I’m a Stylist, I can Do Anything! | Playing Infinity Nikki

In case you wanted to know what I have been doing with my life the past week and a half, it’s been this. I started playing Infinity Nikki the day before I recorded this video and haven’t stopped.

You never know what’s going to happen when you take a chance on a new game but let me tell you, becoming obsessed with a new video game before 2024 ended was not on the bingo card lol.

Either way I have really been enjoying this time off work and the game is stunning and has provided a lot of entertainment so no complaints here. Will have to adjust to playing less in January but until then, you know what I’ll be doing until the new year.

Classic (It Girl #10) by Cecily von Ziegesar Review

I have finally made it! The last book!

This series has really been hit or miss for me and in reality, it’s been a lot more miss than hit. I wanted to like it but it did not capture the same vibe as Gossip Girl. These books are definitely for the tween market, making me absolutely not the demographic but I got them on sale real cheap on Amazon so why not read them anyway?

Also I found out that these books were written by a ghost writer, which really explains why they don’t give the same feel as the Gossip Girl books. The few books in the Gossip Girl series which were ghost written were terrible, the writer does not manage to capture the characters as well as the original author. Who knew?

But anyway, we have made it to the end and you know what? This wasn’t actually bad. I dare say I even enjoyed this one a bit. This one did give me some of those silly Gossip Girl-esque vibes which I’ve been looking for and I am glad, because I don’t think I’ve felt this way since book 2. So I’m glad we are ending on a high.

It is Valentine’s Day at Waverly and everyone has signed up online to this ‘Perfect Match’ website, which means they are matched up with someone else on campus. So obviously we have a lot of drama with our matches which are outlined below:

  • Jenny and Julien
  • Brett and Isaac
  • Isla and Sebastian
  • Tinsley and Heath
  • Callie and Alan
  • Brandon and some girl whose name I don’t remember lol (soz girlie)

So let’s dissect these further shall we? First off, thought there would be more weirdness with Jenny and Julien but they were fine. Also expected Tinsley to be annoyed about this little union like in the past but she is too busy trying to get revenge on Isla to notice lol. Not that Jenny and Julien are really anything because Jenny is dating Isaac, the Dean’s son, but they still have to honour their perfect match matches.

Not much to report on Jenny and Julien but Brett was learning a lot about Isaac. She thought she would scope him out for Jenny and report back what a good guy he was. Sadly for Brett, she sees a text on Isaac’s phone which reveals him to be less than a perfect gentleman. Aka he’s got a secret girlfriend! He promises Brett not to say anything and that he is totally going to tell Jenny….but you can guess how that goes.

Honestly, you’d think maybe one Waverly matchup would work out for Jenny but no. Isaac did not break up with his girlfriend and so she shows up at the Valentine’s dance and there’s a scene. Jenny is heartbroken and dumps Isaac plus is mad at Brett. But Jenny doesn’t stay mad at Brett because they are besties and it’s the last book so we can’t go out with unresolved drama.

Besides, Brett has bigger problems when she finds out her boyfriend Sebastian is matched up with Isla. Isla is the Dean’s daughter and Tinsley’s nemesis after she fell through the roof and blamed Tinsley for it. So while Isla has been throwing herself at Sebastian, Brett has been teaming up with Tinsley to take Isla down.

They both do some digging and find out that Isla was not always the bad girl that she pretends to be. Turns out she was a massive geek at her old school so Tinsley and Brett decide to use the old photos they found of her to embarrass her at the Valentine’s dance. Sadly, it backfires, and Isla turns out still looking good, everyone seeming to respect her transformation. Even Tinsley is impressed despite everything.

I thought this whole Isla story could potentially be more interesting. When I found out her past was not what was expected my mind went to the worst. Her being a geek was very lame. It kind of reminded me of Mean Girls 2 where they make fun of a girl being a virgin…it’s like get with the times please. I was hoping for more drama as always but I suppose it couldn’t get too wild in the last book. They still needed to wrap everything up.

As for Brett and Sebastian…well Sebastian isn’t pleased with Brett when she lets her jealousy get the best of her…again. I mean in the last book they literally had the same fight but this time Sebastian breaks up with her. This lasts all of five seconds though when Brett realises she loves him.

Honestly, annoyed that their whole relationship consisted of fighting and making up again. As is most of the relationships in this series, like can’t any of these girls just keep a man down lol. I wish something else had been going on with them if only because it’s the last book. I think it would have been nice to have at least one steady couple.

In terms of Heath and Tinsely, not much to report. Just Tinsley being annoyed when Heath wasn’t drooling all over her and was really all about Isla. But in the end Heath is who he always is and he and Tinsley remain friends with a flirtatious edge.

If anything I am really surprised that in this series, we ever saw Heath and Kara reconcile. I thought it would be nice to see Heath actually be in a relationship. Especially as it looked like he actually really cared about her and then done something stupid to cause the breakup. But it was forgotten as quickly as it started and then Kara faded into the background as she was no longer useful to the main characters. It was a shame.

Lastly what we have to talk about is my least favourite love triangle ever, Easy, Callie and Brandon. So Easy lands back at school but Callie is with Brandon now and he can’t just swoop in and everything go back to the way it was. But even though Brandon and Callie are together, they do not get matched up as perfect matches. Callie is matched with Alan, Easy’s stoner roommate and Brandon is matched with a random girl he’s never met before.

Naturally, Brandon does not care for his match, he is more interested in keeping Callie locked down. But what he doesn’t know is that Easy and Callie have definitely met up in secret and kissed. Easy, having learnt his lesson from the last time though doesn’t want to do anything more with Callie until she breaks up with Brandon so Callie agrees to do so but she’s finding it harder to do than she thought. Apparently now is the time when she is debating on who she should be with even though I thought she’d be jumping straight back into Easy’s arms without a second thought to Brandon.

