Review: Gossip Girl Series (Part 1) by Cecily von Ziegesar

Goodreads: Welcome to New York City's Upper East Side, where my friends and I live, go to school, play, and sleep - sometimes with each other.

S is back from boarding school, and if we aren't careful, she's going to win over our teachers, wear that dress we couldn't fit into, steal our boyfriends' hearts, and basically ruin our lives in a major way. I'll be watching closely . . .

You know you love me,

gossip girl

Kritters Thoughts: WARNING: I am reading this series for a few reasons: a. I have watched the show and thought it was some good entertainment, b. I always wanted to know how different the books were from the tv show, c. It's YA, it has to be entertaining, d. I had to find a series that had an 8th book in it for the Goodreads Challenge. (details on this challenge can be found on the separate page at the top of the blog)

SO, I am reading at least the first 8 books of the series.

I am going to combine my reviews and thoughts into just a few blog posts. So if for some reason there is a little more lag between reviews, you know why that is.

OK to review: I am very glad I have chosen to read this series. It is different enough from the tv series to enjoy it as a stand alone, but it is nice to have a mental image of how the characters could look like in "real life."

I have started with the Prequel and the first 2 books of the series. The Prequel was great - it definitely set the tone for the series of books and again was close to the tv show, but different enough to enjoy it alone.

One of the frustrations I have with the first and second book lie in the repetition. Let me explain - If you read them in order, the first book retells background stories that were in the prequel and the second retells background stories from the first book. Its kinda irritating when you reread a story that you just read in the previous book. I don't need it repeated because I just read it. This may have allowed these books to stand on their own and not be a series, but reading them as a series - this point has annoyed me.

I would recommend this series to girls my age who want some semi-mindless pool reading where you are already familiar with the characters. As far as the younger crowd - just as in the tv show, there is a little more sex, love and rock and roll then I would recommend to my teen crowd. Maybe kids are reading and seeing more than I did growing up, but I just couldn't pass this series onto my niece when she comes to the recommended age.

Books included in this post - It Had to Be You, Gossip Girl, You Know You Love Me, All I Want Is Everything by Cecily von Ziegesar

Rating: perfect beach read

Total pages: 1,029

2010 Challenge: YA