Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Affords the same guilty pleasure and curiosity that must have fueled readers of Gilded Age gossip columns, March 4, 2009
This review is from: Envy: A Luxe Novel (The Luxe) (Hardcover)
Penelope is the envy of society. She is married to Henry Schoonmaker and has everything money, privilege and blackmail can buy. But she cannot force the affections of her husband, or the loyalty of her friends.
Elizabeth has lived quietly since her return to New York. Grieving the death of her husband Will --- who she cannot recognize publicly --- her mother still hopes that she can make an advantageous marriage to fortify the family fortunes. But Elizabeth harbors another secret, one that will force her to marry or to live a life of shame.
It falls to Diana to uphold her family's position and reputation. The arrival of her father's mining partner has provided a temporary reprieve from the family's financial woes, but she still supplements her income by selling society scandal to newspaper gossip columnists. Diana is also nursing a broken heart. Why would Henry Schoonmaker marry Penelope Hayes when he was really in love with her?
Needing to escape the dreary winter that is post-holiday New York, ENVY features a trip to the opulent pleasure grounds of Palm Beach and the now-vanished splendors of the Royal Ponciana Hotel. Away from the prying eyes of the New York press, Palm Beach is the perfect place for clandestine meetings and new flirtations. Diana finds that Henry's marriage has not dulled his interest in her, while she also struggles to make sense of the attention she's receiving from Penelope's dashing brother Grayson. Elizabeth finds a renewed affection for Henry's best friend Teddy, while the self-styled heiress Carolina Broud finds herself courted by the wealthy and eccentric Leland Bouchard.
Unfortunately, the reprieve of the Florida resort does not last forever. After the death of Carolina's benefactor and guardian, Carey Lewis Longhorn, they return to New York's cold, damp streets and the lives they left waiting there.
ENVY is the third book in Anna Godbersen's Luxe series set in Gilded Age New York. Her characters still sit at the top of the world, but are now living with the consequences of their choices. Hope for love and personal happiness is swiftly vanishing, along with the cash they all require to continue living their lavish lives.
Carolina Broud's situation is most perilous. When her benefactor dies, she is ejected from her hotel room and has most of her belongings seized. Briefly acting as the social secretary to another upstart heiress, she is thrown out and spends a night on the streets contemplating her future. She has no real friends. Her friendship with Penelope is built on blackmail. The money she lived on was stolen or belonged to someone else. Her sister still works as a maid in Elizabeth and Diana Holland's house. Briefly taking a job as a seamstress, she sees the life she has always dreamed of vanish into drudgery.
The Luxe series affords the same guilty pleasure and curiosity that must have fueled readers of Gilded Age gossip columns. Godbersen's rigorous attention to detail with descriptions of parties, gowns, architecture and events are a large part of what make these books so much fun to read.
But I've also appreciated Godbersen's nods to larger forces in literature in history. Carolina Broud's descent carries echoes of Edith Wharton's classic about the Gilded Age, THE HOUSE OF MIRTH. The forces of history are strong enough to convince two of the novel's characters to enlist in Theodore Roosevelt's military during the occupation of the Philippines after the Spanish-American War. I imagine readers encountering these subjects in other parts of their lives with a sense of recognition.
As for the rest of the story, the question of whether any of these characters will be able to escape the narrow confines of their roles remains to be seen. Will Carolina manage to live the life of luxury of which she's always dreamed? Will Elizabeth find love and fulfillment after so much tragedy? Will Henry and Diana ever find a way to be together? Will Penelope finally reap the rewards of her villainous behavior? None of these questions are answered in ENVY, but the next book in the series, SPLENDOR, promises more romance and intrigue in Gilded Age New York.
--- Reviewed by Sarah A. Wood
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Angieville: ENVY, February 11, 2009
This review is from: Envy: A Luxe Novel (The Luxe) (Hardcover)
Third Luxe book and my favorite cover to date. Could just be that it's Diana on the cover and she's my favorite character...but I really like the dress. Actually, this is my favorite book of the three as well. And I really wasn't sure it would be. What with Henry and Penelope being...shudder. But this one seemed the most real. People grew up and, in a couple of notable cases, grew spines. Whether or not it will all be too little too late remains to be seen. The fourth (and final) Luxe book, SPLENDOR, is due out in October and will hopefully settle a few things satisfactorily.
