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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
A fun young adult novel that is NOT for teenagers! POur yourself a glass of champagne and indulge.
It's about time that I read a great book this year! I bought this book on a whim because I was sucked in by a beautiful cover. I know they say don't judge a book by its cover but this time I'm glad I did. This book had such a great story line. It is told in 3 different POVs. In the beginning I was like man this is going to be confusing to keep the stories straight but the author did such a great job weaving all 3 stories and then some together. This book totally transported me back to the 1920s. I wish I had book 2 right now. I think this is a great start to a series or trilogy I'm not sure how many books there will be. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves romance, suspense, gossip, drama, gangsters, flappers, speakeasies, high and low society and back stabbing. This book was so packed and filled with an amazing plot and writing.
First, I'd like to point out, I tried to read this book, I really did. However, I am most definitely NOT making apologies for hating this book. I really wish Goodreads would put in 0 stars for books such as this. Who are we if not honest book reviewers? But I digress.
When I first picked up this book, it did remind me of Luxe by Godbersen. And though, now I find books I read back in high school to be just short of drivel, I do remember completely enjoying that book. This book I did not enjoy. The plot was predictable and while I know that a lot of books fall under that category, this was painfully predictable. And even if the plot was predictable, the characters were flat and cliched. They had one emotion or one desire. There were no dreams, no other emotions. No... well, you get the point. Let's break down the characters that are some kind of importance in this story.
Gloria Pretty white girl, can sing, has everything but wants what the flappers have, falls in love with someone who is completely forbidden, throwing away her life like that is expected.
Lorraine Jealous of Gloria. Where would we be if there wasn't at least one JEALOUS character? DON'T WE KNOW THAT IT'S COMPLETELY INTEGRAL TO THE PLOT? Oh, it really isn't. For once, we could have had a friend that was supportive of her, of her happiness and wanting things to work out for her. No instead you kiss her fiance and you consider dragging her through the mud. Not only that, Lorraine drank more than any of the characters. She was your friend turning into an enemy and you could see that from the first page of the first chapter that introduced her.
Clara Again where would we be if we didn't have someone who started off as an enemy and turns into a friend? Where would we be if she didn't have some dark secret NO ONE knew about until it was revealed so publicly and definitely where would we be if Lorraine and Gloria hadn't decided to dip her into scandal with Marcus, but...but...they fell in love! What? Talk about every movie between now and the 80's!
Each character with some kind of motive, something that moved them along in the book was simply paper being blown away in the wind. There is nothing substantial about these characters, their motives or their personalities, which frankly, is disappointing. Despite the cliches this book had, I was captured by the plot and wish she had just done more fleshing out her characters.
Time to bash the romance. Insta-love? Perhaps. Insta-lust? DEFINITELY! These romances couldn't be anymore cliched could they? Rich white girl falls in love with someone involved (albeit loosely) with the mob who also happens to be black (cause that was a HUGE thing in the 20s) and didn't actually have a way of supporting himself and her. Plus, enter in the little sister and you've got the WHOLE package of jealous families and fucking forbidden love cause that hasn't been done enough.
Marcus's original plan was to get Clara to fall in love with him, but what happened? Oh, he fell in love with her himself. This is like those cheesy, romance movies set in the high schools where the "popular" guys were bet they couldn't transform the ugly girls into someone completely desirable. Why go down this path? Why couldn't you just have him outright refuse and still hang out with her? He seems like a stand up guy...
Lorraine, in love with someone who obviously doesn't like her back and to just add to her friend becoming enemy status, she goes and kisses Gloria's fiance. Oh, dear, what'll we do now? Now she's all dark because her friend refused to listen and I'll bet you anything (I don't know who told Sebastian where Glroia was ) he got her drunk and in some kind of black out, she told him herself. Let me know if I'm right.
Anyway, this review is a little longer than I planned, though not winded and having a concise path. It's really sad that this book didn't live up to it's potential. It is highly disappointing that she took and filled this book with as much cliches as she did. I enjoy books that lead us back into the eras that are almost forgotten and really do wish I enjoyed this one.
When I first picked up this book, it did remind me of Luxe by Godbersen. And though, now I find books I read back in high school to be just short of drivel, I do remember completely enjoying that book. This book I did not enjoy. The plot was predictable and while I know that a lot of books fall under that category, this was painfully predictable. And even if the plot was predictable, the characters were flat and cliched. They had one emotion or one desire. There were no dreams, no other emotions. No... well, you get the point. Let's break down the characters that are some kind of importance in this story.
Gloria Pretty white girl, can sing, has everything but wants what the flappers have, falls in love with someone who is completely forbidden, throwing away her life like that is expected.
