The Luxe by Anna Godbersen

Mystery, Scandal, Romantic Intrigue... just a few words that describe the exciting lives of The Luxe elite.

It's Manhattan, 1899, the year an angelic bride-to be is lost, an event that shatters the delicate balance of her world, and allows havoc to break free in the lives of those closest to her. The girl is Elizabeth Holland, and at this point in time she's alive, but not quite well. She's rich, beautiful, and unbelievably lucky. Everyone loves her and it would seem all she'd have to do to keep her charmed, fabulous life would be to marry the perfect man and bask in the light of her wonderful life. But for Elizabeth, who everyone sees as the poster child of morals, and good conduct, her life is anything but easy, and when her family life takes a turn for the worse, Elizabeth takes the troubles that her mother so willingly puts on her shoulders, and does her best to remain the perfect girl in everyone's eyes by doing exactly as she's told, even if it breaks her heart in the process.

Enter Henry Schoonmaker, the handsome bachelor that any girl would marry in a heartbeat, who by his fathers insistence, courts Elizabeth who is in love with another man. But with Henry being her only considerable proposal, since her family has run into money troubles, she chooses to accept not wanting to see her family end up in ruin because of her.

At the same time, her sister Diana is being charmed by Henry, while he's trying to shake off the love of Elizabeth's "frenemy," Penelope Hayes, who takes Elizabeth's old maid Lina Broud under her wing in hopes of using her for information that could ruin Elizabeth's reputation and knock her off the top of the social ladder, making her the richest girl in Manhattan and bringing Henry back into her arms.

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This was a pretty good book, though at the time I was reading it I was reading so many things that I felt like I never really got into it. :P But it was good! And It was exciting so I will definitely be reading the next book! :D

I give it 4 out of 5 stars just because I'm not sure I thought it was great. =/ But it was good!









This is her Myspace:

This is the Official site for the books:

And this is the Harper Teen book Site! :)





And here's a peek at the cover for the next book in the series, Indulgence!

http://community.fordmodels.tv/photo/photo/show?id=1225957%3APhoto%3A150996&context=user

Enjoy!

Austenland by Shannon Hale

For a Jane Austen fanatic/ Colin Firth Fangirl, you'd think a trip to Austenland would be the dream vacation you'd be dying to take, but for Jane Hayes, an artist stuck in a job were she has to manipulate pixels instead of her preferred paint, it's a nightmare.

After going through 15 boyfriends, each one breaking her heart a little at a time and leaving little for the next man, let alone for Jane's spirit, only finding comfort in ordering in and watching the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice for the trillionth time, all the while dreaming that soon the day will come when she'll meet her Mr. Darcy, is it any wonder she's a little hesitant to delve fully into her fantasy for fear she might loose herself completely?

But, deciding that going on this trip might help her kick her Darcy obsession once and for all, she goes, hoping her decision wont make everything worse.

In Austenland, she dumps her jeans and t-shirts for bonnets, bloomers, corsets,and gowns, but finds she hasn't taken to her fantasy as quickly as she thought she would, unable to shake the fear of going for something that wont last. But soon, as Jane finds sticking to the rules of Austenland harder then she'd anticipated, and feeling a little silly about being mixed in with the wealthy women who come to Austenland to find a fling, or fulfill a fantasy, she can't "help" but fall for the gardener, Martin, who seems to agree with her about Austenland and it's inhabitants.

But will meeting Martin bring her something long term, or put her right back where she was before coming to Austenland?

Well I'm not going to tell you! :P

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Overall I thought this was a really cute book! I cared about Jane and wanted to read to the end as things got more exiting! It did get a little depressing in the beginning because Jane had had so many heartaches but things picked up and it ended up being a really satisfying read.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.








Her Offical Site:
http://www.squeetus.com/