The Luxe audiobook

Maybe at this moment you're checking my rating and thinking, "What the fuck?!"I'm going to tell you something: I enjoy reading shallow, trashy books. Somehow they pull me into a world of bitchy, spoiled, backstabbing characters; name-dropping and the need to choke them all for being so damn stupid. And I fucking love it. You know why? Because they keep me interested in their stupidity. The more books I read, the less I stop searching for trashy books. A girl like me can only handle enough in their chest. Take for example the series Gossip Girl. The main characters are so spoiled that I want to smack them around. They back-stab the people they like, treat everyone else like crap because they aren't as spoiled as they are, and the main male protagonist always cheats on his girlfriend with her best friend. So why do I read that crap? Because they keep me intrigued. All these things they do make me want to know what stupidities are they going to do next. Nothing is as delicious like some juicy drama. Also revenge, but that's another story.So, The Luxe. . .I don't know exactly what made me interested in these books, but one thing is for sure: That dress is beautiful! Just look at it! It's so pink and fluffy!! That being said, I read the back cover:Pretty girls in pretty dresses, partying until dawn.Irresistible boys with mischievous smiles and dangerous intentions.White lies, dark secrets, and scandalous hookups.This is Manhattan, 1899.*re-reads* Hot damn! I am so in!!At that time, I haven't read enough historical fiction to know what was the good quality ones and the bad quality ones. I was only interested on what this book was going to contain.The main protagonists, Elizabeth and Diana Holland, are the major socialites of Manhattan. Everyone envies them. But what the public doesn't know is that they're broke. The only solution for this problem is that Elizabeth should marry the handsome bachelor, Henry Schoonmaker (HA! What a stupid last name!). Problem is, Penelope Hayes--Elizabeth's on and off best friend--wants Henry and she and him were supposed to be a couple. Also, Elizabeth is in love with Will Keller, her coachman. Unfortunately, Lina Broud, one of the house's servants, is in love with him as well and she's determined to win him. See what I mean? This is exactly the type of drama I love! Now, don't get me wrong, I didn't think this book was a literary sensation. My ratings aren't just about how good a book is, it is also about entertainment value. And you better believe that this book was a heck of an entertainment! Sure, this book isn't historically accurate, but that didn't stop me from enjoying them. I thought the writing was alright, and obviously so much better than the other authors who write trashy books. I only recommend this series if you enjoy reading catty characters.P.S. Did you really expect these books to be exquisite historical fiction? Did you notice who reviewed the books on the back? That's right. Cecily Von Ziegesar, the creator of the Gossip Girl series, did. Coincidence? I think not.

