The Luxe series follows a quartet of girls during the Turn of the Century in New York high society. It promised gossip, illicit affairs, passionate love, and of course pretty dresses. I suppose it delivered on that, though I found this series mostly boring.
I didn't have nearly as much fun with these books as I did with Bright Young Things, sadly. It's not anything to do with the time period- yes, I love the 20s more, but the 1900s are pretty cool, too- hell, my first American Girl doll was Nellie, Samantha's best friend. But I was more bored with these books than I was with her other series.
I don't know if that had anything to do with Godbersen's writing. She can sufficiently mimic the way books were written back then, but the repetition of her writing grated on me. She is in bad need of a thesaurus to give her more adjectives than "petite", "bee-stung lips", "oval face", or, in the case of Splendor, "protruding belly".
I don't know if I had a favorite character, since I didn't actually like any of them, but the two characters I found the most consistently interesting were Penelope and Lina. Though in both cases they only held my attention for three books- Penelope for the first three (The Luxe, Rumors, Envy) and Carolina for the last three (Rumors, Envy, Splendor). The two main heroines, though- Elizabeth and Diana- I couldn't bring myself to care about. Elizabeth bored me to tears and Diana annoyed me, but not enough that I felt strongly in any way towards her. Both their love stories were tiring and had unsatisfactory endings even if I wasn't that invested in them in the first place.
I don't know if I had a favorite character, since I didn't actually like any of them, but the two characters I found the most consistently interesting were Penelope and Lina. Though in both cases they only held my attention for three books- Penelope for the first three (The Luxe, Rumors, Envy) and Carolina for the last three (Rumors, Envy, Splendor). The two main heroines, though- Elizabeth and Diana- I couldn't bring myself to care about. Elizabeth bored me to tears and Diana annoyed me, but not enough that I felt strongly in any way towards her. Both their love stories were tiring and had unsatisfactory endings even if I wasn't that invested in them in the first place.
I would say my favorite book by far was Rumors, and my least favorite book was Splendor (I think Godbersen has a hard time with the last book). I don't regret reading this series at all, but I do think I dragged it out too much. Perhaps The Luxe is one of those series meant to be marathoned in a weekend, not dragged out for four months. I will still recommend these books for someone looking for a good fluff series, but I likely won't reread any time soon. Bright Young Things maybe, but not The Luxe.
The Luxe: 6 out of 10
Rumors: 7-7.5 out of 10
Envy: 6.5-7 out of 10
Splendor: 5.5-6 out of 10
Overall Series Rating: 6-6.5 out of 10
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