Bittersweet Brooklyn by Thelma Adams (Blog Tour Review)

Step aside Sopranos, there’s a new family in town… and although these women might not be tommy gun slinging gangsters – they are running their own show, living their lives the best way they know how, and trying to hold it all together while the boys go out to play.

The story is rich with history – I savored every description of early 1900’s Brooklyn and felt like I was transported back in time. We take an epic journey following one tough, but vibrant little girl who desperately seeks love from those closest to her.

Her life is one heartbreak after another and her family is dismally bonded by anger and regret and discouragement. You can physically feel the depths of Thelmas struggles with life and love – having not ever known the feeling of being loved herself.

The bright side of the story is the fierce, loyal love Thelma feels for her older brothers, particularly Abie, who will do anything for his beloved ‘Temelah’. The strong bond between these siblings plays out through childhood into adulthood, where they support each other in the best ways they know how – which may just not be the best of ways.

In the end – Abie’s decisions, and the thugs that he runs with, may ultimately be just what tears them apart.

Thank you to Thelma Adams, Amazon Publishing, Lake Union Publishing, and Suzy Approved Book Tours for the opportunity to read this hauntingly beautiful story.

You can get your own copy of the book here.

Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (November 6, 2018)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1503904601
ISBN-13: 978-1503904606

About Bittersweet Brooklyn

In turn-of-the century New York, a mobster rises—and his favorite sister struggles between loyalty and life itself. How far will she go when he commits murder?

After midnight, Thelma Lorber enters her brother Abie’s hangout under the Williamsburg Bridge, finding Jewish mobster Louis “Pretty” Amberg in a puddle of blood on the kitchen floor. She could flee. Instead, in the dark hours of that October 1935 night before the dawn of Murder, Inc., she remains beside the fierce, funny brother who has nurtured and protected her since childhood. There are many kinds of love a woman can feel for a man, but few compare to that of the baby sister for her older brother. For Thelma, a wild widow tethered to a young son, Abie is the center of her world. But that love is about to undo everything she holds dear…

Flipping the familiar script of The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire, and The Godfather, Bittersweet Brooklyn explores the shattering impact of mob violence on the women expected to mop up the mess. Winding its way over decades, this haunting family saga plunges readers into a dangerous past—revealed through the perspective of a forgotten yet vibrant woman.

About Thelma Adams

Thelma Adams is the author of the best selling historical novel, The Last Woman Standing and Playdate, which Oprah magazine described as “a witty debut novel.” In addition to her fiction work, Adams is a prominent American film critic and an outspoken voice in the Hollywood community. She has been the in-house film critic for Us Weekly and The New York Post, and has written essays, celebrity profiles and reviews for Yahoo! Movies,The New York Times, O: The Oprah Magazine, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Parade, Marie Claire and The Huffington Post. Adams studied history at the University of California, Berkeley, where she was valedictorian, and received her MFA from Columbia University. She lives in upstate New York with her family.