Order, elegance, prosperity. 
 And so begins the story of Landry Park by Bethany Hagen, and what a story it is. Landry Park is hailed as a cross between Downtown Abbey and The Selection, but I can't really say that it is having never seen or read either. What I can say is that Landry Park is an interesting and enjoyable read that will keep you on your toes from beginning to end. 
 While the story itself was a good one, the characters left me wanting more. Our main character Madeline is a likable but albeit naive character. Torn between family duty and her own desires, I wanted her to have a bit more steel in her spine. David, even though he is touted as mysterious and charming, was a bit of a bore for me. I wasn't really able to connect with him at all, nor did I buy him as a romantic hero. Like Madeline, I wanted a bit more from him than I was getting. Still, it will be interesting to see just how both of their characters develop as the story progresses. 
 Landry Park, for me, is as much a social commentary as it is a book. It highlights our obsession with appearances, money, power, and maintaining the status quo - even sometimes to our society's detriment. What it highlights the most for is that old saying 'those who win the war are the same who write the history books'. And of course, as demonstrated in Landry Park, what is written in those history books, and as such used to shape society, is not always true or fair to all. 
 Are you justifying our bondage with the fact that we happen to be different colors? Just because this isn't exactly like what happened back then doesn't mean that this isn't wrong. We toil, we sicken, and we die while you all play dress-up in your fancy houses, and we have no choice. If that's not close enough to slavery for you, then you need to return to your history books. 
 Ewan 
 Appearances can be deceiving and Landry Park by Bethany Hagen more than proves this in spades. And that ending has me eagerly anticipating just how the rest of this series will play out. 
 The Bottom Line: Landry Park will appeal to fans of Lauren DeStefano's The Chemical Garden series. Instead of the subjugation and exploitation of women that we find in DeStefano's series, Landry Park deals with the subjugation and exploitation of an entire class of people; both male and female, young and old, and regardless of race, religion or creed.