A review of the first YA novel by author Laura Bowers.
Beauty Shop for Rent by Laura Bowers. New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2007.
Some people believe that life has been served to them on a paper plate and accept their fate without question; others, like Abbey Garner, know that determination and hard work can turn that plate from paper to silver, as long as one has a plan.
Of course, fourteen-year-old Abbey doesn’t know everything about having a plan in the real world. Things don’t always roll along as we expect. In spite of her long-absent mother’s claims, all men are not awaiting the opportunity to victimize women. Money is not the answer to every problem. Families come in all shapes and sizes. And, sometimes negative situations can actually be the jumping-off point of our happiness, if we’ll just keep an open mind. No, young Abbey is not aware of all of these things but, luckily, the wise women of Polly’s Parlor are.
Spending their days in this conversation-filled beauty shop in small-town America, the Gray Widows—Abbey’s feisty Granny Po and her colorful friends—and the new owner of Polly’s Parlor, Gena Hopkins, bring humor, wisdom, compassion and structure to Abbey’s life. Along the way she learns a few hard truths about the world, including the tough lesson that even though life is not always fair, the behavior of others is not an excuse for Abbey’s own actions. Eventually, she will have to grow up and look at the world and the people in it—even the people she thinks she loves and hates the most—for what and who they really are.
Author Laura Bowers sets this story among the ancient hairdryers and outdated styles of Polly’s Parlor, and uses generation gaps to great effect in this fresh, spirited tale of a young girl trying to find security in a world she doesn’t yet understand. Can money be the key to long-term safety and happiness? Or, will Abbey find that her plans must be altered to include the desires of the heart, as well?
Read the book and find out—I did, and I absolutely was not disappointed!
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For more information about author Laura Bowers, check out my interview with this Maryland author, wife, mother, and horsewoman, published right here in Teen Fiction at Suite101.com!
