Book Review: Beautiful Days by Anna Godbersen

Goodreads description

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 the New York Times bestselling author of The Luxe comes the second book in an epic series set in the dizzying last summer of the Jazz Age.

My Thoughts

Beautiful Days is the second in the Bright Young Things series set in 1920s New York and it follows on soon after the first book Bright Young Things end, continuing the story of Astrid Donal, Cordelia Grey and Letty Larkspur- a flapper, a heiress and an aspiring starlet. Anna Godbersen is the queen of this  glamorous era and she really knows how to bring the sparkling world of speakeasies, bootlegging and jazz to life through her descriptive writing.

We find the girls having spent an summer lounging around the pool together and Letty and Cordelia are not the small town girls they once were but have found their place amongst the numerous New York socialites who live for a night out at a club in a sparkly dress. However Letty soon realises that this empty life is not what she dreamed of and that she can't let her dream of becoming a famous singer slip away; Cordelia settles into the Grey family and embarks on a new plan to open a new club down-town along with her bootlegger brother Charlie and Astrid's tumultuous romantic relationship with Charlie continues on its ups and downs.

One of my favourite things was seeing each of the three heroines develop and change but like in Bright Young Things, I found myself identifying with and caring about Letty the most  because she works hard to chase her dream of seeing her name in bright lights come true even when it looks as there there's no hope. I felt that she was the least spoiled too, not being wealthy like Astrid and Cordelia and her trying to make her own way in the city made for the most interesting story. Each of the girl's stories was interesting in its own way though and what I like most of all about them is that they're depicted as going through the same problems and heartaches that girls experience today as they make their own way in the world.

Fans of romance will be glad to hear that more romantic attachments are formed although they are far from smooth. The attractive bootlegger Charlie and Astrid are still together but their relationship is complicated and though they clearly love each other, there are obstacles that they must get over. I get the vibe that there is something mysterious underlying their relationship that hasn't come to light yet so I'm looking forward to seeing how everything turns out for them in the next instalment in the series Cordelia is reluctant to let a man into her life after the heartbreak she last experiences but one young man manages to worm his way into her heart, creating another unpredictable storyline. Still, like I mentioned in my review of Bright Young Things, I didn't connect with any of the romantic interests very well and they didn't hold much appeal so the romance was too stale for me. 

Whilst the characters are developed well, it is the historical setting of the twenties that I love the most about the book with the gorgeous dresses, lavish houses, bright lights and glitz of Manhattan and Long Island as well as the dangers of gangs and the sadness and emptiness of the hedonistic lifestyles of social giants that lie behind the glamour. It just goes to show that there was a lot to the jazz age that comes to mind when we think of it.

Verdict: Anna Godbersen has topped Bright Young Things with its sequel, providing an escape to the roaring twenties with a thrilling plot and well developed main characters coming of age. However there is something missing which I can't quite work out. If you enjoyed Bright Young Things, then you'll love Beautiful Days too"

Rating: 3.5 stars

Coverlicious: Beautiful Cover Dresses #3 Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen

Coverlicious is a feature that I post here spontaneously where I feature anything to do with covers from covers I love and cover trends to look-a-like covers and cover reveals.

Beautiful Cover Dresses is a small series that I have been doing for my Coverlicious posts featuring wonderful dresses that I love on book covers!

Anna Godbersen always gets such stunning covers with (of course!) beautiful dresses and her latest book Bright Young Things is no exception, despite the different feel from her Luxe series covers. The silvery tight dress is a very gorgeous flapper style that fits with the setting of the book and the model is looking straight at you in a very confident and defiant way that shows Astrid Donal's character very well. The 'twenties style font just tops it off! I have it on my bookshelf and it looks as striking as it does on the computer screen.

