Beautiful Days

Beautiful Days, by Anna Godbersen.

All was briefly calm on the street; he flashed her that exquisitely rare smile once and then he was gone. She could hear him running back to his car and the motor starting up, but she had already turned around and lifted her arms to greet the gathering crowd. There would be singers looking for a big break and debutantes in tiaras who wanted special tables and newspapermen begging for quotes. The taste of Max's mouth was still on her lips, but she couldn't dwell there. The day had been beautifully long, but it was going to be a longer night.

Beautiful Days is the follow-up to Anna Godbersen's Bright Young Things, and there will be three books, possibly more, in the series. It follows two girls, Cordelia and Letty, who have moved to New York City from their small town in Ohio, and the family and friends they meet there. Cordelia's father has recently been murdered and was a bootlegger, and her brother, Charlie, is engaged to their friend Astrid, and is interested in opening a club downtown. The year is 1929, and Prohibition is in full swing, so they must be careful about how and where they serve liquor.

Cordelia was in love with Thom Hale, and showed him a secret passageway inside to the Grey's mansion, but then he shared that information with his associates and one of them was responsible for her father's murder. Now she has a crush on the "flyboy" Max Darby, whose feelings for her sometimes seem to not be reciprocated. Letty, a singer, is looking for her first big break, and is delighted when Cordelia says she can be the opening act at her and Charlie's new club; she is equally crushed when they find a more well-known singer to open. Astrid, while enjoying being engaged to Charlie, wonders if this will be the end of her "wild nights" out on the town, and wants to make sure she gets the most out of them before she gets married.

This book was equally as enjoying as the first (BYT), and I am looking forward to the next installment, The Lucky Ones. The books remind me a little of Gossip Girl meets West Side Story, with all of the bootlegging families fighting, and they are interesting reads that you will devour very quickly. Godbersen has another series, too, called The Luxe, that was also very good, and written in a similar vein as the BYT series.

4 stars out of 5.