Will draw you in against your better judgment and keep you awake reading all night.
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Soap opera? You betbut with her well-drawn characters and engaging style, Vincenzi keeps things humming.
Nobody writes smart, page-turning commercial women’s fiction like Vincenzi.
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Vincenzi has a remarkable knack for drawing readers in to her characters' stories and lives. And as she deftly weaves professional and personal roles together, readers will find themselves getting hooked despite themselves. A PERFECT HERITAGE is, like the cosmetics company it profiles, a classic and very much worth the investment.
“Nobody writes smart, page-turning commercial women’s fiction like Vincenzi.” —USA Today“Soap opera? You bet—but with her well-drawn characters and engaging style, Vincenzi keeps things humming.”—People
“Will draw you in against your better judgment and keep you awake reading all night.” —The Boston Globe
“Vincenzi is poised to fill the gap in the American realm of Cinderella fiction.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times
★ 05/01/2015
Vincenzi's novels are formulaic and the ending can usually be predicted halfway through—but this does not take away from the satisfaction of her stories. Her newest (after Another Woman and Forbidden Places) doesn't disappoint. The House of Farrell, a failing cosmetics company established in 1953 by a young couple, Athina and Cornelius Farrell, is the centerpiece around which all the characters revolve. Bianca Bailey, a financial whiz, is hired to turn the business around and bring the brand into the 21st century. Her nemesis is, surprisingly, Athina, the matriarch who doesn't approve of these modern ideas and is trying to hold onto her power. Through Bianca, the reader is introduced to a slew of entertaining characters (a list of them at the beginning of the book helps with any confusion). Vincenzi touches upon many current topics: infidelity, family strife, working women, bullying, and trying to have it all. Superbly blending the past with the present, the author not only writes a truly solid soap opera but takes an in-depth look at the world of cosmetics, advertising, and business. VERDICT Fans of Vincenzi will welcome this novel, a perfect summer read.—Marianne Fitzgerald, Severna Park H.S., MD
2015-04-10
A revered skin care doyenne battles a private equity turnaround team in Vincenzi's latest (More Than You Know, 2012, etc.). Athina Farrell founded the House of Farrell cosmetics firm with her handsome husband, Cornelius, in 1953, the year of Queen Elizabeth's coronation. Now, as the queen's diamond jubilee approaches, the venture capitalists who have taken over Farrell's have installed Bianca, a high-powered turnaround artist, as CEO, charged with the Sisyphean task of revitalizing the near-bankrupt firm. Athina, now 85 and widowed, had no choice but to allow the buyout, but having negotiated 51 percent of the stock for herself and her two children, Bertram and Caroline, she hopes the family can retain control of the company. Since her superannuated lawyers didn't build voting rights into the mix, this may be more of a challenge than Athina anticipated, but she has an ace up her well-tailored sleeve: a recipe for a blockbuster perfume. As is typical with Vincenzi's novels, this premise brings together myriad characters (the Character List at the beginning is indispensable) and subplots. Bianca, who has depended on her staid banker husband, Patrick, to do the heavy domestic lifting as she toils 24/7, has her world upended when he enters the all-consuming field of hedge fund analysis. With both parents thus preoccupied, preteen daughter Milly endures vicious bullying at private school; her anguish is noticed but not addressed. Florence, a longtime Farrell's retainer who manages a tiny but opulent store frequented by London's glitterati, has a secret: she and Cornelius carried on an affair for years. Why did Athina withhold her perfume formula for decades? All part of the matriarch's plan to sabotage the CEO, Bianca thinks. After about 400 pages, the multiple plotlines begin to pay off. While many readers may find this fictionalized case history of a company in crisis absorbing, others, particularly those seeking an escape from long-winded meetings and office politics, may not. A workplace drama that often feels too much like work.