Review : Bright Young Things and Beautiful Days

Posted by on February 5, 2012 5:49 am in 3 stars reads | 2 comments


Bright Young Things
and Beautiful Days by Anna Godbersen
Genre : YA, Historical Fiction
Series : Bright Young Things, Book 1 and 2
My Rating :

What it’s about :

The year is 1929.

Letty, Cordelia and Astrid all dream of a better life, a life filled with the glamour and lights only New York can bring. Whether they dream of the stage, a good marriage or finding their family, they will risk anything to reach their goals.

My Thoughts :

This is not a bad 3 stars review; on the contrary, these two novels were exactly what I had been hoping for from the author of The Luxe series. That is, an historical fiction series that would be light on the detailing and allow me to escape quickly to another era. Once again, Godbersen delivers : Bright Young Things and Beautiful Days are filled with romance, drama, mysteries, drama, treason and more drama. Did I mention the drama?

The historical setting feels merely like a pretext to have these young women walking around in pretty outfits. Even more than with The Luxe, I didn’t feel like I really was taken back in time. The details are limited to general ideas, and the girls certainly don’t act or talk in what you would imagine being 1929’s attitude.

I’ll risk repeating myself here to insist this story is, mostly, about the drama. This being said, I had fun reading them both, especially the first one. The second felt very much like a transition, with not much happening, but it certainly kept me reading anyway. Also, I liked the girls enough, whether they were together or against each other. They are balanced with a great variety of secondary characters, with just enough villains to make things interesting.

Godbersen’s novels are, to me, a guilty pleasure I can’t deny myself. Plus, while these covers aren’t as gorgeous as The Luxe ones, I still find them really pretty. I’ll be reading the next book for sure!

Series Reading Order :

  1. Bright Young Things
  2. Beautiful Days
  3. The Lucky Ones (coming September 2012)

2 Comments

  1. I agree with you that while it might not be the most complex and plot driven stuff out there, I really did adore The Luxe novels for their lushness and drama and goings on with the elite (and not so elite) of society.

    But really, enough with the heart shaped mouth and the eyes blue as sapphires bit sometimes.

  2. Sometimes you just need a book like those. They actually sound great for the beach to me.

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