As a librarian who helps people find good books to read for a living, there is one thing that I know for sure: a reader’s mood or what’s going on in their lives does affect what they want and choose to read. Let me share a case in point: myself.
I generally read “literary” fiction—old and new. For me, literary means anything that is well-written (a totally subjective thing) with engaging characters (at least one of which I can relate to). I don’t generally read for plot; I don’t mind if nothing much happens in a book if the language or the characters move me.
At the end of my pregnancy and soon after my second son was born this fall, I noticed that I really wanted to read for plot and character—writing, especially if it’s too complex or clever, is out the window. So what have I been reading? Answer: Teen fiction!
Last pregnancy I felt the same way. All I wanted to read was fun, juicy, plot-driven teen novels. No bleak contemporary adult novels about the sorrows of life or the stultifying suburbs for me! I inhaled the Twilight series shortly after my son was born. This time I tried another vampire series — the first in local author Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series. Loved it and will read more in the series soon.
But I quickly moved on to Anna Godbersen’s Luxe series. I have read Luxe and Rumors have eagerly started the third, Envy, and can’t wait for the forthcoming Splendor (available soon at the library). 
The Luxe books are set in 1899 Manhattan among the beautiful, rich and envied. They have been called “deliciously soapy” and been lauded a historical series for the Gossip Girl set. Wharton they are not, but I must say that I have found them fairly well-written and thoroughly engaging (if not entirely historically accurate). Lies, intrigue and love triangles abound and anticipation is drawn out with some fancy plot twists.
The first book, Luxe, starts out with the drowning disappearance and death of a beloved society debutante, Elizabeth Holland, who was set to wed the dashing Henry Schoonmaker the next day. The story flashes backwards in time to introduce Elizabeth, her unruly younger sister Diana, Elizabeth’s duplicitous, power-hungry friend Penelope, and Henry, who falls prey to some diabolical twists in the first and subsequent books.
The rise and fall of fortunes, forbidden love and society’s constrictions and whims are on full display in this page-turning series. I would suggest these books to older teens and, of course, adults, too.
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