Diva by Jillian Larkin (ARC)

When I started reading this book, I realised that it was part of a series (and I was right, I missed the line where it says that it was the last in the series). Despite that, I managed to catch the plot of the story fairly quickly and enjoy reading it.

Diva follows 3 flappers - Gloria, recently released from prison to be an FBI agent, Lorraine who is currently unpopular and Clara who is unhappy due to her split from the love of her life. What starts out as three separate plots (at least to me) using a variety of different narrative points of view quickly converges into a really absorbing plot.

The beginning on the other hand, was a bit confusing. It started with Jerome being prevented from performing and threatened by Gloria's dad and I still had no idea what was going on. It was only later in the book that I figured it out. But really, this is my fault for not reading the first few books.

I'll have to admit, I know nothing about this era. I don't know if it's accurate or not. But to me, I had fun reading this book. It felt as though the emphasis wasn't so much on the flappers but on their lives, which is something I could understand.

Since the book has three plots, the book covers a rather wide range of genres. There is some crime/mystery, some growing-up/self discovery to do and of course, a lot of romance. In fact (spoiler alert!) by the end of the book, all three girls end up with those they love. And out of the three romances, I was rooting for Clara's and Marcus's the most.

It's actually quite clear that with regards to the romance aspect, Gloria and Jerome are clearly the couple that's been through the most, since Jerome is black and Gloria is white. Yet I didn't root for them as much as Clara and Marcus. I'm guessing that because most of their romance happens in the first few books (and they're pretty much secure as a couple here), there wasn't much for these two to endear to me. But Marcus and Clara? Clara's storyline is pretty much all about Marcus (unlike Gloria's), which was why I preferred their love story out of the three (Lorraine's love story was a bit too understated and rushed for me).

All in all, this is a pretty fun book to read. As usual, it's probably a good idea to read the other books in the series first, but I think it's possible to read this as a standalone. However, if you do, it make some time to warm up to the characters (and get used to the constant point of view changes), since the book makes the natural assumption that you already know and understand all the characters.

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.