Review: Vixen by Jillian Larkin

Vixen (The Flappers)-Jillian Larkin
Publisher: Delacorte
Publication Date: December, 2010
Source: Purchased for my Nook
Of Note: YA Historical Fiction Challenge Book #5

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. (Amazon)


I have to admit that before I read this book I wondered if it would be similar to Anna Godbersen's Bright Young Things, and in some ways it was, but not in a way that it made me think of the other book while I was reading Vixen. 

The first half of this book is entertaining, but not what I'd call exciting. If you can't tell, I'm a sucker for historical fiction, so I really enjoyed the details and slang in the book, but others might find the beginning a bit slow. Chicago in the 1920's was a pretty happening place, so if you set just about any book there and did your research, it would be entertaining. The action picks up mid-way through the book, and the last forty pages or so are impossible to stop reading! I had to know what happened.

Of course, being that this is the first book in the series, the ending wasn't so much resolution but a set-up for the next book in the series, Ingenue, which hits shelves in August. That said, each character's story leaves off in such a manner that you really have to know what's going to happen to them! I really enjoyed Vixen.