Lorraine Jealous of Gloria. Where would we be if there wasn't at least one JEALOUS character? DON'T WE KNOW THAT IT'S COMPLETELY INTEGRAL TO THE PLOT? Oh, it really isn't. For once, we could have had a friend that was supportive of her, of her happiness and wanting things to work out for her. No instead you kiss her fiance and you consider dragging her through the mud. Not only that, Lorraine drank more than any of the characters. She was your friend turning into an enemy and you could see that from the first page of the first chapter that introduced her.
Clara Again where would we be if we didn't have someone who started off as an enemy and turns into a friend? Where would we be if she didn't have some dark secret NO ONE knew about until it was revealed so publicly and definitely where would we be if Lorraine and Gloria hadn't decided to dip her into scandal with Marcus, but...but...they fell in love! What? Talk about every movie between now and the 80's!
Each character with some kind of motive, something that moved them along in the book was simply paper being blown away in the wind. There is nothing substantial about these characters, their motives or their personalities, which frankly, is disappointing. Despite the cliches this book had, I was captured by the plot and wish she had just done more fleshing out her characters.
Time to bash the romance. Insta-love? Perhaps. Insta-lust? DEFINITELY! These romances couldn't be anymore cliched could they? Rich white girl falls in love with someone involved (albeit loosely) with the mob who also happens to be black (cause that was a HUGE thing in the 20s) and didn't actually have a way of supporting himself and her. Plus, enter in the little sister and you've got the WHOLE package of jealous families and fucking forbidden love cause that hasn't been done enough.
Marcus's original plan was to get Clara to fall in love with him, but what happened? Oh, he fell in love with her himself. This is like those cheesy, romance movies set in the high schools where the "popular" guys were bet they couldn't transform the ugly girls into someone completely desirable. Why go down this path? Why couldn't you just have him outright refuse and still hang out with her? He seems like a stand up guy...
Lorraine, in love with someone who obviously doesn't like her back and to just add to her friend becoming enemy status, she goes and kisses Gloria's fiance. Oh, dear, what'll we do now? Now she's all dark because her friend refused to listen and I'll bet you anything (I don't know who told Sebastian where Glroia was ) he got her drunk and in some kind of black out, she told him herself. Let me know if I'm right.
Anyway, this review is a little longer than I planned, though not winded and having a concise path. It's really sad that this book didn't live up to it's potential. It is highly disappointing that she took and filled this book with as much cliches as she did. I enjoy books that lead us back into the eras that are almost forgotten and really do wish I enjoyed this one.
This isn't a bad book, and it's certainly got an interesting setting (1920s Chicago), but ultimately I'm not personally that interested in the story of privileged rich white girls rebelling. I do like that issues of race were discussed in the novel, and I'm interested to see what happens with those plot elements when I get around to the rest of the series. At the moment I'm a bit skeptical that this will be handled realistically, but I'm going to wait and see. I'm also glad to see some YA about this time period, and that it doesn't flinch away from potentially controversial issues like alcohol (yes, during Prohibition), sex, racism, and so forth, just as much of today's YA in other settings confronts those issues.
So many of these people's problems could have been avoided by not being idiots.
If I hadn't already read 2 series just like this one I may have liked it. However, I've read 2 series with a similar plot (one even set in the same time). I just think she needed to come up with a different take on the time period.
This was an ok read. I don't know if I will continue reading the series.
The characters were interesting, i love the setting but he writing was a little "off" for me.
The characters were interesting, i love the setting but he writing was a little "off" for me.
I love historical fiction, and the 1920's is my favorite time period. I thought Vixen was wonderful, but then again I'm a little biased because this is my favorite time.
I like the characters and their stories in this book. Well, twho of them anyway. I was a bit weary of Gloria at first, but she turned out to be my favorite. I also liked Clara, and loved uncovering her secret, though it wasn't totally a surprise. I was not a fan of Lorraine. She was really clingy and needy. Though, she did add an interesting element.
The story had more parts to it than you would think. It has love, mystery, suspense, and even a little adventure. There were things I weren't expecting, and things I was.
Vixen isn't my favorite book ever, but it is one of the better ones I've read lately. I loved the story and the language. If you're a historical fiction fan, I would check this one out.
I like the characters and their stories in this book. Well, twho of them anyway. I was a bit weary of Gloria at first, but she turned out to be my favorite. I also liked Clara, and loved uncovering her secret, though it wasn't totally a surprise. I was not a fan of Lorraine. She was really clingy and needy. Though, she did add an interesting element.
The story had more parts to it than you would think. It has love, mystery, suspense, and even a little adventure. There were things I weren't expecting, and things I was.
Vixen isn't my favorite book ever, but it is one of the better ones I've read lately. I loved the story and the language. If you're a historical fiction fan, I would check this one out.
it's a young adult , junk food kind of read. fun enough to read another, but equivalent of "CW dramas"
I am not entirely sold on this series, but I will certainly give book 2 a chance. If only they came with full size versions of the clothes ...