A Beautiful Rival
By: Gill Paul
Genre: Historical Fiction
Summary:
Elizabeth Arden has been happily dominating the United States beauty scene. Life is good-- until rival Helena Rubenstein shows up to give her a run for her money.
The plot of this book intrigued me. It sounded so fun and it was! I have heard of Elizabeth Arden, though I know next to nothing about her. I had not heard of Helena Rubenstein. If you haven't heard of these powerhouses, no need to fear. Put yourself in Gill Paul's hands and let the story introduce you.
Elizabeth doesn't take kindly to the arrival of Helena on her turf. Why couldn't she stay in Europe where she's enjoyed success. Why does she need to expand to the US?! Instantly, Elizabeth does whatever she can to undermine anything Helena sets out to do. It doesn't take long for a full on battle to be declared between these two. Each taking turns playing dirty. They take shots at each other in the press, they undermine each other's successes while trying to outdo the other. As the years go by, the levels they stoop to only increase.
It was fascinating to read. Elizabeth was a hard character for me to respect and even like. She was incredibly controlling and domineering. She would throw outrageous tantrums when things didn't go the way she wanted them to. She wasn't very likeable for me, overall. However, a lot of that can be chalked up to her poor youth. Her early years definitely shaped her success and her desperation to hold on to it at any, and all, costs.
I really liked Helena. As I read the book, I felt she handled herself with far more dignity and respect. She was admirable in her business dealings. You watched her make level-headed decisions for her company that paid off. She wasn't one to yell or fly off the handle. However, she wasn't above getting her hands dirty when it came to Elizabeth. She just carried herself more reservedly that Elizabeth did.
As the years past, the gloves came off more. The race to own more salons intensified, as did what they would do to succeed over the other. Both dealt their opponent low blows. Both played dirty. Neither came off as innocent in their business dealings.
I don't know how accurate Gill Paul's portrayals were of these ladies. I got the impression that she was able to put a lot of her own imagination and creativity into the story, which I loved. I felt bad when each hit the other a little too close to home. Their ultimate confrontation was from the creative genius of the author, but I felt it was true to the characters she had written. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to more Gill Paul books.
