Diva: The Flappers Series

By: Jillian Larkin
Publisher: Delacorte Press 
Publication Date: July 2012
ISBN: 978-0-385-74041-8
Reviewed by: Amy Lignor 
Review Date: August 30, 2012

The Flapper Series is one trilogy that will remain locked in the imagination and on bestseller lists for a good, long time to come. Which is why the release of this book is both fantastic (because we get to read more about the amazing group of girls created by Larkin), and also heart-wrenching…because readers are told that this is the last we will see of these incredible characters.

The three girls these books orbit around are still as noteworthy as they were when first introduced in Vixen. And with the second novel, Ingenue, readers were taken even further into their lives, as an unforgettable tale of enemies, friends and circumstances created an unforgettable tale.

With this gift, we return to the Roaring 20’s with Clara Knowles, party girl and friend of Gloria Carmody; Gloria, who was a girl brought up in luxury and was just about to become engaged when she went to a jazz club, sang to a very handsome man, and ended up running away with him; and last, but certainly not least, Lorraine Dyer, who has alienated the other two girls, gone to New York and become a reporter for a scandal sheet called the ‘Manhattanite.’

As the series comes to an end we begin in the big city where each girl has been sent down a new path - from promising singing careers to careers in journalism. Gloria has narrowly escaped going to prison after shooting someone who was after her fiancé. She’s now helping out a government agent in order to get ‘something’ on a family who live high on the hog on Long Island. Lorraine is trying to break into Broadway and help out a true friend who simply won’t listen to her. And Clara’s writing becomes even more popular as she struggles in her personal life to win back the true love she’s lost.

This final dramatic episode offers a very interesting climax. As the girls have grown up and are getting together to get what they all want, the action becomes seriously intriguing. The author has created a riveting, titillating, romantic and extremely cool end to an extremely cool series!

Quill Says: Goodbye to The Flappers. Hopefully, Jillian Larkin will come up with another series that is just as fascinating very, very soon.