Here's the publisher's synopsis for the book:

The year is 1929. New York is ruled by the Bright Young Things: flappers and socialites seeking thrills and chasing dreams in the anything-goes era of the roaring twenties. Letty Larkspur and Cordelia Grey have escaped their small Midwestern town to chase their big city dreams. In New York, they meet Astrid Donal, a flapper who seems to have everything she could ever want.Across the vast lawns of Long Island, in the illicit speakeasies of Manhattan, and on the blindingly lit stages of Broadway, the three girls’ fortunes will rise and fall—together and apart.

I enjoyed watching this video of the cover shoot that I found on You Tube that shows the model being prepared and the different shots that were taken. If you love the cover, you might want to take a look:

Coverlicious: Beautiful Cover Dresses #2 Envy and Splendour by Anna Godbersen

Coverlicious is a feature that I post here spontaneously where I feature anything to do with covers from covers I love and cover trends to look-a-like covers and cover reveals.

In my last Coverlicious post I featured the covers of The Luxe and Rumours, the first two books in the Luxe series by Anna Godbersen. If you missed the first post, here's what I had to say about the cover design of all the series and a summary of the plot (if you read the previous post then just skip down to the purple title!):

I adore these covers- they are just simply gorgeous! Anna Godbersen is so lucky to have such amazing cover art as I have known many fans of the series to have originally picked them up because the covers are so eye catching. I would just love to try on one of these dresses and go to a ball in it for one night. Wouldn't you just feel like a princess in one of them? I have to admit that they would be pretty hard to walk in though let alone dance in but a girl can have her dreams!I have since found out that the dresses are actually inaccurate to the time but even though I think it historical detail is important, especially inside the book, their beauty gives it a good excuse.

Summary of the Luxe series (from the publisher's (Penguin) blog:

Glittering with jewels, brimming with secrets and loaded with eligible young men, The Luxe is the most delicious, tantalising and completely addictive read. Think The O.C. meets 19th century New York. High society, beautiful debutantes, buckets of scandal – in short, it’s just completely irresistible!

I read the series very quickly around Easter time and the divine covers didn't disappoint me. The summary above describes it very well, it really is addictive with characters that I grew to care about. It might not be historically accurate but it's a fun romp in the past and I really enjoyed it.


Envy and Splendour by Anna Godbersen

At first I thought my favourite of the cover was the pink Luxe dress but since my last post, this one has really begun to grow on me. It's really elegant and pretty without being too 'girly.' It does look a little bit like a wedding dress though. However the orange swirls on the cover to the left make it look less so like that.

I also like the position that the model is in as it looks like she is running away from something and glancing back. It gives a really good view of the dress as it sweeps behind too.

This is my least favourite of the cover/dresses. It's not that I don't like purple, it's just that lilac colour and the layers of silk don't go as well for me as the others do. I still like the dress though and in the last post, some people commented it was their favourite one. The model looks so much how I imagine the character of Lina who it is depicting to look like and the dress fits her personality too.  I MUCH prefer it with the swirls on the cover, it gives it a softer and prettier look. That is the only one out of the series that I actually own.

I found a really good video on You Tube featuring the Splendour cover shoot- I loved having a look behind the scenes to see how they reach the final product. It features two dresses: the purple one that you see on the final cover, which is dubbed 'Lovely in Lavendar' and an alternative 'All That Glitters is Gold Dress.'  I would prefer to wear the gold one myself and it fits with the time period better but I think the lilac works better for Lina's character. It's really worth watching it!

Which one do you prefer?

Coverlicious: Beautiful Cover Dresses #1 - The Luxe and Rumours by Anna Godbersen

Coverlicious is a feature that I post here spontaneously where I feature anything to do with covers from covers I love and cover trends to look-a-like covers and cover reveals. I haven't done a Coverlicious post for a while but now Christmas is over and it is the start of 2011, I wan

Over the past few months I have noticed some beautiful dresses on the covers of books, so I thought would feature some over a couple of weeks in several different posts here.

