MIRRORED LIFE

Bad girl makes good—prison-issue cosmetology license in hand—in this pleasant bathtub book from the author of Balancing Act. After serving five years for her unintentional involvement in a robbery and murder in her tiny Texas town, and still mourning her mother's death and her father's descent into alcoholism, 20-year-old Sara Jane Talbot is ready to start over. Determined to succeed as a stylist, she moves into a halfway house in Dallas, gets hired at a swanky salon and starts experimenting with home beauty treatments from her mother's recipes. Thus is Serena St. James born—but she's broke and struggling to make it in a nearly all-white industry, until aging R&B star Diana Devreux pulls up in a limousine and demands a black stylist. Thanks to Serena's skill, Diana makes a huge comeback. Serena is handed a job as the diva's personal stylist and whisked off to a private cottage on her Las Vegas estate, where she gets involved with bodyguard Craig Alexander, a handsome charmer who adores her. All looks rosy until Craig reveals some romantic secrets and Joyce Ann Keller, the ringleader of the long-ago murder, comes looking for Sara Jane with blackmail and revenge on her mind. Shaky buildup of suspense and a bizarre, out-of-nowhere ending keep this book from really triumphing, but Sara Jane's spunky brand of tenacity is charming and Bunkley's clean prose keeps the story moving along at a good clip. (Nov. 5)