From the Publisher
"This is a witty, delicious read." — The Montecito Journal
“A fun romp through the early days of Hollywood sets, power struggles, jealousies and intrigue in the movie business.” — The Paris Insider
"Blake gives us a fascinating character we can’t help but root for." — Woman Around Town Blog
"An aspiring makeup artist takes on predatory Hollywood in this addictive debut novel with bite—a sultry, thrilling blend of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Killing Eve, and A Promising Young Woman." — The Nerd Daily
“Picture Daphne from Frasier gone rogue and you have Loretta Darling! You will love this saucy little British grifter unleashed in 1940s Hollywood with a makeup brush and a plan for vengeance on very bad men—what a delicious dark delight of a book!” — Bestselling author Jenna Blum
“So sassy and delicious. Loretta is one cool character." — Josie Silver, New York Times Bestselling author
"I loved it!" — S.J. Bennett
"Great fun—Loretta is glorious!" — Lucy Diamond, Sunday Times bestselling author
"Set in the Golden Era of Hollywood this is a glamorous, deliciously fun read which will keep you hooked until the very last page." — C. L. Miller, internationally bestselling author of The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder
"I’ve been reading the charming, dazzling, irresistible, The Unforgettable Loretta Darling—imagine The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets How to Kill Your Family. Katherine Blake’s debut oozes Golden-Age Hollywood glamour combined with razor-sharp wit. I LOVED it!" — Jessica Bull, author of Miss Austen Investigates
Kirkus Reviews
2024-05-04
A young English makeup artist, hoarding secrets as well as starry-eyed dreams, takes on midcentury Hollywood.
Margaret, a 20-year-old from England, lands in Los Angeles in 1950 having successfully blackmailed a con artist named Jimmie into getting her there. Renaming herself Loretta as soon as she hits U.S. shores, she heads for Sunset Boulevard, appearing to be a wide-eyed ingenue. But Margaret-now-Loretta is anything but naïve; in fact, she arrives with a particular knowledge gleaned from her mother—a pinch of this vegetation and a petal of that plant, and she has the means to impact another person’s health and even end their life. Still, what she really wants to be is a makeup artist. She befriends Primrose, a proverbial gold-hearted prostitute, and soon meets and marries Raphael Goddard, a ridiculously handsome man whose heart proves to be as tarnished as Primrose’s is pure. As Loretta apprentices with Alecs Petraś, a celebrated makeup artist, she also develops a tantalizing relationship with screenwriter Scott Eliot. So far, so golden Hollywood with a frisson of mystery. There are entertaining scenes focusing on the art and magic of makeup, and Blake clearly enjoys exposing the cattiness of Loretta’s colleagues. But the uneven narrative is frustrating at times: The plentiful and lighthearted celebrity sightings and glamour-infused scenes—at one point, Loretta attends the Academy Awards—clash jarringly with an unexpected violent near-rape, and what is meant to be a final big reveal is foreshadowed so frequently that it emerges as a whimper rather than a bang.
Scattered elements of mystery and an entertaining Hollywood success story never quite gel in this unsatisfying debut.
