The Lucky Ones

I initially picked out The Lucky Ones because it is by the same author who wrote The Luxe series (which I read earlier this year), Anna Godbersen. This book is similar to her other series, in the way that it focuses on the rich, beautiful, and important people and their numerous scandals, and is set in an earlier time period. In her first series it was the 1890s—in this book, it is the 1920s. They seemed to me renditions of Gossip Girl, the difference being the time period. They are well written, fast-paced, dramatic, and full of detail, so I was very much entertained. Upon finishing the book, I realized that it was not, as I believed, the first in Godbersen's second series, but the the third. Which in retrospect explained why they talked of huge plot developments that had happened before the beginning of the book. Though this disappointed me, I still enjoyed the book, and have a feeling that the first two should be at least as good as the first.

The books are told in third person, buts the events alternately relate to three best friends—Astrid, Cordelia, and Letty. The book is set in the time period of prohibition—and  alcohol being banned hasn't stopped people from drinking it. Cordelia Grey is the daughter of a deceased bootlegger (an illegal alcohol salesman and owner of various contraband clubs and bars). She and her brother Charlie have been left in charge of the illicit business. Charlie has recently married Astrid, who is quickly realizing that her husband is not who she thought he was, and is spending more and more time with her bodyguard, an employee of Charlie's, than her husband. Letty has recently moved to New York City to become an actress, and is being generously taken under the wing of Valentine and Sophia, two famous movie stars. But Letty finds herself developing feelings for Valenine, she moves into the dangerous field of pursuing a married man.