Rumors

Rumors: A Luxe Novel (448 pages)

By Anna Godbersen

Published by HarperCollins

Bookish rating: 3.75

As I continue my quest to read more young adult literature, I picked up Rumors, the second in the Luxe series by Anna Godbersen.

As I’ve mentioned before, part of the draw of the Luxe books are the oh so pretty dresses on the covers. I’m a sucker for a pretty dress. Marketing schmarketing.

Rumors picks up where The Luxe left off—the same conniving, spoiled debutants and dandies of the previous book, now even deeper into drama (and, in some cases, debt) on the eve of 1900 in Manhattan. Godbersen continues the fantastic attention to historical detail that marked her previous book—dresses, fabrics, wallpaper, writing instruments, furniture, glassware, manners—which plunges the reader into the era in a delicious sort of way.

Compared to the first book, the plotting was a bit less lively and the sass (which I loved in The Luxe) was brought down a notch, so Rumors is not quite as good as its predecessor. Still, this is a perfectly enjoyable historical read. Recommended.