...at Kirkus, about two YA novels set in the '20s: Anna Godbersen's Bright Young Things, and Jillian Larkin's Vixen.
In brief, Bright Young Things will be fun for anyone who liked the Luxe books. Vixen, on the other hand, has a pretty cover (although that model's arms look scary-thin) but features some of the most truly cringe-inducing dialogue I've ever read outside of the Sweet Valley High series. (Click through for an example. It's... kind of amazing.)
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Book sources: The Godbersen, from my local library; the Larkin, a review copy from the publisher.
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Read for the 2011 Historical Fiction Challenge.
Eh... at least the covers are very polished.
Posted by: tanita | 17 January 2011 at 10:57 AM
I started Vixen a month ago and just. can't. do. it.
Posted by: Carrie K | 17 January 2011 at 11:13 AM
I got a copy of Vixen for review, too, and I completely agree with your take. Liked the cover and the book sounded promising, but ultimately, no way. (The one thing that struck me: in the '20s, would someone have known that a pregnancy was 13 weeks along? And/or would they have openly discussed it? I have a poor sense of history but those details seemed wrong to me.)
Posted by: Brandy | 18 January 2011 at 10:57 AM
My biggest annoyance was the lack of authentic voice, Vixen moreso than Bright Young Things. A 17 year old girl in 1923 would NOT use the word black to describe African Americans. From the research I've done, the terms in use would have been colored or negro (small n). If you're going to write historical fiction, I think you need to use the vocabulary of the time, especially when you're writing from the point of view of the characters. Ugh. That one point just drove me absolutely batty. Attempting to portray an interracial romance during the turbulent 20's could have been an amazing and gutsy novel; Larkin's portrayal, however, is lukewarm at best.
Posted by: Himissjulie | 18 January 2011 at 03:17 PM
That last comment was mine, btw; I don't know where that weird typepad sign in came from. And I wanted to add--even though I sort of hated Vixen, I am also dying to know what happens next. Even though the characters were all utter non-entities.
Posted by: Julie | 18 January 2011 at 03:22 PM
Brandy: That seems wrong to me, too, but I don't have any facts to back me up, either! At that point, I'd given up on the idea of any sort of believability.
Julie: YES. I noticed that, too -- and that was in addition to the awfulness of the voice (internal and external) in general. When I said that she didn't take the easy way out with the interracial relationship, it was because I WAS SO POSITIVE that the author was going to kill his character off that I gave her points for NOT doing so. Which is a REALLY LOW BAR, but hey. It would have to be a pretty low bar to say much positive about it. That said, I'm glad I'm not the only one who wants to know what happens next.
Posted by: Leila | 18 January 2011 at 03:39 PM
I'm so glad to learn that someone else had a similar reaction to both of those books. I tried reading Vixen not too long after Bright Young Things, and I couldn't even finish it.
Posted by: April | 18 January 2011 at 03:40 PM
Aw, man, I was kind of excited for Vixen. But bad dialogue is one of my top turn-offs. Poo.
Posted by: Maureen | 26 January 2011 at 11:42 AM