Customer Reviews

Gossip Girl #9: Only In Your Dreams: A Gossip Girl Novel (Gossip Girl Novels)

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Catty, wicked, frivolous and decadent, our beloved characters are back, fresh out of high school and entertaining themselves in all the ways we'd expect.

Serena is trying her hand at becoming a movie star, but isn't having as much luck wooing the male lead as she had hoped. Vanessa is on the set as well - "selling out" to Hollywood so she can pay her rent! Dan finds some extracurricular activities of his own, and Nate is found in the Hamptons, slumming it with some townie chick while he works on his Coach's house. What will our A-list ladies think of Nate's Target-dressing, fake-bag wearing, working class girl?

Then Blair - she begins in London, shopping it up to console herself that her Lord whatshisname seems to have the hots for his cousin. Forgetting about the exchange rate, she gets in a bit more trouble than she'd meant to, and when she arrives home to New York is told very firmly to get a job to learn some monetary responsibility. Trust Blair to make the best of this and get the job every gal in New York wants.

This latest addition is as good as the rest - perhaps even better, since the characters are all maturing a bit and having more interesting adventures out of high school. If you have liked the other books in this series (do read them in order!), you'll love this one.

The ninth installment of the Gossip Girls series was quite an enjoyable read. I'm almost a graduating senior myself, so I can relate to everything that's happened to Blair and the gang.

Blair spends the beginning of her summer in the UK with the gorgeous Lord Marcus. When things turn awry, she turns to her American Express black card to solve her problems. It's too bad she forgot about the dollar-to-pound exchange rate!

Serena is filming Breakfast at Fred's with director Ken Mogul, a major sell-out. Her gorgeous on-screen co-star seems to captivate her eye (as per usual). Will anything become of it? (Can anyone really deny themselves the pleasure of Serena van der Woodsen?) The one thing she seems to not excel at seems to be her new job. The stress causes her to chain smoke French Gaulloise cigarettes. Will Blair (expert at all things Audrey Hepburn) come to her rescue? Better hope they're friends at this point in time.

Nate is in the less glamorous section of the Hamptons working on his coach's summer house while his friends are smoking pot near his family's East Hampton place.

Overall, I enjoyed the book immensely and I hope if you're reading this you consider buying it. I tried not to give out too much information, as spoilers aren't as fabulous as they seem. Blair Waldorf, however, is.

Von Ziegesar redeemed herself a bit with this 9th gossip girl book. Number 8, "Nothing can keep us together" was terrible-- too outrageous, too unrealistic. This 9th book was more believable, and so much more enjoyable. Blair is still fierce, vicious, and leading a messed-up life. Things fall into place a little better for her in this book, towards the end. Perhaps her life can be a little less messed-up from now on, let's hope. I feel too sorry for her! She goes to London in the beginning of this book and buys herself a GBP 10,000 wedding dress impulsively when Lord Marcus starts ignoring her and hanging out with his "horsey" cousin Camilla. She then gets fed up of it all and flies back to NYC on a one-way, USD 4,000 first class flight on Virgin air. When she gets home, her mom tells her to find a job so she gets one-- working in fashion on the set of the movie Serena is shooting on-- Breakfast at Fred's. I was hoping, since Serena is SUCH a bad actress who wouldnt nail the Audrey role, that Blair would step in and star in the movie instead, but no such luck. Blair instead helps Serena get into the character of Audrey and saves her from a disaster movie debut. I feel for Blair since she's always getting the limelight stolen by that ditzy Serena for whom everything seems to fall so easily for. But at the end of the book, she gets over Lord Marcus and enjoys her time back in NYC- partying in Audrey Hepburn's original apartment for Breakfast at Tiffany's. Her character is as fiesty as usual- but she has no real interaction with Nate in this book-- but there are hints that in the next one-- N, S, and B are all going to be living near each other for the rest of the summer!!! The next book is going to come out in Oct 2006. It seems like the author is trying to milk the series for all that it is worth before she might have to drop it before N, S, and B go off to Yale. BUT I think a series with them at their respective colleges could work!!! Blair would rule, Serena would struggle but come up shining, and Nate would grow up and mature but still really love Blair. Fun, fun, fun.

ONLY IN YOUR DREAMS takes place during the last summer before the gang heads off to college. Blair is across the Atlantic with Lord Marcus. Serena is given an apartment as she prepares for her new movie role in the modern version of Breakfast at Tiffany's; Vanessa is also working on the film. Daniel has a job at the famous Strand bookstore, while Nate is working off his graduation deal by fixing his coach's house.

