Playing the Part by Jen Turano

Back Cover: Lucetta Plum is an actress on the rise in New York City, but must abandon her starring role when a fan's interest turns threatening. Lucetta's widowed friend, Abigail Hart, seizes the opportunity to meddle in Lucetta's life and promptly whisks her away to safety at her eligible grandson's estate.

At first glance, Bram Haverstein appears to be a gentleman of means - albeit an eccentric one - but a mysterious career and a secret fascination with a certain actress means there's much more to him than society knows.

While Lucetta has no interest in Abigail's matchmaking machinations, she can't ignore the strange things going on in Bram's house and the secrets he hides. As the hijinks and hilarities that Bram, Lucetta, and their friends are swept into take a more dangerous turn, can they accept who they are behind the parts they play in time to save the day?

Review:

Jen Turano's series on these three best friends -Miss Harriet Peabody, Millie Longellow, and Lucetta Plum - has been a pleasure to read. Light-hearted, funny, and heart-string pulling these three girls will make you laugh and groan - sometimes at the same time! In Good Company and After a Fashion are the two books precluding Playing the Part. While each book can be read on its own, this series is certainly more fun when read together and in order.

Out of the three friends, Lucetta has always been the most mysterious and the one least expanded upon. She is a stunning beauty, but can not tolerate men's blatant regard for her physical appearance. While most actresses love the attention, she despises it and has little tolerance for anyone who dares to fawn over her in her presence. She is poised and dignified in public and on screen, yet in private she winds her hair in a hundred braids and wears pants. She pretends to be just like other girls her age, yet her wealth is suspiciously better than it should be and her intelligence is... well... an almost dangerous force to be reckoned with.

At times, I felt that Lucetta was a little too gifted... she's beyond beautiful, she's an amazing actress, she's brilliant...and rich? My pet peeve for perfect characters aside, this was a fun read. How can you not like a book that has a demented goat that chases anything wearing a skirt? Or a mad gentleman who lives in a castle with a moat and a working cannon?

This novel was crazy, eccentric, and really quite fun. If you are looking for a light and entertaining read I would certainly recommend it.

Thank-you so much to Graf Martin Communications for a copy of this book!

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc." in exchange for my honest opinion.