The Finishing Touches Paperback – March 23, 2010

This is an excellent book. Well written, great characters, a little intrigue and another taste of Hester Brownes signature style of bringing a time gone by to a modern world.I also loved the wee tips that are peppered through the book on etiquette and life skills.A great read, opens the heart, educates the mind and generates a great sense of inner fabulousness, enjoy, enjoy, xx

The Finishing Touches fits in well with Hester Browne's Little Lady Agency series. While those books are more entertaining, The Finishing Touches pulls you into Betsy's world at the finishing school. At times it was a little slow, but when it all came down to it, I finished the book quickly and with ease.Betsy is a great character, and her uncertainty and hesitations with her family and professional life is easy to relate to. Once you immerse yourself into her world, her story is interesting and great.Overall, if you like British chick lit, you'll probably enjoy this book.

The finishing touches was an enjoyable read. Recommended by friends, I purchased this book and finished reading it in less than a week, that's how much I enjoyed it. Great author, great book.

I love this authors other books so I was excited to come across this book. However it wasn't as funny or engaging as the little lady series. Took me a couple days of forced reading to get into the story but it actually turned out to be enjoyable. Wish I hadn't paid for it but oh well.

I already owned a paperback copy of this book, and bought the ebook version so I could finish reading it while travelling. I was very disappointed that the character names had been changed, and a bit annoyed that the finishing touch tips at the beginnings of the chapters didn't match the print copy that I had. If you've never read the print copy, you will probably enjoy the ebook version, as it is a lovely story, but the name change is quite disconcerting if you are already familiar with the characters in the print version.

Hester Browne is my favorite Brit chic lit author. Her characters are classy, the stories are great, I always finish her books completely satisfied.

Hester Browns has done it again. This was a great read, i couldnt put it down and even gave it to my sister to read. She loved it also. If you love British "chick lit" books, you will love this one.

Loved it. Great add-on to Jennifer Weiner's Good in Bed (among others) and Browne's previous Little Lady series.Well-written, good plot, standard romantic comedy. I give it 4 stars overall as a novel. Perfect for escapism, does lack innovative storyline post-Little Lady Agency (granted, difficult to do). However, if this becomes her signature, I'm supportive, definitely not against it.Overall, I highly recommend (I canceled plans just so I could continue reading); can't wait for what Hester has lined up next, hopefully soon!

Betsy Phillimore was left as a baby on the doorstep of a finishing school in Mayfair, London. She was adopted by Lord and Lady Phillimore and brought up as their child. 27 years later Betsy has returned to the school to attend a memorial service for her adopted mother and is requested by Lord Phillimore to try and help the school back into profitability. The trouble is Betsy has lied about her high powered management consultancy business - she is really a manager of a shoe shop in Edinburgh.Full of interesting and eccentric characters including the four current pupils of the school - Clementine, Anastasia, Venetia and Divinity - Betsy's long term friend Liv and her glamorous brother Jamie. Then there's Mark, the part time bursar of the school and various 'old girls' who keep reappearing.The dialogue is sparkling and funny and the plot intriguing. As well as trying to bring the school into the 21st century and make it profitable again Betsy wants to track down her mother and father - with very little information at her disposal. I loved the twists and turns of the plot and the style of writing. This is an American edition so some things have been changed for the UK market which I found slightly irritating - e.g Betsy has a math degree instead of the usual UK usage of maths. I hope it is going to be published in a UK edition at a later date. If you loved 'The Little Lady Agency' series you will love this and I just hope it's the start of a new series as the ending seems to have been left open.

This was a book which would make a good holiday read. I particularly enjoyed the tips at the beginning of each chapter, even though a little outdated. It was difficult not to look at each chapter in advance in order to read these. This book was reviewed in the WI Life magazine and it has to be discussed at my next Book Group meeting. Should be hilarious.

This was recommended to me by a friend and I have to say I really enjoyed it . It's an interesting story with great characters . It was my first by Hester Browne , but certainly won't be my last. 5 *****

I thoroughly enjoyed this book - simply did not want it to end! If you are think of getting this - go ahead. Not only is it a beautifully written novel - but I picked up some good tips on manners & grooming to boot. What more can you ask? Can we have 'the finishing touches 2'? Or perhaps the movie, or the 'finishing touches manual' ? LOVED IT!!!!

I like the writing style of Hester Browne, having previously read What the Lady Wants. I grew to like Betsy and the other characters in this novel. The plot didn't feel contrived or forced, but rolled along smoothly to the point where I didn't want to put it down. It was refreshingly different to some of the usual lightweight nonsense available to read, in that it wasn't full of women with heaving bosoms and men with chiseled jaws. A perfect read for a cold winter's evening.