ENVY begins just a couple of months after the disastrous conclusion to Rumors: A Luxe Novel (The Luxe). Elizabeth is inexplicably back on the scene, but not really there. Diana is floating through a fog of numb and trying to rise above the crushing blows that keep coming her way. Ditto for Henry. Lina is capitalizing on all her success and makes a surprisingly apt romantic choice. And Penelope is Penelope. You just want someone to stash her in a broom closet for Two Seconds so everyone else can take a deep breath and perhaps hatch a plan to put her in her place once and for all. And amid all this, everyone manages to sweep off on a trip to Palm Beach where much of the book takes place.
I liked the change of scenery in this one. Putting everyone together in a Florida beach hotel for several days on end forced them all to interact despite the myriad tensions criss crossing between them. It also provided several quiet moments in which several characters reflected on how they ended up in the nasty mess they're in. It was nice to see some talk of doing the right thing at the cost of short-term (even long-term) happiness. Though I do hope happiness is in the cards for the most deserving (read: Teddy, Elizabeth, Diana, Henry). I liked this one best because it seemed the most natural. Every single character, at one point or another, was able to see beyond themselves for a moment to the people around them. I hope they remember what the view was like. This continues to be a diverting series and I look forward to its conclusion.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I love it, I love it!, January 12, 2010
Oh the angst! My heart bleeds. Henry made me cry. Diana made me grit my teeth and Elizabeth made me sigh in exasperation. What's next I ask you?
While this series is ridiculous and completely over the top, it is a fabby guilty pleasure read. I swear the characters, apart from Penelope, are a few grapes short of a bushel, but vati are they entertaining.
Penelope has successfully trapped Henry into marring her, but because she is an evil, scheming wench, he is refusing to bed her, lol. She is certain that if she can destroy Diana's reputation, she can win Henry back, as if she ever had him, and therefore assigning her brother, Grayson, the mission of re-deflowering Diana Holland. (For those of you new to this series, Henry had his way with Diana on a bear skinned rug in Rumors, vair entertaining). Alas, things don't quite work out as Penelope intended, surprise surprise.
Elizabeth is still reeling from Will's death but is finding solace in Teddy Cutting, who just gets cuter by the minute. Sadly, Teddy, completely unaware of his appeal, sets out to war to win the respect and love of Elizabeth, which he was already well on his way of winning. This wouldn't be so bad if Elizabeth wasn't pregnant with Will's child. But she is and therefore ends up marrying Mr. Carnes in Teddy's absence. This caused me a great deal of frustration as I just know that Mr. Carnes is suspect and surely played a part in Will's unfortunate demise. Boo to that. Hopefully Mr. Carnes will meet a bad end and kick the bucket allowing Elizabeth to marry Teddy.
Lina is in lurve with a new character, Leland, and though I can't stand her, I find myself wanting her to nab him. Odd. Even more to my chagrin was that I actually felt sorry for her when her patron died and secretly hoped that he would will her his fortune, which he did. Didn't see that one coming :)
Diana. This character is frustrating to no end as she is quick to jump to conclusions, though I can't blame her, and causes her own troubles by following that hot temper of hers. But I like her, cause I would be a liar if I said that I didn't do the same things myself. I was a bit repulsed that she did the deed with Grayson, as he is described as having eyes that are too close together, and as a result, I was envisioning a #10 session with someone who looked like a fish. Hopefully she can find Henry in book 4 and put that disturbing image to rest.
Henry, oh I still love Henry, though he is incredibly stupid. I was so annoyed with him throughout this book and was nearly ready to throw my copy across the room, but I just couldn't do it, cause I lobes him in spite of his stupidity. Just when I was about to loose all faith in him, he enlists and sends Diana a fabby letter that reduced me to tears, and once again, Henry has earned his way back into my good graces.
Now all I have to decide is whether or not to run out to the store and buy Splendor in hardback or wait a year for it to come out in trade paper. Decisions decisions.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
