Envy by Anna Godbersen

Jealous whispers. Old rivalries. New betrayals.

Two months after Elizabeth Holland's dramatic homecoming, Manhattan eagerly awaits her return to the pinnacle of society. When Elizabeth refuses to rejoin her sister Diana's side, however, those watching New York's favorite family begin to suspect that all is not as it seems behind the stately doors of No. 17 Gramercy Park South.

Farther uptown, Henry and Penelope Schoonmaker are the city's most celebrated couple. But despite the glittering diamond ring on Penelope's finger, the newlyweds share little more than scorn for each other. And while the newspapers call Penelope's social-climbing best friend, Carolina Broad, an heiress, her fortune - and her fame - are naything but secure, expecially now that one of society's darlings is slipping tales to the eager press.

Manhattan's most envied residents appear to have everything they desire: Wealth. Beauty. Happiness. But sometimes the most practiced smiles hide the most scandalous secrets...

(Summary from jacket flap)

I love fluffy books. I've read almost all of Meg Cabot's stuff. The Twilight series kept me glued to the pages (well, the first one did...but that's another story). And those Simon Pulse RoCom books? Mhmm. Delish. I have no problem with reading books just for the juice. I really don't think that a book has to have some deep intellectual meaning in order to be worth something. Everyone needs to be able to appreciate a good sugar story.

So you know, if you haven't read a good fluff book in a while, then I have a little something to say to you. First of all, what is your problem?! Second of all, go pick up The Luxe. Please. This series is some of the best chick lit/fluff out there. Who doesn't love reading about rich New York socialites living at the start of the twentieth century? Not only does that time period include gorgeous dresses, sumptuous dinners, and fashionable pale skin, it also offers scandal, lost love, and full body swim suits. Ahhh.

And you know...I don’t think I’m going to say much about this book. I don’t want to over-analyze, and in the process ruin, my guilty pleasures.

SO. For my little opinion bit:

Envy was a bit slow in parts; there was too much talk about dresses and houses for my taste. I get that the characters are wealthy and extravagant but by the 300th page, I didn’t need to hear about how one person’s hair was perfectly coiffed and how their dress accentuated their miniscule waist beautifully. Because waists and hair do's were mentioned entirely too much. It was just the balance of what was focused on that was a little bit off. I’d have liked for the focus to have been more on the drama.

Other than that, it was good. I love the setting of The Luxe series. It’s the thing that makes these books work. New York City. Pretty girls, unreachable boys, social-climbers. It’s totally ideal. And the lavish descriptions and imagery brings it all to life. It’s over the top in a good way.

AND the little twists the story took were fantastic. 

[SPOILERS] The whole entire book, Penelope and Henry were still married but you keep getting these little sides where Henry and Diana are trying to figure out their relationship. And then Penelope gets all this dirt on Henry so he can't really get out of his marriage. So of course the fix to all of this is for Henry to have sex with Penelope and walk out half naked onto the balcony where Diana sees. So then Diana goes and gets laid by Penelope's brother. And THEN Elizabeth finds out she's having Will's kid and so she needs to cover it up by getting married fast and the ideal choice, Teddy, went off to war so she has a boring and unfitting marriage to her father's former advisor guy. Then Henry, needing to feel all masculine and such goes off to war too, leaving Penelope sort of. When Diana hears about it she cuts off all her hair and at the end of the book she's leaving to pose as a guy in the army. [END SPOILERS] 

Whew. Needed to get all that out. The twists are awesome. 

It’s one of the only series in which I like the shiny, exaggerated, and obnoxious.

It’s delicious.

So yeah, maybe there were little faults and missteps in this book, but you know what? I still loved it. You can’t not love The Luxe.

And let me just say that Splendor had better be seriously amazing because the cliffhanger at the end of this book was killer.