

If Henry and Diana had escaped on a train to either the west or even the south, they could have started over as a couple. Elizabeth ran off to the West to be with Will and no one recognized her there. I disliked the lack of enthusiasm that Henry had for his relationship with Diana. Diana chases after Henry as people in Henry’s life block him from seeing her, trying to keep him on good terms with the media. However, she is happy with the natural and free West. Elizabeth struggles with not having people to do things for her, as she wants to be a good wife to Will and not incapable of something as small as cooking dinner for him. Tristan, a worker at Lord and Taylor, decides to help Lina in trying to win over an older man in order to continue paying for her expensive lifestyle. She wonders if Will is simply a childhood fantasy or someone that she can truly consider creating a permanent life with. Lina wants to find Will and win him back, but she is running low on funds after wasting some money on keeping up her costume and the expensive hotel room she lives in. Penelope becomes more cunning as she feels hurt by Henry trying to marry her best friend and then loving the younger girl Diana rather than her, the woman he was with originally. Throughout this book, these 5 characters grow exponentially. He blames himself partially for Elizabeth’s death as well, thinking that she killed herself after finding out about his illicit relationship with Diana.

Henry is trying to decide whether to propose to Diana, the girl he loves, and Penelope, a girl that is older and not the sister of his “dead” fiancee. Lina is struggling to keep up her facade of Carolina, the rich orphaned girl.

Elizabeth has reached the West where Will had been happily waiting for her, and she starts to build a happy life with him there, albeit with less money than she was used to having. Diana wants her chance to marry Henry since she has Elizabeth’s blessing, loves him, and believes that he loves her. Penelope wants to get Henry back since Elizabeth is “dead”.

The story continues between the 5 teens from rich Manhattan during the year of 1899 in this continuation of “The Luxe”.
