This book was wonderful. It takes you back to a time when life was just so uncomplicated yet complicated. Highly recommend this book to any historical fiction lover (especially NYC based!) - i.e. if you loved Subway Girls!

I loved the idea of this book; women in the 1960s trying to find themselves in a male dominated world where men don't want them to be themselves. I had a hard time connecting with the characters.

With strong female friendships with a compelling story of a women's social club I really enjoyed this one, along with the 1960s NYC setting. I haven't read much in that time period. Great characteristic, great world building. You can tell a lot of research and heart went into this novel.

Set in 1962 when women had almost no rights regarding way too many things to list here, a group of women from Brooklyn Heights start congregating at the underground Starlite club. This place is for women only, women trying to escape abusive and controlling relationships for a bit or those wanting to get away from professional frustrations can come there, hang out with other like minded women and relax.
But when reading the story, the great build up is when things blow up and secrets come out of the darkness. Such things threaten to ruin the club and the friendships made while there.
It's a great story of how strong you can be when life sends you sideways.

Plus, it's a good reminder that the rights women enjoy now haven't been around all that long.

*I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Starlite boutique is a dress shop owned by Madeline Abbott in Brooklyn Heights, she a talented dressmaker and clothes designer. After Madeline’s marriage ended, she starts a social club at night in her shop, a safe place for women to meet and forget about their troubles. Some of the ladies like to chat, others listen to music, dance, and sing, read poetry, have a drink and sleepover.

Elaine Huxley joins the club, she’s English, and living with her fiancée Tommy. Elaine's unhappy in her relationship, Tommy’s drinking too much and he doesn’t work. If she leaves him and gets a job, she worries Tommy’s life will spiral completely out of control and she will be to blame.

Lisa O’Malley works as an air hostess, and is madly in love with Billy. Out of the blue, Billy fails to pick her up from the airport, he stops calling and Lisa doesn’t know why? She starts to visit the Starlite, she realizes her whole life revolved around what Billy wanted to do, keeping him happy and worrying about the dreaded weigh ins to keep her job.

When Fred Abbott starts lurking around, Madeline doesn’t trust him, she worries about her own and her friend’s safety at Starlite? The women rally around Madeline, determined to keep Starlite open and do what every it takes to keep Madeline safe.

Glimmer As You Can is a story set in the 1960’s, it’s about how women’s roles and expectations changed at the time and they felt empowered. However, societies and most men’s attitudes hadn’t changed, they saw women’s liberation as a threat, why would women need to meet at night and it has dire consequences for one member of the Starlite club.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Alcove Press in exchange for an honest review, Danielle Martin handled difficult subjects in her book with sensitivity, and four stars from me.

I really enjoyed this look into 1960s Brooklyn and the women that inhabited it! It was really interesting to learn about the sort of secret society they formed and it made me want to create my own sort of women's club. I spoke about this book on my podcast Books and the City Podcast, where I reviewed it in more depth.

This book fell quite flat for me. I did not really connect with any of the characters and found their relationship with each other to be a little confusing. I did not love the writing style. I found that there were a lot of information dumps and awkward conversations to let the reader learn background information and I just felt it could have been written a little more woven into the story. I was pushing myself to read and finish it.

A wonderful novel about strong female friendships with a compelling story. Set in 1960's New York City, Glimmer as You Can introduces us to three women trying to find their voice and their own way while burdened by difficult relationships. A wonderful story with great characters.
Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title, all opinions and mistakes are my own.

Who doesn’t love a story about strong female friendships? I’ve heard it said the the most important people in a woman’s life are her girlfriends, and we see that unfold in this book. Through ups and downs, good times and difficult ones, this diverse group of women rallies around each other for support. Add in excellent historical detail, and that’s just icing on the cake.

In 1962 Brooklyn, Madeline began a women's social club at her dress shop, The Starlight after a messy divorce from her powerful husband. The Starlight provides a place for the women's friendship to grow as they practice art, recite poetry, dance, drink and talk without the disturbance of men. Elaine is a Stralight regular who is struggling with her fiancé after the death of his father. After a trip home Elaine invites Pan Am Stewardess, Lisa to the club. Lisa is worried about her relationship with long-term boyfriend, Billy and what that means for her future. The women all convene at the Starlight for camaraderie and to forget about their troubles. However, Madeline's ex-husband is up for re-election and isn't taking any chances with the women at the Starlight telling his secrets.

