Customer Reviews

Gossip Girl: I Will Always Love You: A Gossip Girl novel (Gossip Girl Novels)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a reader interested in YA books I highly recommend this latest Gossip Girl; our favorite characters finish college while Jenny is just beginning. The book is actually a quick read (even at 387 pages--covering 4 years of Christmas breaks from college) Each chapter is a surprise and shows a sense of freshness and insight. It is a clever read describing our favorite characters' roller coaster ride of emotions and the magic of pulling it all together.

The wrap up was fantastic showing life goes on in unexpected ways! I loved the writing and the story.

If you, like me, were disappointed that the tv show so immediately departed from the plotlines for the books, you'll be happy to see this book on the shelves. The characters from the books are so much more likeable than their television counterparts.

That said, I'm on the fence about this book. I greatly enjoyed revisiting Serena and Blair and Nate and Dan and Vanessa's lives, but must their group continue to be so incestuous? Several years out of high school, and Blair and Serena both are still making major life decisions based on Nate's whims? I wanted them to move on, faster.

Still, I picked up this book to get closure on some of my favorite characters, and to that end the book succeeds grandly. I like the way it careens through their college careers, focusing on the times when they come together and giving us an overview of the times they were apart.

If the cover says "created by", that means that person didn't actually write it. eg Sweet Valley High was "created by" Francine Pascal, but was actually written by "Kate William", aka Eileen Goudge.

The Gossip Girl series ended perfectly with DON'T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME. Cecily von Ziegesar wrote it, and had done a smashing job with the series. The books are trashy, but also funny, smart and satirical. They're awesome! But Ms. von Ziegesar wisely chose not to flog a dead horse, but the folks at Alloy Entertainment thought otherwise. I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU feels contrived, repetitive, and none of the characters have any spark - not even our beloved douchebag, Chuck Bass. He's a highlight of the series, a secondary character at most but he steals every scene he's in. But here, the people at Alloy Entertainment have completely changed his personality. Where's the fun in that?

There's no sense of humour here. Nate Archibald switches between Serena van der Woodsen, Blair Waldorf, and Jenny Humphrey. Serena may or may not have something going on with Dan Humphrey. Vanessa Abrams is sometimes with Dan, and sometimes with a filmmaker. Blair almost becomes engaged, but blows him off because she's still in love with Nate, even when she moves on to Chuck. Jenny switches between Blair's little brother and Nate.

In other words, there's a lot of relationship drama but no wit. I read a library copy of I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU, because I sure wouldn't have paid for this. Forget this, forget the spin-off series (The It Girl and Gossip Girl: The Carlyles), and just stick with the original and the best Gossip Girl novels. Make sure they're not just "created by" Cecily von Ziegesar, but that she actually wrote them - you're guaranteed a good time.

The book is actually a quick read and it covered all 4 years of Christmas breaks from college when all the teens came home. It was entertaining and I was excited to have the original characters back. We see that in some ways they can grow up and yet somehow the moment you throw them back together everything reverts back to the way it used to be.

While remaining faithful to the characters, I do believe von Ziegesar borrowed a few things from the TV series -which I personally enjoyed and I think it put the characters in a new light. Easily my favorite of the bunch.

The ending was oddly bittersweet and reminiscent of the importance of friendship.

The entire Gossip Girl series was created to be a guilty pleasure and a "Sex and the City for the younger set" and they have achieved their goal. This latest installment of the original Gossip Girl cast is everything the others were: fun, light and breezy. It is not a book to be taken seriously, none in the Gossip Girl series is, and it is an easy read that doesn't require much thinking or analyzing.

For the first time, a book in this series follows its characters for four years, from their first holidays after leaving for College to their senior year at College. It is definitely fun to catch up with everyone and see how everyone is doing (there are some big changes with some characters and revelations that anyone could have seen coming) and to my surprise even Jenny Humphrey was a part of it, although she has her own spin-off series (It Girl).