It's September 1899 and the Manhattan season is starting off with a bang. Elizabeth Holland, the darling of the high society set, has returned from her year in Paris in time for the first ball of the season, held at her best friend Penelope Hayes' newly finished and incredibly vulgar mansion. Penelope is all about showing herself to the best advantage, and has her sights set on young rake Henry Schoonmaker - but his father has other ideas. Intending to run for mayor the following year, he wants his only son to shape up and marry a good girl from a good family: Elizabeth. The day after the ball, he proposes to Elizabeth and is accepted (even though her heart belongs to the young coachman, Will, whom her maid, Lina, also loves), because Henry's family has money and the Holland family now has none - which no one know about except them. You have to keep up appearances, after all. This is the day he also meets Elizabeth's younger sister, Diana, and there's something about her that captivates him like no other girl ever has. It's a tangled mess and it's about to get a whole lot messier as Penelope schemes to break up the engagement.Okay, I'll admit that despite being rather anti-girly, I've always had a thing for dresses and period costumes, and the big poofy thing on the cover certainly fascinated me. But it also repelled me: it's just so HUGE and PINK and PUFFY! The descriptions of this novel/series that I came across said it was like Gossip Girls and that it was about New York High Society girls at the turn of the century - well it all put me off. Until a friend recommended it, and I'm glad she did, for as ridiculous as the dress is, the book is really very good.I don't watch Gossip Girls, so I can't speak to any similarities there - what I was reminded of, though, was Edith Wharton's The Buccaneers. Admittedly, I have read very few books set in 19th century Manhattan, so Wharton's book was the only one I could think of, mostly because it's about four girls from "new money" making their way in the world amongst the British upper class. I highly recommend it, or the TV mini-series based on it.Anyway, I completely expected to be utterly bored by this book, but instead I was vastly entertained and gripped by the unfolding mystery and tension, and even though the prologue tells you the ending, it doesn't tell you anything, and you're never sure what's going to happen next or how it all worked out. I did suspect from the very beginning the truth about Elizabeth, though.There was plenty to love and enjoy here, despite the somewhat clichéd characters. The setting is vividly brought to life, though I would imagine some people wouldn't care for the little asides about dress fabrics and ormulu (gilt-bronze) inlaid chairs, but to me it added some necessary and authentic detail, as well as showing (without actually telling) the disparity between classes and "breeding": the gaudy over-the-top grandeur of the Hayes' new mansion; the stately but stuffy Schoonmaker home; and the refined, old-world elegance of the Hollands' - all highlighting the still-pervasive class clash between old money and new, inherited from the British. The period is also supported by little clippings from newspapers, journals and those books on the proper deportment of a lady at the beginnings of the chapters, which help remind you of the world outside and surrounding these preoccupied young women, and how everyone is watching them. There is some thought given to class consciousness, the social expectations, pretensions and manoeuvring of the rich, but I was pleased to see it didn't suffer from too much "presentism". It was also good to have one of the protagonists be a lady's maid who ends up on the street - you get to see the less glamorous, more hard-working "trade" side of the city.Of the four protagonists: Elizabeth, Diana, Penelope and Lina, I liked Diana the most. Probably because she was the most honest, direct and least girly, she had spunk and flair and was the least superficial. Elizabeth was handled well: a goody-goody, demure and seemingly innocent girl in public, sharp and uncomfortable with her maid Lina in private, and relaxed and true to herself with Will - a realistic portrait of how most of us present different sides to different people, sometimes what is expected of us, or what creates armour for us, or what enables us to get along with people the best. Elizabeth wasn't all that likeable because she didn't stand up for herself as much as you'd want, but she was definitely sympathetic.The bitch of the book is Penelope, of course - and she's marvellous at it. She's the character you "love to hate". She's the most straight-forward of all the characters, and spiteful, and duplicitous, and you have to admire her tenacity.Godbersen's prose helps lift the novel above the usual fare - it's nothing fancy, but it is solid, capable, unpretentious, and confident. I thought it started a little slowly, but once I became interested in the characters the pacing really picked up and held me. The author doesn't have any annoying ticks or over-used favourite words, so it flows well and smoothly. For a debut novel, it is remarkably polished, free of typos and other poor editing glitches (though I doubt "gotten" is as old as 1899). There are four books in the series: The Luxe, Rumors, Envy and Splendor. I had to look up what "Luxe" means because I had no idea: it's a noun meaning "luxury" or "abundance". Fitting.

If you didn't think the nineteenth century was full of drama then think again. Life in New York in 1899 was very eventful. At least it was for the very wealthy. Elizabeth Holland has been a perfect daughter her entire nineteen years of life. She has been groomed for years to be perfect - to talk when she was supposed to, to receive visitors on Sundays, and always appear happy no matter when she was feeling on the inside. People in New York expect her to marry well and continue the traditions of high society.Life for Elizabeth isn't easy though, even though all she has to do is sit around and look beautiful. It turns out, since the death of her father, her family is having financial problems and aren't able to keep up the type of lifestyle they are used to living. One thousand dollar gowns, priceless works of art, and trips abroad are a thing of the past unless something can be done to secure the family's place in society before everyone learns of their trouble. Mrs. Holland thinks Elizabeth can save the family by marrying Henry Schoonmaker – New York's most eligible and most sought after bachelor.The news of her impending engagement is a surprise to Elizabeth. She has always held out the hope that she would marry for love and in fact, has been in love for quite some time. Elizabeth has been having a secret relationship with Will Keller for many years. The relationship must be kept a secret because Will is an employee of the Holland family. He works in the stables and drives the carriages for them and carrying on a relationship with someone of lower status would be something that would ruin Elizabeth's reputation and the Holland family name. Word of her engagement puts a strain, understandably, on Elizabeth's relationship with Will. Elizabeth's secret relationship with Will isn't the only thing that becomes more difficult after the wedding becomes public. Henry doesn't want to get married any more than Elizabeth does. He resents the fact that he is being forced to wed and give up his freedom. Penelope, her supposed best friend, is infuriated by the news of the wedding. She expected to marry Henry herself and is planning to break up the wedding by any means necessary. Elizabeth's personal maid, Lina, finds out about Elizabeth and Will's relationship and is hurt because she has grown to love Will herself. Even more problems crop up when Elizabeth's younger sister, Diana, begins to have feelings for Henry. Finally, and most devastating to Elizabeth, Will tells her he is leaving New York and heading west to California. How can a proper girl deal with all of these problems and be expected retain her poise?THE LUXE is a fascinating look at life at the turn of the century. It is historical fiction at its best. For those of you that fall in love with the book like I have can look forward to the fact that the author is currently working on a sequel.

Beautiful Elizabeth Holland, lovely, prim, proper and of course a lady. Too bad she is dead. The story opens to a dreary day in late 19th century New York at the funeral of Miss Elizabeth Holland, the exact day in which she was to be wed.Then time flashes back and we are taken through the events that ultimately lead to the death of Elizabeth.Sisters Elizabeth and Diana couldn’t be more different. Elizabeth, the oldest, has always had the most pressure put on her to be a proper lady, to watch everything she says, does, and even wears. Diana is of course the opposite. She is the romantic, and she is wonderfully eclectic and confident in her ways. When Elizabeth learns that her family’s welfare is in jeopardy she agrees to wed Henry Schoonmaker, a well-known playboy and heartbreaker, even though she loves another. Henry himself agrees to marry Elizabeth only so he will not be disinherited of his father’s fortune. At the night of her engagement announcement, her "best friend" Penelope Hayes reveals that she, herself is in love with Henry. This is the start of Penelope’s jealousy and betrayal to take down her biggest and only rival. Not to mention, Diana, who finds herself smitten with the elusive Henry, as well. Henry of course finds himself falling in love, finally, but not with his betrothed. Elizabeth struggles with her own happiness and the welfare of her family.Throw in a jealous maid that knows too much and you have yourself a full-blown scandal!I loved The Luxe. It had everything a good story should. Mystery, humor, romance, and fun! I felt for Elizabeth and her constant struggle within herself, and having nowhere to turn. I loathed Penelope and only wished she had been the one to fall in the Hudson. The Luxe was enjoyable and entertaining. If you like Gossip Girls or even A Great and Terrible Beauty, I think that you would enjoy this book. Even more good news. It seems that Anna Godbersen will be releasing a sequel to The Luxe in the summer of 2008 entitled Rumors.

Leichter, aber sehr unterhaltsamer Lesestoff. Wer gerne über Intrigen und Skandale in der High Society liest, wird hier auf seine Kosten kommen. Das ganze gepaart mit dem Glamour vom New York Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts ergibt ein sehr angenehmes Leseerlebnis. Selten habe ich ein Buch so schnell und flüssig lesen können. Ich habe mich richtig gewundert, wo die 400 Seiten auf einmal abgeblieben sind, als ich das Buch zugeschlagen habe. Es hat sich auf jeden Fall nicht wie 400 Seiten angefühlt. Der Schreibstil ist wirklich extrem flüssig und schafft es trotzdem, den historischen Flair des Settings rüberzubringen. Die Geschichte steigt prompt interessant ein mit dem Begräbnis der Protagonistin und man fragt sich, wie es dazu kommen konnte. Die Auflösung ist extrem schnell sehr naheliegend, aber es geht hier ja auch nicht um eine Detektivgeschichte. Ich fühlte mich geradezu befriedigend bestätigt, als alles so ausging, wie ich mir das gedacht hatte.Das Buch ist auf jeden Fall für alle diejenigen was, die eine Geschichte à la Gossip Girl 100 Jahre zuvor erleben wollen und für eine gewisse Zeit ihrem Leben so entkommen wollen... und dabei keinen Wert auf historische Genauigkeit legen.

I saw a lot of mixed reviews for this book, and I understand why, but I personally really enjoyed reading it. It's not a very deep story, but it doesn't pretend to be either. It's a little shallow but very entertaining, which is why I didn't even realize how quickly I was going through the story. If you enjoy reading about gossip, drama, backstabbing, period settings and pretty dresses without too much substance every once in a while, I'd recommend this book. It's a lot of fun.

The Luxe follows five teenagers in 1899 Manhattan. The story opens with the funeral of Elizabeth Holland, who rules the social scene alongside her sister, Diana Holland, whose carriage overturned near a river. We are then shown the events leading up to this disaster, which are filled with deception, betrayal and the most clandestine of secrets. “She felt like she was at the edge of a great precipice and that no matter what she did next, her life would be like floating through air. She felt positively free.” So the story is that the Holland sisters – Elizabeth and Diana – are informed by their mother that they have no money and so Elizabeth must marry Henry Schoonmaker in order to save her family. However, her best friend/rival Penelope Hayes is also vying for Henry as they have been seeing each other secretly. Henry finds himself falling for Diana, who in turn finds herself developing feelings for him too. All the while, Elizabeth is actually in love with Will, her coachman. But Lina Broud, Elizabeth’s maid, is also in love with Will and will do anything to get him. “Her secrets: that her family was poor, that she was in love with a servant, and that she was a selfish girl likely to ruin her family even more than they were already ruined.” Oh wow just writing that out exhausted me. This book was so delicious. There’s a tangled web of drama, deception, lies and secrets and I enjoyed the hell out of every minute of it. This book was trashy as hell, with the right amount of drama, romance and the kind of secrets that make you want to keep reading on so you can find out exactly what happens. The characters are all awful in their own way but they’re also hilarious at times, especially Diana who was absolutely my favourite character. This is one of those books that you absolutely shouldn’t take seriously. You read it for the drama and to be entertained and on that front, it definitely delivers! But I genuinely found myself rooting for all of characters to get what they want! I wanted Elizabeth to be with Will, but I also wanted Lina to be with him as well! I wanted Penelope to succeed and nab Henry for herself, only because her duplicitousness, backstabbing and treachery are so damn entertaining! “She felt like she was seeing everything anew. She was poor; she had nothing, and thus, she realized with delight, she had nothing to lose.” The one thing I found really weird though was Henry and Diana’s relationship, more so because Henry is 20 and Diana is 16 and that age gap just made me feel so weird. And its kind of normalised in the book. Like when Henry’s friend Teddy discovers what is going on, he disapproves because Diana is Elizabeth’s sister, not even because she is several years younger than him. Maybe around the time the book was set age gaps weren’t seen as anything huge but it felt a little weird to me nonetheless. “Diana felt she was beginning to understand why, in all those novels she read, the headiest loves were the loves that couldn’t be.” Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by The Luxe. I didn’t think I was going to enjoy it as much but I loved the drama, the betrayals and all of the secrets that were uncovered. This is such an entertaining first book and I can’t wait to read more!

This is definitely Gossip Girls meets Manhattan in 1899. It's all drama, secrets, gossip, fashion, and high society scandal. I enjoyed the time period, and the story was a refreshing change of pace. Pages: 464

Second read review: These are just SO ENJOYABLE! Light, frothy, the perfect amount of angst, and it seems like 75% of the text is devoted to clothes. Upping it another star. (I remembered this series being much more risqué- maybe I missed it because I was listening at 1.5x speed, but I feel like most of the bad behavior was behind the scenes.)First read review: Hehehehehe! This book is pretty ridiculous: the writing isn't very good, it's all cliches, and there isn't much to recommend it - other than it was super fun to read. It's basically (exactly) Gossip Girl set in late-Victorian New York City (almost every character correlates to a character on the show), and if you consider that a guilty pleasure, you'll probably feel the same way about this series. I confess that I 100% picked it up because of the awesome dress on the cover, and I'll keep reading the other books for the same reason. First read: December 2009 (print)Second read: August 2016 (audio)

A series I've been itching to read for over 7 years since I saw them (and their luscious covers) on the shelves at Books-A-Million. A very quick read with rotating narrators. I seem to have a soft.spot for women in history bound by their circumstances. It's a mix of The Clique and Blue Bloods set in high society New York City about women who will do just about anything to get what they want. Can't wait to finish the series.

Actual rating 3.5 starsI ended up enjoying this book a lot more than I thought. Since I haven't enjoyed many other books set in the 1800's I'm quite surprised this one turned out really suspenseful. The writing was very good and the setting and characters very well developed, despite the main focus being romance, I felt I could relate to the characters easily. This book is action packed in its own way with many surprises, secrets and revelations along the way. Anyone who is looking for a different kind of historical romance should give this book a go.

Love a good scandal? Then you’re going to love this. The Luxe is like Jane Austen meets Gossip Girl, and there is not one part of that combination that I don’t adore. Set in the 1900’s, this tale is overflowing with love, betrayal, deceit, and all those other juicy things that made the books we love so perfect. With New York as its backdrop, The Luxe follows the lives of five individuals whose lives are more intertwined than one could possibly imagine.Elizabeth is the eldest of the Holland daughters and is now of marriageable age. Since her father died, the Holland family has been suffering financial difficulty and Lizzie’s mother thinks its time she married her daughter off to a nice rich family who can provide a life of security and wealth for the Holland’s once more. When her mother arranges for her to be married off to Henry Schoonmaker – the most eligible (and wealthiest) bachelor in all of New York – despair clutches at Elizabeth more than one could possibly imagine. You see, Elizabeth has been having a secret affair with someone else – someone that, if her mother ever found out, she would be forbidden from seeing ever again…Lina knows Elizabeth’s secret, however. She’s a servant in the Holland household, and Elizabeth’s own personal maid. Lina sees Lizzie sneaking out of Will’s room one night and her heart shatters into a thousand tiny pieces. Lina always wanted Will to herself and is horrified to learn that Lizzie – the perfect girl who has everything – has the one thing in the world she wants more than anything. Lina is a vindictive girl who will stop at nothing to attain her glory, or her man.Lina is a bit like Penelope in that sense, which is why is it entirely unsurprising that their paths eventually meet. In a moment of fury, Elizabeth fires Lina and within the hour, Lina finds herself homeless. As she’s walking on the sidewalk, Penelope’s carriage trots alongside her and the two get chatting. Lina knows exactly who Penelope is and strikes a deal with the malicious woman in red that can only lead to Elizabeth’s demise. You see, Penelope has it bad for Henry and is horrified to learn of his engagement to her friend, Elizabeth. But with Lina’s help, Penelope orchestrates a plan to put a stop to their engagement and steal the bachelor for herself.Henry, however, isn’t interested in Penelope in that way. Sure, they’ve had many a night together and they’ve done things that unmarried people simply should not do, but Penelope isn’t the kind of girl he could ever see himself marrying. But neither is Elizabeth. Henry – like Elizabeth – is forced into the arrangement by his parents. Then one day whilst calling on his fiancé, Henry is introduced properly to her sister, Diana, and is immediately taken by her brash persona. She’s beautiful, in an artistic way, and is everything he wants in a woman. Henry embarks on the pursuit of his life – to make Diana fall in love with him.And she does. Diana is not a flip person and is taken by surprise that her feelings for Henry are so strong. He’s rude, unapologetic and ridiculously over-confident. But she wants him – badly. But he is destined to marry her sister, who is in love with someone else altogether. The whole thing is a bit of a mess and Diana finds herself in the stickiest of situations.As the lives of New York’s elite become more and more tangled, you’ll be unable to put the book down. Anna Godbersen writes with a beauty so rich it is as if she actually lived in New York during the nineteen century.Godbersen’s characters are dynamic and successfully incited emotions in me so powerful that I actually had to get up off the couch and pace while I read. I fell in love, learned the true power of what it feels like to hate, and became a complete slave to the pages the further I got into the novel.Each page oozes with elegance, and like most guilty pleasures in life, is positively addictive. Watch out for the cliffhanger ending, though, as it will leave you breathless beyond your wildest dreams. Thankfully the second novel, Rumours, is in stores as we speak, with the third installment on the way…Girls everywhere will love this novel. Jane Austen, eat your heart out!