Friday, November 30, 2012

Review: Beautiful Days

Title: Beautiful Days
Author: Anna Godbersen
Date Released: September 20th, 2011
Pages: 368
Rating: 4 out of 5

Description:
For the bright young things of 1929, the beautiful days seem endless, filled with romance and heartbreak, adventure and intrigue, friendship and rivalry.

After a month in New York, Cordelia Grey and Letty Larkspur are small-town girls no longer. They spend their afternoons with Astrid Donal at the Greys' lush Long Island estate and their nights in Manhattan's bustling metropolis. But Letty's not content to be a mere socialite. She is ready at last to chase her Broadway dreams--no matter the cost.

Cordelia is still reeling from the death of her father at the hands of Thom Hale, the man she thought she loved. Now she is set to honor Darius Grey's legacy . . . and take her revenge.

Promised to Cordelia's half brother, Astrid is caught up in a world of dazzling jewels and glittering nights--and the sparkle is blinding. Charlie Grey is a gangster playing a dangerous game; and for Astrid, Cordelia, and Letty, the stakes could be deadly.

From the "New York Times" bestselling author of "The Luxe" comes the second book in an epic series set in the dizzying last summer of the Jazz Age.

Review:
Beautiful Days picks up a month after the events of Bright Young Things.  Cordelia, Letty, and Astrid have all moved on to other things, such as lounging by the pool.  But, they've also moved onto much more serious roles.  Cordelia is busy with planning to open up a speakeasy, while Letty is trying to launch her career.  Meanwhile, Astrid is finally engaged to Cordelia's brother, Charlie, but being linked to a Grey, especially one of such power, means danger.

This sequel was a great followup to Bright Young Things.  We get to see life after Cordelia and Letty are settled into their new lives in the ever glamorous New York City and how their relationships with other people continue to develop or break at any moment.  I'll admit that it does go at a slow pace at times, but then it picks up and builds to towards the climatic event in the end.

The characters are fantastic and have changed so much by the end of the novel.  Letty definitely becomes stronger, Cordelia becomes more responsible, while Astrid finally realizes that you should always listen to what people tell you to do, especially if they know what they're talking about.  In terms of love interests and boyfriends, some were just plain jerks while others were ones to definitely admire.  Max, for instance, is this mysterious and broody pilot that I, for one, cannot help but swoon over.  On the other hand, Grady was cool...  But then he wasn't anymore.  And Charlie is just Charlie.  He's a brother and a fiance so he has this protective instinct about him.

In general, what I love about Anna Godbersen's novels is the historical time frame in which she writes her novels in.  The 20's is just such as glamorous time in the American history, and to read about it in such an entertaining novel just makes it all the more better.

I would definitely recommend this to people who like a light historical fiction read.  It's not heavily historical, but it has many references to the 20's, such as the speakeasies and bootlegging businesses.  The story itself is just really intriguing and had me hooked from page 1 to page 368.  I cannot wait until I can get my hands on The Lucky Ones, which is out as of 3 days ago, to see what will happen in the final installment!  There are a lot of loose ends that will hopefully be tied up in The Lucky Ones.

Cover Review:
Love the cover!  It's absolutely gorgeous from the title's font to "Cordelia" lying on the lounge chair.  I love the rich purple colors contrasting with the light pink of the dress.

Cleo :)

*Description & cover from goodreads.com
**Review copy purchased.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Cover Crush (4): Eleanor & Park

Cover Crush is a new feature here at Booklopedia to highlight the covers that I'm currently absolutely in love with.  I know that there are multiple memes or features out there that feature covers, but I thought that it would be cool if Booklopedia had their own feature and that it should be about something that I love about books: their covers.

Recently, I can't get over the cover for Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell!


Eleanor & Park
"Bono met his wife in high school," Park says.

"So did Jerry Lee Lewis," Eleanor answers.
"I’m not kidding," he says.
"You should be," she says, "we’re sixteen."
"What about Romeo and Juliet?"
"Shallow, confused, then dead."
''I love you," Park says.
"Wherefore art thou," Eleanor answers.
"I’m not kidding," he says.
"You should be." 
Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.
Not only does this book sound completely adorable, but also the cover is insanely cute!  I absolutely love the simplicity of the cover as well as  how the headphones are linked together and form a "&" to complete the title.  I think it's also cool how "eleanor" is red because her main feature is red and "park" is blue because his sweater's blue.  It really makes it stand out :)  The cartoon theme is adorable and is what originally drew me into the book, because you know, I tend to judge a book by its cover.

What do you think of the cover?

Cleo :)

Friday, November 23, 2012

What's Next? You Choose!

                                                                                     
Lately, I've had an influx of books coming in, mainly because it was my birthday.  Because of that, I've been having a hard time choosing between which book to read after I finish The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa!

I've been super indecisive about what I want to read next, so I thought that I would let you guys decide. All of the books sound really great so it's been kind of hard for me to decide which one I would tackle next.You can just click in the poll below to decide what I'm going to read next!

Fever (The Chemical Garden, #2)Beautiful Redemption (Caster Chronicles, #4)Days of Blood & Starlight (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #2)


Which book should I read next?
  
pollcode.com free polls 


Thanks for voting if you did & happy reading!

Cleo :)
                                                                         

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Happy Thanksiving!!


I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that you guys have lots of fun with your families & eat lots of delicious food! (Especially pumpkin pie because my family decided to deprive me of that this year...).

There's a ton of things to be thankful for this year, especially since it's been a crazy year with trying to apply for colleges and all that fun stuff.  

I'm thankful for:
my family,
my friends,
YOU GUYS!
my books,
my laptop (for not giving up on me... yet),
the amazing opportunities I've had this year,
and a lot more that I can't think of right at this moment.

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How could my family deprive me of this
yummy goodness??

Hope you guys have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Cleo :)

Friday, November 16, 2012

Be Back... Soon?

Hiatus_large

Obviously this hiatus happened a little over a month ago...
BUT I'LL TRY TO BE BACK SOON!

This school year has been pretty crazy.
It's my Senior year, and what I thought was supposed to be an easy year
actually applied to second semester, when all the college applications
have been submitted -_-
Plus, I decided to take three AP classes, all of which are REALLY hard
and hardly what they were like last year when I took three AP's.
IT'S JUST A BUNCH OF CRAZINESS!

Hopefully I'll be back; maybe around winter break?
& hopefully you haven't given up on this blog either.
Maybe I'll finally have that blogoversary giveaway...
And maybe a "welcome back after a 3000000000 month hiatus" giveaway...
And I kind of want to change up things around here a little bit...
We'll see :)

Hope to see you guys around the blog again & happy reading!
Cleo :)