Tag: book-reviews

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

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

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!

Adored (It Girl #8) by Cecily Von Ziegesar Review

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

It’s Christmas at Waverly! Thanksgiving forgotten, everyone is back in school and trying to find the perfect gift for their secret Santa. Or rather secret satan.

Honestly, this book was a hot mess lol. Brett gets roped into organising secret Santa and a Christmas party and is not having any fun at all. Meanwhile Heath decides to turn this secret Santa thing into secret Satan so everyone is buying each other sex toys and sending male strippers to class and it’s very chaotic. How no one got expelled is beyond me. But it’s just the lives of rich teenagers innit?

So in between hearing about everyone’s outrageous or boring presents, we have Brett’s new love interest Sebastian cleaning his act up to try to get the attention of the other girls at Waverly to make Brett jealous. And he succeeds. Sebastian ends up going out with Callie, who is looking for a new boyfriend ever since she was dumped by Easy. This does not last long because Callie is hoping to transform Sebastian into the perfect boyfriend and Sebastian is about none of that. Long story short, Sebastian and Brett end up together and Callie is single. But she actually ends up accepting that?

Not that I buy that for a second, Callie will definitely have a new boyfriend soon, she’s not the kind of person who can be without a man.

Meanwhile Tinsley finally thinks everything is perfect with Julian, until he mentions the fact he’s not a virgin anymore. This causes Tinsley to spiral and assume the worst – aka that Jenny is the one he lost his virginity to. This makes sense because it’s a teen drama and this always happens. It causes Tinsley to be mean to Jenny again and also to dump Julian because she can’t be with him when he’d supposedly been with Little Jenny Humphrey. Ugh.

This does not last long because Jullian clarifies that he was not with Jenny and was with an old girlfriend from junior high and Tinsley convinces herself it doesn’t count so all is well in the world. And she becomes friends with Jenny again.

I was actually expecting more from Tinsley to be honest. I think I’ve always wanted her to be a true mean girl but in reality, none of these girls are that. Like when we started this series I was expecting some TV show Blair Waldorf or Alison DiLaurentis type drama but none of that exists here and it’s sad. I think if we had that, the series would be way more interesting. But it is what it is.

The only other thing going on was Jenny feeling like a reality TV star when these freshman girls decide to film her for a school project. Ultimately nothing happens with this because even though the freshman girls realise Jenny is not as wonderful as she thinks she is, and upload an embarrassing compilation of her online, she’s still the most popular girl in school when she has friends like Tinsley, Brett and Callie.

So all is right in the world. The book ends with the four girls living their best lives dancing on a table and despite how average this series has been, I do appreciate the moments where the girlies are getting along. This one also hints that we are in for a treat in the next book – new students at Waverly. It’s either going to be good or bad or average but it was getting a little boring around here. Let’s see how the new people shake it up. I’m hoping for something good but am also excited about wrapping up this series and moving onto something else lol.

Tempted (It Girl #6) by Cecily Von Ziegesar Review

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

This one was kind of boring. None of the storylines sold me and that sucks.

So the book opens with a Halloween ball. Fresh off of the Miller farm fire and Jenny being saved from expulsion, we are getting ready for a party. Yay. Sadly this party does not serve as anything except for a way to show Jenny is the new Queen Bee in town. Eh.

I mean I usually like a Waverly party, they mean chaos and scandal but we didn’t get very much of either. Just Jenny winning the costume contest over Tinsley – which to me wasn’t too hard if Tinsley arrived late and no one had time to even notice her. And then Kara and Heath showing off as the new It couple – which by the way is so gross. And the only other thing worth mentioning is Easy being annoyed at Callie and them breaking up – AGAIN lol.

So yeah, nothing crazy. And the party is over before we know it.

We do get this random drama where Easy is drunk and climbing a tree which then crashes into the window at Dumbarton causing a lot of flooding lol. No idea what that’s about but it basically gives us five minutes of Brett being forced to room with Kara because Kara’s room flooded. Though nothing dramatic happens there.

Really all that drama surrounding Kara and Brett was so disappointing. I thought we were going to get real LGBT love here but all we got was them kissing a bit and then Brett deciding she still loved Jeremiah and Kara hooking up with Heath. Ugh lame.

What ends up happening is that Brett lied to Jeremiah and said she never kissed or hooked up with Kara and he finds out the truth and dumps her. Because there’s nothing we love more than a man who’s insecure about his girlfriend’s sexuality. And Kara ends up dumping Heath because he exposes a secret of Brandon’s and she’s not cool with that. So not sure where they go next but I hope Brett and Kara don’t go back to going out again because I don’t need it. Not that I need another Brett and Jeremiah makeup either lol. Bring some new love interests in please.

Speaking of annoying on/off again couples we have Easy and Callie. Bleh. At the Halloween party Easy tells Callie she’s a spoiled brat and this causes her to spiral – as always. So Callie flees from the party to go to a spa which her mother has arranged for her to go to which is sus AF.

And it is sus because Callie is not going to a spa, she is actually going to a rehab lol. It is a real tough one which involves sending the girls out alone in the middle of winter to fend for themselves for the night? Wild. Anyway yeah basically Callie thinks she’s going to die there but then Easy swoops in and saves the day. Lame.

Though it also looks like Easy is in trouble with the Dean because he was not supposed to leave campus but he did to rescue Callie. But honestly, don’t see him leaving. Like, he’s annoying and his relationship with Callie is one of the things I dislike most about this series but he’s a main character. He does not disappear. Despite the fact I wish he would. The drama with him and Callie is so dull and repetitive.

That brings us into Jenny and Tinsley’s story. I know, they have a story together can you even believe?

So Jenny meets this boy at the Halloween party who is pretending that he is the one that paid off the Millers and stopped her from getting expelled but we know it can’t be him because well, it doesn’t make any sense. It doesn’t last because Jenny finds out it was actually Callie who saved her. Yeah I know, Callie, the roommmate that hates her! Who would’ve thought?

That’s the reason Callie gets sent to rehab, because Callie asked her mom for money and her mom assumed it was for drugs lol. So Callie sends an SOS to Tinsley and when Tinsley is on her way to rescue Callie, Jenny runs into her and decides to tag along.

The girls unsuccessfully try to get to Callie but get stuck in the snow – so Jenny texts Easy and he manages to rescue Callie. And while Jenny and Tinsley are stuck together then Tinsley realises that Jenny isn’t all bad after all. So they’re friends now? But for how long?

And that’s where we end things. It just seemed a bit of a let down to be honest. Nothing was really gripping me. Even Callie being away at rehab was interesting for maybe half a second, her being rescued by Easy was so boring for me. That being said, if Easy somehow does get expelled I would love to see it but I fear that won’t happen.

On the bright side, I am looking forward to all the girlies being friends for once, my guess is it won’t last that long but I just feel like we need some positive girl vibes and fun. So I hope we get more silliness in the next one. In the meantime, I’ve taken a break from the series for a bit to read some other things, but I’ll be back soon! There’s only a few more books so I hope to finish this series out before the end of the year.