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41/50 Rumors: A Luxe Novel by Anna Godbersen
I have rather mixed feelings about this book. I really wanted to read the book and get on to the next chapter, but it developed that this was for two reasons. Sometimes it was truly compelling and I just really wanted to know what would happen next. And sometimes it was more because the plot was slow, and nothing REAL happened until the last hundred pages.
Rumors picks up where The Luxe ended: good, virtuous Elizabeth Holland has faked her death to run off with the man she loves. She leaves behind her ex-fiancee Henry Schoonmaker who is in love with Elizabeth's younger sister Diana, but is being preyed upon by Elizabeth's b*tchy ex-best friend, Penelope Hayes. And then of course, there's Lina...
The entire book series so far has silently suffered under the weight of its rather stereotypical characters: the good girl (Elizabeth), the queen bee (Penelope), the playboy possibly about to be reformed by real love (Henry), the girl who's just different (Diana), and the social climber (Lina). I'm ok with that, or at least, I find Penelope's stupid way of thinking amusing enough, and Henry & Diana's forbidden love interesting enough, to keep reading. But I didn't care so much about the other parts of the story, and only the brevity of the chapters they were in got me through them. I disliked Elizabeth from book 1 and was hoping she'd stay out of this one, leaving the book open to a massive cat fight between Diana and Penelope over Henry (who... I mean, is he really worth it?) But she's so saintly, she just has to come back to New York to, I don't know, save her mother, her family or something. It's unfortunate, but I did feel some sort of vindictive pleasure at watching her new husband die (he was so flat a character anyway, that not much else died with him). Lina was probably the worst, personally speaking, for actually wanting to get into this shallow kiddie pool of a world. And for, of all reasons, Will, who doesn't even love her.
And my Diana and Henry, whom I had been looking forward to getting together in this book (after the epic catfight with Penelope... oh man, who doesn't want to read that book instead?!)... didn't. First, they were awful sops, with their misinformed jealousies and vague social constraints (Maybe there really is a 19th century social rule that says men can't marry their dead fiancee's sister, but if there is, it wasn't properly explained because all I kept thinking of was, "what about the 'he consoles her in her grief' storyline?"). Then they slept together which was weird on two levels: one, because I started to question just how promiscuous the times were. I mean, was there no time in American history that Americans could keep their hands to themselves? Did not a single bride reach her wedding day "unsoiled"? I guess I'm more conservative in this aspect than the stereotypical American (Western?) woman, but it got to the point where it was just too much. That Diana and Henry had already spent a night together in The Luxe without having sex, only to have that change in this book for no real reason was the breaking point for me.
The promised third book is shaping up to look like the book I had wanted earlier: an epic catfight between Penelope and Diana over Henry. Except that Elizabeth, recently freed from marriage and hopefully vengeful about it, is on Diana's team... and I can only guess that "Carolina" has an unsteady alliance with the new Mrs. Schoonmaker. I'm just hoping the third will also be the last. Too much to hope for?
Next: No idea. Probably Specials.
Rest of My Reading List
I have rather mixed feelings about this book. I really wanted to read the book and get on to the next chapter, but it developed that this was for two reasons. Sometimes it was truly compelling and I just really wanted to know what would happen next. And sometimes it was more because the plot was slow, and nothing REAL happened until the last hundred pages.
Rumors picks up where The Luxe ended: good, virtuous Elizabeth Holland has faked her death to run off with the man she loves. She leaves behind her ex-fiancee Henry Schoonmaker who is in love with Elizabeth's younger sister Diana, but is being preyed upon by Elizabeth's b*tchy ex-best friend, Penelope Hayes. And then of course, there's Lina...
The entire book series so far has silently suffered under the weight of its rather stereotypical characters: the good girl (Elizabeth), the queen bee (Penelope), the playboy possibly about to be reformed by real love (Henry), the girl who's just different (Diana), and the social climber (Lina). I'm ok with that, or at least, I find Penelope's stupid way of thinking amusing enough, and Henry & Diana's forbidden love interesting enough, to keep reading. But I didn't care so much about the other parts of the story, and only the brevity of the chapters they were in got me through them. I disliked Elizabeth from book 1 and was hoping she'd stay out of this one, leaving the book open to a massive cat fight between Diana and Penelope over Henry (who... I mean, is he really worth it?) But she's so saintly, she just has to come back to New York to, I don't know, save her mother, her family or something. It's unfortunate, but I did feel some sort of vindictive pleasure at watching her new husband die (he was so flat a character anyway, that not much else died with him). Lina was probably the worst, personally speaking, for actually wanting to get into this shallow kiddie pool of a world. And for, of all reasons, Will, who doesn't even love her.
And my Diana and Henry, whom I had been looking forward to getting together in this book (after the epic catfight with Penelope... oh man, who doesn't want to read that book instead?!)... didn't. First, they were awful sops, with their misinformed jealousies and vague social constraints (Maybe there really is a 19th century social rule that says men can't marry their dead fiancee's sister, but if there is, it wasn't properly explained because all I kept thinking of was, "what about the 'he consoles her in her grief' storyline?"). Then they slept together which was weird on two levels: one, because I started to question just how promiscuous the times were. I mean, was there no time in American history that Americans could keep their hands to themselves? Did not a single bride reach her wedding day "unsoiled"? I guess I'm more conservative in this aspect than the stereotypical American (Western?) woman, but it got to the point where it was just too much. That Diana and Henry had already spent a night together in The Luxe without having sex, only to have that change in this book for no real reason was the breaking point for me.
The promised third book is shaping up to look like the book I had wanted earlier: an epic catfight between Penelope and Diana over Henry. Except that Elizabeth, recently freed from marriage and hopefully vengeful about it, is on Diana's team... and I can only guess that "Carolina" has an unsteady alliance with the new Mrs. Schoonmaker. I'm just hoping the third will also be the last. Too much to hope for?
Next: No idea. Probably Specials.
Rest of My Reading List