The Lost Girls: Three Friends. Four Continents. One Unconventional Detour Around the World. Review

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(More customer reviews)Reviewing this book and deciding how many stars to give it was difficult. I was torn between reviewing the actual book and the threesome's journey. The idea of abandoning successful lives and embarking on a year long expedition around the globe is without a doubt 5-star worthy. I'm jealous that they had the guts to take the leap, to be honest. The actual book itself, though, fell a little flat.
What Kept Me Reading
- The book changes locales often, providing the reader with the ability to see places all over the world that are off the beaten track. If I was thinking about doing this sort of trip these probably wouldn't necessarily be the places I'd think of visiting, but it was a nice tour.
- I appreciated how the narration was done- it divided the book up well (this is actually a downfall too... see below).
- The girls are honest about burn-out and conflicting emotions about the people, places, and jobs they left back home.
Not Quite Good Enough
- The writing style really annoyed me, especially when they laid it on thick. I know it's a travel log and they want to be descriptive, but the authors frequently over did it (along the lines of, "I sipped my steaming, bitter, hot coffee from the shiny white plastic top that had been tightly placed on top of the thick cardboard cup by the boyish barista who was wearing a bright green apron with dark stains on the front." This isn't actually in the book, but you can see there is some major adjective overkill).
- The three girls each tell their different stories, but, honestly, they really don't have their own narrative personalities. Yeah, they have different back-stories and a few personality quirks, but I'd often have to look at the bottom of the page to remember whose section I was reading.
- There's nothing in the book that is truly, truly exciting. They have adventurous spirits, obviously, but I everything was just portrayed in a very-low key way that was a bit disappointing. I didn't always feel the enthusiasm that I am sure was there.
- There are no pictures! A few black and white ones of their favorite places would have been nice, at least.
Again, I really admire these three women. They are brave, strong, resourceful, and extremely adept to new situations. I think one issue too is that they are used to writing blogs and articles- a 500+ page book is an entirely different beast.

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Envy: A Luxe Novel (The Luxe) Review

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(More customer reviews)Penelope is the envy of society. She is married to Henry Schoonmaker and has everything money, privilege and blackmail can buy. But she cannot force the affections of her husband, or the loyalty of her friends.
Elizabeth has lived quietly since her return to New York. Grieving the death of her husband Will --- who she cannot recognize publicly --- her mother still hopes that she can make an advantageous marriage to fortify the family fortunes. But Elizabeth harbors another secret, one that will force her to marry or to live a life of shame.
It falls to Diana to uphold her family's position and reputation. The arrival of her father's mining partner has provided a temporary reprieve from the family's financial woes, but she still supplements her income by selling society scandal to newspaper gossip columnists. Diana is also nursing a broken heart. Why would Henry Schoonmaker marry Penelope Hayes when he was really in love with her?
Needing to escape the dreary winter that is post-holiday New York, ENVY features a trip to the opulent pleasure grounds of Palm Beach and the now-vanished splendors of the Royal Ponciana Hotel. Away from the prying eyes of the New York press, Palm Beach is the perfect place for clandestine meetings and new flirtations. Diana finds that Henry's marriage has not dulled his interest in her, while she also struggles to make sense of the attention she's receiving from Penelope's dashing brother Grayson. Elizabeth finds a renewed affection for Henry's best friend Teddy, while the self-styled heiress Carolina Broud finds herself courted by the wealthy and eccentric Leland Bouchard.
Unfortunately, the reprieve of the Florida resort does not last forever. After the death of Carolina's benefactor and guardian, Carey Lewis Longhorn, they return to New York's cold, damp streets and the lives they left waiting there.
ENVY is the third book in Anna Godbersen's Luxe series set in Gilded Age New York. Her characters still sit at the top of the world, but are now living with the consequences of their choices. Hope for love and personal happiness is swiftly vanishing, along with the cash they all require to continue living their lavish lives.
Carolina Broud's situation is most perilous. When her benefactor dies, she is ejected from her hotel room and has most of her belongings seized. Briefly acting as the social secretary to another upstart heiress, she is thrown out and spends a night on the streets contemplating her future. She has no real friends. Her friendship with Penelope is built on blackmail. The money she lived on was stolen or belonged to someone else. Her sister still works as a maid in Elizabeth and Diana Holland's house. Briefly taking a job as a seamstress, she sees the life she has always dreamed of vanish into drudgery.
The Luxe series affords the same guilty pleasure and curiosity that must have fueled readers of Gilded Age gossip columns. Godbersen's rigorous attention to detail with descriptions of parties, gowns, architecture and events are a large part of what make these books so much fun to read.
But I've also appreciated Godbersen's nods to larger forces in literature in history. Carolina Broud's descent carries echoes of Edith Wharton's classic about the Gilded Age, THE HOUSE OF MIRTH. The forces of history are strong enough to convince two of the novel's characters to enlist in Theodore Roosevelt's military during the occupation of the Philippines after the Spanish-American War. I imagine readers encountering these subjects in other parts of their lives with a sense of recognition.
As for the rest of the story, the question of whether any of these characters will be able to escape the narrow confines of their roles remains to be seen. Will Carolina manage to live the life of luxury of which she's always dreamed? Will Elizabeth find love and fulfillment after so much tragedy? Will Henry and Diana ever find a way to be together? Will Penelope finally reap the rewards of her villainous behavior? None of these questions are answered in ENVY, but the next book in the series, SPLENDOR, promises more romance and intrigue in Gilded Age New York.
--- Reviewed by Sarah A. Wood

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