Total Waste of Makeup
Kim Gruenenfelder
St. Martin's, Jan 2006, $12.95
ISBN: 031234872X

As a personal assistant to Drew Stanton, a top movie star, Charlize "Charlie" Edwards seems to be living the good life in Southern California, but she is beginning to feel her age as she closes in on thirty due to her younger sister's upcoming marriage. Her family continues to drive her nuts as always, but the nuptials especially reminds her she is alone and will never have any children calling her mom.

To comfort herself with the empty nest syndrome, Charlie begins writing advice notes for the imaginative niece that has not been perceived, but she will one day hold, though the kid will read her expertise probably in the next century. She also begins going out on dates after a male moratorium. To her amazement though most were calamities, she falls in love with set photographer Jordan, though she also admits to her two confidants, Dawn and Kate, that she does not like him.

The key to this fine chick lit tale is the camaraderie between the three friends that seems so genuine that it serves as the plausibility anchor to the cast and the storyline. The advice notes to a future niece are fun to follow, as the audience also sees what makes Charlie tick while she can name her hemorrhoids after her family and her boss. However, the friendship between the three women who instinctively know first hand when a relationship is a TOTAL WASTE OF MAKEUP, make Kim Gruenenfelder's tale fun to read.