The Luxe by Anna Godbersen

Title: The Luxe (Luxe #1)

Author: Anna Godbersen

Publisher: HarperCollins

Release Date: November 20, 2007

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

Pretty girls in pretty dresses, partying until dawn. Irresistible boys with sly smiles and dangerous intentions. White lies, dark secrets, and scandalous hookups. This is Manhattan, 1899...

Elizabeth and Diana Holland rule Manhattan’s social scene. But when the girls discover their family’s status is far from secure, suddenly everyone is a threat to their golden future. Set in a world of luxury and deception, this thrilling trip to the age of innocence is anything but innocent.

For the past couple of years I had kept hearing about The Luxe by Anna Godbersen. Most of what I heard was positive so I decided to give the book a shot and read it. I’ll be honest, I have mixed feelings about the book. It wasn’t a bad book by any standards but it wasn’t anything extraordinary either. I enjoyed reading the book but at times I found myself having trouble getting into the story which sometimes made the book a little difficult to read. That is not to say that there weren’t parts of the book I didn’t like.

Elizabeth Holland has always had everything she wished for. Her family has always been part of the Manhattan elite and thought that her life would always be the same way it has been. But when she returns from France, she discovers that things may not all be as they appear. Her family’s status may be in danger and others may also discover that Elizabeth is not everything she appears to be. In 1899 Manhattan, who knows what is real and what isn’t--nothing is really what it appears to be.

I have to say it felt at times like I was reading a nineteenth century version of Gossip Girls, there were just so many parallels that I was able to make between the two series. Some of the characters seriously felt like they were the same just a century apart. The most obvious connection I could make was with Penelope--at times I couldn’t help but think of her as Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl. All the manipulating and tricking and going behind people’s backs were just some of what led me to make the connection between the two characters.

I had trouble with Elizabeth at first but as the story moved forward I found that she sort of grew on me. When the book began Elizabeth just seemed superficial and only wanting to please everyone. I get that it was a different time but sometimes I just wanted to yell at her to stop worrying about pleasing everyone and doing something for herself once in a while. But like I said, as the story moved along she grew on me. By the end she was starting to do things she wanted without thinking about pleasing everyone else. Maybe that’s something I’ll see more of in the other books of the series, at least I hope.

I liked Diana a lot better than I did Elizabeth. Right from the start she was going against what was thought as proper in her society. I have to admit that those are the kinds of characters I like. She wasn’t afraid to do what she wanted despite constant warnings to be proper by different members of her family and friends. The other characters were interesting as well but Diana was my favourite, there was just something about her that made me like her and I don’t really know how to explain it.

The story itself was interesting. I don’t really read that many books that are set in a different time period so it was a refreshing change. I really like the concept of the story but at times I felt like it could have been taken further, I sometimes felt like there were holes in the story. Maybe I have to read the others books in the series to get that. Despite that fact, I was entertained by the story and for me that is enough to pick up the sequels.

The Luxe was an enjoyable read but not anything extraordinary. I would recommend it to anyone looking for something different without looking for anything with a great amount of depth. 

Book Blogger Hop (2)

Book Blogger Hop is a weekly event hosted by Jennifer of Crazy-for-Books. I participated for the first time last week and met lots of lovely book bloggers so I thought I would take part again this week.

This week's question:

RIGHT THIS INSTANT, WHAT BOOK ARE YOU DYING TO GET YOUR HANDS ON (PAST, PRESENT, OR FUTURE)?

This is actually kind of hard to answer. There are so many books I want to get my hands on but I think I have to go with Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. I absolutely loved the Mortal Instruments series and now I can't wait to read the debut to this new series. And to make things even better this series, The Infernal Devices is a sort or prequel to the books I've already read.

So that's the book I am dying to get my hands on. Thanks for stopping by and happy hopping!

Waiting On Wednesday (1)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine where we share upcoming releases that we are looking forward to.

Summary (from Amazon):

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena alive, she’s still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what’s worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss’s family, not her friends, not the people of District 12. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins’s groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year.

So basically I love the Hunger Games books. I came across the first one on a random trip to the bookstore. To be honest, there was a 3 for 2 promotion and The Hunger Games was the third book I picked up since I was essentially getting it for free. All I can say now is that I am glad I decided to choose that book because I pretty much read it in a day.

And then came Catching Fire, which once again I basically read in a day. When I was done I was just that much more in love with this trilogy. There's just something about these books that totally draws me in and I only surface when the book is over.

And now the final book, Mockingjay, is coming out and I already have it on pre-order and am eagerly awaiting August 24th when it will finally be shipped to me.

Awesome Giveaway

I was looking around at the different blogs I follow and came across an awesome giveaway. Linna of 21 Pages is having a giveaway to celebrate having 400+ followers. She is giving readers the chance to win the following ARCs:

- Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

- Delirium by Lauren Oliver

- Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

- Firelight by Sophie Jordan

- The Ivy by Lauren Kunze and Rina Onur

- Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

The best part of this giveaway? It's open internationally.

I've been waiting for some of these books for quite some time and this seems like a great opportunity to maybe get them.

So head over to Linna's blog to check out the details of this awesome giveaway!

Paper Towns by John Green

Title: Paper Towns

Author: John Green

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile

Release Date: October 16, 2008

Source: Puchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs into his life--dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge--he follows. After their all-nighter ends, and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues--and they’re for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew...

I picked up Paper Towns by John Green following the recommendation of a friend. I had been told it was an excellent book, which turned out to be quite true. From the first page I was drawn in, and didn’t leave the world Green created until the very last page, and even then I wanted more. I’m glad I decided to follow my friend’s recommendation and pick up this book.

Quentin Jacobsen has been in love with his neighbor Margo Roth Spiegelman for as long as he could remember. They had been friends as kids until they found the dead body of a man in a park near their houses, after that things change. Then one night Margo shows up in his room asking him for help with an elaborate revenge plot. When the night is over and they go their separate ways, Quentin wakes up the next morning to find Margo gone. Discoveries are made, new friendships are forged and unlikely relationships happen all the while trying to figure out what happened to Margo.

I loved Quentin. He was just so easy to like and from the start of the book you just felt for him. Also he was the narrator and a great one at that. Most of the books I read either have a third person narrator or a female first person narrator so it was really refreshing to to read something narrated by a boy. Throughout the book I was always rooting for him no matter what he was doing. I was reading and just hoping he would figure out the clues Margo left behind and eventually find her. I mean the guy had waited for Margo his whole life and when she finally goes to him she just ups and leaves the next day. I just couldn’t help but feel for him.

Quentin’s friends were awesome, I always found myself laughing at whatever went down with Ben and Radar. Even though some of their comments were really cliché most of the time I couldn’t do anything but just sit there a giggle. And when Ben finally got a girlfriend it just made things that much more funny. The other characters were also great; Lacey wasn’t all she seemed to be and the other characters just added to the story. And Margo, well there aren’t really any words to describe Margo because you don’t really know who she is until the last few pages of the book, so you can read it and see it for yourself.

The plot wasn’t what I was expecting it to be, not that this is a bad thing. I had read the summary on the back of the book and had a vague idea of what the story would be like but it was so much better than what I had originally thought. I don’t want to describe it as a mystery because, while there is a mystery in the story, I don’t really feel like that was the point of the story. And the writing was amazing, just like everything else in the book, the writing just made me want to read more.

Overall, Paper Towns was a great read that I would recommend to anyone looking for humor and mystery or even someone looking to learn something about how we see ourselves and each other. I had never read anything by John Green before but I will be sure to pick up some of his other books the next time I come across them.