Back with the Upper East Siders and everyone is gearing up for this party the Archibalds are throwing on their boat. Because you know, rich people.

So I was thinking about this, and I noticed the book is basically Blair central – now I don’t know if it’s because she is my favourite so I naturally focus on her storyline more than the others, but I feel like most of the books are about her mainly.

Sure Serena has some stories, Dan and Vanessa are far removed from Blair but they don’t really have a lot to going on – unless I just block them out when I read haha, then Nate is entangled in Blair. Jenny kind of merges with Serena but that’s been only recent.

But yeah I definitely feel like Blair has the most going on, not that I’m complaining because like I said, she’s my fave haha.

Anyway, yeah so Blair and Nate start off super in love and having all the sex because Blair has finally decided to say goodbye to her V card. This lasts like 5 minutes because Nate decides to go back to being classic stoner Nate and kind of just forgets all about Blair and decides to go on an adventure to Bermuda on his family’s boat lol.

You know I normally don’t like stoner Nate but this time I mean it was kind of funny. That being said it really bothers me when he just cheats and is like “oh well”. I mean I know he’s a stoner and easy-going and whatever but even in this one he kind of thought the only person he wanted to be with was Blair but still kissed someone else instead…ugh they will never just be happy.

Anyway yeah so basically all that happened to Nate this time around was that he was with Blair, then got high, decided to take the family boat to Bermuda with all his stoner pals, then realised he wanted to be with Blair and turned the boat around. He got grounded but I guess it was worth it to be back with Blair? If only that had worked out for him. Oh, and he decided to go to Yale – woo.

Meanwhile Blair has decided to move out to the Plaza for a while and get away with her crazy family. She was hoping to use it as an excuse to get with Nate all week but then, he stole a boat so that didn’t work out.

When Nate finally reappears, he goes to Blair’s hotel room like he was supposed to the first night, but B won’t have him, instead she makes him think she slept with someone else and they broke up…again.

Really though it was just S hiding out pretending to be a guy lol. It’s cute when S and B are friends.

Serena didn’t have a lot going on this time around – she was getting emails from all the schools she applied for begging for her to come to them, but she ultimately decided on Yale. Which I still see her dropping out of but we will see. Oh and there was a rumour she was dating someone in a band but it was only a rumour.

B on the other hand, was still waitlisted so she showed up to this Yale thing to see if she could find someone who could use their influence to get her in. It didn’t really work out for her though. But that’s okay because she totally got in anyway – finally after all the waiting. I did kind of wonder if she would or not because if memory serves, it didn’t happen for her on the TV show so she ended up at NYU.

Oh and also she decided to move in with Vanessa after the headmistress told her she couldn’t stay in a hotel until she graduated. I thought this was random but I just remembered she did share a dorm room with Vanessa at NYU on the TV show lol. That being said they definitely tolerate each other more in the book than on TV.

Blair even hooked Vanessa up with her stepbrother Aaron which is super weird. Though to be fair I can see it. They are both kind of weird in the book, so why not throw them together. Let’s see how long it lasts, their relationship and the whole V and B living together thing. I don’t think either will be for very long but it would be interesting to see.

Another thing to note is that Nate and Blair were kind of thinking about being together again at the end of the book, but Nate got high and stupid again and decided it was a good idea to start getting with Serena. Oh you guys. Blair found out and was mad af so looks like they are all on the outs again. We shall see if Nate and Serena even make it to a relationship or whether they just end up hooking up and nothing else.

I suppose it will be an interesting time for the three amigos, but it will be a fun one. I remember when Nate went to Columbia on the TV show and minded his own business and didn’t get caught up in much drama haha.

Now moving on to Dan and Little J. Well. They definitely have taken a turn.

First of all, Dan in a band? HAHAHAHA. He was the lead singer for like a day and thought he was so cool. But then he went to the first gig and projectile vomited on stage – yikes. I never saw it lasting but he definitely went out with a bang.

Next thing you know Jenny is taking over and living her best rebellious teen life. Modelling with Serena was going great, but she wanted more of that life so she sneaks out to party with Dan’s band, steals his spot as lead singer and straight-up asks to be sent to boarding school so she can reinvent herself like Serena did lol. Wild.

It’s interesting that Jenny is desperate to be like Serena in the book but in the TV show she is all about wanting to be the next Blair. But either way, I can’t believe she just decided to straight-up say to her dad she wanted to go to boarding school haha. I feel like she will end up hating it a lot.

Also good for her for sneaking into that senior party, that was fun. I like seeing Jenny being fun and doing these crazy things, it’s more fun than seeing Dan be all dark and broody.

