Gossip Girl

Rating:
Summary: Young, rich and spoiled in NYC!
Review: This feisty novel's realistic situations make it a great read. Gossip Girl is about teenagers from the Upper East Side and their world of jealousy, competition and the fine line between friendship and rivalry. The novel focuses on academic achiever Blair and her gorgeous and scandalous friend Serena. Having returned to Constance Billard School after two years in boarding school, Serena hopes to rekindle her friendship with Blair. However, with the help of a gossip web site, Blair questions her friendship with Serena after she discovers various secrets...

Gossip Girl's characters are all vibrant and interesting because each illustrates the lifestyle in which upper class teens live under. Their lives are the padding out of how they become superficial socialites in their adult lives. The novel's language is satirical and fun to read. This is without a doubt "Sex and the City for the younger set," as one of the critics had said. However, everyone -- regardless of age -- could enjoy Gossip Girl. I look forward to reading the other parts of this promising series.

Rating:
Summary: Review of Gossip Girl
Review: Although this book could be viewed like a trashy catty novel of the upper class life, it is very enjoyable and a good light, funny read. I read it in one sitting- I was unable to put it down! I am a gossip girl myself, and I was able to realate to the characters in that sense- even though they live in the Upper West side of Manhattan, go to private schools, live in huge apartments, wear expensive designer brands, and drink at the ages of 17 and 18. Another appealing aspect was that it took many unexpected twists and turns- backstabbing friends, cheating boyfriends, people being kicked out of boarding school, parties that not everyone is invited to, and detailed hook-ups. I loved not knowing what would happen next, and I loved being a part of this other world that isn't explored much. I definately reccomend this book for any teenage girls who want a fun summer read. Just beware- this may not neccesarily be mom or dad's first pick- it has a few explicit scences and language.

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Summary: Gossip Girls, a must reader
Review: Gossip girls #1 is truly an inspiring book. It tells a story about a girl (Blair) and her friends and their lives. Tuly when i read it, it truly changed the way i thought of life. Its so amazing how people act so different because of where or the way they live. i am now reading #2 and i cant wait to read more. these books are good for readers that like everyday life. Its also for readers that like to read dramma and looking into a persons feelings. i love thoes kind of book personally, and i will continue to read them now.
Jessica Greenwich,Connecicut

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Summary: Non-Reader Gets Addicted
Review: I'll admit it, I hardly ever read, unless it's required for school, that is. But a friend highly recommended the Gossip Girl Series to me, so I thought I'd give it a try. By the time I had finished the first 10 pages, I was hooked: I read the first book in a day and by the end of the week had finished #2 and #3. The engrossing characters make you either love them or hate them, but either way, you're just dying to find out what will happen to them next. I recommend this book to anyone who likes the teen-series genre (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Sloppy Firsts, etc.) If you enjoy books like that, there is NO WAY you won't love the Gossip Girl series!!

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Summary: Scandalous and addictive!
Review: This is a great book for any girl looking for an easy, fun read. About a group of ritzy Manhattanites, the Gossip Girl crowd makes me nostalgic for a world I've never known. It's enough to make me wish I live in a penthouse on 5th Avenue and shop at Barney's all the time, except . . .
The people in the Gossip Girl world are pretty nasty. But that's what makes this story so intriguing. The author pulls you into a world of fabulous parties, beatiful girls, hot boys, designer clothes, and of course, a LOT of drinking. You actually get to feel like you know the people (in my case, I loved and sympathized with Serena, and thought Blair was a you-know-what). After reading Gossip Girl, you'll be surprised at what happens in the sequel, You Know You Love Me, and you'll probably find it hard to hate any of the characters, as the sequel deals a lot more in depth with the main characters.
So go ahead, you know you want to! Enter the world of Gossip Girl.

Rating:
Summary: SHALLOW, HORRIBLE, UGH
Review: The word cashmere appears a gazillion times in this book. Cashmere scarf, cashmere sweater, blah blah blah. I'm sure rich people have clothes that AREN'T made of cashmere too. Aside from Cecily Von Ziegesar's obsession of cashmere clothing, there are the leather pants. These aren't mentioned as many times, but enough so you get the idea that they are really in vogue or something (I saw or something because...leather pants?!)

Serena is a blonde. She is perfect. All the boys love her. She's beautiful. She's freaking infallable! Ugh, that's so, so, shallow. She has NO character. I hate it when it describes her eyes getting bigger when she's about to cry. I feel like slapping her and going, "Snap out of it!" I know that may sound evil, but, you may say the same thing too.

I must say, Blair is the most likeable character in the book. Although she is too mean sometimes (ignoring Serena and so on), she actually has some DEPTH. Jeez. She's the only character that seems real.

Nate is a @*%&!(^%&. Enough said.

For a "dark" and "hardcore" person, Dan totally surprised me with his obsession with Serena. That and other things (the descriptions of him reading L'Etranger) makes me think that he is a fake. Yes, Dan is a fake.

I just feel sorry for Jenny. She's a good girl, I think. Just maybe a little misguided. She is dead centre on the road to becoming a stalker though. Just a liiiiitle creepy.

Chuck. Poor poor Chuck. He had such potential. Yes, he is sleezy, but I can't help thinking that he is somehow going to come out in the end as a hero. He's the one I think that will eventually end up with Serena. I don't know if that's a good think or a bad think. He's one of the better characters (although maybe not that morally high on the good characters scale).

And there you have it, my opinion of the book AND the main characters. Don't judge it until you read it, but I'm not going to suggest that you read it. Go read the Sisterhood of the Traveling pants or the Georgia Nicholson series (The first book is Angus Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging). If you want to read some fluff (don't get me wrong, I love reading the stuff), go read Confessions of a Shopaholic. Much better.

