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jasmine_books342's review against another edition
5.0
Amazing. The 1920s is my favourite time period, so to read a book set in that time is great. I absolutely loved this book. I loved reading about how the characters grew through out the story and how the changed. It's an outstanding book.
blevisky's review
2.0
(2.5)
My feelings towards this book are... complicated. It's not a bad book at all, but the more I read it, the less I cared about the characters and what was going on. It felt like it was half plot-driven and half character-driven and somehow that didn't work, I guess.
It's an nice enough book, but not one I'd recommend right away, I guess.
My feelings towards this book are... complicated. It's not a bad book at all, but the more I read it, the less I cared about the characters and what was going on. It felt like it was half plot-driven and half character-driven and somehow that didn't work, I guess.
It's an nice enough book, but not one I'd recommend right away, I guess.
kiercarnahan's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
I enjoyed this book. Anyone who likes the roaring 20s would. I thought the two main characters were likeable and I love when a book changes viewpoints between chapters. It had some good drama and intrigue and the set up for a sequel was a good ending. It moved at a good pace.
I received this from netgalley in return for an honest review.
I enjoyed this book. Anyone who likes the roaring 20s would. I thought the two main characters were likeable and I love when a book changes viewpoints between chapters. It had some good drama and intrigue and the set up for a sequel was a good ending. It moved at a good pace.
I received this from netgalley in return for an honest review.
andriaerin's review against another edition
4.0
In a world of glitz and glam, mobsters and speakeasies run rampant. Masie is the daughter of a wealthy mobster, one of the families that rule New York. But being at the top always comes with a price, and she is unsure if she is willing for her or her family to pay the costs. And things become even more confusing when Benny comes into the picture. Benny is too young and clean and innocent to be involved in Masie's world, but Masie can't help falling for him anyway. Will she be able to convince him to get out before it's too late? Does she even want to?
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This book was everything that I wanted from a 1920's novel. It wasn't a deep, meaningful read but it did deal with the idea of good and evil and the choices that people make determining the person they become. I also just loved the characters and the storyline. None of it ever fell flat or drawn out. The descriptions of the glittering world Masie lives in was never overwhelming. Ficklin did a great job writing a story to draw readers in and perfectly balance love, tension, and action to create an engaging plot.
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This book was everything that I wanted from a 1920's novel. It wasn't a deep, meaningful read but it did deal with the idea of good and evil and the choices that people make determining the person they become. I also just loved the characters and the storyline. None of it ever fell flat or drawn out. The descriptions of the glittering world Masie lives in was never overwhelming. Ficklin did a great job writing a story to draw readers in and perfectly balance love, tension, and action to create an engaging plot.
wordsoftheroses's review against another edition
5.0
This has been a highlight of my reading year! Just wow! Review to come but definitely pick up a copy when this one hits the shelves.
UPDATE: 09 Sep
As promised here is my review. You can find the full copy here: https://wordsoftheroses.wordpress.com/2017/08/21/canary-club/
I will start by saying that I was given an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review. These opinions are my own.
This book was everything I love about YA and Historical Fiction — life-like setting and swoon worthy romance. The 20s is one of my favourite eras to read about and Ficklin nailed it. I felt like I had been sucked into the era from the first page. She weaves in slang with ease; it never felt off-putting or unnatural for any of the characters. The romance was a slow burn, which I adored. I also enjoyed seeing their relationship unfold from both Benny and Masie’s POVs.
Benny and Masie have definitely become two of my favourite characters. I feel like I know them, that I could head down to a club and have dinner with them. In fact, all of the Canary Club gang feel real. Their speech, action and motivations are believable and a reality for this era.
I will be pre-ordering a physical copy. This is one of my favourite books of the year. Please grab a copy! Canary Club it’s stunning. It will suck you in, play with your heart and spit you out the other end. I highly recommend!
UPDATE: 09 Sep
As promised here is my review. You can find the full copy here: https://wordsoftheroses.wordpress.com/2017/08/21/canary-club/
I will start by saying that I was given an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review. These opinions are my own.
This book was everything I love about YA and Historical Fiction — life-like setting and swoon worthy romance. The 20s is one of my favourite eras to read about and Ficklin nailed it. I felt like I had been sucked into the era from the first page. She weaves in slang with ease; it never felt off-putting or unnatural for any of the characters. The romance was a slow burn, which I adored. I also enjoyed seeing their relationship unfold from both Benny and Masie’s POVs.
Benny and Masie have definitely become two of my favourite characters. I feel like I know them, that I could head down to a club and have dinner with them. In fact, all of the Canary Club gang feel real. Their speech, action and motivations are believable and a reality for this era.
