Lucky Us by Amy Bloom

Lucky Us introduces us to Eva and Iris. Disappointed by their families, Iris, the hopeful star, and Eva, the sidekick, journey across 1940s America in search of fame and fortune. Iris's ambitions take them from small-town Ohio to an unexpected and sensuous Hollywood, across the America of Reinvention in a stolen station wagon, to the jazz clubs and golden mansions of Long Island.

With their friends in high and low places, Iris and Eva stumble and shine through a landscape of big dreams, scandals, betrayals, and war. Filled with gorgeous writing, memorable characters, and surprising events, Lucky Us is a thrilling and resonant novel about success and failure, good luck and bad, the creation of a family, and the pleasures and inevitable perils of family life. From Brooklyn's beauty parlors to London's West End, a group of unforgettable people love, lie, cheat, and survive in this story of our fragile, absurd, heroic species.
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The storytelling flowed easily the writing fluid and easy to follow. I still had a hard time getting into this book the first third was difficult for me mostly because I found the characters to be quite unlikable and while their back stories and what they were going through was some compelling their reactions and attitudes were for the most part offputting. It wasn't until about halfway through that I became actually interested in what was going on and how it was going to unfold.  Part of what kept me reading even in the beginning when I was really not enjoying these characters was the way that Bloom present to the story through Eva's viewpoint for the most part but also interspersed with letters from Iris and other characters occasional use of points of view from other characters in book. The sprinkling of historical events specifically to do with pre-and during World War II and the cultural references that were mostly daily life for the 30s and 40s brought this book much more interest than I would've given a credit for for the first half of the story. By the third quarter of this novel I was actually enjoying the character of Eva and how she was coping with what was happening that part of the story really did focus on her and her growing up and less so on the other characters. At the end of it I found that the story reminded me of the poison Wood Bible in my reaction to it again without book I really didn't enjoy the first third of the book and it was only when the characters had grown up some and the backstory that had been laid out in the first half of the book finally came to bear in the fleshing out and plot movement and character development of the main character, Eva. Upon reflection I have to say that I am glad I read this book of the story has stayed with me and while I don't think that I would read it again I would, with some qualification, recommend this to a few people I know who enjoy family saga /dramatic stories.

If anyone can explain how the book cover relates to the story, I would appreciate it.

The Romeo and Juliet Code by Phoebe Stone

 SEVEN MYSTERIOUS LETTERS.

A BOY WITH BROWN SUGAR EYES.

A FIRST BIG CRUSH.

When Felicity's glamorous parents leave her with distant relatives in Maine, Felicity isn't happy.  Her Uncle Gideon hides things.  There's an odd person in the house who won't come out of his room.  And the only kids around is too handsome for his own good.  Felicity is on her own, but soon she know that she needs help.  Gideon is getting coded letters from Felicity's parent, and she's sure they're in trouble.  Can Felicity crack the code, heal the family, and save her parents ... all while surviving her first big crush?

I did enjoy this book, which was a surprise given that the cover and back cover synopsis gave no hint to a major part of the story.  When I started reading, I had no idea that this was actually a WWII story or that it took place anytime but the present.  That did cause a bit of confusion at the beginning and I am not sure I would have chosen this book for my weekend read had I known.  Once I understood the setting, the story started to flow.  Stone is quite good at conveying the emotions and mindset of Felicity and her motivations.  Her experiences as a youth in London during the bombings, sneaking on a ship to Maine with her parents and being left in the care of relatives she has never met are well described. As a reader, I was able to understand the isolation and fear she felt.  Young readers not yet familiar with the events surrounding WWII, the bombing of London, the redistribution of English children for safety and how America struggled with the timing of entering the war, will learn in a non-graphic and age appropriate telling.

There was an aspect of the story that I felt was somewhat out of place in this story and, perhaps, in a book for young readers. Some of the secrets and tension that Felicity must deal with concerns a falling out between her parents and the relatives she come to stay with. I found this thread of the story to be unnecessary and somewhat out of place.  I think another cause for the familial falling out would have been welcomed.