Summary: It's 1899, and while there were no celebrity gossip blogs, the lives of young socialites were followed just as ardently as they are today. Elizabeth Holland was the perfect young debutante, but tragically, her funeral was held on the very day she was to marry Henry Schoonmaker, the most eligible young bachelor in town, although admittedly a bit of a cad. The novel then backtracks a few weeks and dives right in to the steamy, sordid, scandalous web of attachments of the young well-to-do in New York City at the end of the nineteenth century. Parental pressures force Henry's engagement to Elizabeth, but she's in love with Will, a servant. Penelope, Elizabeth's ex-best-friend, is in love with Henry and cannot stand the idea of any one else marrying him. Meanwhile, Henry discovers that he's falling for Elizabeth's younger sister, Diana. Complications ensue.
Review: Wonderful, fluffy fun. I haven't read any of the Gossip Girl books (nor do I particularly want to), so I can't comment on the comparison, but I do enjoy some good historical fiction. This book served admirably - it evoked turn-of-the-century New York effortlessly, provided a cast of interesting (if somewhat stereotypical) characters, and let the scandal and backstabbing and liaisons and lies begin. The shifting viewpoint of each short chapter moved the story along at a good clip, although there was one subplot (that of Elizabeth's maid, Lina) that I didn't feel was incorporated or resolved as well as it could have been, and winds up feeling somewhat tangential to the main story. Overall, though, this is the literary equivalent of every teen soap that has ever aired on the WB... slightly trashy, a little predictable, horribly addicting, and even though you know there's probably something more edifying you could be doing with your time, you get involved with it anyways because it's just so much fun.
Recommendation: This book is in no way serious literature, but it's a fun read for fans of historical romance whose brains need a bit of a break from heavier tomes.
Review: Wonderful, fluffy fun. I haven't read any of the Gossip Girl books (nor do I particularly want to), so I can't comment on the comparison, but I do enjoy some good historical fiction. This book served admirably - it evoked turn-of-the-century New York effortlessly, provided a cast of interesting (if somewhat stereotypical) characters, and let the scandal and backstabbing and liaisons and lies begin. The shifting viewpoint of each short chapter moved the story along at a good clip, although there was one subplot (that of Elizabeth's maid, Lina) that I didn't feel was incorporated or resolved as well as it could have been, and winds up feeling somewhat tangential to the main story. Overall, though, this is the literary equivalent of every teen soap that has ever aired on the WB... slightly trashy, a little predictable, horribly addicting, and even though you know there's probably something more edifying you could be doing with your time, you get involved with it anyways because it's just so much fun.
Recommendation: This book is in no way serious literature, but it's a fun read for fans of historical romance whose brains need a bit of a break from heavier tomes.