Friday, January 15, 2010

Envy: A Luxe Novel


The saga of Manhattan's elite at the turn of the 20th century continues.  The Holland sisters are each bereaved in their own ways, each for extremely different reasons.  Penelope Hayes is feeling triumphant as is Carolina Broud.  But each girl will have to deal with a dramatic turn in her life and, as always, society watches their every move.
She was unsteady at first, but she kept on bravely and didn't look back. p.260
*spoilers*
This series is compared a lot to Gossip Girl and for good reason, but it reminds me, in ways, of Dangerous Liasions and the like.  There are a lot of manipulations on the part of Penelope and she is really the one who sets everything in motion.  After having blackmailed Henry into marrying her, she is desperate to keep him so she concots many plots to dispute Diana Holland, the girl Henry really loves, and make herself look better.  Really Penelope would have been better off leaving Henry alone.  Why she felt she had to marry him, I don't know.  I understood why she had to keep him though.  At that time, a divorce would have been such a scandle and Penelope traps herself into her own situation.  I was getting such a Scarlett/Rhett vibe from Penelope and Henry in this book, it was a little weird.

The Hollands were less interesting in this book especially Elizabeth.  I expected such a great showing from her especially at how Rumors ended, but she fell flat.  Although I do hope she marries Teddy somehow.  She should have married him in the first place, because the whole Will plot was stupid in the end.  And Diana was ridiculous trying to somehow keep Henry and never really getting it.  He is trapped and he will never be better than who he is (like Nate in GG).  So I'm hoping for something more interesting in Splendor, the last book.

As an aside, I did find some of the historical trivia thrown in very interesting.  For example, women had to wear stocking with the swimsuits on the beach and couldn't show any flesh.  And I love the description of all the clothes.  It seems so beautiful if stifling.

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