Speak Easy, Speak Love by McKelle George
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| This book will be released September 19, 2017 in the US |
This summer I was able to attend Harvard´s summer school as I have mentioned many times throughout my posts, and I was able to learn about many different aspects of the law, and one of the topics we studied for quite a bit was the Prohibition era and how alcohol changed people´s lifestyle, so I was so excited to read about this era in a romantic comedy novel, and I have to admit that it didn´t disappoint me, in fact, it made me realize and notice different aspects that were completely forgotten about when I was studying because when we are taking history classes, we get so focused on what happened that we don´t really think about daily lives in the eras, so reading about real characters that were currently living in that era was super interesting.
Speak Easy, Speak Love tells the story of six teenagers that are trying to find their place in the world. The first character that we get to know is Beatrice and she is unable to continue her studies because she ran out of money, so she goes to Hey Nonny Nonny, where Hero, her cousin and her uncle, Leo, run a speakeasy, and she gets to meet several people. Beatrice meets Benedick, a romantic and funny writer that is desperately fighting for his passion; Prince, the runner of the speakeasy and his brother John, who lives his life on the edge associating himself with the typical Italian crime from the 20s that we hear about so much; and Maggie, a girl that was born with talent, which she utilizes to sing in the speakeasy they run.
The speakeasy is a business they started running years ago. It all started when Anna, Hero´s mother was still alive and they had decided to continue Hey Nonny Nonny´s legacy, even building a home out of it. The six teenagers discover themselves while trying to protect the illegal business that keeps them together and brings them happiness. They have some dangerous encounters along the way, but the six of them always come back together and cherish every moment that brought them to that point, where everyone is together.
I want to start by talking about how much I ended up liking the novel because at first, it took me a little bit to get used to the setting, the language and the story itself because I got used to reading sweet and romantic YA novels this summer, so reading about crime and alcohol after so many months of only reading charming high schoolers from our modern society, took me off-guard, but once I got into the story completely, I was able to enjoy it so much that I was always thinking about the novel. Also, I don´t know if it took me longer to understand the story because I haven´t read Much Ado About Nothing from Shakespeare since this is a retelling if you have read the classic maybe you will understand it quicker.
Yet, other than that, I have so many good points that I would like to talk about.
The characters were AMAZING!
I loved each of them because they were different to the characters we often read about, they are all very strong and they all have their soft spot, which is home, and that made me cherish them more.
Personally, I liked very much the female characters because they showed a different side of women, they were strong and independent and were not afraid to defend themselves that those that they loved, and personally, that is the exact type of woman that I aspire to be.
I loved Beatrice and how she arrived for the first time to Hey Nonny Nonny and brought books and an old medical kit because she believes she has a good chance of becoming a doctor, even when people around her tell her that doctors often tend to be men. I admired her will and how strong she stood to those people.
Ben seemed so sweet to me, he is funny, clever, stubborn and has an artistic side to him. I have mentioned that he is a writer, but there´s more of an artistic side to him that words, he has a unique way of expressing himself and I believe that the author did a very good job bringing out that side of him because even I have had people tell me that I often sound like a writer, which I am because I enjoy writing novels, so, I liked that his passion was actually shown that way.
On the other hand, I loved how Prince and John were because they had a certain charisma to them, which made me love them so much! I personally ended up completely falling in love with Prince (and Ben) because he was very charming and I generally love charming men. Prince was sweet to those that he cared for, but at the same time, very business minded when running the speakeasy, and I completely loved the way he had that amazing way of taking care of everything and maintaining his personal life aside.
I also loved the way that Anna was remembered throughout the novel because I found it very beautiful to remember someone that used to be there to bring everyone together. It was precious to read about a character that wasn´t there anymore but was followed throughout the novel. Also, it was very touching to see how Hero ended up taking her place being her daughter and how passionate she was for this speakeasy that had once belonged to her mother.
Hero was a character that I loved because she is the rebellious girl that flirts with everyone but only falls in love with one person while continuing to be decisive and strong. I mean, managing a speakeasy with Prince is not easy during the Prohibition era.
I loved the relationships that the characters had with each other as well because they were very entertaining, I will not include all of them, only Beatrice and Ben´s because I believe the other ones are better to be read directly from the novel. I just want to quickly mention how Ben and Beatrice´s relationship was very funny to read about. Their love and hate relationship was very entertaining and it created the perfect romantic comedy dialogues. Ugh! Also, the sexual tension!
Moving on from my internal fangirl, I want to mention Hey Nonny Nonny and the home it created for the six lost souls that created this story.
I loved how the six main characters all came from broken pasts and they all had something they were willing to give up for their happiness and that was what brought them together, and Hey Nonny Nonny brought them a sense of belonging that they didn´t have. At the end of the day, the only thing that was going to be waiting for them was Hey Nonny Nonny and I considered that very beautiful because it created a bond for people that were in need of something to hold them up. Yet, when Hey Nonny Nonny brought them happiness, they immediately became loyal to it and at some point, that loyalty hurt them.
Throughout the novel, the six teenagers are trying to find themselves and are left deciding important things that may change their lives forever. They are stuck in the middle to decide if they are going to choose wealth and a cozy bed with a full stomach, or belonging somewhere like Hey Nonny Nonny, or their passions, whether it is art, school, or even a person that you know you want to keep forever.
Seeing how they were all going through this phase made the characters much more human and similar to us because at some point in our lives, we are always going to be in the middle of deciding between things that are so precious to us and bring us happiness, but what I loved more than seeing how they had struggles, was that in the end, they were just teenagers, they were always able to find laughter in simple things and in small moments because sometimes that´s all we need in this life, some pieces of encouragement that make us go forward and continue fighting to get the same amount of happiness that these moments brought us.
Lastly, I want to mention that I believe that the author, McKelle George, did a very good job showing us different aspects of the era. We got crime, love, money, music, lifestyle, among others, all which gave us a complete view of the 1920s and the Prohibition era. I truly think that she was able to open a whole new world and show it to us in a single novel.
In general, Speak Easy, Speak Love is a funny, romantic, dramatic and EXTRA sexy novel that kept me awake and at the edge of my seat the whole time! I would recommend to anyone that loves funny and somewhat dark novels with clever and charismatic characters.
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