Friday 6 April 2012

Vixen review

The Flappers: Vixen
Jillian Larkin
March 1st 2012
Random House Children's Books


Jazz . . . Booze . . . Boys . . . It’s a dangerous combination.

Every girl wants what she can’t have. Seventeen-year-old Gloria Carmody wants the flapper lifestyle—and the bobbed hair, cigarettes, and music-filled nights that go with it. Now that she’s engaged to Sebastian Grey, scion of one of Chicago’s most powerful families, Gloria’s party days are over before they’ve even begun . . . or are they?
 
Clara Knowles, Gloria’s goody-two-shoes cousin, has arrived to make sure the high-society wedding comes off without a hitch—but Clara isn’t as lily-white as she appears. Seems she has some dirty little secrets of her own that she’ll do anything to keep hidden. . . . 
 
Lorraine Dyer, Gloria’s social-climbing best friend, is tired of living in Gloria’s shadow. When Lorraine’s envy spills over into desperate spite, no one is safe. And someone’s going to be very sorry. . . . 
 
From debut author Jillian Larkin, VIXEN is the first novel in the sexy, dangerous, and ridiculously romantic new series set in the Roaring Twenties . . . when anything goes.



Vixen was a really fabulous historical novel, full of drama, scandal, romance and betrayal, and I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I've never really read any books set in this time period, though I've always been interested in it, and now that I kind of know what to expect, I really must bump Bright Young Things up my TBR. 


The characters in Vixen were definitely the most interesting part, for me, I guess because they were the main focus of the novel. Well, the main characters are ALWAYS the main focus of a novel, really, aren't they... But I liked how it was done. It was great to have the story told from the three different perspectives of Gloria, Clara and Lorraine, and while I didn't really *like* them, they were fun to read about. I really liked that some of the more important scenes would be shown from more than one POV, plus it enabled the reader to know exactly what was happening when all the other character were clueless. 


I will say, though, that for a considerable amount of the book I was really only interested in Gloria's story, and her romance with Jerome than Clara and Lorraine's stories. By the latter part of the book, I was more invested in what they were up to, but it took me a longer time to warm to them, I guess. Although I think that Clara was actually my favourite character. And Lorraine was definitely interesting too, by the end of it, and I'm really interested to see where her story will go now. I think that she'll end up being an antagonist for a while, if she keeps on going the way she's going, even though she's not actually a bad person. She just wants attention, and her best friend back. Though after everything that's happened I'm not sure if she wants Gloria back as her best friend any more. I just REALLY hope she doesn't get all involved in the Mob, because that will never end well.


I thought that the historical aspect was also done really well, though I'm not exactly an expert. And by that I mean  I know pretty much zilch about the 1920's apart from jazz, flappers and speakeasies, but I didn't feel too lost with the language used and everything. Sometimes it still felt really modern, though, and for about the first 100 pages I had to keep on reminding myself that this was set in 1924, no 2000.


Vixen is a really fun historical with the perfect amounts of forbidden romance (if that's what rocks your boat), a dash of action, and enough bitchiness to keep anyone going. If you like historicals, you should make sure to check this one out.

2 comments:

  1. Yay, you liked it :D I can't wait for the next one - I hope there's more forbidden romance and bitchiness ;P Great review Cicely! :)

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  2. I really need to get my hands on a copy of this book! Awesome review! :D

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