Bright Young Things (Bright Young Things, #1)

by Anna Godbersen

[readingwithwrin]

“That is what I want to tell you about: the girls with their short skirts and bright eyes and big-city dreams.
The girls of 1929.”


Letty and Cordelia were two old friends that had escaped to a new life together, but when things started to fall into place for Cordelia, Letty was left to her own devices and struggled to keep up with fast-paced city life.



Astrid Donal seems like your typical flapper rich girl. Yet her family has more secrets than either of the other girls and she's playing a rather dangerous game of cat and mouse with her life.



“Among her other talents were forgetting what she did not like and ignoring what she preferred not to see.”



Overall I really enjoyed this book. I love this time period in history and the fact that both the rich and poorer side were shown seamlessly was so nice.

The friendships shown in this book were extremely realistic and I loved how things weren't always peachy keen between everyone. They all struggled as friends and in their personal lives and because of that it made the book for more real and like this really could have been someone's life which is what I love about historical fiction when its done really well and is something that doesn't always happen in YA.



“But in that moment she realized how false most smiles were and what a tremendous waste of time.”



The mob lifestyle was fascinating to me and I loved how we were just slow given little details about it we weren't told everything at once and instead were given details slowly over time or just little hints which you had to piece together yourselves.



The romance parts of this book I didn't mind. I thought at times the girls were being a bit ridiculous and too risky but that's to be expected especially with Cordelia and Letty as they weren't used to the city life.



I surprisingly so far don't have any favorites when it comes to the three girls. I enjoyed their stories equally and I can't wait to see what they get up to in the next book!



“It is easy to forget now, how effervescent and free we all felt that summer. Everything fades: the shimmer of gold over White Cove; the laughter in the night air; the lavender early morning light on the faces of skyscrapers, which had suddenly become so heroically tall. Every dawn seemed to promise fresh miracles, among other joys that are in short supply these days. And so I will try to tell you, while I still remember, how it was then, before everything changed-that final season of the era that roared.”