Lights! Camera! Designer action! Right? Well, fans of the Gossip Girl series know that surprises are the order of the day, along with hot clothes. Blair is put into a hotel by Lord Marcus, who introduces her to a kissing cousin who is always around. While Blair is buying everything in sight in London, including an amazing wedding dress for 10,000 pounds, where is he? When a hotel employee hints that the other woman may not be a cousin, she packs her new purchases and returns home to staggering credit card bills and angry parents. Now they actually want her to work for the summer --- ugh. Of course, work for these teens is interning with a famous fashion designer, what else?

Returning home means that Blair needs a place to stay, so she moves into Serena's apartment, which of course is above the residence of a very good-looking guy.

Serena dives into her new role, or rather belly flops. She struggles to learn the lines that her famous co-star knows without a problem. And what's up with him anyway? She gives him every chance to get close, and he just doesn't. The apartment is pretty ratty, and Serena is getting tired of being yelled at by the director. Will her acting career be over before she even starts at Yale?

Vanessa hates that she sold out and went to work for a big commercial film, but her sister kicked her out of their apartment and she's crashing at Dan's while earning money for the fall. Dan hardly ever sees her, though, as he is busy with a beautiful girl who talks to him at the bookstore. She is introducing him to deep books and naked yoga.

Nate can't help but attract women, even Hamptons townies. They think he is a poor laborer like them, and he enjoys the anonymity while finishing his community service-type work for the coach. But when he tries to return to his elite world, he feels a big culture clash. Luckily, he will soon be off to Yale.

The ninth Gossip Girl book wraps up with invitations to the Hamptons for the rest of the summer, so there likely will be at least one more title before college begins. This series is changing as everyone grows older, but fans will still find lots to enjoy here.

--- Reviewed by Amy Alessio

In the latest Gossip Girl book, everyone is almost in college, which is why it makes sense that everyone in the book is a bit more mature, about, well, everything then they were in previous books. Don't get me wrong, Blair is still a complete drama queen, but she's no long chopping off her hair and going to rehab like she did in previous books. Every character is getting started on a new relationship in this novel with the exception of Vanessa, and the plot is reaching new heights. I must admit, that I miss the previous books when everyone was still in high school together. The plot was more together then, and I sort of wish they hadn't graduated. But as usual Cecily Von Ziegsar is keeping us on our toes with this latest installment. Who doesn't want to hear about everything Blair's up to in London, or what Serena is doing while she films her first movie? Highly entertaining book, but I miss the times when Nate was back in New York City with Blair and Serena causing mischief (like they supposedly did all the time back before they all started sleeping together) instead of hearing about him doing labor and hooking up with some freckly chick in the Hamptons. *sigh*, great book, but I can't wait in till the next one; to see if everything ties together!

As Only in Your Dreams opens, Blair is in London, unsuccessfully trying to get the attention of he boyfriend, Lord Marcus. When she fails to get him to notice her, she immediately leaves London, taking back with her a large bill. When her mother finds out, she is angry and makes Blair get a job. As Bailey Winter's new assistant, she gets to work onset of the new movie Breakfast at Fred's, where she comes across Serena. Serena is trying to make it as an actress, but soon finds that it is not her calling. But she comes through in the end. All the while, she was crushing on her hot co-star, Thad, until she finds out something about him that comes as a shock. Bailey Winter wants to keep Serena and Blair on to work for him over the summer at his house in the Hamptons, where his estate just happens to be next door to the Archibals. Nate, meanwhile, is in the Hamptons working for his coach after pulling a prank. Also, Dan and Vanessa are living together, and Dan hopes that this will bring the two closer together. When Dan meets Bree, everything changes.

I thought the newest edition of Gossip Girl was good. It started off a little slow for me in the beginning, but once I got further into the story, I couldn't put it down. With the ending, I can't wait till the next one comes out. I have a feeling that there will be another juicy storyline with Blair and Nate, who are my favorite characters. All the other storylines were pretty interesting as well. Gossip Girl does not fail to meet expectations once again. I really can't imagine this series ending.

Reviewed by a student reviewer for Flamingnet Book Reviews.
www.flamingnet.com
Preteen, teen, and young adult book reviews and recommendations.

I agree with what some of the other people are saying this book is no where near as good as the other books, it seems as if ever since the kids graduated the author has run out of ideas. And those reviewers who are complaining about how this book isn't apporiate for younger readers, shoud know this book is for ages 16 and up and every 16 year old has heard or used the "f" word at least once in their lives. Yes there is a lot of sex, drugs, and bad language but that's a part of the real world.

In case you didn't know already, Cecily von Ziegesar is no longer the author of the Gossip Girl books starting with this one... the front cover says "created by" not "by," so this book is written by a ghostwriter so that the original author can work on other projects. I don't know whether it's the ghostwriter or the series going even longer (there were only supposed to be 8 books) that is making this series grow dull, but whatever it is, "Only In Your Dreams" fails to meet the other criteria that made the other Gossip Girl books so great.

