Because I'm Worth It by School Library Journal
Mood:  bright
Topic: Editorial Review
Grade 9 Up--All the regular cast is present in this fourth installment in the series. Situations and alliances have shifted, but these are still beautiful, rich kids whose lives are the stuff of fantasy, and whose achievements seem effortless. Almost by accident, Dan gets a poem published in the New Yorker. Vanessa's film New York is used as a backdrop for an important fashion show. Serena lands a modeling job just by entering a clothing store. However, there is also a darker side to the characters' lives. Neglected and unloved by their self-centered parents, these teens are dying to be noticed. Nate gets busted for drug use. Within hours of meeting a new girl in group counseling, he ends up saving her life when she overdoses. Things don't go well for Blair, either. She's still trying to get into Yale after botching her interview in a previous book. In this installment, she's about to fall for the older man helping her repair the damage of her first interview--until she discovers that he's not separated from his wife and that his daughter is a freshman at her school. Soap operalike, the trials and joys of these kids continue. Teens interested in reading about the lives of Manhattan prep-schoolers are sure to devour this book.--Catherine Ensley, Latah County Free Library District, Moscow, ID
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

All I Want is Everything by Amazon
Mood:  rushed
Topic: Editorial Review
S and B and J and N are back, along with A, D, V, and assorted other rich, catty Manhattan teenagers in this third installment of the Gossip Girl series. An omniscient and anonymous narrator keeps track of the scene in www.gossipgirl.net (now an actual site), where the rumors fly, backs are stabbed, and celebrity sightings are dutifully reported. Serena (S) and Blair (B) are best friends again, shoring each other up as Blair faces life without her ex, Nate, who has hooked up with a sweet, busty 14-year-old, and Serena fends off advances from drop-dead-gorgeous rock star, Flow. Life’s rough. Meanwhile, Vanessa and Dan play the will-he/won’t-he game, and Aaron tries to thwart his own crush on new stepsister Blair.
They’re the teens you love to hate, and yet it’s not all trash. Beneath the designer name-obsessed veneer and the nasty soap opera quality of Gossip Girl novels, there’s plenty that’s true and real for any teenager. Angst, creative passion, love, college applications, drinking, smoking, sex…sure, these kids are obnoxious and spoiled, but their core issues are not a million miles away from every other teen’s. And you know you love it. (Ages 14 and older) --Emilie Coulter

You Know You Love Me by Publishers Weekly
Mood:  rushed
Topic: Editorial Review
College interviews, romantic troubles and a fancy wedding photographed for Vogue dominate this second installment of von Ziegesar's frothy but fun series about rich Manhattan prep school kids and the gossip Web site tracking their lives. Blair Waldorf's mother is marrying her "seriously tacky" boyfriend on Blair's birthday and has chosen the bulimic overachiever's former best friend Serena as a bridesmaid (Blair will be maid of honor). Meanwhile, "hunky" Nate avoids Blair (he's secretly seeing chesty Jenny Humphrey), and the compounded stress makes her act like a "freakshow" during her Yale interview. Blonde bombshell Serena is disturbed by poet Dan's intense affections, struggles through her own interview at Brown and scores first prize in a school film contest. The plot culminates at the wedding, where the girls' boy troubles come to a head. As with her Gossip Girl, von Ziegesar creates a complete world: the characters get drunk, shop and indulge in spa treatments plus, the film contest prize is two tickets to Cannes. While this is still strictly a guilty pleasure, the story lines are better developed in this volume and the characters show more growth. But it's their outrageous lifestyles and antics and the snide omniscient narrator that will keep readers turning the pages. Ages 15-up.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Gossip Girl by Publishers Weekly
Topic: Editorial Review
At a New York City jet-set private school populated by hard-drinking, bulimic, love-starved poor little rich kids, a clique of horrible people behave badly to one another. An omniscient narrator sees inside the shallow hearts of popular Blair Waldorf, her stoned hottie of a boyfriend, Nate, and her former best friend Serena van der Woodsen, just expelled from boarding school and "gifted with the kind of coolness that you can't acquire by buying the right handbag or the right pair of jeans. She was the girl every boy wants and every girl wants to be." Everyone wears a lot of designer clothes and drinks a lot of expensive booze. Serena flirts with Nate and can't understand why Blair is upset with her; Blair throws a big party and doesn't invite Serena; Serena meets a cute but unpopular guy; and a few less socially blessed characters wonder about the lives of those who "have everything anyone could possibly wish for and who take it all completely for granted." Intercut with these exploits are excerpts from www.gossipgirl.net (the actual site launches in February), where "gossip girl" dishes the dirt on the various characters without ever revealing her own identity amongst them. Though anyone hoping for character depth or emotional truth should look elsewhere, readers who have always wished Danielle Steel and Judith Krantz would write about teenagers are in for a superficial, nasty, guilty pleasure. The book has the effect of gossip itself once you enter it's hard to extract yourself; teens will devour this whole. The open-ended conclusion promises a follow-up. Ages 15-up.

