The Little Lady Agency
by Hester Browne
”Gentlemen! No Little Lady in Your Life?
Call the Little Lady Agency: Everything organized, from your home to your wardrobe, your social life to you.
No funny business or laundry.”
I have so many friends who claim they “just don’t have time to read.”
They go on and on about how much they admire the time I have to read and are jealous of how many books I can plow through in a year. They cannot believe I have all of this “free time” on my hands to shop for books, read books, blog about books, etc. And they are the same friends who get overwhelmed in bookstores and are afraid of wasting time on a bad book, mainly because books are expensive.
I have a few suggestions for these friends:
- Make time. You have it – you just gotta make it. A book doesn’t have to be read in a day, a week, or a month. It doesn’t even have to be read in six months. If you can dedicate 5 minutes a day to reading, then dedicate that. If you can dedicate more – then do it. We all have time, it’s just what you do with it. Set a reading goal and stick with it. If you put your devices down (laptop, mobile phone, tablet) for the last hour before you go to bed, studies show you sleep better anyway. So put the electronic device down and grab a book.
- How do I personally make time? I read an average of a book a week, sometimes two, if the books are shorter. I set a personal goal of 50 pages a day. Most books are between 300-500 pages. I usually read more than the 50 pages, because I read all day. I read ten minutes here and five minutes there. I read while I’m nursing my baby to sleep. I read while I’m eating my lunch. I read while I’m waiting for my son to finish doing his hair in the morning and I’m sitting in my car alone, waiting to take him to school. I read in the bubble bath that I dedicate to myself every night. I read while my kids are doing homework, and I’m sitting near them for moral support. If you just carry a book around with you and stop telling yourself that you need an hour of complete silence to sit down and read, then I promise you that you can get through a book.
- Don’t have time to shop for books? Amazon is your friend. Not only can you have books delivered to your door next day (same day, in some areas – like mine), you can browse the book section of Amazon based upon reviews, ratings, genre, and about 500 other parameters. Don’t have time to read the back and decide if it’s the book for you? Don’t worry, literally thousands of other people have already done it for you and have blessedly rated books so you don’t have to do the legwork. Don’t know where to start? That’s okay too – Amazon has several lists you can browse from on their main page in the Book Department, such as Best Books of April and Award Winners.
- Books are expensive. Yes, they can be. Want that new bestseller? Chances are it’s only in hardback and will set you back about $20, even if you have a membership to the bookstore or find it on sale. And what if you don’t like it? What a waste of money, right? Well – that’s why we have libraries! And most libraries have wonderful websites set up where you can have books held for you online and they let you know when it’s available. All, for free! And if you have a Half Price Books near you, you’d be surprised at A) how many beautiful and bestselling books you can find for under $3 in their clearance section and B) just how often they mail you coupons. Sign up on their website to get paper coupons, or they can email/text them to you. A 50% off coupon on a book that is already 50% off can save you….a lot. AND they don’t limit what you can use your coupon on. So if you really want that $25 bestseller, it’s already marked down to about $20 at Half-Price, plus you can use a coupon, so you can take it home for about the cost of a lunch at Chick-Fil-A. Still finding books too expensive? Try the Half Price Books Marketplace website where you can find books listed for $1, with cheap shipping.
- What if you don’t like the book? Easy, put it down and pick up another. There is no rule that says that once you start a book you must finish it. Give a book three chapters to hook you and if it hasn’t, then don’t waste any more time. Most professionals in the literary world are trained to only read the first three chapters before deciding to sign a book or not, so those words had better be good.
- The books I like are immature. . . Don’t worry. You aren’t the only adult who likes YA books more than the ones your “own age.” Don’t ever be embarrassed about what you want to read. Just buy it, read it , love it, and join the fandom.
So stop saying you don’t have the time to read. I promise you – you do! I’ve read 17 books this year and I have five animals, three kids, a husband, and a partridge in a pear tree. You can do it.