Today's spotlight:

                 The Luxe and Rumours by Anna Godbersen

I adore these covers- they are just simply gorgeous! Anna Godbersen is so lucky to have such amazing cover art as I have known many fans of the series to have originally picked them up because the covers are so eye catching. I would just love to try on one of these dresses and go to a ball in it for one night. Wouldn't you just feel like a princess in one of them? I have to admit that they would be pretty hard to walk in though let alone dance in but a girl can have her dreams!

I have since found out that the dresses are actually inaccurate to the time but even though I think it historical detail is important, especially inside the book, their beauty gives it a good excuse.

Summary of the Luxe series (from the publisher's (Penguin) blog: 

 Glittering with jewels, brimming with secrets and loaded with eligible young men, The Luxe is the most delicious, tantalising and completely addictive read. Think The O.C. meets 19th century New York. High society, beautiful debutantes, buckets of scandal – in short, it’s just completely irresistible!

I read the series very quickly around Easter time and the divine covers didn't disappoint me. The summary above describes it very well, it really is addictive with characters that I grew to care about. It might not be historically accurate but it's a fun romp in the past and I really enjoyed it.



The Luxe-  To the left is a full picture of the cover without the back blurb and you can really see how large the dress really is. This dress is my favourite because I'm quite a big girly girl and I love the soft pink colour. The way the lace ruffles over each layer and the dainty rosebuds sewn subtly between give it a very feminine and pretty look but the massive size of the dress makes it more of a statement. The dress also tells you a lot about the character of Elizabeth in the book who it is supposed to be depicting as that is the type of character she is. If you look at the top picture, you can see that there are a lot of swirls and some writing at the top. Whilst I usually love these on covers, I think that they are a bit much on this cover and detract from the impact of the dress. I love the shiny gold writing though.

Whilst searching for cover photos I discovered some photos that the publisher used to promote it of seventeen year old Faye Edwards, who won a competition in a similar replica  dress reading the book around London. The dress she is wearing looks much easier to walk in than the one on the cover!  She is a very lucky girl! I also found out that the dress was on display at the Foyle's Department of Selfridges in London.

Rumours- This dress is distinctly different to the one on the cover of Luxe. It's deep, rich ruby red colour made of plain satin silk is simple but that is what makes it so bold and eye catching.  Again, it suits the character of Penelope Hayes as she is a very bold, stylish but backstabbing social queen. I prefer the swirls on the top cover picture on this one because the dress is simpler and so it makes it look less busy than it did on the Luxe.

Look out for my next Coverlicious post about the other cover dresses of of Envy and Splendour coming soon:)

I'd love to hear what you think in the comments!

 If you've read the books, did you like them as much as the cover or was the story disappointing? If not, would you pick them up because of the covers?

Book Review: Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen

Thank you very much to the publisher for providing a copy of Bright Young Things for review. This does not influence my opinion in any way.

Goodreads Summary

The year is 1929. New York is ruled by the Bright Young Things: flappers and socialites seeking thrills and chasing dreams in the anything-goes era of the Roaring Twenties.

Letty Larkspur and Cordelia Grey escaped their small Midwestern town for New York's glittering metropolis. All Letty wants is to see her name in lights, but she quickly discovers Manhattan is filled with pretty girls who will do anything to be a star…

Cordelia is searching for the father she's never known, a man as infamous for his wild parties as he is for his shadowy schemes. Overnight, she enters a world more thrilling and glamorous than she ever could have imagined—and more dangerous. It's a life anyone would kill for . . . and someone will.

The only person Cordelia can trust is Astrid Donal, a flapper who seems to have it all: money, looks, and the love of Cordelia's brother, Charlie. But Astrid's perfect veneer hides a score of family secrets.

Across the vast lawns of Long Island, in the illicit speakeasies of Manhattan, and on the blindingly lit stages of Broadway, the three girls' fortunes will rise and fall—together and apart. From the New York Times bestselling author of The Luxe comes an epic new series set in the dizzying last summer of the Jazz Age.

