Envy
Anna Godbersen
Historical Fiction
Challenge
171
1. I am currently reading the book Envy by Anna Godbersen. Envy is the third book in the Luxe series, and so far I'm really enjoying it! Right now I'm at the part where everyone has just arrived in Florida for their visit. All the characters are facing their own personal struggles as they work to cope with New York society in the early 1900s. In the first two books in the Luxe series, all of the characters climbed and fell down the social ladder, and faced love and scandal and this has continued in Envy. Henry confessed to Diana that he doesn't really love his wife Penelope, and only married her to protect Diana from the rumors Penelope would have spread if he didn't. Diana's confused now though, because Henry seems to be showing affection toward Penelope, even after he swore he had no feelings for her. Diana is also facing struggles when it comes to Grayson Hayes, Penelope's older brother and another person who is going on the week long trip to Miami. Penelope has convinced him to win the affections of Diana, and although Diana knows something is going on, she has no idea how serious Grayson really is about fooling her. Meanwhile, Elizabeth is still coming to terms with the death of her husband, Will, the family's old stable worker. Their relationship was a secret, and after coming back to New York for a few days after running away to San Francisco, Will get's shot in the train station. The whole scandal was covered up, and instead, the public was told that Elizabeth was kidnapped for all of the months she was gone. Luckily Elizabeth has an old friend and admirer to comfort her, Teddy, while they're on the trip. Although Teddy doesn't know the truth about Elizabeth's absence, Elizabeth was very close to telling him about everything. Carolina Broad is the last main character that Envy revolves around. Formerly Lina Broud, Carolina is an old servant of the Hollands, Elizabeth and Diana. She as well loved Will but when he chooses Elizabeth over her, and Elizabeth fires her for being rude, Carolina comes to Penelope and shares all of the Holland's secrets--for a price. Penelope remakes the servant into a lady fit for high society, and teaches her the ropes of the upper class. Now Carolina's on the trip to Florida as well, and is flaunting her new life in front of Elizabeth at any chance she gets. The last major thing that happens to Carolina so far is that she is taking a walk on the train with a love interest of hers, Leland, when they lean against a railing and Carolina almost falls off the train and dies. Fortunately, Leland saves her from an early death.
2. So far, I am really enjoying this book. The characters are well developed, and although the plot is hard to imagine for me, since it's set in the early 1900s, I'm not sure everything that they talk about could have really happened. For example, Penelope helps Elizabeth fake her death in the second book, and how they do it seems totally unrealistic to me. I don't doubt that the characters could be this way though, with all of the hidden scandals, and the backstabbing and rumors. In a way, it sort of like Gossip Girl, set in the 1900s, which makes things a little more fun and interesting to read, as I can connect things and plot points to other books. One thing I don't like is that there doesn't seem to one genuinely good or nice person in the book. All of the characters are clever and ruthless. It makes it harder for me to connect to the characters, as most of them don't seem like good people. The only person that really seems to be nice is Diana, and even she isn't as innocent as she would like to appear.
3. One theme that pops up a lot is Jealousy. Every character in the book is jealous of something or someone else in the book. Penelope of jealous of Diana because Henry still loves her, and she knows it. Diana is jealous of Penelope because it appears to her that Henry loves Penelope, after all he is married to her. Henry is jealous of Grayson because Diana is pretending to like him, intentionally to make Henry jealous. Carolina is jealous of pretty much everyone, for their money, their class, and their lovers. She is especially jealous of Elizabeth because Will chose Elizabeth over her, and ended up marrying and running away with her. The only person who doesn't blatantly envy someone else is Elizabeth. I think though, that Elizabeth is a little jealous of her sister Diana, because she get's to lead a normal life while she is stuck in mourning. In a way, she also envies Will, because she left him, and he left her alone in the world, as a widow with no real friends.
4. Although a lot of the characters in this book are downright awful, my favorite character by far is Diana. She's clever and young, and attracts the attention of Henry without needing any of the makeup or raunchy clothing that Penelope uses. She doesn't need to try hard to be classy, unlike some of the characters who try so hard to be perfect, and fall flat. Diana is also a lot like me in a way, where she's a little innocent, and would rather stay home and read a book than go out to balls and land in the gossip columns in the newspaper. She's also very perceptive, as she can tell right away when Grayson is trying to win her affections, when he never payed any attention to her before. She uses it to her advantage though, and is very mischievous. She's nothing like her prim older sister, and in the first book she was a bit of a devil, that was kind of clueless when it came to the proper way of acting in public. Overall, Diana seems like the most deep character, and she definitely does the least backstabbing.
5. My least favorite character is Carolina, because everything about her is fake. Her personality, life, and even her name are untrue. She tries so hard to be someone she's not when really she had a pretty good life before she got herself fired, and decided that she wanted to join the life of the upper class. She is also the reason Will died really, as she told Penelope about Elizabeth and Will's secret relationship and ended up causing them to run away and eventually causing Will to die when people mistake him as Elizabeth's kidnapper. Even after that she doesn't seem to have any regrets and instead she blows through all of the money Penelope traded her for the secrets she told. To keep from having to go back to the life of a maid, Carolina befriends many wealthy men, many of them older particularly one extremely wealthy old man Mr. Longhorn. She makes him take her to parties and dinners, even though he is sick, and when he requests she not go on the trip to Florida to take care of him, but instead she ignores him and goes, claiming she wants to go because she has never been out of the city when in reality she sees her love interest Tristan who also goes on the trip, a tailor at Lord and Tailor. When I read this book, and everything that she thinks and does, it just confirms for me that she doesn't have a good bone in her body.
6. I think that as the book continues, a romance between Teddy and Elizabeth will bloom. I think that because multiple times, have they been close to kissing, before Elizabeth shies away, remembering Will, and thinking how sad he would be. I think that their chemistry will be hard to ignore, and with the family's financial problems after the death of her father, she will end up becoming romantically involved, and maybe even married to Teddy. If she were to marry someone else, I would want her to marry him, because he genuinely loves her as far as I can tell, and his sweet nature will be good for her as she continues grieving for the husband the world never knew she had. I also think that Diana will end up using Grayson to make Henry more jealous, but somehow that will backfire, and the city will somehow end up knowing about the secret relationship that Henry and Diana had. I think that Carolina will come back to an angry Mr. Longhorn, since she left him home alone, and a fight will erupt between them, since Carolina seems like she can be very stubborn when she want to be.
No comments:
Post a Comment