Book Review: Marlowe Banks, Redesigned by Jacqueline Firkins

Marlowe Banks, Redesigned


by Jacqueline Firkins
Publication Date October 25, 2022
Published by St. Martin's Griffin
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Genres: Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, Fiction / Women
Pages: 352
Format: ARC

***I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.***

In Marlowe Banks, Redesigned, Jacqueline Firkins wonderfully captures the messiness of failure, forgiveness, and embracing a second chance on life and love.

Marlowe Banks’s life has come apart at the seams. Her engagement ended abruptly. Her latest costume design was shredded by critics. Her student loans are overdue. Her parents have never been more disappointed. Desperate to hide from her failures, Marlowe flees New York City to embrace invisibility in Los Angeles as a menial Production Assistant on a popular TV show. While sorting socks and taking care of her boss’ spoiled Weimaraner, no one can confront her poor artistic choices or the end of her engagement, the end her ex refuses to accept.

When a costume mix-up requires Marlowe to step into in a scene, the camera catches a heated look between her and Angus Gordon, the show's arrogant bad boy, thrusting Marlowe into the spotlight. As the pair is forced together on set, Marlowe learns she's not the only one hiding. Walls come down for both of them, revealing a life Marlowe isn't sure she's ready for, and when her past comes calling, she has to decide if she's going to stay invisible or if it's time for a redesign.

Marlowe Banks, Redesigned by Jacqueline Firkins is a cute romantic comedy that I really enjoyed.  

Story Recap: 

Marlowe Banks’s life is a bit of a mess.  She broke up with her fiance and her design business failed, and she has her student loans to pay off,  So, she escapes to Los Angeles where she gets a job as a production assistant on a popular TV show.  She’s given the most menial tasks, but she enjoys the invisibility of the job while she can figure out what to do next. 

Angus Gordon is the show’s bad boy and he has a reputation.  When there is a costume mix-up, Marlowe is thrust into a minor role as an extra, but when the camera catches Agnus giving Marlow a very smoldering look, social media blows up wondering if the characters have a past.  And then the producers decide to give her a more involved role in the show.  Working together, Marlowe and Angus learn more about each other and eventually develop a relationship.  But, what happens when Marlowe’s life in New York calls her back?  

My Thoughts: 

This book was a lot of fun.  I enjoyed learning about what happens behind the scenes of a television show and all the issues of costume design for the show.  The harried pace and demands of the stars were interesting for me to read about.  

But the characters are what really drew me into the story.  Marlowe might be a bit of a mess at first, but she is hard-working and didn’t complain about all the menial tasks she was assigned.  She really knew her costume design stuff and it was fun when she knew more than the lead costume designer.  Marlowe was also very modest and she didn’t want to have a role in the show, but she knew it was the only way to help her friend who had caused the costume mix-up.  Her loyalty to her friend was admirable.  

I don’t usually like a famous actor as the main character in a story, but Angus Gordon was surprisingly very down-to-earth and relatable.  Yes, he has a reputation for being a bad boy, but we find out that he cultivates the image in order to protect his heart.  He is a very endearing character and I grew to love him too.  

Recommendation: 

I highly recommend Marlowe Banks, Redesigned to anyone who enjoys romance.   I received a complimentary copy of this book.  The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

About Jacqueline Firkins

Jacqueline is a writer, costume designer, and lover of beautiful things. She's on the fulltime faculty in the Department of Theatre & Film at the University of British Columbia where she also takes any writing class they’ll let her into. When not obsessing about where to put the buttons or the commas, she can be found running by the ocean, eating excessive amounts of gluten, listening to earnest love songs, and pretending her dog understands every word she says.

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