Envy

Author: Anna Godbersen

Jealous whispers. Old rivalries. New betrayls.

Two months after Elizabeth Holland's dramatic homecoming. Manhattan eagerly awaits her return to the pinnacle of society. However, when she refuses to rejoin her sister Diana's side, those watching New York's favorite family begin to whisper that all is not as it seems behind the stately doors of No. 17 Gramercy Park.

In this thrilling installment of Anna Godbersens's bestselling Luxe series, Manhattan's most envied residents appear to have everything they desire: Wealth. Beauty. Happiness. But sometimes the most practiced smiles hide the most scandalous secrets....

So, just for reference and in case you didn't realize it, I most definitely did not write the italicized part above. I have made an executive decision based on the fact that I hate writing plot summaries because I never know what to tell everyone about and what to let them read themselves, so normally I give WAY too much away. So, I stole the idea of letting the author explain the plot of the book, since they know exactly what they want the reader to know going into the book, from about a million other review blogs.... It might just be laziness on my part, but I like to think the best summary comes from the person who wrote the whole book. =D So, from now on, I think I'm going to get the plot explained by posting what the back or the inside cover says the book is about. 

So, anyways, on to the actual review of this book! As with the past two books, I loved it, although maybe not as much as I loved the other ones. However, I still really enjoyed the chapter openers, transitions, the balance of all the different stories of the characters, and the time period, but I've talked about all of those in the other reviews. So, you can read about that stuff in my posts about The Luxe and Rumors.

I only had two problems with this particular book that I didn't have with the rest of the series, and they kind of disappointed me. My first was that a few of the chapters were dragging in my opinion. I've never felt like I didn't want a certain character's part to come up before, but I definitely felt like that for most of  Lina/Carolina's parts turned up after she returned from Florida. Also, her parts were really disjointed after that, as well. In one chapter she was back in the hotel after her return, in the next she was working for another society lady, in the next she was trying to get a job in a dressmaker's shop, and then she was at the will reading. But they were relatively short chapters, so it was all good, and we got to the parts I was more excited to read. =D

The other problem was predictability. I guessed Carolina and Elizabeth's big problems in the beginning of the book and so I wasn't very surprised when they happen. I'm used to having my jaw drop in this series, and I have NEVER predicted something completely correctly until this book. However, the ending was still completely unexpected, so that's the most important, because it was definitely setting up the next (and final!) novel. 

A new point that I loved that I didn't really think about until this book (but it was still really present in the others!) was that the author definitely succeeds in making you have feelings about the characters. I personally hate Penelope with a passion and I really hope she falls in a ditch in the next book, and I admit I smiled at the very end when she was upset. I feel really bad for Diana and Elizabeth because of their lost loves and really hope the end of the story is going to make them happy!!! You can also really tell that Henry has lost his way, and while he's trying to fix it, everything he does seems to make the situation worse and I feel for him. However, my opinion changes a lot about Carolina. I don't hate her, but I definitely don't like her, since she's pretty much the cause of the biggest problem. But, that's ok. I think that Anna Godbersen is doing a really good job with developing her characters and making each one unique from the other, which a lot of authors fail at when they write from the different point of views. 

So, I definitely loved the book, and I recommend it, along with the rest of the The Luxe series! As for me, I'm going to read the last book in the series, Splendor. Sorry if you're tired of those reviews, but I want to read it, so I'm going to! I'm just a selfish person, I guess. =D But, as always, if you have any comments, questions, recommendations, or anything, leave a comment! I just love those. =D 

Anyways, thanks for reading!

Love,

Kristi