Luxe and Rumours - Anne Godbersen

 The Luxe Series (First two books out of four), follows a group of young girls in the late 19th century, who fall in Love with eligible bachelors and get up to all sorts of mischief on the way.  In the first book we meet Elizabeth who is betrothed to marry Henry (who both Elizabeth and Henry are in Love with other people), and her friends and family.  A week before the wedding Elizabeth is declared dead....

In the Second book, we continue finding out about Elizabeths family and friends, and what happened to them following her mysterious disappearance.


The description of the cover - All the glitz of the OC but with bigger frocks and more dashing boys, is a good indication to how this novel goes.  It is very much like all those American gossip dramas (that i dare never to watch) The OC, or 91210, meets Ann Godbersen's very limited view of the 19th Century.  Its like a modern clash of spoilt rich kids meet their very airy fairy view of this time period.

Yes these books were rather entertaining, but more to laugh at an very Americanised view of the world.  We meet some very spoilt rich girls, who think love is how much they can be brought.  They all fall in love with the wrong people, they all bitch at each other, and they all sell lies and rumours to get what they want.

I can see why teenagers would want to read these novels, they are fun, dashing, romantic and fantasy for young girls.  They make good trashy reading, and they are quite interesting, despite being very predictable with not many surprises along the way.  Although I did not enjoy them enough to want to read the last two novels of this series.