Ballardite Karoline Morrison released her memoir, "Twilight of the Blondes", last month and has since been promoting her book throughout the greater Seattle area, even starring in a segment for a documentary film about her days as a model at the Seattle World's Fair.

Written with flare, Morrison's tale is a bittersweet one.

The Marilyn Monroe era and glamourous years of the Hollywood Strip serve as the backdrop to her unique coming-of-age story.

After falling head-over-heels for a talented pianist, a young and at times naive Karolin Morrison leaves Seattle for the glamourous Hollywood to help her unfaithful husband become a star and to fix their broken marriage.

While her husband continues his affair in Seattle, Morrison becomes a cigarette girl at the historic night club, Ciro's.

Focused on rekindling her marriage by finding him a career in Hollywood, Morrison oversees her own talent and value. It takes multiple heart breaks and stumbles to see the reality and start living for herself.

As the "Queen of the Sunset strip," Morrison experiences Hollywood at its peak and downfall - the glamour and the superficial, the objectification of women and the gangsters, friendship and laughter.

Morrison's first book is well-written with the openness of an experienced memoirist.

I look forward to her second book which will tell the remainder of her journey leading to the Old Carnegie Building she currently owns.

Morrison's book is available at Ballard's Secret Garden Books and online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Read more about Karoline Morrison in our past coverage, here.