The Luxe

 

I originally saw The Luxe series a year or so ago and for some reason I completely ignored it and honestly, I don't know why since this book is right up my ally. 19th century New York, Grand Balls, Expensive Dresses, Socialites, Love, Mystery, etc. So, once I heard RAVING reviews on Anna Godbersen's Bright Young Things; I decided I would read The Luxe Series. 

The book started off slow for a moment... at least for me, but then I really go into it. We begin with the funeral of popular socialite Elizabeth Holland's and then work our way back to the weeks leading up to the incident. The book is very memorable for starting every chapter with an excerpt from an 1800's newspaper or from the girls diary, each excerpt having something to do with what you are going to read in the chapter. The book also reminded me very much of Gossip Girl, but in period form. 

There is more then one love triangle in the book which makes for a great story and plenty of build up... Try to follow. Lina loves Will who loves Elizabeth and Elizabeth Loves Will Too, Elizabeth is engaged to Henry, who dated Penelope but Henry Loves Diana and Diana Loves Henry and Penelope is in love with Henry as well. CRAZY! For me the outcome of the book was kind of predictable, but it is what needed to be done, for the series to continue and to be interesting. I am looking forward to seeing how the rest of the series goes, since the 1st book was really more of a giant prologue. The forbidden loves and the marriages for money, although historically accurate, also remind me of a Jane Austen love.