Dollface: A Novel of the Roaring Twenties by Renee Rosen – 417 pages
Book Blurb:
Vera Abramowitz is determined to leave her gritty childhood behind and live a more exciting life, one that her mother never dreamed of. Bobbing her hair and showing her knees, the lipsticked beauty dazzles, doing the Charleston in nightclubs and earning the nickname “Dollface.” As the ultimate flapper, Vera captures the attention of two high rollers, a handsome nightclub owner and a sexy gambler. On their arms, she gains entrée into a world filled with bootleg bourbon, wailing jazz, and money to burn. She thinks her biggest problem is choosing between them until the truth comes out. Her two lovers are really mobsters from rival gangs during Chicago’s infamous Beer Wars, a battle Al Capone refuses to lose. The heady life she’s living is an illusion resting on a bedrock of crime and violence unlike anything the country has ever seen before. When the good times come to an end, Vera becomes entangled in everything from bootlegging to murder. And as men from both gangs fall around her, Vera must put together the pieces of her shattered life, as Chicago hurtles toward one of the most infamous days in its history, the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.
My Review: 4 stars
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This book kept me completely entertained and involved as it was a good mix of historical information, chick lit romance and characters that were believable. I’ve lived in Chicago since 1989 and really haven’t embraced its gangster history. Thankfully, this book gave me just enough to want to read more books from this era. These ladies (gang molls) lived in a wickedly wild and dangerous time and the circle of friendship they created was absolutely necessary for their emotional survival. The bond of being involved with gangsters was more important than whether they liked each other or not. For me, the love triangle was important to the story line yet I had a hard time believing it took so long to be ‘found out’. Vera was a strong woman when she needed to be, but her unfaithfulness and dependency on the other man made me insane.
I appreciate that the author gave the readers a bit of information as to which part and which characters of the story was historically based. I look forward to reading more from Renee Rosen.
Quotes I Liked:
It may have been April, but Chicago winters didn’t always coincide with the calendar.”
-“I was beginning to believe in my own fairytale.”
