TLC Book Tour: Bess and Frima

I love historical fiction. I especially love the 1940s, and this novel written about two young women setting out for the first time on some adventures of their own, is one I absolutely loved.

Bess and Frima are Jewish girls from the Bronx who head out to the Catskills to spend the summer working at two different hotels. They're both nineteen and excited for the adventures of the summer. 

Set in 1940, this time period is such an important one as World War II is underway, and Bess and Frima are becoming more and more aware of the world around them.

The girls are at different hotels, and the chapters move back and forth between the two girls.  I liked both characters, and was never disappointed to read about either of them.  I appreciated Rosenthal's ability to create life in this time period. I felt like I could have spent the summer with them at the hotel, either working alongside them or as a guest.

The love interest and romance in the book is also something I liked.  Frima seemed to have her relationship a little more sewn up than Bess, and I really liked Bess' storyline that revolved around Vinny, an Italian American that didn't fit into the picture her parents had of who their daughter should end up with.  

This has been a fantastic book to curl up with and enjoy. It's nothing I flew through, but I was always surprised while reading how many pages I actually got through and how much I was absorbed by this story.


Thanks to TLC Book for providing a copy of this book for my review.  All opinions expressed, are as always, my own.