This is always a good sign (though it in part reflects that fact that several loose ends are left hanging). What I can tell you is that when I finished The Luxe, all I wanted to do was pick up the second book, Rumors, immediately.

She tried to remind herself, with a stern shake of a finger, that they had no kind of future. For the first time all day she felt her lungs swell with air and her heart with happiness. The way Will was looking at her made her feel like she had lain in the sun for a whole afternoon. 'His hand moved from her neck down her spine and rested again at the small of her back. 'But it was the first time Henry had ever really thought about someone doing that soul-crushing thing called working, and the realization still haunted him.' (, paperback) Here are a couple of passages to give you a feel for the book: This shifting viewpoint in particular helps the reader to understand the way that Elizabeth and Diana misunderstand one another (and we all know that misunderstanding is central to conflict in these sorts of society dramas). Godberson shifts the viewpoint between the characters, letting us see how each one thinks, and what they think of one another. And yet, they seem to be products of their time and their place in society, and one feels a sneaking sympathy for each of them. Diana is irresponsible and overly melodramatic.

It's funny that the book is so engaging, in a way, because not one of the characters is completely likeable. All in all, it's the stuff of a decadent turn of the century romance novel. Further complicating matters are an affair with a servant, an impossible love affair, and multiple friends who feel betrayed. Wealthy playboy Henry Schoonmaker, in the midst of a flirtation with bad girl Penelope Hayes, is pressured by his father to marry Elizabeth, Penelope's friend and rival. Elizabeth, the older and more responsible of the two, is pressured by her mother to marry well, and quickly. Pampered sisters Elizabeth and Diana Holland learn that their family fortunes have taken a decided turn for the worse. Chapter 1 then steps backward in time by three weeks, and begins the chronicle of events leading up to the funeral. The Luxe begins with Elizabeth Holland's funeral (though her body, after a fall into the river, has not been found). The book is filled with ballrooms and expensive dresses, arranged marriages and carriage rides, and the pressures of family duty. The dialog is not nearly as witty, of course, and the characters are decidedly more risque in their behavior, but it does give you a bit of the same feel. The Luxe is faintly reminiscent of the regency novels of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer. It is the late Victorian Era version of Gossip Girl. The Luxe is the first of a series of novels set among the elite in turn of the 20th century New York. Anna Godberson's The Luxe is the literary equivalent of champagne and truffles.

Rumors a luxe novel