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What Members Thought
Oh the intrigue!
I got completely caught up in this luscious novel of scandal and love triangles set in 1899 New York. The book opens with the funeral of Miss Elizabeth Holland, New York's darling, pure young lady. So sad for her life to have been cut short, and the funeral being held on the very day she was supposed to marry the dashing Henry Schoonmaker... well, it's tragic indeed...
But as the novel unfolds we learn the events of the fortnight leading up to the funeral... When it comes to rela ...more
I got completely caught up in this luscious novel of scandal and love triangles set in 1899 New York. The book opens with the funeral of Miss Elizabeth Holland, New York's darling, pure young lady. So sad for her life to have been cut short, and the funeral being held on the very day she was supposed to marry the dashing Henry Schoonmaker... well, it's tragic indeed...
But as the novel unfolds we learn the events of the fortnight leading up to the funeral... When it comes to rela ...more
I couldn't put this book down. Yes the ending seemed to be a foregone conclusion and none of the characters was especially likable. Oh but the drama! The back-stabbing and conniving. I hate to admit that it was delicious fun. Lots of short 3 or 4 page chapters from the point of view of different characters makes it a quick read and good candidate for reluctant readers. The author also manages to capture the essence of the time period without weighing down the reader in too many historical detail
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I can't wait to read the rest of this series.
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Edith Wharton meets Gossip Girl, needless to say I loved it!
I don't think it would be expecting too much for depth of plot and character in a 400+ page book, but this book disagreed. It could have been awesome, but was instead merely fun. It was slow and suffered from too many characters telling the story - it wandered too much. I did get caught up in the soapy intrigues, though, and am interested in the sequel. Especially if it's about Diana and Henry, who could be very cool.
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Fun and fast read. I liked the varying points of view, and the different things that went on with the characters. I was hesitant to read it because of the Gossip Girl comparisons, but that proved to be silly. Even though it's about rich, white teens, I found it much easier to engage in than GG.
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I blew through three quarters of this book in just a few days, so it gets more than 3 stars in terms of the enjoyment factor. I predicted the ending in the first 50 pages of the book though, so that kills it a little. Still, I think I'll probably read the next one in the series.
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Fluffy story, well and intelligently written. I'd rate it higher, but I figured out the twist ending less than halfway through the book.
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Aug 28, 2008
Julia
marked it as to-read
Jun 14, 2009
Isabel
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction,
historical-fiction
Jan 02, 2011
Lisa
marked it as to-read
Jul 10, 2014
Arianna
marked it as to-read
Oct 29, 2024
Elizabeth
marked it as to-read