I will be pre-ordering a physical copy. This is one of my favourite books of the year. Please grab a copy! Canary Club it’s stunning. It will suck you in, play with your heart and spit you out the other end. I highly recommend!
nickieandremus's review against another edition
5.0
*** I received an advanced e-copy from Net Galley in exchange for my honest review
When Benny is released from jail, where he was serving time for a crime he didn't commit, he struggles to find a job to help his destitute family. He gets offered a position working for a wealthy gangster family. He originally plans to make enough money to get their family back on track and allow his mom to stop working double shifts, and to pay for medical care for his ailing little sister. Instead, he finds himself falling head over heels for the boss's daughter. He has to make a lot of tough decisions in order to keep everyone he loves safe, while not compromising his values.
This was one of the best historical fiction books I have read, It kept me so captivated that I couldn't put it down until the very end. This is definitely a must-read!
When Benny is released from jail, where he was serving time for a crime he didn't commit, he struggles to find a job to help his destitute family. He gets offered a position working for a wealthy gangster family. He originally plans to make enough money to get their family back on track and allow his mom to stop working double shifts, and to pay for medical care for his ailing little sister. Instead, he finds himself falling head over heels for the boss's daughter. He has to make a lot of tough decisions in order to keep everyone he loves safe, while not compromising his values.
This was one of the best historical fiction books I have read, It kept me so captivated that I couldn't put it down until the very end. This is definitely a must-read!
macnwords's review against another edition
5.0
If I had to pick only one book to read this fall it would be The Canary Club. There is no review that I can write that can share the pure joy I got from reading this beauty. Benny and Masie were so likeable and well written that I quickly forgot that I was reading a YA novel, and the mature content that this tale covers (rape, teen delinquency, abusive parents, sexual desire, etc.) really gives credit to interests and maturity levels of it’s YA audience. Without question, I think that this is one of those rare titles that effortlessly defies categorization and can be easily enjoyed by adults and teen readers alike.
ciannareider's review against another edition
5.0
Outstanding! Sherry Ficklin has long been a favorite author of mine since the day she hooked me with the Queen series, and then left me crying in tiny pieces. She's a master of the craft, and she can totally emerge you in any genre she chooses but my favorite is historical fiction and The Canary Club brings us into my favorite genre crafted by an amazing writer.
I adore Masie. The glimpses we got of characters and their stories in the novellas were NOT enough because Masie is exactly what I love about the 20s. A woman who is bold, brave and unafraid to challenge what society says she needs to be. She's the daughter of one of the most powerful men in the city, but she dreams of living her life on her terms. College, big city, big stages. But, until she can find the strength to break out of her family, none of that is possible.
Then we meet Benny, this kid is just wonderful. Sweet, kind, loving and always in the wrong place. He's got the nickname "bad luck" and it is so true, except one time his bad luck landed him in the perfect place, to meet the most beautiful girl he's ever seen. Love, luck, drama and some heartbreak befall benny but he keeps going.
I highly highly recommend this book. I'll be getting the paperback when it releases because this book deserves to be showcase and talked about all the time. The time period is perfect. The slang, the culture, the clothing. Ficklin nailed it and now I don't wanna be called anything but "Baby Vamp" from here on out. This book is well written, clever as heck and pulls your heartstrings. Grab a copy and join the club! You won't regret it.
I adore Masie. The glimpses we got of characters and their stories in the novellas were NOT enough because Masie is exactly what I love about the 20s. A woman who is bold, brave and unafraid to challenge what society says she needs to be. She's the daughter of one of the most powerful men in the city, but she dreams of living her life on her terms. College, big city, big stages. But, until she can find the strength to break out of her family, none of that is possible.
Then we meet Benny, this kid is just wonderful. Sweet, kind, loving and always in the wrong place. He's got the nickname "bad luck" and it is so true, except one time his bad luck landed him in the perfect place, to meet the most beautiful girl he's ever seen. Love, luck, drama and some heartbreak befall benny but he keeps going.
I highly highly recommend this book. I'll be getting the paperback when it releases because this book deserves to be showcase and talked about all the time. The time period is perfect. The slang, the culture, the clothing. Ficklin nailed it and now I don't wanna be called anything but "Baby Vamp" from here on out. This book is well written, clever as heck and pulls your heartstrings. Grab a copy and join the club! You won't regret it.
_andbookdragons's review against another edition
1.0
Number of pages: 325
Number of times read (including the time before this review): 1
Rating (out of five stars): 1.5
Release Date: October 19th 2017
*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy in exchange for a review. My opinions are honest and my own.
I requested this one on a whim thinking I wouldn’t get accepted. I was genuinely interested in the premise, but I thought the setting of the 1920s wouldn’t work for me. In the end, I think everything but the setting ended up not working for me.
Let’s start with possibly the most controversial of my gripes: Masie. I have a lot of issues with her characterization, but one in particular stands out; she comes across as far too modern. The thing that put me off from the beginning was the long paragraph near the start of her first chapter where she railed against her oppression as a woman. I’m not condoning the oppression of women in any way (I quite like my rights as a Canadian female), but I see this sort of thing far too often in historical fiction books. It feels like the authors making sure readers know their opinions on the oppression of women. But here’s the thing; I’m not reading historical fiction to learn about the authors feelings on how women were treated in the past. I’m reading historical fiction to see what life was like in *insert time period here* in *insert country here*. If I wanted to know how the author feels about life as a woman in 1920s New York, I would follow her on Twitter. Yes, there would have been women in the 1920s who genuinely railed against the oppression they faced (and power to them), but people in the past did not rail against their oppression as often as is represented in YA historical fiction, and that is where the issue lies.
Then there’s Benny. In terms of historical accuracy, he appeared to be well done. My issue with him is rather that he is not a very realistic character. It feels like the author made a list of all the characteristics she would want in a partner, and Benny was made. I don’t think I can pinpoint a bad quality Benny has, and that’s an issue.
The romance between Masie and Benny is one of the most glaring cases of insta-love I have read in a long time. They basically look at each other for the first time and are infatuated.
The other problem I had with the romance is that it messes with Benny’s characterization. Benny is set up as someone who cares a lot about his family, but as soon as things heat up with Masie, he doesn’t really mention his family agian until he’s saying goodbye at the end.
The secondary characters also aren’t done very well. It is clear from the way everything is set up that if you don’t like Masie and Benny, you’re not going to find another character to connect with. The rest of the characters are completely forgettable, including Masie’s father, the reason there is any semblance of a plot.
Speaking of the plot, nothing ever really happens. The whole book is centered around the romance, but since they are infatuated at first glance, there’s not a whole lot to it. There’s no watching them fall in love with each other, as their every thought is already focused on the other.
Overall, The Canary Club features nothing to recommend it, earning it 1.5 stars out of 5.
You can read more of my reviews on my blog.
Number of times read (including the time before this review): 1
Rating (out of five stars): 1.5
Release Date: October 19th 2017
*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy in exchange for a review. My opinions are honest and my own.
I requested this one on a whim thinking I wouldn’t get accepted. I was genuinely interested in the premise, but I thought the setting of the 1920s wouldn’t work for me. In the end, I think everything but the setting ended up not working for me.
Let’s start with possibly the most controversial of my gripes: Masie. I have a lot of issues with her characterization, but one in particular stands out; she comes across as far too modern. The thing that put me off from the beginning was the long paragraph near the start of her first chapter where she railed against her oppression as a woman. I’m not condoning the oppression of women in any way (I quite like my rights as a Canadian female), but I see this sort of thing far too often in historical fiction books. It feels like the authors making sure readers know their opinions on the oppression of women. But here’s the thing; I’m not reading historical fiction to learn about the authors feelings on how women were treated in the past. I’m reading historical fiction to see what life was like in *insert time period here* in *insert country here*. If I wanted to know how the author feels about life as a woman in 1920s New York, I would follow her on Twitter. Yes, there would have been women in the 1920s who genuinely railed against the oppression they faced (and power to them), but people in the past did not rail against their oppression as often as is represented in YA historical fiction, and that is where the issue lies.
Then there’s Benny. In terms of historical accuracy, he appeared to be well done. My issue with him is rather that he is not a very realistic character. It feels like the author made a list of all the characteristics she would want in a partner, and Benny was made. I don’t think I can pinpoint a bad quality Benny has, and that’s an issue.
The romance between Masie and Benny is one of the most glaring cases of insta-love I have read in a long time. They basically look at each other for the first time and are infatuated.
The other problem I had with the romance is that it messes with Benny’s characterization. Benny is set up as someone who cares a lot about his family, but as soon as things heat up with Masie, he doesn’t really mention his family agian until he’s saying goodbye at the end.
The secondary characters also aren’t done very well. It is clear from the way everything is set up that if you don’t like Masie and Benny, you’re not going to find another character to connect with. The rest of the characters are completely forgettable, including Masie’s father, the reason there is any semblance of a plot.
Speaking of the plot, nothing ever really happens. The whole book is centered around the romance, but since they are infatuated at first glance, there’s not a whole lot to it. There’s no watching them fall in love with each other, as their every thought is already focused on the other.
Overall, The Canary Club features nothing to recommend it, earning it 1.5 stars out of 5.
You can read more of my reviews on my blog.
sarabook's review
2.0
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
A very YA look into the world of prohibition era New York, with a dash of gangsters and a frothy romance thrown in.