If anything I am also surprised that Rufus is so chill about things in the book. On the TV show, he would have had a fit if Dan and Jenny were both in a band. I mean I suppose in both, he isn’t the biggest fan of Jenny’s behaviour at all but yeah. I suppose it’s weird that they built out all these dramatic storylines on the TV show to do with the parents and none of it exists in the books.

I mean the only one we hear about on a regular basis is probably Eleanor, but she’s crazy in the books haha. Occasionally Rufus pops up in the story but it’s nothing major.

I do prefer it though, just because the whole Rufus/Lily TV thing was kind of meh. I mean I think when I first watched the TV show, I kind of wanted things to work out but then ultimately it was kind of annoying.

Anyway, that brings us to the end of another Gossip Girl book. I did like this one a lot more than the last one, so we will see where the next one takes us. I imagine to graduation and the summer before uni with how slow things are moving, but that’s fine with me, I kind of like the small timeline because when reading all the books in one go it’s easy to remember and follow along. I can imagine it was annoying reading them when they first came out and having to wait for the next one but I have no such issue lol.

You know you love me,

~ Courtney x

Another GG book down! I am surprised I finished this one so quickly but I think it’s because it took me a long time to read the last one because I was busy and didn’t have as much time to read last week.

Anyway yeah, this time we are on spring break! And we STILL don’t know if Blair has gotten into Yale yet. I mean we don’t know if anyone else has gotten into uni either, except for Vanessa but B is the only one we care about ya know.

Speaking of B looks like she has the hots for Serena’s brother Erik. This is super unexpected and kind of weird, considering on the TV show Erik is Serena’s younger gay brother. In the book, Erik is older, in uni and definitely straight. I was actually kind of hoping that they did become a thing because I would love to see Serena be uncomfortable with that for longer.

Sadly though Blair did not give it up to Erik and realised she still loves Nate. Which I guess I should have seen coming but hey, it’s cool. I just hope that Blair finally loses her virginity soon because this storyline is getting kind of old. I mean how many times can B almost lose her virginity to the first guy she sees in the book?

Also, I like how they threw in that non-fight between Serena and Blair at the end. Like I know Serena was annoyed at Blair for getting with her brother etc but I didn’t see it as a fight. Then S was all like “I don’t wanna fight anymore” and I was really confused. At least it was resolved quickly.

As for Serena, I think she was annoyed that all the attention wasn’t on her this time so she was all for being wild and crazy with Georgina. That was until she ended up abandoned, strapped to a ski toboggan in a ditch lol. I want to say I feel bad for her but I just found it funny. At least Nate saved the day.

Speaking of, Nate and Serena? I think it’s cute they tried to hook up again but I am ultimately glad it didn’t work out. It’s good for them to be friends I think.

I also believe it’s safe to say Nate is over Georgina. I never pictured them staying together long when she was a major druggie and Nate had quit smoking weed and wasn’t up for her craziness. So I predict in the next book Nate and Blair get back together, how long it lasts again I can’t say for sure.

Also, Georgina and Serena know each other from boarding school! Are they going to elaborate on this? I know what happened between them in the TV show so I wonder if the same drama will apply here. That being said, Georgina didn’t seem to be that interested in spending time with Serena, she was just glad she had someone to party with.

It also seems Chuck and Georgina are friendly too as he was along for the ride on spring break. I don’t know what’s going on with Chuck in the books but I guess he just likes to party and is bisexual. Oh, and he now has a monkey lol. This was probably the book that has mentioned him the most since the Kiss on the Lips party and I guess it was nice he was part of the story.

Meanwhile back in Manhattan, Dan is once again being the most annoying artist on the planet. He got some internship and immediately hated it and didn’t even do the job. He tried to write poems and failed. He also thought it was a good idea to maybe get with Elise, Jenny’s friend, and that lasted for like a second. Basically a lot of failure on Dan’s part this time around. Eh. Not fussed.

I was kind of surprised when Elise decided to flirt with him though, just because in the last book she seemed to be having a good time making out with Jenny and then suddenly was interested in her brother – make up your mind woman.

Then there is Jenny who spends this book stalking her new boyfriend trying to figure out why he is being so mysterious about his home life. Turns out he’s just kind of average and Jenny is not a fan. So I guess that is over.

As for Vanessa, her parents were in town and she hated it because they didn’t understand her so she decided to date some guy because she knew her parents would not be a fan. Boring. In the end though she realised she still loved Dan – so those two are bound to get together again soon.

