Finishing Touches by Deanna Kizis - Book Review

Finishing Touches by Deanna Kizis tells the story of Jesse Holtz, a young woman whose best friend dies in a car accident. Several months later, Jesse begins dating that friend's grieving husband. Finishing Touches has some of the gloss and fluff of chick-lit fiction, but the meat of the novel deals sensitively with themes of grief, love, friendship, and family. Overall, Kizis' story is well-written and absorbing, and it will appeal to fans of chick lit and fans of literary fiction alike.

A woman in her twenties, living in Los Angeles with a snide boss, friends she thinks are prettier than she is, and problems with her love life--this sounds like the start of any chick lit novel. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it would be a mistake to assume that's all Finishing Touches has to offer. The death of Jesse Holtz's best friend, which hangs over the story from the beginning, is one way in which Finishing Touches rejects the chick lit formula, and Jesse's relationship with her friend's widower will probably make a few readers uncomfortable or unsympathetic.

Finishing Touches is Deanna Kizis second novel, and she has a long resume of magazine writing gigs. That background is apparent in some passages in this novel, which are written in the artificially breezy tone of women's magazines and some chick lit books. On the plus side, that same magazine background may be what helps Kizis keep the action moving quickly between the story and flashback passages.

The characters in Finishing Touches are one of its strongest draws, particularly Jesse's friends. In some ways, this novel may not be a story about Jesse and love; it may really be a story about her struggles to understand and break free from her college experience and its influence on her friendships and career. Some readers may find that the resolutions and revelations that come towards the end are underdeveloped, but that doesn't take away from what's otherwise a highly enjoyable read.