You see, the entire reason I read chicklit books is to live the modern fairy tale: independent/self-sufficient (or maybe not so much) Cinderella finds her Prince. Bonus points if it all starts out as hate-at-first-sight.

While there is romance in this book, it is kind of marginal. And show more everything gets solved in 10 minutes, towards the end of the book in an awfully predictable manner. Their chemistry wasn't too impressive either. Nor was the whole who's my real mummy?" part, either.

Score: 2.7/5 stars

If you enjoyed Melissa's advice in The Little Lady Agency, you'll get some of that here too. How could you not, with the action taking place at a traditional finishing school? Every chapter sports an motto referencing handy little tips to help a lady "get that perfect finish".

I guess it's a good beach read, if there's nothing juicier at hand. show less

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 show more about her and her friends. show less

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!

The Finishing Touches by Hester Brown

In 1981, an orphaned baby girl is left at the doorstep of a posh English finishing school, Phillimore Academy for Young Ladies. The only thing she has is a cashmere shawl and a pin with a diamond-studded bee hanging from it with a note attached: “Please look after my baby. I want her to grow up to be a proper lady. Thank you”. No one has a clue as to who could have left this girl child. And that is how the novel Finishing Touches starts.

This book has all the right things going for a light, fun chick lit read. Betsy is now 27 at that prime age for a chick lit novel. We have the mystery surrounding Betsy’s parentage, the obligatory yummy man who happens to be her best friends brother and someone show more that Betsy has a huge crush on, inner conflict about finding out who her mother was. Was she one of the girls from the school? Betsy has mixed feelings over lying about her credentials and current job. Then to make matters worse she takes on the task to see if she can yank the antiquated Finishing school into the 21st century. We have other conflicts with the “old school” principal and the prerequisite semi-evil and semi-hateful widower grabber. Oddly this is one part of the story that I do not feel was wrapped up to my satisfaction.

Potential abounds, and the writer does follow the proven formula, but quite frankly, I can see this as a better movie than a book. Throughout the whole thing, I was seeing this as a big screen adaptation! A lovely read for those who have read the rest of Ms Browne’s books.

Light, fluffy, mindless...perfect for the beach. show less

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 show more 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. show less

I am a big fan of the Little Lady Agency, and laughed my way through those books; therefore being very excited about Hester Browne's latest novel. I finished it, but at first it wasn't a sure thing. It seemed to be poorly edited at the beginning and quite confusing. There were no real funny bits like LLA, and the ending just seemed too rushed. It was a nice story in the sense that you should be happy with who you are, and not having to place your identity based on your biological parentage. My recommendation is if you have not yet read anything by Hester Browne, read The Little Lady Agency and enjoy a good laugh.