And finally, we come back to Gossip Girl, this time she arranges a get together in the park and invites all the guys to see who she really is. And this proves to me that this whole time everyone has been reading Gossip Girl and knows about her, but it still bothers me that Blair didn’t know before about Jenny and Nate from reading Gossip Girl. I suppose they don’t know who the people she writes about are but it’s pretty obvious ya know. Like if you’re reading about yourself you kind of know.

Anyway…she arranges this thing in the park, all the guys show up but of course, Gossip Girl isn’t there. However, Blair and Serena are, sitting on a red blanket like Gossip Girl said she would be, but not only that Vanessa is also there at the park on a red blanket too. What a coincidence. It makes me think we might possibly get a reveal but I don’t wanna get my hopes up.

So that brings us to the end of another Gossip Girl book. I think I might take a break now and read something else, but that being said I do like reading about my fave Upper East Siders. So I imagine I’ll be back on the Gossip Girl train before you know it.

~ Courtney x

Another Gossip Girl novel down.

Honestly, this series is taking interesting turns. Definitely nothing like the TV show which I guess is a good thing because if it was exactly like the TV show why would I want to read it? (Although let’s be real I probably still would have because I love Gossip Girl).

So first off, Blair Waldorf. She’s been through a lot, I mean first she screws up her Yale interview, Nate and her breakup and now she has decided to chop off her hair.

I can’t imagine Blair without her hair but I’m sure she rocked it. I did think maybe it was going to end up a disaster and she was going to have to go into hiding but it was fine. She ended up using her hairstyle to look more like her idol Audrey.

To go along with her new ‘do, B also got another chance at Yale. Her dad pulled some strings and she got to meet with one of his friends to have another entrance interview.

Luckily, things went well for her there, although almost too well as she kind of had an affair with her interviewer. Scandalous I know, plus so unlike Blair. Though I suppose nothing really happened with him, she just kissed him and she even left the hotel room when he was asleep. No funny business.

So this kind of leaves her Yale admission still kind of up in the air…I mean who knows what this new Yale guy will tell the admission board after she blew him off. Although to be fair the guy was married and had a child who was almost Blair’s age so like does he really have a leg to stand on? I guess we wait and see.

Side note: it was kind of funny how in Blair’s little spiral she thought the way to repair her image and life was to check herself into rehab – it didn’t last long and I didn’t expect it to but it was still interesting.

Next there is Serena who honestly is too perfect that nothing bad ever actually happens to her. I mean she starts of fully in love with Aaron in an annoying way.

Then somehow she manages to get a job modelling in a fashion show because she’s Serena – so she decides to rock the runway in a t shirt that says “I LOVE AARON” and obviously Aaron isn’t too thrilled so they break up.

And that concludes the Serena portion of this blog post. She didn’t have much going on to be fair. Sure she is heartbroken because of Aaron but I imagine it won’t take long for her to get over it. I hope something more interesting happens with her because so far it’s just S gliding through life getting everything she wants.

This happens on the TV show too but like she does suffer on the TV show I mean for almost two seasons she thought she killed a guy… No such thing seems to be happening for her in the books though lol. She’s still gliding right through life all chill and perfect.

Meanwhile Nate is getting busted for buying pot in the park lol. So he has to go to rehab which is shocking because he is so clean cut in the TV show. I think they mention him smoking weed once in the entire of the series in the pilot and then it’s hardly mentioned ever again.

But in the book he goes to rehab where he meets Georgina Spark. And I just wanna say it bothers me that she’s not Sparks like in the TV show with an ‘s’ at the end. It sounds better.

Anyway yeah, I love Georgina in the TV show she is actually such a great character so I wonder what she is like in the books.

So far she comes across in kind of a similar way, drug addicted and clingy. Her and Nate start dating and I am shocked because I never pictured that being a thing. Excited to see where it goes though. Especially since Nate has stopped smoking weed for her which I am all for because his stoner story line was getting boring.

As for Little J, well, she has gotten into some fun things too. She has made a new friend and I think her friend wants them to be a little bit more than friends haha.

I was not expecting this from Jenny, but I think out of all the characters she is the one that is the most different from the TV show. So I’m just taking it as it goes with her.

It seems like at the end of the book she found a new boyfriend though so I wonder what this will do to her friendship with Elise. I mean Elise was definitely the one who wanted to experiment more than Jenny and you can tell she enjoyed it while Jenny did not. So I guess we see what happens with them, and also find out more about this mysterious guy who Jenny is dating.

After that we have Dan and Vanessa who both are “making it” in their respective careers. So yay? Except not completely…

So Dan forgave Vanessa for publishing his poem after he realised how awesome it is to be a published writer so they got back together and Dan finally lost his virginity after making such a big deal about it for artistic reasons lol.

