More Than a Manicure: The Nail Files

by Carly Bennett Stenmark

Carly Bennett Stenmark is a working nail technician, business owner, and first-time author. Are you biting your nails yet? You should be because you are about to read some high-spirited, adventurous and sometimes delicate stories about life in and out of the sacred nail room.

Although she would never “clip, file and tell” she does communicate stories and feelings that connect and embrace us all as she pulls us into her checkered world full of brutally honest emotion, coupled with her occasionally wicked sense of humor and playfully mischievous soul. At times she takes us by surprise when she takes us by the hand as she throws caution to the wind, all the while building and working hard to maintain a devoted clientele. Carly is living proof that you can get here from there in spite of yourself!

374 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 13, 2017

Reviews

[Neill & Linda Brownstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun, uplifting and a page turner

Carly takes us into her world of mani pedis with humor, empathy and real humanity. This largely autobiographical story goes back and forth between Carly's life and wonderful stories of her clients over almost 3 decades. Her transparent storytelling is totally captivating. We are all beneficiaries of her maintaining a diary of these wonderful stories...you'll finish one and won't want to wait to start the next chapter!

[Ruth Dresher-Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a leap of faith. I've only had a couple of manicures and pedicures (I'm 69) and they were not pleasant experiences. Everyone I know loves the pampering. So to read a book with this theme, I was curious. The fourth star is for the Author, Carly Bennet Stenmark, and her sheer audacity in laying her soul bare in these pages incorporating the fullness of her life. From young single motherhood and determined survival, though her (several) relationships. The early decision she loves Nail Technology, pursuing perfection in her passion, moving through salons, others and her own, and gathering clientele and trusted friends through her thirty years of work is a great testament to her strength.