Highly Recomended, April 29, 2004 Reviewer: "nla1989" (Connecticut, USA)
Mood:  rushed
Topic: Customer Review
This book is fantastic! I have read the whole Gossip Girl series about 3 times and I never get tired of it. My friends who dispise reading loved reading these books, even they couldnt put them down. The Gossip Girl series is definetly one of the best out there. I recommend this book for ages 12 and up though because there is some matter for older children only. These books will make you want to keep reading them from cover to cover nonstop. Have a great time discovering the magic of Gossip Girl!

"Gossip" Mill is Churning, May 6, 2004
Mood:  rushed
Topic: Customer Review
Meet GOSSIP GIRL, an anonymous New York teen who posts all of the latest news about her peers at her website. Readers are introduced to a variety of high schoolers whose days and nights are filled with money, cars, boyfriends/girlfriends, cell phones, agendas, parties, and more. If you're in, you're in; if you're out, you're definitely out - unless you are dating or are related to one of the cool kids.
The character with the most mystery surrounding her is Serena, a blonde beauty whose return to Manhattan sparks controversy galore as her classmates wonder why she has come back to her all-girl private high school after a year-long absence and travels overseas. Serena's estranged best friend Blair, who was just getting accustomed to being THE most popular girl, now must take a step back and share the spotlight. Not only is her popularity at stake, but so is her love life, as she worries that her boyfriend Nate only has eyes . . . for Serena.
If GOSSIP GIRL was a TV show, HBO, FOX and THE WB would all fight over the rights to it. GOSSIP GIRL takes 90210 and moves it to Manhattan. The teens are trashy and classy at all once; while they know the difference between Prada and Gucci, they don't always know the difference between right and wrong. The book is more melodrama than drama, and delightfully so. It's a beach read mixed with martinis.

awesome!!, May 8, 2004
Mood:  rushed
Topic: Customer 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!

Juicy Gossip, May 15, 2004 Reviewer: cruel_girl
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 , 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;)


*Just wanted to say I saw the movie (cruel intentions) after I read the gossip girl books, but I thought the same thing! If you like one, you'll like the other. Plus if you like the gossip girl website in the book there is somewthing very simular in the movie

Gossip Girl's beginning gets you addicted, June 10, 2004Reviewer: QUEEN_OF_EVERYTHING (Outside Philly)
Mood:  rushed
When diving into this truly addictive series, do go in order. You'll better understand the characters, how they develop, the order of events as they happen and why they happen. Despite the fact this is pure bubblegum froth, a light, fluffy read, it is indeed much fun and the characters are not totally shallow and without depth here, as they often times appear to be in copycats such as The Insiders and The A-List. Blair Waldorf is constantly the focus. She's a Manhattanite deeply stressed over high school norms: college applications, grades, the whole bit. But now, to add to her soaring level of stress, her ex-best friend is back, kicked out of boarding school. Serena Van der Woodsen shamelessly flirts with Nate, making it clear she desires him. Nate is Blair's stoner hottie boyfriend and Blair, still a virgin ::gasp:: wishes to lose it to him. But as soon as Serena puts herself in the picture (and in the spotlight), Blair begins to feel quite uneasy.
Although, oddly enough, later books in the series surpass the level of greatness of GOSSIP GIRL #1, this is still a must read for the fans. This sort of story has lies, betrayal, and sex thrown in the mix, and the cover itself is eye-catching. A nice but not fab beginning for the mysterious Gossip Girl, who chronicles the lives of various Mahattanites on her website. This novel, like those that came after, is not a disappointment. And you'll be dying to answer burning questions: Will Serena and Blair repair their broken friendship? Will Nate and Serena speak again? Will Blair get into Yale? And who is Gossip Girl?

Posted by ultra2/tribeccastar at 11:52 AM EST
Updated: Sunday, 14 November 2004 12:19 PM EST
Post Comment | Permalink | Share This Post