Gossip Girl in a hoop skirt

Rumors, the sequel to Luxe, Anna Godbersen's 2007 novel about Manhattan debutantes at the turn of the previous century, is now out in stores:


I loved the cover art for Luxe, but I couldn't get past the book's official summary, which suggested the book had a lot more in common with Gossip Girl than The Age of Innocence:

"Pretty girls in pretty dresses, partying until dawn.
Irresistible boys with mischievous smiles and dangerous intentions.
White lies, dark secrets, and scandalous hookups.
This is Manhattan, 1899."

Riiiiight. Look, I don't mind suspending a little disbelief, but I suspect it was easier and less dangerous for rich boys in the 19th century to direct any "dangerous intentions" at lower-class girls. Plus, even if debutantes were allowed the freedom to experience a few "scandalous hookups", which I doubt, they probably would have hesitated out of fear of little things like, oh, pregnancy, social ostracism, or disease. Godbersen's idea is solid, but you'd get more social realism from reading Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle trilogy.