Glimmer As You Can is a story of friendship, independence and hope for a group of women in the 1960's. Through the stories Madeline, Elaine and Lisa we are shown how women are breaking barriers yet still contained by the constraints of their gender. Each of the women's characters are distinct and well thought out, displaying different restraints placed on them. Madeline's strength comes from her ability to power through the worst and bring other women together to help one another through. I loved the idea of the Starlight and the atmosphere that the women created. The Starlight showed the power of women's friendship and the spirit of the 1960's. Elaine is trying to break into the career world with a boyfriend who is depressed and unsupportive. Lisa loves the independence of travel, but her job is dependent on her age, weight and marital status and Lisa is feeling the pressure to be married before her age and weight deny her employment. The conflict created with Madeline's ex-husband and Lisa's boyfriend created suspense and danger as well as a reminder that this kind of exploitation was not that far in our past and still happens today. Glimmer As You Can moved at a fast paced and was a great reminder of the power of women working together.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

This was a really great book. The Starlite - A dress shop by day and a social club by night. This was so full of well researched information and just heartfelt characters and stories.

The character development was fabulous! I felt fully immersed in the story and the characters lives. The author did an amazing job in that regard!

The setting - New York City in the 60's... so well done! It felt like I was there. There is nothing better than a story that makes you feel transported to the time and place! I felt this was also a great snapshot of women's lives in the 60's. Its not normally a time period written about so it was a really interesting read!

Great storyline. Great characters. In the 1960s,, the lives of three different women - a flight attendant, a dress shop owner and a fact-checker for a local paper - intersect at an underground woman's club called the Starlite. The Starlite becomes an escape from each of their troubled relationships at home. I loved it.

I just loved this historical fiction novel called, "Glimmer As You Can," by Danielle Martin because it celebrates the deep bonds of friendship between women. It takes place in New York City and the time period I am guessing is the early 1960's while John Fitzgerald Kennedy was still president and it mentions the Cuban Missile Crisis. These beautiful women with warm hearts all support each other and the ages vary from young twenties to middle forties.

Friendships and girl power. That's what this book was about. How women come together to uplift and support each other through failures and successes both personal and career. Set in the early 60s, it was what felt like the beginning of female power, when women were still "less than" men and accepted this as the norm but striving to be seen as more. It is a glimpse into the lives of women who were subservient and oppressed and who were trying to break the pattern.
Reading this made me think of how much women had to hold back and how friendships between strong supportive women allowed for personal growth and change.
I enjoyed seeing the struggles through three sets of personalities (Madeline, Elaine, Lisa). Women who were different ages and had gone/were going through different different situations that collided on the same path.
The reason for the 3 star rating is that I found there were too many moments where either nothing happened except for a lot of explanation that kept being repeated. I felt I was waiting for it to mean something or develop into some bigger storyline but it never did. It was just a repetition. For that, I was pulled away from the story and it took some time to get back in. Also, the last maybe 20% of the book I felt like a lot of interesting things happened that I wish occured earlier.
I don't think if I was asked for a book recommendation this one would stand out in my mind. Overall an ok read.

Brooklyn.
1962.
3 women:

Madeline: small clothing shop owner, with a politician husband, and marital issues.

Elaine: Ex-pat living in Brooklyn, engaged, looking after her fiancé, who is out of work and is drinking too much. She wants to get back to work.....

Lisa: Stewardess for Pan Am, with all of the demands that entails, but also the freedom to travel. Lisa wants to marry, but her boyfriend has slipped off somewhere... if he reappears should she even take him back?

When Elaine and Lisa meet on a return flight from London, Elaine invites Lisa to Madeline's underground women's social club, The Starlite, a place where women can enjoy what THEY enjoy, be it music, poetry, dancing, some fancy cocktails, and light foodie bites. At the Starlite, the women can choose what they want to share about their life outside the walls of the club, no pressure.... and then they could be "free" for a while....

"Don't let them tell you who you are
Don't stop yourself, darling
I hope you shimmer, darling
Glimmer as you can.

