Tag: Reviews

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

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

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

~ 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.

Infamous (It Girl #7) by Cecily von Ziegesar Review

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

It’s a Thanksgiving special! Though not as exciting as the Thanksgiving episode of Gossip Girl. But it was interesting to read about the girls somewhere other than Waverly.

Tinsley, Jenny and Callie are headed to the city for the holidays and instead of spending Thanksgiving with their families, they end up at a party being thrown by a fellow Waverly Owl. Classic. Though probably more interesting than actual Thanksgiving with the fam.

First off, Callie plans to stay in NYC because she finds this letter from Easy in her bag and he leaves her a promise ring and she’s so excited, she’s practically planning her wedding. Yawn. I was over this relationship since the first book. Thankfully for me though, Callie also seems over the relationship lol. By the time she is meant to meet Easy on the top of the Empire State building (hello Chuck and Blair vibes) she realises she isn’t ready to be in that serious of a relationship and so dumps his ass. Honestly, I’m glad.

I take it this means Easy is out of the picture for good considering he was shipped off to military school or whatever and snuck out to be with Callie. And now she doesn’t want him so. I think it’s over. He better not try winning her back again because we have been on this rollercoaster for too long and I don’t care for it lol.

Next we learn that Jenny and Tinsley can actually be good friends to each other? Who knew? I like this friendship though hopefully it keeps up. Tinsley gives Jenny some advice to not fall in love with every guy she meets after five minutes and to just have fun. Which, Jenny tries to but naturally she finds this cute guy at the party she hits it off with. Cue the eye rolls. I imagine he sticks around for the next book but can’t see him lasting longer than that.

Meanwhile, Tinsley comes face to face with an old rival at the Thanksgiving party – Sleigh Monroe-Hill. I know her name is literally slay. Apparently she was a bigger bitch than Tinsley when she was at Waverly, throwing all of Tinsley’s belongings out their 4th floor window and ruining it all. Yikes.

I was expecting major drama between Sleigh and Tinsley but it was so lack lustre. All that happened was Sleigh trying to convince Julian (the freshman Tinsley was in love with before he hooked up with Jenny and Tinsley set fire to that barn lol) that she is the better match for him than Tinsley. Yawn. And she doesn’t even have to try hard to be a nicer girl than Tinsley.

The only thing that made Julian realise Sleigh was a fake was him mentioning that he’d hooked up with Tinsley before and I guess Sleigh went a bit psycho? Nothing crazy though. I mean it sounded very tame. I was expecting way more for an ex-nemesis appearing. I needed more sneaky girl fighting and drama. But there was nothing. Just Tinsley pretending to be nice for five minutes and Sleigh just existing. Ugh.

While the girls are going through all of this in NYC, Brett is in Jersey with her family who are acting so normal and boring because her sister has brought the in-laws over for the holidays and is trying to make a good impression. In typical cliche fashion, Brett tries everything she can to expose to the in-laws the truth about who her family really is to scare them off. She succeeds but at what cost? She ends up apologising to her sister and making up. Nothing super crazy here either.

I suppose it was good to see Brett embrace her family and their nouveau-riche tackiness. And she has a new love interest – Seb, this Jersey boy who she would usually be repulsed by but she realises he’s actually not that bad. Again, not sure how long he will last as a love interest but we will go along with it for now.

And last but not least we had an adventure with the boys – Heath and Brandon. Basically, Brandon’s girlfriend Sage breaks up with him for not being masculine enough – yeah the early 2000s are wild. So Heath decides him and Brandon should stay on campus to try and hook up with one of the teachers’ twin daughters. It’s so random but I didn’t hate their side story. From the experience, Heath realises he still misses Kara and Brandon I think just is proud of himself for hooking up lol.

And so that is where we are at the end of Thanksgiving. Honestly, this one was fine. I mean the whole series has been fine lol. I guess I expected some more drama or something and I know I am so not the target demographic for these books, but even if I was reading this at fifteen I know I’d need more drama. But it’s fine. Three books left. Still not sure where we leave this unless somehow Jenny ends up being expelled or something but we’ll see. Here’s hoping something a little more interesting happens soon as well lol.