The Finishing Touches [Paperback]

A fading English finishing school gets a 21st-century makeover in this “modern-day fairy tale” (Romantic Times Book Reviews) fromNew York Timesbestselling author Hester Browne, whose sparkling novels are “charming and feel-good” (Cosmopolitan).

Twenty-seven years ago, an infant turned up on the doorstep of London’s esteemed Phillimore Academy for Young Ladies. Now, Betsy Phillimore returns to the place where she was lovingly raised by Lord and Lady Phillimore, only to find the Academy in disrepair and Lord P. desperate to save his legacy.

Enter Betsy with a savvy business plan to replace dusty protocol with the essentials girls need today: cell phone etiquette, eating sushi properly, handling credit cards, choosing the perfect little black dress, negotiating a prenup,and other lessons in independent living.

But Betsy’s return to London not only means having to cross paths with her sexy girlhood crush again, but also having to contend with the mystery of who her parents are and why they abandoned her. Will the puzzle pieces of her past fall into place while Betsy races to save the only home she’s ever known?Hester Browne is theNew York Timesbestselling author of numerous novels, includingThe Little Lady Agency in the Big Apple,The Finishing Touches, andSwept Off Her Feet. She lives in London and Herefordshire with her two Basset hounds Violet and Bonham.The Finishing Touches

One

The only truly waterproof
mascara is an eyelash tint.

“Betsy, if you want a sneaky cry at weddings and funerals, dye your lashes.” That was probably one of the best tips Franny gave me, out of the thousands she’d passed on, over twenty-seven happy years.

Also, “sunscreen now saves face-lifts later” and “nl†