Out of the Easy
By Ruta Sepetys
Genre: Young Adult Historical Fiction
Personal Rating: 7/10

Josie Moraine is a seventeen-year-old girl living in the French Quarters of New Orleans in the year 1950. Josie wants nothing more than to escape her past and her reputation as the daughter of a brothel prostitute. She has dreams of attending college, leaving Louisiana, and getting more out of life than the Big Easy has to offer. But all her dreams and plans are shaken when a murder occurs in the French Quarter, and Josie's allegiance with her mother puts her in the middle of the investigation. With secret and lies piling up around her, Josie's conscious, morals, and alliances are challenged. And she has to make choices that will shape her destiny.

I am a huge Ruta Sepetys fan because of her first novel--Between Shades of Gray--and while I did enjoy this book, I think my expectations where a little too high. This is a gripping story but it isn't as much of a murder mystery as the synopsis let on. The murder is a big part of the plot, but you know who did it almost right from the start. Mostly, this book is about how Josie handles the situations around her, and how she battles with who she is and the person she wants to become.

While this book is heavily centered around prostitution, Ruta Sepetys handles the topic wonderfully and leaves out all the unnecessary, disgusting details. I loved all the characters in this book--especially Willie, the brothel madam. She's a wonderfully diverse character that secretly has a heart of gold. The pace of the book was a little slow at times and I felt like the ending was lacking a little bit.

While I did not enjoy this book as much as I did Between Shades of Gray, it's still a great historical novel that really sucks you into the 1950's.