Rating:
Summary: Juicy Gossip
Review: The books kind of remind me of my fave movie, Cruel Intentions, with the Upper East side teenagers living the rich life, going to fabulous parties, into smoking, drinking and sex, all while their parents are off somewhere living the high life on their money. I'm not sure if I was supposed to like them or not but I ended up sympathizing with both Blair and Serena in these books. It's got plenty of love triangles and of course, gossip about all our fave characters. The whole gossip girl.net thing was a great idea. You get really involved in these characters and want to know what will happen next, I'm on the second book at the moment. I started reading them because I found out they were making a Gossip Girl movie and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I hope the movie is as great as the books, and I hope it's rated R. Here's the gossip: Lindsay Lohan is at this moment the most likely candidate for the role of Blair. I personally would of gone with a Sophia Bush type but Lindsay is cool, she'll pull it off. All for now! You know you love me;)

Rating:
Summary: Naugitly Nice
Review: Gossip Girl is one of those books that you pick up in the bookstore, expecting a cheesy, teenage, drama with mediocre to horrid writing quality. Well, this book was quite different.

The author, Cecily von Ziegesar used a very natural writing style that was extremely easy and quick. However, she had a wonderful way of describing to you everything that was going on in the story line, and describing the traits of the characters, so you could get a very vivid and clear image in your head. Every facial expression that the practical goddess of a girl, Serena van der Woodsen makes is so material and lifelike as the words leap off the page to illustrate a magnificent picture. It is also very nice how Ziegesar adds so much suspense to her brilliantly written novel.

Though this book is not some mushy-gushy typical teenage book, it is directed towards the teenage crowd. This novel would probably not be considered appropriate for people under the age of fourteen. A lot of the book focuses on sex and drugs. One thing is for sure though, Gossip Girl definitely shows you almost of the negative effects that drugs have on you, especially through the hunk-of-a-character, Nate, who is Blair's boyfriend and a major pot head. This book goes through topics like losing your virginity and how it happens. It actually serves as a warning saying how to avoid things like this, though that message may be buried deep under the intrigue of the story.

Gossip Girl is one of those books that you cannot put down. The reason that this is so, is because it relates so much to the young crowd's real lives. There is the poor crowd that nobody talks to, then the average crowd that does fine with themselves, but then an elite, crowd which is a small and selective crowd of their own. Blair Waldorf, Serena van der Woodsen, and all of their friends, male and female, all have unlimited amounts of money, fabulous clothes, and bad drinking habits. Just like in any other society, their group of friends is just like them, and their business is left a mystery to the public eye. That is until the unknown Gossip Girl herself makes a web site that displays all that goes on in this crowd of people. Everyone reads that web site because it is oh-so-juicy and mysterious.

Although this book is now one of my very favorites, it is not one that you read to acquire knowledge in the vocabulary department. The largest word used in Gossip Girl is incessantly, which is used various times throughout the novel. It's not exactly a good-for-you book either. Let's just say that if you were reading to help improve your chances at getting a high SAT score, Gossip Girl would not be one of the books that would be the best to read in that kind of a situation. It's more of a pleasure novel than I have ever read in my entire life, though I thoroughly enjoyed it to its fullest potential.

Next time you are looking for a naughty, exciting, and daring novel, pick up a copy of Gossip Girl. It certainly won't kill you, and you will have a lot of fun with it. I know I did, and now I am hooked. I just can't wait to start book two, since you know there is five wonderful books in all!

Rating:
Summary: awesome!!
Review: I read this book in three days. I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN!! It is so good. The characters are these little rich kids who have no rules in their house, and no parental supervision. They're the kind of characters you at first envy, and then come to see how much you would hate their lives. All in all, this book is awesome!

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Summary: Gossip Girls by Cecily von Ziegesar
Review: I have recently read the book Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar . What made me read this book is that my fiends were always talking about it and it sounded interesting. Gossip girls takes place in New York. The book is about the life of rich, spoiled high school senior boys and girls that do what they want when they want. You get the idea of that when the character Blaire says that all of her friends parents and her parents let them drink and do drugs as long as you keep you grades up, look good and of course, keep you clothes on. They let their children do that because they believe that the more you have access to it, the less likely you are to abuse the privilege. They girl characters go to an all girls private school and all the boys go to an all boys private school. In the beginning of the book you get introduced to Blair, Nate, Katie and Serena. During the school week they act like good kids and have high GPA's, but on the weekends they got stoned and drunk at parties. You get sucked into the book the minute you start reading it. The book makes you feel like you know the characters personally and that you are reading a note that a friend passes to you in English class. The climax of the book is when Serena comes back from to school after being kicked out of her boarding school in France. No one knows why she got kicked out, so of course crazy rumors are spread. By the rumors and stories about Serena, you would think that she is a horrible person with a black hole as a heart but by the end of the novel you realize that she is not so bad as everyone says she is. Blaire and Serena used to be best friends before Serena went to France. They would go to crazy parties, get drunk, and then pass out on their bed until they were sober enough to go home. Although I loved this book, personally I thought that the amount of alcohol that the teenagers consumed was ridiculous and unrealistic. The writer of this book uses simple language while occasionally throwing in complex words while also uses some slang here and there. I would put a PG-13 rating on this book due to use of drugs, sex and mature language. This book is probably more suitable for teenage girls. Another this that I liked about the book was that every chapter of so there would be a page form "gossip girl. net" its where you would send emails to this anonymous "gossip girl" and tell her all the gossip that's been happening and it shows what she sent the person back. The book reminds me of the new movie that came out titled mean girls. Overall I really enjoyed reading Gossip Girls and I highly recommend it.