In her professional life, Rebecca Fine longs to become a successful investigative reporter even as she earns a living hacking out beauty columns for Daily Vanguard magazine. Her personal life resembles a revolving door of men, with no one holding her attention even the least bit. That is, until she gets Max Stoddart, with his Hugh Grant-esque hair and charm, as her new colleague. They hit it off right away, and things seem to be going pretty well. If only Rebecca could ignore the women Max goes out with, purely professionally, of course.

Meanwhile, Rebecca’s life gets thrown another unexpected curve when her widowed father suddenly announces his engagement to Lipstick, a blond bombshell schoolmate of Rebecca’s who made her life hell in high school. Before long, Lipstick has moved in with her, as does another friend who is undergoing post-partum marital problems. In the midst of all this chaos, Rebecca discovers the scoop of her life in a pot of beauty cream that has some unorthodox side effects and global consequences. Will professional bliss also translate into a personal one?

Author Sue Margolis’ writing manages to achieve the right balance between romantic fluff and light-hearted suspense in Apocalipstick and is thus guaranteed to appeal to a vast range of reading audience. Her sharp British wit interspersed with skillful dollops of hysterically funny moments prevents the plot from sinking into yet another typical chick-lit read.

Rebecca is the central character and everything else revolves around her. Her up-and-down relationship with Max is interesting, even though it never quite takes center stage. However, secondary characters including family, friends and colleagues more than fill in the gap with their hilarious antics and personal eccentricities. Naturally there is more than one sub-plot going on, and all of them are satisfactorily wound up towards the end; some even come as a surprise, thanks to the various red herrings. Longtime fans of Margolis will not be disappointed, and new readers will surely be charmed by this delightful light-hearted comic romp.