Chinese Whispers
By Kathryn Bell / Spinebreakers Crew
The ‘death’ of society’s favourite golden girl, Elizabeth Holland, caused great changes to the people and places The Luxe had made us so familiar with. New York is approaching the Christmas season and Mr Schoonmaker has nearly ended his official mourning period. In steps the ambitious, persistent Penelope Hayes ready to take up Elizabeth’s mantle with a charade at purity and goodness. Meanwhile Diana Holland is pleasing her ailing parent and being seen with many a bachelor.
So begins Rumours, Anna Godbersen’s second novel, and it throws up more situations that aren’t altogether as pleasing as they seem. The diversity of the characters was what really got me through this novel and it was fun to see how they would react to each other’s actions. But apart from that I was a little disappointed.
Don’t get me wrong, it was a good book if that is your kind of thing but I’ve never been an ardent romantic, or a love-driven teen. This book was without the murder mystery element that I liked in The Luxe, instead the mystery here being a purely romantic one. It fell a bit flat in terms of predictability, the only bit that surprised me being a tragic incident in the last few chapters.
It was probably my own fault as I didn’t really imagine The Luxe would have a sequel until I reached that little page that read ‘Read on for a preview of the next book: Rumours’ so I started it in the wrong frame of mind. Aside from that it was an all right book, but my own tastes stopped me liking it a little.
If you’re a Twilight/romance fan or female and between the ages of 12 and 16 then I’m sure you’ll love this. The characters were interesting and I love anything set in the past so in that respect it was great. A mixed opinion.
6/10