The Luxe by Anna Godbersen

Anyone who knows me knows that Gossip Girl and similar fare is just not my thing. So I don't know why I even picked this up since I haven't heard it described anyway except for Gossip Girl meets 1900 New York. The only think I can come up with is that I thought the cover was so incredibly pretty I wanted to open it up.

I'm glad I did.

There are definitely similarities to Gossip Girl. The characters are part of New York elite. They compete with each other, there isn't very much character development, every chapter begins with a quote/letter/note just like GG's emails. But with the exception of mentioning Lord & Taylor, there isn't one other brand name mentioned. Which makes a whole world of difference. And, you know, makes sense since who would recognize the brands anyway. It would have totally detracted from the story (not that it doesn't anyway, but that's a whole other ball of wax). Since that is the thing that bothers me most about GG, I was able to get over my bias towards this type of book and actually enjoy the story.

So we have beautiful girls, handsome men, illicit affairs, lost fortunes, backstabbing, regret, and redemption all set within the upper crust of New York City circa 1900. As I said, there isn't much character development, the characters are a bit stock and act pretty much the way you would expect them to, and there aren't any plot twists that are going to blow you out of the water. Even so, it is a fun read and you're drawn into the story and will want to follow it to what you know will be a satisfying conclusion.