Waiting on Wednesday: The Lucky Ones (Bright Young Things #3) by Anna Godbersen

Waiting on Wednesday recognizes that we as bookies pine for books. This post is about what I am impatiently waiting for right now. It was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

This week I am really excited about the third installment in Anna Godbersen's Bright Young Things series. You may remember that I really loved her Luxe series & this one is no different. And while I haven't had a chance to read the 2nd book in this current series (Beautiful Days) it has been on my TBR pile for a bit. That being said, I think I'm coming up on a historical fiction mood, so this may get bumped up. As a result I'm revealing what little information there is for The Lucky Ones due out September 18th.

Letty's rising star is threatened by a new rival...

Astrid's relationship with Charlie takes a dark turn...

And Cordelia vows revenge against the Hales - once and for all...

From Goodreads

While that's not much to go on, considering what little I know from the first book & the summary of the second, this is going to be one doozy of an installment. Have you read these? What do you think? Do you prefer one series over the other. And, as always, what are you waiting on this week?  

Ten Cents a Dance by Christine Fletcher review

With her mother ill, it’s up to fifteen-year-old Ruby Jacinski to support her family. But in the 1940s, the only opportunities open to a Polish-American girl from Chicago’s poor Yards is a job in one of the meat packing plants. Through a chance meeting with a local tough, Ruby lands a job as a taxi dancer and soon becomes an expert in the art of “fishing”: working her patrons for meals, cash, clothes, even jewelry. Drawn ever deeper into the world of dance halls, jazz, and the mob, Ruby gradually realizes that the only one who can save her is herself. A mesmerizing look into a little known world and era.

From Goodreads

Ruby Jacinski is a good daughter. She has always done whatever was necessary to take care of her family. With a deceased father & a mother riddled with rheumatoid arthritis, Ruby drops out of school & goes to work in the meat packing plant. Even with all her hard work, it's just not enough. The basic ends aren't really being met & Ruby is at a loss as to what to do.

Enter Paulie, a rather smarmy young gent, who introduces Ruby to the idea of teaching the latest dances to willing-and-able-to-pay men. While she's a bit stricken by the idea of dancing with strange men for money, she does love a good beat & soon enough she's working at a taxi-dance hall. Earning it's name because the men are renting girls a dance at a time, Ruby soon finds herself out of her league in regards to customers' expectations & some stiff competition. Never one to give up, especially with everything at stake, Ruby begins to navigate the tricky waters of hiding her profession from her family & still being flashy enough to catch the big paying customers. Her balancing act is precarious at best & sooner or later, something's got to give.

Such a fascinating time period! This book instantly caught my eye because it's an era that not many people write about. Prohibition is big for the 20's & the hippies are good for the 60's, but the 40's seem to get lost in teen literature unless it's about the war. Well this book turns that notion on it's head by setting us up in the hip & swinging Chicago night life. We learn about all sorts of historical settings like the boom of jazz music, the struggle of the lower-class immigrant families & the illicit scenes that pervade the seedier parts of major cities.

Ruby moves through all these worlds with the biggest of eyes allowing the reader to really gain a sense of what it was like to live it. Such a passionately vibrant character in such muddled times helps the reader understand the reality of day to day struggles for a young woman. Even more characteristic of the time period is the trusting nature & gender roles that everyone subscribes to throughout all the sub-societies.

The story-telling is masterful with rich details that I can only presume come from either extensive research or first-hand tellings. This radically different world, in much simpler times, is a nice reprieve from the hustle & bustle that is our day to day existence. There really wasn't anything about this book that turned me off. The characters were unique & the story was one that I will never forget. A fast read, with deeper sentiments, it's no wonder that Ten Cents a Dance made ALA's Top Ten Teen Reads in 2009. I will worn those who might forget (or even be unaware) but as this is set in the 1940's, segregation is still a big thing & mixing races (for any purpose) is taboo, so there are some sensitive word choices (obviously made for authenticity). Nothing that you wouldn't read in Mark Twain, but enough to get the point across.

Fans of this might want to also try these historical fictions: The Luxe, Bright Young Things, Flygirl or The Vespertine. (All links go to my reviews). Anyone else read this one? What else would you suggest?

Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen review

It's 1929, do you know who you're getting your liquor from? It's probably from one of the dapper men & their socialite wives/girlfriends that you dream about one day being. For Cordelia & Letty, that is exactly the case.

The two girls are enchanted by the big lights they've heard about in New York City & decide to head out of their Midwestern home to search out what each is looking for in life. For Cordelia, she is searching for the father she has always missed, but never known. She has his name & her love-struck, deceased mother's memories to help her. Little does she know, the man she is seeking is none other than one of the most influential men in the bootlegging business. It turns out he's missed the daughter he never knew about just as much as the son he raised himself. Cordelia finds herself settling into this luxurious life, but is worried about the danger and the cost.

Letty is destined for stardom or she hopes at least. The girl is determined to see her name in flashing lights on Broadway. What she settles for, just to get started she thinks, is living with three other cigarette girls who work in a local club. On a lark one night she decides to get on stage & really show the crowd what she's got. This garners her two admirers, one who is interested in her purely for herself & another who has other ideas. Letty must decide who to trust because depending on her choice, she may lose her chance to be who she's always wanted to become.

These girls are just getting started and have a long way to go before they'll find their own ways, but only time will tell just how far they'll go to get what they want out of life.

Bright Young Things is written much in the same style as Godbersen's wildly-popular Luxe series. We are following two main female characters as they interact & navigate the changing world around them, while a third female manages to become an important person to both female leads all on her own.

I enjoyed the changing perspective as well as the lush setting. Nothing can quite compare to the roaring 1920's with the ambiance, parties, & experiences that are exclusive to the time period. Godbersen continues her incredible ability to weave an alluring setting with exacting detail. The seedy clubs, lavish parties & picturesque homes aren't spared at all. One can truly imagine it all laid out in front.

I found it a little harder to get a handle on the main characters. It's not that they were unsympathetic, but they just seemed so distant. I felt like we were really getting to know them as they were discovering themselves. Normally this kind of thing appeals to me, but in such a historical setting it didn't lend itself quite so well. I thought the girls would feel well0established then get the rug pulled out from under them, but this was just... different.

There were also three very different experiences that kind of overlap one another that caused a bit of confusion for me. While Cordelia was ushered into a lifestyle that Astrid was accustomed to, Letty was living as a starving artist. While they intermingled with some of the same locations, they all had divergent interactions that left me feeling a bit befuddled.

None of this is to say that it is a bad book, it is far from it. Godbersen has done a fine job & I am eagerly awaiting the September 20th release of Bright Days. I think that this book requires an attentive mind frame that I was lacking at the time, but that I fully intend on having engaged when I read the sequel.

Anyone else feel a little off-kilter with this one or was I just reading too much into it?

Waiting on Wednesday: Beautiful Days (Bright Young Things #2) by Anna Godbersen

Waiting on Wednesday recognizes that we as bookies pine for books. This post is about what I am impatiently waiting for right now. It was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

I'm patiently awaiting the September 20th arrival of Anna Godbersen's Beautiful Days (Bright Young Things #2). I read the first book & while not as enrapturing as the Luxe series, this one did have all the same hallmarks. There was a variable ensemble of characters & a unique twist on bootlegging/flapper society of the late 1920's. Read on for the blurb, but be forewarned, it contains MAJOR spoilers for Bright Young Things.

For the bright young things of 1929, the beautiful days seem endless, filled with romance and heartbreak, adventure and intrigue, friendship and rivalry.

After a month in New York, Cordelia Grey and Letty Larkspur are small-town girls no longer. They spend their afternoons with Astrid Donal at the Greys’ lush Long Island estate and their nights in Manhattan’s bustling metropolis. But Letty’s not content to be a mere socialite. She is ready at last to chase her Broadway dreams—no matter the cost.

Cordelia is still reeling from the death of her father at the hands of Thom Hale, the man she thought she loved. Now she is set to honor Darius Grey’s legacy . . . and take her revenge.

Promised to Cordelia’s half brother, Astrid is caught up in a world of dazzling jewels and glittering nights—and the sparkle is blinding. Charlie Grey is a gangster playing a dangerous game; and for Astrid, Cordelia, and Letty, the stakes could be deadly.

From Goodreads

I enjoyed the first book & look forward to picking up where the story left off. If things are going the way I think they are, this could turn into a very exciting story. What are you waiting on this week?