Strings Attached

Strings Attached is a YA historical novel about Kit Corrigan (of the Corrigan 3 - triplets who did the show circuit when young) who runs away to New York in 1950 to get into theatre, after having a fight with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend was somewhat controlling and emotionally abusive, so she was right to leave him, and she knows it. She still loves him, though, so when his father (a lawyer for the mob) offers her a swanky apartment and gets her a place in a popular nightclub as a dancer in exchange for writing to the ex-boyfriend, she can't really bring herself to say "no". But he keeps wanting her to do more favors as repayment, and she finds herself getting caught up in the mob herself...

It's a non-linear narrative, so the chapters show more about her experiences in New York are interspersed with scenes from when she was young in Providence, or even the summer before, showing how her family and her situation came to be the way they are, including: how she met and fell in love with her boyfriend; how she came to acting and dance; the love but also rebelliousness she feels towards her father; the tangled relationship she has already developed with her boyfriend's dad. These scenes are given when they have the most relevance to the New York plot, and so they do not happen in any chronological order, and they also reflect what Kit knows at the time: some scenes of her childhood have very different meanings later in the book, when she's more knowledgeable about what was going on amongst the adults, than they do when the reader first encounters them at the beginning of the book.

I loved the way the narrative is structured, including the use of first-person point-of-view to limit what the reader can know. It made the various reveals all the more dramatic, which kept me wanting to turn the page and go on. Although I had a few ideas about what might be the case, and I understood some of the hidden things before Kit did, I was still very surprised by some plot events, and even a bit shocked when certain things happened towards the end of the book. There was no reason these plot points strictly needed to happen, but because of them, the plot developed in a different way, and the characters could grow differently, than if it had gone the safe way. Also, those plot points were very in character and fit with both historical fact and what could be expected of mobsters.

I also loved the characterisation. I hated Kit's boyfriend and that she keeps letting herself be with him, but it's very realistic for a 17-year-old in the mad rush of love to make unwise decisions like that. Kit felt like a real person to me, even if I didn't like her very much. She's a teenager who is naïve in some ways, but rebellious and stubborn and determined to get what she wants. Even the characterisation of her awful boyfriend has depth, showing why Kit could love him and not just the reasons why she should run away fast. Likewise, his father is as creepy as they come, with his mobster aura, but he, too, has more to him than that.

This probably isn't a very easy book to read for someone who is triggered by abusive relationships, especially when the victim doesn't leave, but I found that Kit's acknowledgement that the relationship was wrong helped temper it some. She also did leave him when he crossed the line into violence (not against her, thankfully!). But for the engaging plot and wonderful descriptions of New York in 1950 and Providence, RI in the 1930s and 1940s, it's definitely worth a try. I could hardly put the book down, and I'm eager to read the author's award-winning book, What I Saw and How I Lied, if it's anything as good as this one. show less

Am I ever loving this author! Just a great read all around. The historical detail was spot on, smooth and immersive. I loved the way the story unfolded. Its pacing, at least for the first two thirds of the book, was nearly perfect.

The characters were almost without exception deeply flawed and fascinating, except for maybe Hank, whose innocence we see through Kit's jaded, hungry eyes. I thought Billy -- angry, jealous, unpredictable -- and Kit's complicated history with him was really interesting. Not something you see every day in YA fiction, for sure.

The action at the end seemed rushed, and was definitely on the busy side, but I don't really have any other complaints. It hit the spot, and I'm sorry it's over.

Highly recommended for show more historical fiction readers in general, and fans of Ten Cents a Dance in particular.

Great audio, also. show less

Kit Harrison has always wanted to be a dancer and actress. She heads to NYC and discovers an exciting world of post WWII, 1950s charm. At first life is tough. Her way is soon 'greased' by a family friend, Attorney Nate Benedict when he offers a place to live, provides a new wardrobe, and lands her a job as a Lido Girl. While he keeps assuring her otherwise, are there truly no strings attached?

Blundell again proves she is the master of creating a moral dilemma, levels of complicity, naivete and self-knowledge, innocence and depravity. The story does not take a predictable turn -- one immediately suspects sexual favors are in line -- yet Kit is still ensnared as her desire to make it in the Big City blinds her to some obvious under-world show more dealings.

There's a lot in the book to digest and for all of its messages, it remains easy to read (nicely paced) and G-rated. A great read for any discussion of right and wrong. It might be off-putting to boys with its emphasis upon the theater world and NYC: for everyone else, it's catnip! show less

This book is a winner. I loved being taken back to the early 1950s with curls being set with bobby pins and rayon scarves. The Red Scare was heating up then with actors and writers with suspicious backgrounds being blacklisted. A nuclear bomb seemed imminent and bomb shelters are being built.

