"The Luxe" Book Review

The Luxe by Anna Godbersen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"Pretty girls in pretty dresses, partying until dawn.Irresistible boys with sly smiles and dangerous intentions.

"White lies, dark secrets, and scandalous hookups.

"This is Manhattan, 1899.

"Beautiful sisters Elizabeth and Diana Holland rule Manhattan's social scene. Or so it appears. When the girls discover their status among New York City's elite is far from secure, suddenly everyone - from the backstabbing socialite Penelope Hayes, to the debonair bachelor Henry Schoonmaker, to the spiteful maid Lina Broud - threatens Elizabeth's and Diana's golden future.

"With the fate of the Hollands resting on her shoulders, Elizabeth must choose between family duty and true love. But when her carriage overturns near the East River, the girl whose glittering life lit up the city's gossip pages is swallowed by the rough current. As all of New York grieves, some begin to wonder whether life at the top proved too much for this ethereal beauty, or if, perhaps, someone wanted to see Manhattan's most celebrated daughter disappear....

"In a world of luxury and deception, where appearance matters above everything and breaking the social code means running the risk of being ostracized forever, five teenagers lead dangerously scandalous lives. This thrilling trip to the age of innocence is anything but innocent."

I originally got this book for its cover - you could say pretty dresses are my Achilles heel.

Anyway, I thought it was okay. It was the usual unrequited love story. You know the kind - boy and girl cannot love each other because they don't belong to the same class and the girl has to marry for money to save her stupid, prudish family.

The 'bad guy', if you will, was almost a cartoon version of evil and selfish. She had a small dog that she would pet as she made devious plans and she even had a No. 2 or a gay henchman of sorts. That part was very predictable and now I feel like laughing about it.

But I am kind of interested to finish the series, or at least read the next book, because the ending left a lot open, in terms of the people I cared most about. I'm certainly at least going to try to read the next book.


View all my reviews