January

We Just Might Make It After All: My Best Friendship with Kate Spade by Elyce Arons, 2025

It seems tacky to write a biography about a best friend who has passed away due to suicide, but Aron's memoir is a loving tribute to Katy Spade focusing on the early years of her friendship with Spade and the building of the Kate Spade New York brand.

Arons meets Katy Brosnahan at the University of Kansas where they strike up a friendship after going early one morning together to pick up their financial aid checks. 

They become fast friends and visit each other's family. A visit to Brosnahan's sister in Arizona inspires them to transfer to the University of Arizona.

The impulsive decision is spurred on by each other with little thought to things like the cost of tuition at Arizona given that they will not be in-state residents. This will be the theme throughout their lives - supporting and building off each other in leaps of faiths.

Kate Spade's genesis came from a need that Brosnahan spotted as a fashion editor for Mademosielle. She always had trouble finding purses for her photo shoot. Bags were either too ornate where they distracted from the clothes or too dull to be noticed.

Prototyping simple clean line bags from construction paper, Brosnahan had a vision reflecting her distinct style. Her clothes favored clean classic lines with a hint of whimsy and playfulness; the sucess of Kate Spade was due to this aesthetic. 

The book itself, true to brand, has an inside cover of a bold red, pink and white rose print. An unexpected surprise with a touch of whimsy for a book - very much on brand reflecting the fun linings Kate Spade bags would somtimes have.

Beyond a strong vision and creative voice, Kate Spade's success was due to a strong and focused team. Brosnahan's husband Andy Spade (brother of comedian David Spade) was Brosnahan's college sweetheart, meeting at a clothing store they both worked at in Kansas. 

Spade was in advertising and used his quirky sense of humor to build strong brands. The Spades enlisted Arons, who was the marketing and PR lead for 80's jeans juggarnaut brand Girbaud. The team also enliseted friend Pamela Bell, who started her own accessory line and understood production and operations. 

With the core team in place. Brosnahan had the space to focus on product and trust in her leadership team to remain true to the brand. In their early 30s, the founders worked non-stop to grow the brand. They spent their savings and retirement funds to support themseles, not taking any salary and relying on Andy Spade's salary as an advertisitng executive to fund the business.

The founders dedicated countless hours and hustle. They tackled problems together and figured things out as they went. Without such a team and support system in place, Kate Spade would not have achieved the growth that it did.

Kate Spade would take off and the founders would all be the toast of the town in their 30s. Kate Spade the brand became iconic, defining a generation of woman with its strong vision and aesthetics. In 1999, the founders decided to sell the majority stake of their busines (56% despite Bell's insistence on keeping majority control) to Niemen Marcus, making the founders wealthy. 

The partnership would prove divisive with a new CEO installed that led to off-brand decisions like selling a luxury bag for over $1000 when the Kate Spade brand had focused on young women starting out in their professional lives. These women sought a stylish bag and were proud to treat themselves to a bag costing a few hundred dollars. They were not looking to spend over a thousand dollars on a bag.

Eventually Kate Spade gets sold to Liz Claibourne, and Brosnahan and Arons decide to launch another brand, Francis Valentine. 

A side note is that I have always believed that successful people tend to befriend other succesful people. People who are driven and have the same outlook tend to gravitate towards each other, bolstering and feeding off of each other. One of Spade and Aron's college friend is Lily, of Serena and Lily home decor brand!

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle, 2020

After the delightful One Italian Summer, I was intriuged by interviews with author Rebecca Serle about her fascination with time and whether we would do the same thing if we knew what was to happen. 

I don't necessarily believe in one set fate but do believe that the choices we make impact our lives and there are many choices (some bigger than others) that are made that lead us to a different path.

In Five Years follows the story of Dannie Kohan, a 25-year-old attorney shooting for partner. She lives with her boyfriend David, who is in Finance. Dannie is the stereotypical Type A personality who has a plan as to when she will get engaged, married and made partner.

On the night of her engagement, she wakes up and sees herself five years into the future. She is in an apartment that she has never seen before. She is with another man Aaron. She sees the news broadcast and realizes it is five years into the future.

Dannie wakes up again and she is back in present day, well aware of where her life will be in five years. She meets Aaron, who ends up dating and becoming the boyfriend of her best friend and free spirit Bella. She sees the apartment that she woke up in when she was in the future.