Their eyes all sparkled as they applauded, all aglow, like Madeline." - Danielle Martin

This is a book about what life was like for women in the early sixties, and clearly, it was not all back yard bar b q's and sock hops. This is a book about women trying to be what they WANT to be, even if that was outside of what was considered to be "normal" at that time. Finally , the book demonstrates the importance and power of female friendships. I highly recommend picking up this book! Thank you @netgalley and @alcovepress for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review. #5stars.

Book Review for Glimmer As You Can by Danielle Martin
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This interesting historical fiction takes place in 1962, revolving around 3 key characters, Madeline, Lisa, and Elaine.

Madeline owns a dress shop and turns it into a safe space social club for women at night called the Starlight. She also has secrets from a bad marriage. Lisa is a young stewardess who wants to settle down and get married. Elaine is an ex-pat in a volatile relationship.

All 3 women find friendship and support at the social club where we get to know a whole raft of interesting characters. But Madeline’s ex husband returns and creates trouble for the Starlight and puts the women at risk, upending their lives.

I enjoyed reading about the history of the time and experiencing life through the eyes of these women. Martin did a great job of portraying this time, how women were treated, and what their lives were like.
I did struggle a bit with the pacing of the book, especially in the middle. The tension certainly picked up in the second half as the story changed and the peril increased. However, the Starlight felt like a wonderful place I would like to visit myself.

Overall, I did enjoy this story of friendship and life of women in the 1960s.
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Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the review copy.

Brooklyn, New York 1962. Three women are the main character of this story; Lisa, Elaine and Madeline.
Lisa is a flight attendant for Pan Am Airlines. While waiting on the airport from a flight back home for her boyfriend Billy who has to pick her up, she meets Eiland, also waiting. Because both are not picked up, they decide to share a taxi back home, and this is where Madeleine asks Lisa to come to her Starlite shop soon, because at her dress shop she is hosting ladies nights. The third main character is Elaine, who is having an abusive and mostly drunk boyfriend Tommy. All three of them have a partner who is abusive and are treating them bad. Especially Madeline, whose husband Fred is influental in New York politics and doesn't like his wife to have a life and mind of her own. This is somewhat also the red line of the story; in the 1960 women where starting to get a voice of their own and didn't want to be assigned to the kitchen and to serve their husband all the time. The three are becoming friends, and the ladies nights with poetry, discussions and just having a good time with drinks and bites are becoming a succes.

But then a stone is thrown into the Starlite boutique while one of Madeline's ladies nights is taking place, luckily no one is seriously wounded, but it is the start of a turn in the lifes of the three women, that are connected with each other. All three of them are in a relationship that is spiraling out of control, and then one tragic event changes everything..

I was very surprised by this fantastic book. I love historical fiction so this one was just a perfect read. I immediately got really into the story of Lisa, Madeleine and Elaine, and I loved how they became friends amidst all the difficulties they where having with their partners. As a reader you just can imagine, sadly, that these things really happen. It is a story of friendship, independence and hope for a group of women in the 1960's. Through the three main characters how women are breaking barriers yet still contained by the traditional constraints .

Alltogether I though this was one of the best books of this new year. recommend it!

I couldn’t get in to this book enough to finish it. I would like to try reading it again at a different time and I love this author’s work. I can’t in good conscious recommend the book to my followers if I didn’t finish it.

I received a copy of this book to review from Netgalley. Thank you for the opportunity
A strange start to this story which made it difficult to get into. However, good writing and an intriguing story made this story one to remember. A must read.

The Starlite Dress Shop is in Brooklyn Heights, and this novel is set in 1962 where the boutique sells dresses by day and is a club solely for women at night. It’s no surprise then, that our women characters are very strong and well-drawn. Madeline is the central character, by day the Starlite’s dress designer and by night trying to form a true sisterhood in the club. This club is a space where women can truly be themselves without censure of restrictions. They read poetry, dance, sing and move beyond their daytime roles whether they be in the world of work or as wives and mothers at home. I think the feel of the period is brilliant in terms of the clothes, the decor, and where women are situated. The author has captured a period of change for women, the birth of women’s liberation and the seeds of a whole new way of living for women like Madeline, I found myself rooting for the women in the book, whereas I felt the men were more one-dimensional, perhaps created to make a point about male attitudes and behaviour towards women rather than as full formed characters. One of the most interesting aspects of the reading experience was seeing how far we’ve come in some areas, while also noting areas where time seems to have stood still.