Callie’s dilemma is causing her to stress out and so she decides to spill the tea to Alan, her perfect match to see if he has any advice for her. His advice is for her to dump both boys and see which one fights for her, and that’s the one that she should be with. Cut to the dance when both boys are trying to do just that, but realise Callie dumped them both over email and they agree to call a truce and leave Callie on her own. Brandon even decides to give the girl he’s matched with a chance.

Predictably, Callie is not left by herself for long because Easy does eventually come to her and the two get back together. Which is the biggest eye roll of the century honestly, they were breaking up and getting back together every other book and the drama wasn’t even interesting. So I’m glad to be done with them.

The book finishes in an epilogue where everyone is heading their separate ways for the summer and Jenny is reflecting on what a wild and fun year she has had at Waverly. And this concludes the It Girl series.

Like I said in the beginning, I am definitely not the demographic for these books lol but they were fine to read. Nothing crazy or overly dramatic happened which I feel I was missing but I think I’m just spoiled from the dramatics of the Gossip Girl TV show. That being said, even if I did read these at 13 I think I would’ve been a little disappointed. I’m amazed they managed to stretch a whole school year into ten books tbh if the series had been half the size it probably would’ve been more enjoyable.

But it’s finished now and I can move on to other things, like frantically trying to read 3 more books to complete my reading goal this year lol. Wish me luck x

Devious (It Girl #9) by Cecily von Ziegesar Review

We have two new students at Waverly and they are providing a little bit of fresh air. Sort of.

It’s now January in Waverly and everyone is working on a project for ‘Jan Plan’ which is basically an excuse for the students to do whatever they want since they have no classes.

In this one we are introduced to a new girl and boy who are the children to the new Dean. So first up, we have Isla who is our classic troublemaker. She instantly befriends Tinsley and convinces her to help with her Jan Plan project. The two hit it off as Tinsley is also one to be a bit of a troublemaker, plus her relationship with Julien was getting a bit boring so she was thankful for a distraction.

Honestly, was expecting something a bit more scandalous for them than photoshoots wearing random clothes in domestic situations but is what it is. Things turn south for Tinsley when she not only breaks up with Julien but also gets in trouble with the Dean as Isla’s ideas for the photoshoot go too far.

Isla thinks it’s a good idea to go up onto the roof and take photos but Tinsley thinks it’s a bad idea. Isla doesn’t care and goes up onto the roof and ends up falling through the skylight. Yeah. This was wild to me honestly. I don’t know what I was expecting but it was not a girl falling through a roof. But here we are. Anyway, Isla is fine as she lands in the arms of a familiar stranger, but is quick to turn on the waterworks and blame Tinsley for the accident in front of her father.

Gotta love a girl who thinks on her feet. Naturally Tinsley is pissed but all she really want to do is make up with Julien. Too bad for her that Julien is not interested in hearing her excuses and so they break up for good. Which, I guess was bound to happen. I mean I think it would have been nice to see her keep a boyfriend but it just wasn’t meant to be.

Also that stranger that saved Isla? Easy Walsh of course. We thought he was gone for good when Callie dumped him in New York but I guess not…and you all already know I dislike him so I was not happy about this.

Speaking of Callie, she was trying to find someone new to date and finally move on from Easy but she just ended up hooking up with Brandon…again. Brandon and Callie were together before she got with Easy and he’s been in love with her ever since. Even though Brandon has a girlfriend, that does not stop Callie from throwing herself at Brandon and him inevitably giving in.

Brandon’s girlfriend sees him cheat on her with Callie because Brandon was in the middle of video calling his girlfriend when Callie burst in and kissed him so now his relationship is over but at least he has Callie…for now. Just wait til she finds out about Easy…honestly this is not my favourite love triangle, if only because it legit wasn’t really a triangle because Callie and Easy were together and Brandon was just pining over Callie but I am looking forward to it being over.

As for Brett, she is finding out that her new love interest, Sebastian, had been hooking up with A LOT of girls before she came on the scene and she was PISSED. And was on the verge of breaking up with him until he told her that he was breaking it off with all the other girls because the only person he wanted to be with was Brett. Which is cute and I actually want Sebastian and Brett to work out, but at the same time they have only been dating for five minutes so I am not sure what actually happens with them.

And finally we have Jenny, who is getting in close with the Dean’s son, Isaac. He convinces his dad to let Jenny work on her Jan Plan project solo which is usually not allowed for junior pupils which automatically makes him a keeper for her. And they hit it off so well they throw a house party together, the very same one where Isla fell through the roof.

Obviously after a commotion, the campus police are called as Isla’s fall causes security alarms to go off. Everyone scatters from the party but the Dean is able to identify people from their belongings they left behind in haste. Everyone that is, except for Jenny Humphrey. Looks like her flirtation with Isaac has saved her from getting into trouble, which makes her super disliked by everyone.

Feeling guilty about the situation, Jenny actually goes to the dean to confess she was the one who threw the party just so she could get in trouble with everyone else. Lame but expected for Jenny.

And that is where we leave things. Almost everyone in trouble and in lockdown for the rest of January.

This book was fine. I was hoping for more drama with the new kids to be honest. I mean sure, falling through a roof is drama but like it wasn’t enough for me lol. On the bright side there is only one book left and so the series will be done. I will admit this series is definitely a tween one and young for me to be reading but I thought since the Gossip Girl books were fun and scandalous this would be the same. I was wrong. But I’ve come this far so I can’t give up now lol. See you for the finale!