First of all, this book starts off after graduation; thus, everybody has graduated and is beginning their summer. Blair goes to Englad to see her boyfriend Lord Marcus, but is annoyed to see that she'll have to share him with his cousin Camilla. Nate goes to work for his high school lacrosse coach in the Hamptons and meets a girl named Tawny. Dan meets a girl named Bree who teaches him to be more spiritual and their "dates" consist of going to yoga classes. Serena is starring in a movie, and Vanessa is also involved in it. Basically, the book flips back and forth between all thse characters and tells about what goes on with them; the most annoying part is that nothing interesting happens. I basically kept on reading to get to the end to see if anything good would happen, but no. The ending was dissapointing and kind of just left you hanging.

Basically, not the best GG book, the series seems to be going downhill. All of the cattiness, backstabbing, and juicyness that made the other books so much more interesting is gone. Instead you're left with a boring storyline that makes it hard to finish the book.

Graduation is over, and now it's time for the true games to begin. Summer is finally here. And, as the last summer before everyone goes off to college, it's destined to be the best one in history. But with so many people on the outs with one another, it may be hard to find the strength to simply stretch out in your new Eres bikini without feeling the burden of just the tiniest amount of guilt. Then again, when you look this amazing, guilt is just a thing of the past.

Since meeting Lord Marcus, Blair Waldorf has been on cloud nine. Not only does he have the most charming British accent, but he makes the gorgeous Nate Archibald look pale in comparison, and, as an added bonus, he has invited Blair to spend the summer abroad with him in England. Blair just knows that this is it. Marcus will propose to her, and the two of them will ride off into the sunset. But Marcus is totally different in England. In fact, if Blair didn't have her American Express card in tow, she may have actually been lonely as he basically abandoned her to cavort with his horse-faced cousin. It's enough to make her long for her friends and family in New York.

While Serena van der Woodsen is heartbroken that her frenemy Blair Waldorf is vacationing abroad, she can't help but be relieved in the wake of her absence, for it gives her more time to concentrate on nailing the role she just landed as Holly in Ken Mogul's Breakfast At Fred's - a remake of Breakfast At Tiffany's. While Serena is being hailed as a young ingenue, she can't seem to get it right when it comes to being Holly. And the fact that she's been cast opposite uber-hottie Thaddeus Smith. Serena wants more than anything to do well in the first role of her life, but Thad has a way of making her forget her lines, and fumble in more ways than one.

Nate Archibald has finally written off girls. After botched relationships with both Blair Waldorf and Serena van der Woodsen, he is convinced that this is his summer to be free from females, and to get his head on straight. Besides, he needs to reserve enough energy for fixing up his Coach's house, so that he can finally receive his diploma. But when he meets a Hamptons townie named Tawny, Nate's reservations about females are thrown out the window. Suddenly, he can't think about anything other than hanging with the fake-baked Tawny, and smoking joint after joint. Looks like someone's summertime resolutions have, once again, been cast to the wind.

After a torrid love affair with one another, Dan Humphrey and Vanessa Abrams are finally back together - but not for long. Working at the Strand, Dan meets a yoga-loving hottie, and finds himself drawn into her wacky world, leaving Vanessa in the dust. And Vanessa, working on Ken Mogul's new film Breakfast At Fred's is forced to succumb to harsh criticism that is undeniably undeserved. The only one having fun seems to be little Jenny Humphrey who is completely out of the picture. After receiving her acceptance letter to the exclusive Waverly Academy, Jenny headed off to Amsterdam to spend her summer enjoying the art of the European countryside. Now the only question that remains is whether or not we'll be seeing this pint-sized Picasso again.

How she does it is unknown, but Cecily von Ziegesar has managed to weave another drama-filled web within the pages of ONLY IN YOUR DREAMS. As always, Blair steals the show, as she shops till she drops in London. While Serena proves that maybe things don't always come so easy for her as she fumbles with her recently-acquired starring role in Breakfast At Fred's. Nate's sudden interest in a starstruck townie seems far-fetched, indicating that he's on the rebound. While Dan's sudden loss of interest in Vanessa is surprising - yet should have been expected. And our favorite bald beauty? She's turned over a new leaf in life, and has taken on one of the strangest jobs known to man. I guess she just needed some sort of escape from Dan's bizarre new outlook on life. Hollywood invades the Upper East Side, for a summer you'll never forget!

Erika Sorocco
Freelance Reviewer

I couldn't wait to get the 9th book. As soon as I got it I sat down and devoured it in one day. It was entertaining and still as funny as before, but not one of her best books. I planned on having the whole Blair and Serena kiss dealt with, Nate and Blair, and Jenny and her escapades. I also LOVE that Blair is with Marcus, but you have to read to see what happens. Overall you definately should read it if you are this far into the series, but not one of the best. It doesn't solve anything and just seems like the author is getting bored with the series, but you need to read this one if you are this far along.