Liberty, Nora and Leo Lawrence meet their cousin Laila for the first time at her mother's funeral. They knew about Laila's existence by overhearing their parents talking about her, while Laila didn't even know they existed. Laila's father had a fallout with his wealthy family before she was born and moved his family from Manhattan to Michigan where she grew up. During the two years after their first meeting, the cousins keep in touch and when Laila divorces her husband, she moves to New York to live with Nora. Laila feels that because of the rift in the family, she missed out on all the money and opportunities her cousins had and now she has every intention of getting what she feels is rightfully hers, no matter the consequences.
If you love Gossip Girl, you are going to love this. Not only the shopping trips to Bergdorf, the expensive clothes and the fabulous parties, but it also has the same level of drama as the TV show. I didn't particularly like any of the characters, except Liberty, who felt more real and more innocent. Laila is very manipulative while the other characters are shallow and only interested in class and money. The plot is intricate and very well-written and there are a few twisty moments that will keep you glued to the page of this sharp and entertaining novel. (NP)
The forgotten granddaughter of one of New York's wealthiest men is reunited with her family just as she comes of age in Andrea Dunlop's latest novel, She Regrets Nothing. The summary says: "When Laila Lawrence becomes an orphan at twenty-three, the sudden loss unexpectedly introduces her to three glamorous cousins from New York who show up unannounced at her mother's funeral. The three siblings are scions of the wealthy family from which Laila's father had been estranged long before his own untimely demise ten years before.
Two years later, Laila has left behind her quiet life in Grosse Point, Michigan to move to New York City, landing her smack in the middle of her cousins' decadent world. As the truth about why Laila's parents became estranged from the family patriarch becomes clear, Laila grows ever more resolved to claim what's rightfully hers. Caught between longing for the love of her family and her relentless pursuit of the lifestyle she feels she was unfairly denied, Laila finds herself reawakening a long dead family scandal - not to mention setting off several new ones - as she becomes further enmeshed in the lives and love affairs of her cousins. But will Laila ever, truly, belong in their world?" She Regrets Nothing is out in February 2018.