Although some of my fellow reviewers were less careful about revealing the ending, I refuse to speak of it at all because to me the ending was not just that last chapter (in which, as you know, Blair and Serena choose each other over Nate) but it span across the last few chapters, closing in the stories of Vanessa, Dan, Jenny, Nate, Chuck, Blair and Serena. That is a very interesting and, for once, the endings for each characters seemed well written and dignified.

The book is not rocket science, its not self help, its just a guilty pleasure. And it certainly lived up to my expectations: it was fun. I had fun. And that is what reading should be all about. If you don't have an unhealthy fixation which any characters on these series then you will enjoy this book as much as I have. If you do have an insane amount of admiration for any of them then you might want to steer clear.

The book is quite different from the famous Cecily's von Zigesar series of 12 books. It is quite interesting to see how she is creative. It is a pleasure to read her novels.

Gossip Girl is one of my ultimate guilty pleasures because of the fact that it's scandalous and fast paced fun. I Will Always Love You was no different, of course.

I loved the fact that you got to see all of the original Gossip Girl characters because to me, they'll always be the true ones behind this series no matter what spin-offs come to be. Also I liked how you got see how Blair, Serena, Vanessa, Nate, Dan, and Jenny have changed and grown to be characters that are more responsible and grown-up in the decisions they make. My absolute favorite character to this series is Blair though, with no doubt about, simply because I see a bit of myself in her. Sure I'm not obscenely rich or a bi**h 99% of the time, but I'm an a overachiever type who would never let anything get in my way of success, and someone who eventually wants to find that movie type love with a guy. My least favorite character in this one and the one who grew the least over the four years this took place was Nate. He seriously needs to get his head out of his butt, be able to make decisions, and GROWUP already. Some of the stuff he did during this was nothing but idiotic.

The plot, as mentioned above, was fun, fast paced, and scandalous with a capital S. I loved seeing all the different break-ups, hook-ups, and cat fights that occurred throughout the book. Sure this stuff is strictly fluff, but I love the escape it gives me when reading it.

My only complaint about this would be the fact that Little Brown didn't bring back Cecily von Ziegesar to write this herself because I would've loved to see where she would have left the characters in the end. Though, as the Rolling Stones song says, you can't always get what you want. ;)

Overall, I Will Always Love You is a must read for any GG loving girl or boy out there.

Grade: B

I enjoy this book very much. I know the writer didn't give a proper closure whom Nate chose but I think it's not the essence of the book series.

I know Nate said serveral times that he loved them both, but I personally think he was in love with Blair, not Serena. Serena and Nate sort of just hooked up, nothing else. You see... Whenever Serena were in relationships, Nate seemed alright and fine with it. On the other hand, when Blair was seeing someone it's like he couldn't stand it and he wanted her back. Remember, Eric? Marcus? and now Pete? I totally see them as the endgame couple.

Anyway, I don't think it would be as good if the writer just made Nate chose Blair either because he seemed to love Serena first. It's like your first love you know. He will always have a soft spot for her.

It's the best way to end like this. I love Serena and Blair relationship more than anything and I'm glad they just chose each other.

Hope this is not the last one though.

I have read all the Gossip Girl books and was desperately waiting for this book to come out so I could finally find out who Nate picked: Serena or Nate.

Well that didn't happen. The book starts out with them all coming home for their first Christmas break and Nate and Blair get back together, but then Serena comes in to the picture and makes things complicated, so Nate and Blair break up AGAIN.

Then in section 2 of the book they come home for their second Christmas break and Serena and Nate get together, but of course, Nate decides that he still loves Blair. So Serena and Nate break up but Blair decides that she doesn't want Nate anymore (but really she does)

Then in section 3 of the book they come home for their 3rd Christmas break and it gets really confusing. Blair and Chuck are together, Serena and Dan are back together, and Jenny and Nate are back together.