Dannie does everything she can to change the outcome, but the future is the future. Her fate is fixed. The beginning scene replays in 'real time' - a clever way to tie the novel together. A light comedy, there is gravity in the storyline of Bella's battle with cancer. 

With notes and ideas in my head about decisions and alternate lives, I was keen to read In Five Years. I would not necessarily recommend it but it was a nice quick read.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, 2017

Monique Grant is given an opportunity of a lifetime. Evelyn Hugo, the iconic movie star, has requested her for an interview. A rookie reporter for Vivant magazine, Grant has been requested specifically by Hugo.

When Grant and Hugo meet, Hugo offers to tell her life story. A colorful life full of grit and determination, Hugo talks of her ruthless, shrewd and calculated acts to flee an abusive father and further her career to the pinnacle in Hollywood. 

The story reflects the glamor of the 1950s where she uses her body to gain roles and star power to decades later when she needs to shock to remain popular to turning her back on Hollywood in the 1980s. 

Hugo's life story unfolds through the telling of her seven husbands mixed in with gossip column updates:

1. Poor Ernie Diaz - the man Evelyn seduces once she discovers he is planning to move across the country to work in lighting in Hollywood
2. Goddam Don Adler - Hollywood royalty, a movie star whose parents are movie stars; he hides a dark secret and fragile ego though
3. Gullible Mick Riva - A quick Las Vegas marriage that is annulled shortly after, serving both party's purposes 
4. Clever Rex North - Another marriage of convenience, a true Hollywood marriage
5. Brilliant, Kindhearted, Tortured Harry Cameron - Hugo's first friend in Hollywood turned Producer whose star rises along with Hugo's
6. Disappointing Max Girad - French film director obsessed with Evelyn Hugo (unfortunately, not Evelyn)
7. Agreeable Robert Jamison - brother to Celia St. James, fellow actress who has a tumultuous relationship with Hugo

Filled with twists and deliciously ambitious scheming, The Seven Husband of Evelyn Hugo is a well crafted story.

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, 2019

Perennially in circulation at the high school library, I decided to read this to relate to the kids. Although I had been obsessed with Agatha Christie when I was a child, I tend not to read mystery or thrillers.

The Silient Patient did not dissapoint. Meticulously plotted, the story centers around artist Alicia Berenson and her brutal murder (shot in the face) of her husband. 

Berenson is locked up in a mental ward while psychotherapist Theo Faber becomes obsessed with her and her case.

After the murder, Bereson refuses to speak. Before she is jailed, she paints a picture of Alcestis, a mythological woman who volunteers to die in her husband's place. When she returns to the mortal world, she refuses to speak, remaining mute.

Faber is assigned to Berenson and begins treating her to determine the mysterious circumstances around her murderous act and why she refuses to speak.

Being an avid reader and consumer of television, I tend to spot twists but I did not see this twist at all. I recommended this book to my husband, a fellow Cambridge grad like the author, and he too was spellbound by the book.

One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle, 2022

I had seen and read recommendations for this book, but had not been ready to read it since it revolves around the death of the protagonist's mother. Otherwise, a tale taking place in another country is my jam.

While in New York City for the holidays, I saw this at Rizzoli's bookstore and decided that I was ready to read it (and support such an beautiful bookstore).

Katy's mother has passed away and she is no longer sure of anything, including her husband Eric. Katy and her mother Carol were best friends.

Before Carol's passing, she and Katy had planned a trip together to Positano, Italy, where Carol had spent formative time in her thirties. Katy decides to continue with the trip anyway, and goes alone.

At the Hotel Poseidon in Positano, Katy is able to breathe and consider her life and how she met Eric in college and then ended up marrying him. She wonders if she has really lived.

While in Positano, Katy befriends Nika and Marco, owners of the hotel, and fellow guest Adam, a businessman who returns to Positano often. On this particular trip, Adam is looking to acquire Hotel Poseidon, which is struggling financially.

While in Positano, Katy also meets her mother, aged 30... Befriending Carol, Katy learns of her mom's past and realizes that her mom had a life before becoming a mother. That she was complicated and not always the organized taskmaster for the family.

A sweet story with details about the delights of Postitano, the ocean the city overlooks onto and the delicous food, One Italian Summer is a fun read and makes one consider the lives parents led versus how they are known to their children.

Another fun detail is that Hotel Poseidon is an actual hotel that the author stayed at, inspiring the novel.