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A review by apopenhagen
Vixen by Jillian Larkin
3.0
I had a lot of trouble deciding what to rate this book. While I was reading, I was thinking it would be a two, for sure. Looking back on it, I think it's a little closer to a three. We'll call it 2.7 for now ;)
Gloria is a privileged debutante ("deb"), engaged to Bastian Somebody-or-Other (Gray, maybe? Not sure...) But she's a party girl at heart and doesn't really want to get married anymore (maybe. Her motives are cloudy, at best)
Clara was a flapper, but something bad happened in New York, she ended up in prison, then back in Pennsylvania, and is now being sent to oversee her cousin's wedding. So she has to play "Country Clara" and charm everyone.
Lorraine is Gloria's best friend, who's rather jealous of all the attention Gloria's getting.
On the surface, it looks alright. However, once we get to the characters, their motivations are really weird and they're constantly jumping from one conclusion to another.
Let's start with Gloria. Before her father's scandal was revealed, she was totally free to break the engagement. Would it have caused scandal in reality? Probably, but Ms. Larkin doesn't tell us that, so we're assuming that Gloria was totally free to do this. The good things about Gloria: She was pretty daring, without being slutty, which I think totally fit her character. She was innocent, but she had some spunk. I didn't mind her too much. Plus, why did she blame Lorraine? There was no proof, and in my mind, it was more likely to be Clara that betrayed her.
Clara:
She bugged me. Did she want to be a flapper again, or not? Did she enjoy being country Clara, or not? Did she want to go back to New York, or not? She kept saying one thing, then doing another, even when she wasn't pretending. Later, we realize that she didn't want to be a flapper (maybe, but I'm still unsure on that point) but since the whole book she's pretending to be someone she isn't, it's extremely confusing to get a grip on her character. And she was very inconsistent.
Lorraine:
Oh, dear Lord, Lorraine. Talk about unstable. I kind of liked her, in a way, though. She was a loose cannon and she seemed rather realistic. Her drunken escapade when she exposes Clara, though, was ridiculous. No one would have even let her into the party. But, whatever.
I didn't like how Marcus disappeared from Gloria's life. It was like they were brother and sister in the first few chapters, then barely knew each other in the end of the book. It was weird.
One thing that really irked me was the fact that the book made it extremely clear that if you liked going to formal parties and didn't go to speakeasies, you were boring, and totally not worth knowing. I don't think that's fair. Just because you don't break the law doesn't mean you're boring.
So, that was my main issue with the book.
However, there were good things, and it did keep me reading, hence the 2.7 rating.
Not a high recommendation, though.
Anna
Gloria is a privileged debutante ("deb"), engaged to Bastian Somebody-or-Other (Gray, maybe? Not sure...) But she's a party girl at heart and doesn't really want to get married anymore (maybe. Her motives are cloudy, at best)
Clara was a flapper, but something bad happened in New York, she ended up in prison, then back in Pennsylvania, and is now being sent to oversee her cousin's wedding. So she has to play "Country Clara" and charm everyone.
Lorraine is Gloria's best friend, who's rather jealous of all the attention Gloria's getting.
On the surface, it looks alright. However, once we get to the characters, their motivations are really weird and they're constantly jumping from one conclusion to another.
Let's start with Gloria. Before her father's scandal was revealed, she was totally free to break the engagement. Would it have caused scandal in reality? Probably, but Ms. Larkin doesn't tell us that, so we're assuming that Gloria was totally free to do this. The good things about Gloria: She was pretty daring, without being slutty, which I think totally fit her character. She was innocent, but she had some spunk. I didn't mind her too much. Plus, why did she blame Lorraine? There was no proof, and in my mind, it was more likely to be Clara that betrayed her.
Clara:
She bugged me. Did she want to be a flapper again, or not? Did she enjoy being country Clara, or not? Did she want to go back to New York, or not? She kept saying one thing, then doing another, even when she wasn't pretending. Later, we realize that she didn't want to be a flapper (maybe, but I'm still unsure on that point) but since the whole book she's pretending to be someone she isn't, it's extremely confusing to get a grip on her character. And she was very inconsistent.
Lorraine:
Oh, dear Lord, Lorraine. Talk about unstable. I kind of liked her, in a way, though. She was a loose cannon and she seemed rather realistic. Her drunken escapade when she exposes Clara, though, was ridiculous. No one would have even let her into the party. But, whatever.
I didn't like how Marcus disappeared from Gloria's life. It was like they were brother and sister in the first few chapters, then barely knew each other in the end of the book. It was weird.
One thing that really irked me was the fact that the book made it extremely clear that if you liked going to formal parties and didn't go to speakeasies, you were boring, and totally not worth knowing. I don't think that's fair. Just because you don't break the law doesn't mean you're boring.
So, that was my main issue with the book.
However, there were good things, and it did keep me reading, hence the 2.7 rating.
Not a high recommendation, though.
Anna