The Luxe

Author: Anna Godbersen

I've had this book on my bookshelf for quite awhile now and I haven't gotten to it, pretty much because most of my Marie Antoinette books happen to be on the same shelf and I got distracted. haha. So, I finally read it and I loved it!

The basic plot was Elizabeth Holland is forced by her new circumstances and her sense of family duty to marry Henry Schoonmaker, a man she hardly knows and, coincidentally, is also being forced to marry Elizabeth due to his father's political aspirations. Henry had been secretly seeing Elizabeth's best friend, Penelope Hayes, a vain, spoiled, bratty socialite. She gets angry about their surprise engagement, and plots behind Elizabeth's back to end the relationship. However, unbeknownst to Penelope, both end up falling in love with someone else. Henry finds himself falling for Diana, while Elizabeth has had a long standing relationship with her stableboy, Will, who also happens to have a secret admirer, Elizabeth's maid, Lina Broud. 

The book had everything it promised to have: romance, scandal, luxury, betrayal, and more. It's told from the perspectives of Elizabeth, Diana, Penelope, and Lina, and they each add significantly different points to the plot. Lina and Penelope show how much bitterness comes about from unrequited love and also a certain naivete when it comes to the difference between one-sided love and mutual affection and also love and lust. Diana shows the innocence of first and true love while Elizabeth allows us to see the affects of a forbidden love and the duty one feels to society and to family. 

The plot also went along at a good pace, and I never got bored. There was always something happening and I hated putting the book down. However, at some points, the plot went just a bit too fast and jumped around too much. For example, towards the end of the book, you see Elizabeth go to meet Penelope, and then the next page, she's being reported dead! You do receive an answer in a few chapters, but I was confused when I read that.

I'd also like to add really quick that I really enjoyed the little snippets of books, newspapers, diaries, or letters that came before every chapter. It kind of gave you a little warning of what was coming, but still not giving it away. It also helped me feel like I was more a part of the period and that I was actually reading the same things the characters were. I love things like that, and I thought it was a really nice touch.

I personally love historical novels, but I've never before read one that took place in the late 1800s. This was my first and now I really want to read more from that time period. The people and the places and the parties were very luxuriant and interesting. I can't wait to read the next book in the series, Rumors, and I'll be sure to review that once I actually buy it!

So, I would highly recommend this book! And I'm sorry if my review is too short or not detailed enough, but I had a time limit to write this and I'm now about 16 minutes over that time limit. haha. So, as always, please feel free to email me at Kristi_Reads@ yahoo.com and discuss the book, or give your opinion on my review, or to just talk about books in general! I think I'm going to read Marie-Therese: Child of Terror by Susan Nagel next, and I'll make sure to review it! It's going to be my first review of a nonfiction book! 

Anyways, thanks for reading!

Love,

Kristi