 
My review and thoughts

I read Anna Godbersen's first series, the Luxe very quickly over the Easter holidays this year and I loved them! I featured Bright Young things in a Waiting on Wednesday post in the early days of blogging and have been excited about it ever since. As it was released in September in the US, I really enjoyed reading other blogger's reviews so I was very happy to be offered the opportunity to read it before the UK release by Penguin.
 

The story switched between the point of view of two best friends Letty and Cordelia who have escaped from their small hometown in hope of pursuing their dreams: Letty dreams of seeing her name in bright lights and Cordelia hopes to find her father in the big city although she hides this from Letty.  Despite their close friendship, the girls soon go their separate ways once in New York, which I found was a little implausible considering they had been best friends all their life. I would have liked to see them having adventures in the city together.

At the other end of the social scale is the glamorous New York socialite Astrid Donal, who is dating Cordelia's new found brother and quickly befriends Cordelia. I really liked the way we got to see the different sides world of New York through the eyes of each of the three girls: a flapper, an heiress and a starlet. Their voices were unique and each had their own interesting story of struggles and ambitions to tell. However, although the girls weren't unlikable, I didn't care about them as much as I usually do for other characters.

 My favourite of the three girls was Letty because despite being abandoned by Cordelia she tried to make the best of finally being able to chase her dreams in the city. She had a very likable innocence to her personality but a determined streak too that made her continue to aspire to her dreams even when she realised there was only a small chance of that happening. Her story was the most interesting for me too because she was alone in the world and had to try to survive by making new friends and getting a job. I also enjoyed seeing the rougher side of New York for those who are not rich. By the end of the book I cared about what happened to her character and I really hope that she achieves her dreams!

The love interests in the story seemed a little dull to me but they definitely had good potential and I hope to see them in the sequel. Although I didn't feel I knew enough about them to make a judgement on if they are right for one of the girls or not. My favourite boy was Cordelia's brother Charlie because he had such a protective nature with both Astrid and Cordelia. There is one boy who is very mysterious and we are left on a cliff hanger about, who I want to know more about.

As in the Luxe series, the description is wonderful and brings the city and life in the 'roaring 'twnties'  to life as each page is turned. The descriptions of beautiful dresses, luxurious houses and lavish parties really captured the period feel and were my favourite part of the book by far. This was enhanced by seeing this era through each of the girl's eyes because they are in different situations. Anna Godbersen's writing style is also really unique to her, like it was in the Luxe and she really knows how to pull readers into a story right from the beginning. The prologue for Bright Young Things was amazingly cryptic and hooking. It had me trying to figure out its meaning for a long time!

Verdict: I think that Bright Young Things sets up the era, characters and plot really well for the next books in the four part series and despite some of the small issues I had with it, I enjoyed it overall . I would recommend it to all fans of the Luxe series. It is a fun way to escape into the glittering world of New York in the twenties!

Quotes from Bright Young Things:

'Love is all right, as things go, but lovers can be a terrible waste of a girl's time'

'New York was more extraordinary than a girl from Ohio could possibly have imagined, that it was a place of wonders where the citizens used the sky as their tablet and airplanes for pens. '

The UK release date is January 6th 2011.

In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox is held by Kristi from the amazing Story Siren, where bloggers share what new books they have every week through the post, at the library or what they have bought.

This week I got:

An audio book of The Betrayal by Mary Hooper (won on Mary's Facebook page, thank you Mary!)

Need by Carrie Jones (borrowed from the library)

For review (from Penguin):

Vampire Academy (#1) by Richelle Mead - I am about half way through now and am really enjoying it

Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen

I am a huge fan of Godbersen's Luxe fan so I am very excited to receive this and can't wait to start reading it. The Penguin release date is in January so I will be reviewing it near then.

I have now run out of room on my bookshelves in my bedroom so I am very glad that my family's new guest room/study/library will be built and finished by the end of this month!

What did you get in your mailbox this week?