But then he got an agent and he met another girl and he slept with her. Gosh darn it Dan. I really dislike Dan in the books so am I really surprised this is the kind of thing his scummy character would do? Not really. I mean he did feel bad when he kissed Mystery (because of course that’s the other girl’s name) but that definitely didn’t stop him from cheating. He did want to tell Vanessa and he thought he had in his obscure poem but she didn’t get that message from it.

Basically their relationship is a hot mess and I guess over? Because Vanessa went to Dan’s poetry reading and basically saw Dan and Mystery getting on on stage. But she filmed it anyway because ya know, art haha.

And finally the last thing I’ll talk about is Gossip Girl herself, she was planning a birthday party and everyone was invited. Chuck even handed out flyers for the party which is interesting because I mentioned in one of my other Gossip Girl posts that it was weird none of the characters actually talked about her. But this time they were.

Which means S, B and everyone else must know she is posting about them? Unless they’re too posh to even think about reading Gossip Girl lol. I kind of liked how they used it in the TV show though and sent in their own tips. It was super scandalous.

Anyway, four novels down I think there’s maybe 13 in the series? So I still have a while to go, the timeline of the books seems to be pretty slow moving, each book only spanning a couple of months so I can’t imagine where this actually ends. I do kind of hope we get a clue as to who Gossip Girl is. I mean, it’s definitely not Dan Humphrey this time and I am so glad haha.

Now time to get back to reading and see if the next novel is where Blair finally finds out if she gets into Yale.

~ Courtney x

Hey people!

So here we are finished with another Gossip Girl novel.

Well I am surprised.

First off, Aaron in love with Blair?! Ew. I mean I guess they were friendly when they first met and everything but like he’s her stepbrother and that’s weird.

I hope this doesn’t become a thing.

On the bright side though, it looks like Serena is distracting him quite well. But we see how long that lasts. If we are going by the TV show standards it definitely doesn’t last long.

Then there is Blair and this Miles guy. In my head, I was picturing him like Carter Baizen from the TV show. But ultimately things don’t work out with them. Not that there even was a “them”. Definitely thought Blair was just gonna get it over with and do the deed with him though.

Also, I wonder if Blair will get into Yale. She’s been working hard on her admission so I wonder how it will go for her. I guess I’ll find out soon enough. Plus her Audrey Hepburn obsession is next level in the books lol.

Moving onto Nate – man idk. I just have accepted I don’t really like book Nate very much. Surprisingly though he was okay in this book. Probably because he wasn’t as high as he was in the others.

It’s understandable why things did not go well with Jenny. But the fact he suddenly decided to go back to Blair? Meh. Surprised Blair didn’t take him back though because she definitely did on the TV show….unless she just wants to make him squirm more but we will see.

Speaking of Jenny, the girl is obsessed. Like those creepy portraits of Nate might have seemed cute but like it’s the kind of thing you keep to yourself and don’t show the guy you like. It’s weird.

No idea what will happen with her next. Also kind of hate that they always bring up her boobs. Like I get it they are giant and get in the way but hey why is that like her only defining character trait? Lol.

As for Dan and Vanessa…ick.

Dan is honestly the worst. In the TV show, they try to make him more likeable but in the books there’s no denying he is awful. Like automatically labelling his sister and girlfriend as sluts? Calm down, man.

I also hate how he tries to be the tormented artist. It’s painful to read.

Plus how he gets mad at Vanessa for going behind his back and publishing his poem but ends up forgiving her anyway lol okay then.

Was surprised that he was so against sex though especially for “artistic” reasons. Ugh. Nah. Get out.

Meanwhile, Vanessa just wanted to do it. Totally opposite and surprising for her. Not sure why she felt the need to pressure Dan and all but sure.

I mean now that we are 3 books in, I have definitely stopped comparing the TV show as much to the book. I’m taking it as a separate thing and just seeing where it goes.

Plus Eleanor and Cyrus are pregnant? Crazy. Didn’t think that would happen but okay, they wasting no time now they married. Also, I can’t believe I never mentioned it before but I was surprised when Eleanor took Cyrus’s last name. On the TV show, she is a strong businesswoman who didn’t change her name but in the book, she’s kind of a ditz which I’m sad about.

Then of course there was that one mention of Chuck Bass. I actually thought maybe this is where Blair was gonna throw caution to the wind and get with him. They had that moment at New Year’s Eve but no such luck. I know for sure they don’t have the epic TV show romance but that doesn’t mean they don’t potentially hook up in the books.

Overall I liked this book. I’m not ever gonna say these were like the best books I’ve ever read because they aren’t really. I just like living in the Gossip Girl world a little longer. It’s fun. So on we go to the next one!

~ Courtney x