The women of Luxe

I have been interested in this book ever since I saw it on the shelves of Bestsellers in Robinson's Galleria. Not because I have read its short description of the back of the cover but because of the gowns that the women in the covers wore. I have always called this book the Gossip Girl of the turn of 19th century New York.
When finally i have come to buy this book, I couldn't put it down. As a person who likes to socialize and host parties, I have come to love this book. Along the pages of the book you would find out that what ever era we are living the social classes in New York always acts the same.

For book one: The Luxe, enter Elizabeth Holland. The eldest among the two Holland sisters. She is fresh from Paris and just turned 18. Due to their unfortunate financial drop Elizabeth was forced to marry into money rather then love. Enter Henry Shoonemaker, son of the wealthy William Shoonmaker who almost own all of New York. However, Penelope Hayes (bestfriend of Elizabeth Holland) has eyes on Henry who surprisingly fell in love with Diana Holland, sister of Elizabeth who hasn't even turned 18 yet.
Elizabeth didn't really love Henry, in face she loved Will Keller, their coachman. So with the help of Penelope, Elizabeth staged her own death and elope to California with Will.

On to the second book: Rumors. Rumors is Elizabeth isn't really dead. Penelope thought with Elizabeth out of the picture she can have Henry, but no, Henry is head over heels with Diana. So, when she found Carolina Broad (former hand maiden of Elizabeth Holland) homeless since she was fired from the Holland House, Carolina became her source of black mail to Henry into marrying her.

Third book: Envy: Penelope successfully blacked mailed Henry into marrying her. But Henry isn't even sleeping with her nor talking to her. They have acted civilized wife and man in front of the public eyes. Meanwhile, Carolina Broad has became an overnight socialite when a rich old bachelor left her his entire estate (talk about gold digger). But this girl didn't even came to love nor care about the old bachelor, instead she went out seeking for a different young bachelor that she fell inlove with

The final showdown: Splendor. By the end of Envy, Henry sent Diana a letter stating his going off to the army. Carefree as she is she followed him. They did have time to themselves until Henry's superior found out and ship them back to New York. Meanwhile, Penelope went after a European Prince and thought the Prince actually fell inlove with her which on later on the end of the book she was dump (talk about karma) And here is the good stuff i liked about the book. Henry and Diana didn't live happily ever after. In the end they still love each other. Even though Henry has divorced Penelope, Diana still can't see herself as a second wife to Henry Shoonemaker. She wanted Henry to come with her to Paris and live a new life. Unfortunately Henry didn't love her enough to do it.

Moral of the story? Well, don't be a Penelope coz one day or another Karma will knock on your door. ^_^ I love the book,  the glitz and glamour the fame and glory, the freedom to be able to host parties that the newspapers will print the next day or people that will talk about for days. To where fancy clothes... I dream of that life. Too bad I need lots of money to do that. And money is what i do not have. *sigh*