Most of my friends are women and most of these women like fun and easy reads. The Little Lady Agency is one of those, and it completely fits the bill for a book that you can read a little bit at a time, and not find yourself confused when you pick it back up. Readers who like Sophie Kinsella and Meg Cabot will enjoy this trilogy surrounding an unlikely girl-for-hire named Melissa – AKA Honey.
“ There are many marks of a true lady but I believe that one of them is to walk with her head held high while her world falls apart around her. ”
No one takes Melissa Romney-Jones seriously. Not her father, the prominent member of Parliament, and not her uptight and snobbish co-workers at the estate house. She doesn’t quite feel as if she fits in anywhere unless she’s lounging at home with her flatmate or out on the town (albeit quietly, at a respectable restaurant at a respectable hour, and of course, with proper shoes on) with her best girlfriend. But when she loses her job (sigh, again) and needs to find a way to make ends meet, she is a bit lost. After an unusually fortuitous job interview, she finds herself wrapped up in something completely different than what she’d originally penciled into her day planner – and she decides to take matter into her own hands by taking a real chance. . . recreating herself as . . . “Honey.”
Honey Blennerhesket, to be exact.
“ Appearances can be deceptive. Just because someone has a generous chest and a romantic nature doesn’t mean they’re EASY. ”
Honey can be all of the things that Melissa cannot. She can be everything Melissa wishes she could be. She’s got luxurious blonde hair (care of a meticulously placed wig) that men find super attractive. She can be no-nonsense and opinionated, and people will actually listen. She can be glamorous and confident, and she can let go and not worry about what others think. Honey is a woman that people – especially men – respect.
As the owner/operator of The Little Lady Agency, Honey expedites of the needs of men. Not sexually, of course, because Honey may be voluptuous and sexy, but she also has strict manners and high values. You never give the milk away for free, and all of that. She handles all of the other things that men just cannot seem to manage. She can take a dowdy and hopeless nerd and turn him into a well-dressed gentleman. She can keep the meddlesome mother off of a son’s back by pretending to be his girlfriend at Christmas parties and events. And she can make sure that a man’s home is decorated tastefully and subtly, all while making sure his dry-cleaning is picked up and he has the right reservation at the perfect restaurant. And even though there is a man or two who come through her program acting like complete immature lechers, Honey can handle almost anything.
“ My golden rule has always been to look on the bright side, no matter what. With all the complications in my life, I had to. Because if you can find three good things in any given situation, no matter how dire, I guarantee you’ll forget the rotten stuff. ”
Well, almost anything. A certain dashing American keeps calling on her for her services, and against her better judgement, she finds herself catching feelings. It feels like he might be too. . .but the trouble is, she can’t quite figure out if Jonathan Riley likes her for Honey or for. . . herself. And at the end of the day, she has a job to do, and nothing will keep her from making her client happy.
The Little Lady Agency is charming and funny. And although the premise of the story is very close to that of a call-girl, Melissa’s character is always above reproach when it comes to her manners and etiquette. The author has kept everything clean and tidy; no foul language or sexually graphic scenes. The interactions between Honey and her clients are at times, downright hilarious and cheeky. It’s just a good ole’ chick-lit book, akin to the likes of Jane Austen in it’s feminine flair and wit. The characters are likable and not terribly cliche, and as the story is told over three novels – you won’t get the ending you’re expecting out of this one.
I give The Little Lady Agency 4 stars and highly recommend it for a light and fun read. It is sure to leave you giggling and nodding your head as readers will find they can truly relate to Melissa’s (mis)adventures in dating (even if the men aren’t her real boyfriends). Her struggle to be her own woman and to build confidence in a world that so eagerly and voraciously tries to tear her down is admirable. Melissa is someone I would love to be friends with, grabbing a cocktail after a long week. She’s a good person, and continues to be one no matter what is thrown her way or how others try to put her down. I love how she finds that she is more like “Honey” than she originally thought and her evolution from timid girl to confident woman is paved with wonderful values and dreamy expectations.
