***Review*** Rumours (The Luxe #2) by Anna Godbersen

On the Back of the Book


December 1899 - New York City

Manhatten has bid farewell to its brightest star, the dazzling Miss Elizabeth Holland. Yet the rumours about her untimely demise continue. Meanwhile her sister, the irrepressible Diana, has been seen in the company of not one but three eligible bachelors. Might there be a fourth?

In high society, reputation is everything.
The Holland family simply can't afford to be the subject of such wicked whispers. Heaven forbid that they should fall so spectacularly from grace...

There is a very fine line between truth and lies, love and hate. And all is about to be gloriously revealed.


Pre Read Thoughts


Once again this is a re-read and I was initially attracted by the cover, looking at the UK cover now though it's too busy with all the stuff coming out of the corners. They take over the picture and detract from the beautiful girl in the beautiful dress (which is why I'm using the US cover). The RRP is £6.99 and that's what I paid for it. It's a fair price. I admit that I was disappointed with the generic symopsis because The Luxe's was so indvidual and I guess I was hoping that they'd stick with that idea.


Post Read Thoughts


After reading this book for a second time, I'm beginning to thoroughly regret my decision to re-read this series. What 18 year-old me loved, 20 year-old me detests and this is no exception. This book would be so much better if it was a couple of hundred pages shorter and if every single item of clothing was given its own paragraph. Okay, I may have exagerrated about the clothing a little but so much of this book is irrelevant to the plot development. It took me nearly a month to read this I was so bored and frustrated. I kept putting it down after a couple of pages. Reading a book should be fun.

The characters are so incredibly dull. They don't want to make me read the book, they make me want to throw it into a fire or at the very least at a wall. I don't connect with them in any way or have any sympathy for them whatsoever. Their behaviour  is atrocious and there don't seem to be any repercussions for them either. If I had to choose a character that was tolerable I'd say Diana, but only because I liked her in book one, she's had a complete personality transplant in this one and I missed the old her. I have nithing further to say on any of them because they aren't worth my time and I should be naming a character because I either liked them or loathed them, not because I have to.

Overall I'm not a fan of this book anymore, it's too like Gossip Girl and that series bored me to tears. There's too much fashion and not enough depth to the story. I found the writing to be boring and too focussed on unimportant, trivial details. On a positive note I like the idea of starting the book with the main event from the end of the book. Granted, I'd like the idea more if the rest of the book was good quality writing but apparently I'm asking far too much.


My Rating

2 stars - No more Mrs Nice Reviewer, I gave the first one 3 stars because I used to like it but I can't do it with this one as well. It isn't fair to the books that I give a good rating to because I like them. This book is distinctly average. There's not too much that I did like but there isn't anything that truly drove me crazy and made me feel anything towards this book. If you're absolutely desperate and this is the only book you have to read then go ahead, otherwise steer clear unless you're a Gossip Girl fan.