Canary Club follows 'Bad Luck' Benny - fresh out of jail, and Maisie, daughter of the local 'mob' boss who Benny ends up working for. Maisie is head strong, like her father, yet vows not to follow in his footsteps. Benny is determined to keep on the right side of the law, yet is drawn into a murky underworld in order to provide for his ailing family. With Maisie facing trouble as the pawn in her families fight for control of the city, she turns to the one person she thinks will be able to help her. But can love win over business?
I enjoyed the author's descriptions of prohibition New York. It's an area of history I know little about, and I adsorbed every little morsel of description that was written about it.The slang used is also rather delightful, and for the most part the story itself is well written.
However, this is where it sort of all starts to fall apart for me as I really didn't like either of the main characters. Maisie is rather one dimensional, naive and doesn't really have much going for her. At times I found her boring and shallow. She also comes across as too modern for her era. One of my gripes in historical fiction is making a female character appear to be so brazen in her 'repressed woman' status for her time period, which Maisie frequently laments. It seems really out of character for a woman of her era to express herself in such a way, and it irritates me.
Benny, as Maisie's love interest, doesn't seem very realistic - he's a mash up of every 'down on his luck' 'jack of the lad' character that's been done before, and far better. Again, he's very one dimensional with no emotional depth and little development throughout the novel.
The plot itself is very centred around the romance elements, and unfortunately it's a case of instalove at its finest. There's no build up to Benny and Maisie falling in love etc. or even any courtship - it's just instantaneous infatuation and it all feels a little bit too 'sweet'. You'd expect a bit of grit for a gangster book. Speaking of 'grit; the 'big bad' is also extremely one dimensional, with little input from the author with regards to making him appear more human and less a simple plot device to provide a problem to the main characters.
I think that's one of the biggest issues with the book - there's just no depth to any of the characters.
The rest of the plot is also rather flat and predictable. I guessed what was going to happen constantly, and I was never surprised by anything in the plot. Because of this, I did unfortunately find myself getting bored. The whole story line just felt a little underwhelming and rushed - especially the ending. I would have preferred it if more time was spent developing and delving deeper into the characters emotions. Because it was so lacking, I just couldn't get emotionally invested in anything that was happening.
Unfortunately underwhelming for me, but I think this will definitely appeal to those looking for a heavy dose of romance mixed with a sprinkling of history.
A very YA look into the world of prohibition era New York, with a dash of gangsters and a frothy romance thrown in.
Canary Club follows 'Bad Luck' Benny - fresh out of jail, and Maisie, daughter of the local 'mob' boss who Benny ends up working for. Maisie is head strong, like her father, yet vows not to follow in his footsteps. Benny is determined to keep on the right side of the law, yet is drawn into a murky underworld in order to provide for his ailing family. With Maisie facing trouble as the pawn in her families fight for control of the city, she turns to the one person she thinks will be able to help her. But can love win over business?
I enjoyed the author's descriptions of prohibition New York. It's an area of history I know little about, and I adsorbed every little morsel of description that was written about it.The slang used is also rather delightful, and for the most part the story itself is well written.
However, this is where it sort of all starts to fall apart for me as I really didn't like either of the main characters. Maisie is rather one dimensional, naive and doesn't really have much going for her. At times I found her boring and shallow. She also comes across as too modern for her era. One of my gripes in historical fiction is making a female character appear to be so brazen in her 'repressed woman' status for her time period, which Maisie frequently laments. It seems really out of character for a woman of her era to express herself in such a way, and it irritates me.
Benny, as Maisie's love interest, doesn't seem very realistic - he's a mash up of every 'down on his luck' 'jack of the lad' character that's been done before, and far better. Again, he's very one dimensional with no emotional depth and little development throughout the novel.
The plot itself is very centred around the romance elements, and unfortunately it's a case of instalove at its finest. There's no build up to Benny and Maisie falling in love etc. or even any courtship - it's just instantaneous infatuation and it all feels a little bit too 'sweet'. You'd expect a bit of grit for a gangster book. Speaking of 'grit; the 'big bad' is also extremely one dimensional, with little input from the author with regards to making him appear more human and less a simple plot device to provide a problem to the main characters.
I think that's one of the biggest issues with the book - there's just no depth to any of the characters.
The rest of the plot is also rather flat and predictable. I guessed what was going to happen constantly, and I was never surprised by anything in the plot. Because of this, I did unfortunately find myself getting bored. The whole story line just felt a little underwhelming and rushed - especially the ending. I would have preferred it if more time was spent developing and delving deeper into the characters emotions. Because it was so lacking, I just couldn't get emotionally invested in anything that was happening.
Unfortunately underwhelming for me, but I think this will definitely appeal to those looking for a heavy dose of romance mixed with a sprinkling of history.
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