TLC Book Tours: The It Girls by Karen Harper

Title: The It Girls 
Author: Karen Harper 
Format: ARC
Publisher: William Morrow 
Publish Date: October 24, 2017
Source: TLC Book Tours and HarperCollins

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Lucy transformed herself into Lucile, the daring fashion designer who revolutionized the industry with her flirtatious gowns and brazen self-promotion. And when she married Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon her life seemed to be a fairy tale. But success came at many costs—to her marriage and to her children . . . and then came the fateful night of April 14, 1912 and the scandal that followed.

Elinor’s novels titillate readers, and it’s even asked in polite drawing rooms if you would like to “sin with Elinor Glyn?” Her work pushes the boundaries of what’s acceptable; her foray into the glittering new world of Hollywood turns her into a world-wide phenomenon. But although she writes of passion, the true love she longs for eludes her.

But despite quarrels and misunderstandings, distance and destiny, there is no bond stronger than that of the two sisters—confidants, friends, rivals and the two “It Girls” of their day. "

My Two Cents:

"The It Girls" covers the lives of Elinor and Lucile Sutherland who lived during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Both of these women lived when the world was changing rapidly and they both often seemed to be in the middle of some of the greatest changes. The book covers from their childhood all the way to when they were well into middle age. Because this book covers so much of their lives, the book often felt like vignettes and I kept wishing for it to slow down. This book certainly whet my appetite to learn more about these two women.

From being an author and a fashion designer (Elinor and Lucile respectively), to relationships good and bad, to all of the thrills and difficulties of being sisters, this book had a lot going on. It was interesting to see how both characters grow and change throughout the book. They go from being super close to each other to sniping at each other to criticizing and back to being super close again.

This book is ambitious in how much it tries to cover in the story. Both Elinor and Lucile lived incredibly full lives between their personal lives, travels, and careers. This book certainly gives a taste of this but only a taste. As an example, even though the Titanic appears prominently on the cover and it was a huge event, it only makes up a tiny bit of the narrative. I wanted to know more, not just about the boat and it's aftermath (the hint of the criticism that Lucile and her husband get after getting in a lifeboat to be rescued would have been fascinating). I wish the book had been more focused so that we could get to know the characters much better than we do. That being said, this book still packed a punch with these two women that I knew little about before the book.