Bombshell by Lynda Curnym
At what age is a woman most beautiful?  During her 20s, 30s, 40s?  Girlfriend, you can be a bombshell at any age.  Beauty is not dictated by a biological clock.  Instead, a woman is most beautiful when she radiates happiness from within.  But when your job is to sell beauty in a pretty package, it's easy to get caught up in physical perfection.  Just ask Grace, a product manager for a top cosmetics company that is redefining its image.

Grace is a beautiful 34 year old New York City girl.  Busty and blonde, as well as intelligent and independent, she has spent the past few years happily working for a cosmetics company catering to the over 30 crowd.  But her company's recent change in marketing has thrown her life into a tailspin.  Gone is the gentler approach to beauty beyond 30, replaced with the mandate that younger is better.  As Grace watches her previously sophisticated 40-something boss now trying to keep pace with 20 year olds, she wonders whether she, herself, is headed over the hill.  She also wonders, as she regards her company's new 19 year old cover girl, whether physical perfection is enough.  There seems to be an emptiness to it.

Grace is no stranger to emptiness.  Afraid to really open up and feel love, she dates emotionally unavailable men who always disappoint.  She also keeps her adoptive mother and best girlfriend at a safe distance, even though she loves them dearly.  But as Grace sorts through feelings of inexplicable loss over a birth mother she never knew, as well as a strong desire for a child of her own, she begins to realize how unfulfilled she has been.  The solitary existence she once prided herself on is no longer enough.

Then, in a fairytale-like moment, Grace meets a man who takes her breath away.  A man who wouldn't ordinarily be her type, but something about him draws her to him.  Yet, he, like she, is also aloof for reasons Grace has yet to understand.  And, uncharacteristically, Grace feels as though it may be time to put her heart on the line.  Can Grace, now a little older and wiser, finally be ready to embrace true love and share her life?  And will the man she desires be willing to take a chance as well?

True beauty is feeling comfortable in your own skin and loving who you are.  It may be true that our skin is smoother, our cellulite nonexistent, as we sail through our 20s.  But age brings wisdom and character and life experiences that make us more interesting, beautiful women.  So, don't stress about a laugh line or two.  Real life isn't a Vogue ad.

About the author:  Lynda Curnym is living, writing and buying beauty products in New York City .  Bombshell is her third novel.
Bombshell