Envy: The Luxe Novels, #3 -- Anna Godbersen
So, in Envy (spoilers ahead if you haven't read the first two books):
Since Penelope blackmailed Henry into marrying her by threatening to reveal her knowledge about Henry and Diana getting horizontal, he's spent most of his waking hours trying to drink himself into oblivion and the marriage has not been consummated because he hates her and sleeps on the couch, a fact that is unknown to Diana because she has burned every single letter he's sent to her since the wedding and because Penelope has been sure that he Keeps Up Appearances in public. Elizabeth's very brief marriage to her True Love the stable boy Will Keller was lovely, but her period of mourning is difficult not only because hello, she's grieving, but also because the marriage was a secret and No One Can Know About It or The Family Will Be Ruined. Her grief has also been affecting her ability to keep food down. And Lina is continuing to claw her way to the top of the social ladder.
So, the whole crew of non-friends heads down to Florida for a vacation where trysts are had, Elizabeth suffers from motion sickness on the train, Teddy makes laser beam eyes of love at Elizabeth, Diana and Henry make laser beam eyes of love at each other and Penelope makes laser beam eyes of death at both of them, Diana keeps losing her shoes, there is sea-bathing, much liquor is tossed back, money is gambled, secrets are found out and Life-Changing Decisions Are Made.
This is another series that I can't help reading, even though there's no logical reason for me to continue. Not because of the writing, like that other *cohouseofnightugh* series I can't stop reading, though I do think that they could be edited down a tad*. It's that, minus the amazing twist at the end of the second book, I've never been really surprised by anything that's happened. And that, unless something way crazy happens in the next (and last) book, everything's so clearly going in a certain direction that it might as well all be wrapped up in my mind.
Yet, like Days, it's somehow still fascinating. Maybe because I do have some amount of affection for some of the the characters. And because even though they all started out like time-traveling clones of the Gossip Girl characters, they've become their own selves in my mind. Penelope Hayes is not longer the 1900 version of Blair Waldorf. Blair Waldorf is a beast, but I can't help liking her. Penelope Hayes, on the other hand, I could shove down three flights of stairs and smile while I watched her tumble. So there's that. And I'm curious to see which way things will go with Lina. Because on one hand, she's selfish and conniving and backstabby, with no real sense of honor or loyalty, so I'd like to see her go down. But on the other, if she does, then the only major characters from the lower class will have suffered bad ends. I'M ALL CONFLICTED.
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*Then again, if the books were thinner, HarperCollins wouldn't be able to wrap those pretty, pretty covers around them.
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Previously: