The Flappers: Ingenue

Ingenue by Jillian Larkin
Clara, Gloria, and Lorraine are all in New York along with Jerome (Gloria's taboo black lover), Marcus (Clara's straight-laced beau), and Jerome's sister Vera. When the first book ended Gloria and Jerome had run away from Chicago after killing a gangster in self defense, Lorraine had lost everyone she  cared about by being a selfish and conniving bitch, Clara's secret life in New York before Chicago had been revealed to the world, and Vera confronted Gloria's former fiancee. The second book begins with a bang, literally, and continues with drama and danger with only a few whimpers of pain from the writing.

The second book in the Flappers series, although good, lacked staying power. As entertaining as the novel was the male characters were increasingly weak and the bouncing from one female character to another in each chapter ended up being disruptive. By changing characters every chapter, which in some cases works, the quick pace near the end caused an unsatisfied feeling when the chapter with one character abruptly ended without any conclusion. The female characters are well developed and the reader can see how they grow into stronger more modern-minded people (in most cases). The overall plot was fantastic and I would recommend the series so far, but be forewarned that the author jumps characters every chapter, which can be jarring.