Anna Godbersen

In 1900 New York City, fashionable debutante Diana Holland and married soldier Henry Schoonmaker flaunt the rules of society to be with one another.

a Luxe novel

Splendor

Sarah Vaughan

Overall I felt like this was one of the best YA series I've ever read. I'm not even aware of any other YA historical fiction series. I myself have always been more of a fan of historical fiction than futuristic, dystopian fiction. I loved the descriptions of the dresses and the furnishings as well as the descriptions of the architecture and beauty of NYC in 1900. I hated to see these books end, but I felt all of the loose ends were tied up rather nicely. I think the lovable characters found redemption well enough to my liking and the ones who deserved to not be happy were in a way humbled. The author did such a nice job shaping the characters that I felt like I knew each and every one of them personally. I can't wait to read Godbersen's newest YA series focused on the 20s.

A Luxe Novel (The Luxe)

Laura

Thank God this series is over! I was never as taken with this series as I was by Bright Young Things, but mostly went through it because it was a fun read with pretty dresses and drama. I suppose I should feel a little melancholy- after all, if you'll remember Rumors was the first proper review I ever wrote on this blog- but honestly I was relieved to be finishing it. In this case, I don't know if I should have dragged out this series over the course of 4 months. Sure, I did it with The A Circuit and Bright Young Things, and I'm doing it with the Dublin Murder Squad, but I actually liked those series (yes, even The A Circuit). These books are like a marginally better version of the Royal Circle series, except they don't offend me as much and the thought of continuing on didn't make me want to cry. 

As usual, I didn't care about Diana or Elizabeth. Elizabeth bored me as a character from the beginning, and Diana just annoyed me. I realize now after reading The Awakening (which I'll talk about in my wrap-up) that Diana reminds of Edna Pontellier. I can tolerate Diana a bit more, though, because she didn't have children to abandon. But in this book characters I used to find interesting or at least not annoying bored me. Henry's chapters lost their dry, subtle humor making them hard to read without getting distracted, and Penelope lost all interesting qualities just to chase after some prince. The only chapters I still found interesting were Carolina's. 

Continue reading this review on my blog here: http://bookwormbasics.blogspot.com/20...

Splendor a Luxe novel

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