Then in the final section of the book, Blair and Chuck break up, Serena and Dan break up, and Jenny and Nate break up. The final scene in the book is Nate texting Serena and Blair and you think that he is finally going to make a decision but then Serena and Blair leave Nate and decide to go to Europe together.

I liked this book a lot but I felt like it was the same story line that we have been reading in the last 11 books. I wanted Nate to finally pick somebody, but instead it ended like all the other books in the series.

I would recommend reading this book but don't expect any kind of closure because there isn't any.

The last two pages of the book made it seem like there was going to be another book so maybe they are trying to drag out the Serena, Blair, and Nate story line for a couple more books.

I am so unbelievably devasted at the outcome of this book...

As a fan of the books first and foremost, I was so uncontrollably excited when I first caught wind of this new book. Despite how awful the show was, we still had the books!
I thought Cecily had come back to finally put together two soulmates: Nate and Serena, after she came back and wrote the epicness that was the prequel, it only made sense, right?...
Come to find out, the book took an awful turn. Not only did it take a cue from the craptastical show and put Chuck and Blair together (who was all-but-out-of-the-closet-gay in every other book! Even starting a relationship with Dan's "boyfriend" in Book 11), but she ended up not ending the book with Nate and Serena and instead choosing a Serena and Blair ending, which I thought was a pathetic cop out. I could understand to some extent, now she doesn't allienate one fanbase. But, according to those on Fanforum, EVERYONE is now pissed. With a title like "I Will Always Love You,", anyway, wouldn't one assume it's about who Nate finally chooses? And yeah, I get it, feminisim, blah blah blah, but thats NOT what these books were about...

I just cant actually comprehend it and maybe because I have quite an unhealthy obsession with the Nate and Serena Cecily created in the books (I thought they were amazing and rereading the prequel really does get me through difficult times), but I refuse to believe that this final book was written by Cecily. Cecily couldn't have had anything to do with it. It has to be ghostwritten. It just doesn't make sense to have your final 3 books ghostwritten, then come back with an NS-amazing fest of a prequel, just to write ANOTHER book and end it with SB?
I just... am at a loss. And it quite literally breaks my heart. I love them so much. :(

Nate and Serena absolutey, without a doubt belong together. They are complete soulmates. Nate understands Serena's dark and loves her light, and her free spirit, ironically, gives a sort of meaning to Nate's very "out of it" life... It was a glorious story and while Blair was disillusioned that they were meant to be together, it was very clear that Nate and Serena had always been in love with each other...

Here are JUST A FEW quotes:


... a series of hysterical giggles penetrated the din. The little hairs on Nate's lacrosse-toned arms stood on end. He'd recognize that sound anywhere. It was a sound that made more than just his hair stand on end.
Listening to Serena's laugh was like being tickled. It gave him shivers and an adrenaline rush. It made him see stars and lose his coordination.

Serena took a deep, shuddering breath&rested her pale blond head on his shoulder.
"I love you," she murmured without thinking...
Their bodies were so close the entire Nate-side of her hummed.

...But kissing Serena would be... different.
He loved her. It was as simple as that.
She was his best friend, and he loved her.
------------------------------------

It irks me to no end that the crap of a show was integrated into the books even the tiniest bit...The show and the books are 2 different things. Its absolutely awful, and frankly makes no sense, that after 11 books, Cecily would decide to just change her vision of the books. The books ARE SNB. There are no if's and's or but's about it. The books were amazing...
Were, being the operative word at this point, and I can honestly not describe how depressing it is.

NS were soulmates and it kills me that they didn't get the ending they so deserved in the books...

I can't understand what Cecily was thinking... :(


DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK. STICK WITH THE FIRST 11. THE ENDING OF "DONT YOU FORGET ABOUT ME" IS AT LEAST SATISFYING ENOUGH WITHOUT THE ORIGINAL STORY TURNING INTO SOMETHING IT IS NOT. :( :( :(