The Luxe by Anna Godbersen

I have a new obsession and it is the Luxe Series by Anna Godbersen. I've had these books on my classroom shelves for part of this year and took them home to read this summer so I could recommend them to my students. It's funny that I read the Luxe before starting "The Jane Austen Challenge" because this book reminds me of Jane's novels, but with a bit more bite. Think Gossip Girl meets Pride and Prejudice, and you have the Luxe novels! Forbidden love, scandal, and back-stabbing friends abound in the first book in the series, and I'm eager to begin the second today! Godbersen may be writing about an era in American history where proper social decorum was the focus of society, but apparently 18 year old girls in the 1900's are just as dramatic and love-sick as they are today. I love to travel back into the world of corsets, back- handed compliments, balls and hot gossip. These novels are a delightful treat and are by far and away my favorite indulgence this summer! Check out the Luxe, Rumors, then Envy for scintillating reads!

Started the FINAL Book in the Luxe Series....

I LOVE the Luxe series, and picked up a copy of the fourth and final book in Anna Godbersen's decadent series of rich New York society girls. I only started last night, but I'm pacing myself because I enjoy Godbersen's writing so much! The late 1800s is usually not a time period that most readers gravitate to, but you must give them a try! Check out the Luxe website to read more about each novel. They are very well-written and delicious novels to devour on upcoming snowy days!

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11/15 - I finished the book, and it was a fantastic finale in a great series. The ending was fantastic and not predictable at all! Many readers are outraged with the ending (read a few reviews on Barnes & Noble website), but I love the fact that Godbersen stayed true to her characters and didn't end the book sappy-happy! Elizabeth, Diana, Carolina, Henry, and Penelope were all given endings that suited their characters and stayed true to the lives and personas they were given in the first three books. Even though much more detail could have been added to each characters situations in the end, I felt that Godberson did a fantastic job wrapping up The Luxe...I'm sad to see it end!

Rumors by Anna Godbersen

Okay, I know that I'm totally immersed in teen literature, but let me tell ya, there is some good stuff out there, if you only give it a chance! How many of you have read The Hunger Games and loved it? See! Teen literature has loads of value, and thank goodness I get paid to teach it! Anyway, back to my post about the second installment in the Luxe Series, Rumors by Anna Godbersen. If you are wanting to read the first book, Luxe, then I can't even begin to tell you about Rumors without giving away the ending to the first. All I can say is that the second book blew away the first! I love how Godbersen is able to make us identify with each character and empathize with their plight through her third person narration. I can't imagine having to be a female in the late 1800s and dealing with the expectations (let alone the corsets) suffocating women of that era. The whole waiting-on-a-man to take care of you thing would be brutal!

The romance is heightened in this second installment, and without giving away the ending of the first book, I will only say that I love Will, the Hollands coachman who leaves at the end of the first book to find oil out West. The secret love affair he had with society maven, eighteen year old Elizabeth Holland in the first book is further explained and deepened within the second book. Details of that relationship are so sweet, but their love ended with such a dramatic and shocking twist, I found my self rereading the last ten pages of the book, then scrambling to make sure I had brought home the third book, Envy, from my school shelves! I can't wait to find out what happens to Elizabeth, Diana, and even Carolina. I hope Penelope Hays gets what is coming to her for her conniving to break up Henry and Diana! (See what I mean about being immersed in teen literature...it's so easy to revert back to my teen mentality! Ha!) Luckily, I have the book and I will most definitely be starting that book this weekend. Who knew I would love these books so much?! Go get this series if you are a hopeless romantic, love teen gossip, and want to escape to 1899 for a few hours! Adorable series!

Envy by Anna Godbersen

I finished the third book in the Luxe series yesterday, titled Envy, and I am so upset that the fourth, Splendor, will not be out until October! Godbersen has kept the quality of her writing and has stayed true to her characters with each installment in the series. This third book opened new doors for the rich society girls, and tragically closed many more! I do not want to give away any part of the third in case you are wanting to read the first two, but Envy kept my interest and had me wanting more up until the very end. I wonder if Splendor will be the last in the series and finally tell me what the future holds for the Holland sisters and the delightfully cunning and vindictive Penelope Hayes. Heart throb Henry Schoonmaker is starting to tick me off with his ability to muck up everything he has with Diana Holland, but I'm hoping he will redeem himself in the fourth installment. For those of you who love series like Gossip Girls, The Hills, and One Tree Hill, this series is for you! Although the setting is 1899, one thing remains the same, teen girls will always be back-stabbing gossip queens!