Kit Corrigan, only 16 broke off with her boyfriend, Billy in an act of self-preservation and left her family for her in dancing in New York. As Kit learns about the
life of a show girl we do too. With no place to live she stays with another performer and the performer's mother for a while. Then fed up with the two, she walks out and begins to get tangled up in a mess with her former boyfriend’s father, Nate Benedict. Nate is a part of the Mob. show more

With alternating flashbacks and returns to the present, the author Judy Blundell paints the childhood of
Kit Corrigan and her siblings. The flashbacks let the reader slowly discover clues to the mystery of her family and secrets that had been hidden. We begin to understand why Kit and her relatives made the choices that they did. As parts of the past are revealed, the tension builds into an exciting climax.

The dialogue was great, I found myself saying some of it out loud a couple of time just for enjoyment.
I truly felt like I was back in the early fifties and peeking into the world of the New York girls and peeking into a Mob leader’s family.

The characters were expertly developed. At the end of the book, you are left to ponder several different questions. I will let you discover them for yourself. Judy Blundell is going to be on my list of favorite authors.

I received this free book from the Amazon Vine Program but that did not influence my review, my thoughts are my own. show less

Strings Attached by Judy Blundell is the story of Kit Corrigan, who moves from Providence, Rhode Island, to New York City to pursue a career on Broadway in 1950. An old family connection (who also happens to be her boyfriend's father) offers her a little help -- an apartment, an audition at a nightclub, even some clothes -- but the family friend proves to have connections with gangsters and other unsavory sorts, and Kit finds that his help comes with plenty of strings attached.

I liked this book even better than Blundell's What I Saw and How I Lied. Kit is ambitious but still somewhat naive, and Blundell does a good job of describing what Kit sees and perceives, but giving the reader a fuller picture of what is actually happening. She show more also does a great job of evoking the time period and setting. Kit reminded me a little of Francie from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, so I'd definitely recommend this to fans of that book, as well as all readers who enjoy well-crafted historical fiction. show less

I was astonished at the quality and complexity of this story set in the early 1950s, and classified as young adult. Without overt sex or profanity, the author tells a gripping, slightly gritty story of a young girl's search for fame and fortune gone terribly awry.

Vivacious, talented Kit Corrigan quits school at 17 and moves to New York to pursue a career in the theatre after breaking up with her boyfriend Billy, whose jealousy led him to beat up a man for dancing with her. Billy's estranged father, Nate, sees her performance in the chorus of a very bad play, and makes her an offer.

He will give her, rent free, "no strings attached", use of a nice apartment in a building he owns; if she will just let him know when Billy, who has quit show more college to enlist in the Army, contacts her. While uncomfortable about it, she is now out of work and has nowhere to live, so accepts his offer. Nate later finds her a job at the hottest club in town, and brings her a wardrobe of gorgeous clothes. Perfect Cinderella story, right? Not so fast!

Missing her family and Billy, Kit soon makes friends with her upstairs neighbors and their teenage son. Both parents had been fired from their teaching jobs for political activism. Are they the reason a strange man comes up to her in the street, forces an FBI business card on her, and says "Call when you want to talk"? Or could it have something to do with the seemingly harmless favors that Nate, lawyer for a notorious mobster, asks from time to time? Then a murder occurs at the club, and Kit finds herself feeling trapped and increasingly frightened. Unwilling to give up and go home, she still hopes to hear from Billy, who she fears may be sent to Korea without ever calling her again.

All this is only the buildup to this bittersweet story with several twists; in which organized crime, national paranoia, and old family secrets provide a tragic backdrop for the dreams and aspirations of one young girl. It is appropriate for mature teens - and their mothers and grandmothers - who appreciate a tight, tough romance.

*I received this book free from Amazon in exchange for an honest review.* show less

I haven't read much YA, but this book intrigued me. Its setting, alternating between Providence and New York City in 1950, is unusual for this type of book. The protagonist, 17 year-old Kit Corrigan, has set off for New York to make it big on Broadway. She is a triplet, but the book is not all about her relationships with her siblings, which would have been the easy way to go.

Kit broke up with her boyfriend back home, Billy, who promptly joined the army with Kit's brother Jamie. Billy's dad Nate is a mob lawyer who finds Kit and offers to set her up if she will reconcile with Billy and keep him informed. He entices her with a job and an apartment, and Kit mistakenly thinks she can handle all this without getting involved in mob show more business.

The setting of 1950 New York, with the nightclubs, the air raid sirens and the beginnings of the McCarthy era is well done, and is probably not known to many readers. The relationships among the characters, Kit, Jamie and Billy echo the relationships among Kit's father, her aunt and Billy's father. The unraveling of the truth about the past colors the future of the younger generation.

As the story progresses, Kit makes bad decisions that she will eventually pay for, but you can see why she made them. Raised in poverty, she strives to achieve the American dream. She is willing to work hard, but seduced by Nate's offer she ends up in a web from which she cannot escape.

The author creates interesting characters, and I liked Kit's young neighbor and her Aunt Delia best. But the story rests on Kit's shoulders, and she is a character that high school girls will relate to. Her dreams of stardom, her tormented love life, the loneliness of life in a big city, all these make for dramatic story telling.

Strings Attached is well written, with strong characters in a unique setting. It will appeal to high school girls, but as an adult, I enjoyed it as well. show less