Lady Be Good
It’s 1953, and Kitty Tessler, daughter of a self-made hotel and night-club millionaire, has a problem. She’s in her twenties, single, and good at only one thing: spending money. Her father’s fed up, and wants her to get serious and marry his right-hand man. But Kitty isn’t interested; in fact, she’s more interested in saving her best friend, Henrietta, from Hen’s noxious fiancé. Compounding the problem is that Hen is very Old New York, and her snobby mother’s determined Hen will marry who she’s told to. So Kitty decides to detach Hen’s fiancé, attach him to herself, and then ditch him. But then she meets Max, a musician, and her plan starts unraveling faster than she falls in love with Max.
The book’s a fun read, but Kitty’s a huge PITA, and the convoluted plot she concocts is ridiculous. But the book’s biggest problem is the unconvincing 1950s background, so the book feels rather shallow. One example: the book starts in November 1953, and Kitty’s favorite movie is supposedly How to Marry a Millionaire. She’s even named her dog after one of the characters. However, the dog’s full-grown; it’s implied Kitty’s had her for some time—and Millionaire was released in November 1953. Still, I enjoyed the romp through 1950s New York, Miami, and Havana (back in those halcyon days when people jaunted to Cuba on a whim).
