Customer Reviews

Nobody Does It Better (Gossip Girl)

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

The 7th book in the Gossip Girls series picks up almost right after the other one - and probably spans the shortest amount of time of any of the other books. I suppose author Cecily von Ziegesar didn't realize how successful her books would become and that is why she flew through the first few months of the school year in three books, and has dragged out the second half of the year in the previous few books.

Still "Nobody Does It Better" is another great Gossip Girl book, fits well in the series, but sort of stalls...almost all of the occurances in this book or in the previous one come crumbling down, and only a few new seemingly semi-permanent changes have occured.

Basically you get to see how people react to Serena and Jenny after their fashion photo shoot, and you get to watch Dan go for it as the new lead singer for a rock band. Blair & Nate's relationship, which is back on track in the last book, goes through more turbulence. Blair, Nate, and Serena finally figure out where they are going to college. And Vanessa goes through some exciting and interesting changes for once! The book wraps everything up nicely at the Senior Spa weekend...with much more drama to come of course! Looking forward to the next one which will likely feature prom.

Just wondering how far von Ziegesar is planning to take the series since she could potentially at this point continue the books for sometime after high school if she wanted. We'll see - hopefully yes.

In the seventh Gossip Girl book, certain characters are developed beautifully, and others are are overextended beyond normal range. Blair is still neurotic, her mother still a lovable buffoon, Serena the childlike dreamer, Nate the unattainable dream, Jenny the desperate child, Dan the lost intellectual, Vanessa the knowing but unwilling hipster, and Aaron the affable gentle soul.

Some of these characters (I won't say who) are turned into bloated overextensions of themselves. It gets tedious, but all is redeemed with an unforgettable ending that rings with righteousness and a feeling of "all's right with the world again".

Much, much better than the last two.

The 7th Gossip Girl book is still juicy!
Dan is now the lead singer of a band called The Raves, Blair and Nate are now together but towards the end Blair's world comes crashing down, well almost. Serena is pretty much already famous being a model, but now Jenny shares her spotlight with her new fashion shoots. Its still the usual Nate partying, Serena is undecided of where to go, and Blair knows what she want to do but will she get it? Your answer has arrived in this one!

For those of you that are familiar with the Gossip Girl series this is one of the better ones because some of the characters act slightly differently then you would expect them to and this adds a nice change.

Everything starts off great with Blair and Nate together and with Blair still best friends with Serena.

Then Nate steals his parents boat and he and a group of druggies go on a trip to Bermuda. Nate realizes too late that he would rather be with Blair and when he gets enough sense to turn the boat around he finds out that his parents are mad at him as well.

Now I won't tell you the whole story but what I will tell you is that:

Blair moves to the Plaza hotel then to Vanessa's house

Nate gets grounded for stealing the boat but sneaks out of the house anyway (Whats new about that!?!)

Blair gets accpted to Yale (Yay!!)

AND

Serena and Nate kiss (by accident) and Blair walks in on them!

All in all this was a good book and I definitely recommend it to anyone who has read the other 7 books.

Everyone thought that the hard part applying to college was getting accepted. But, now that acceptance letters have made their way into the hands of the Upper East Side's most glamorous, it's quite obvious that deciding on which college to attend may just be even more nerve-wracking and confusing. Luckily, there's only one month left of high school for the seniors, and they plan on partying the last part of the semester away. After all, there's always time to think about college after we attend the latest sample sale.

Everything is finally falling into place for Blair Waldorf. She and Nate Archibald are back together, and she has finally handed her V card over to him. Her mother gave birth to her little baby sister, Yale; and, much to her surprise, she absolutely adores the tiny tyke, and is shaping up to be the best big sister the Upper East Side has ever seen. The only thing that has her baffled and in a perpetual state of anger is the fact that she has been wait-listed at Yale. Even worse, both Nate and Blair's best frienemy, Serena van der Woodsen snagged spots at the Ivy league she wishes to call home, making her wonder whether two of the most important people in her life will leave her behind.

Though Serena van der Woodsen has a B+ average, somehow she got accepted to all of the Ivies - Yale, Harvard, and Brown, just to name a few. Now comes the hard part. Serena never realized that she was actually into the whole college thing, but now that she's begun to think about the future, she's convinced that this is a huge decision on her part. The only problem is that she's leaning towards Yale, and, knowing that Yale is Blair's number one choice school, Serena knows that Blair will wring her neck if she accepts the spot. Time to make a tough decision - her best friend, or her future.

Nate Archibald is up to his old tricks again, smoking weed to his hearts content. The only difference is that he and Blair are finally back together, and he's convinced that the two of them will be together forever. But now that Blair has been wait-listed at Yale, he wonders if everything will work out the way he has always hoped. Maybe if he could keep his lungs clear for more than a minute or two, he'd be able to reassure Blair that the two of them will never be separated, and that she'll definitely be accepted by Yale. Too bad he's so dependent on his little marijuana friend.

Vanessa Abrams thought that things were finally back to normal between her and her morbid poet boyfriend, Dan Humphrey. The two were living together in Williamsburg, soaking up the pleasures of being a happy couple. But after an out-of-control party, and an unexpected houseguest, the two bid adieu to one another; Vanessa being left by her lonesome, and Dan being recruited as the singer/songwriter for the band The Raves. Now it's Dan's little sister, Jenny's time to misbehave. Jenny Humphrey has always been the good girl, doing what she was told, and acting demurely. But after developing a fascination with boarding school, Jenny has decided to indulge in a little debauchery of her own. Suddenly, she's partying all weekend with college-aged rockers, breaking Constance Billard's dress code, and even modeling in big-time fashion spreads alongside Serena. If Jenny's not careful, she may just end up elsewhere next year. But maybe that's what the pint-sized vixen is hoping for.

I have fallen so head-over-heels in love with the GOSSIP GIRL series, that I have been devouring one after the other, just trying to keep up with the amount of scandal and juicy storylines that seem to pop up in each addition. NOBODY DOES IT BETTER is no exception. Blair shines, as always. Nate actually takes on the role of the supportive, caring boyfriend - for about two seconds. Serena seems to be hitting a milestone in her life; finally buckling down and attempting to be serious. Vanessa seems more out-of-control than ever, but maybe a little help from one of our favorite Upper East Side princesses will help balance her out. Dan seems to be going through a crisis of sorts, finding it hard to figure out exactly what he wants to do next. But one of the shining stars within the pages of this installment is everybody's favorite little sister - Jenny. Jenny is truly shaping up to be the next Serena, and even manages to steal the spotlight from some of the seniors we all know and love, making it obvious that she may just be ready to run the show. There's no question about it, NOBODY DOES IT BETTER than Cecily von Ziegesar!

Erika Sorocco
Freelance Reviewer

Blair, Serena, Nate and the rest of the Upper East Side crew are getting fidgety as the end of senior year --- and decision time --- approaches. Blair is still wait-listed at Yale, Serena is undecided, and Nate just wants to keep partying.

Though Nate and Blair have taken the next step in their relationship, some things are still the same. He goes off with his party friends, and she gets mad at him. This time, though, Blair decides to move away from all the "stress" in her life --- to Brooklyn of all places, with Vanessa of all people! This odd pairing lends comedy to this seventh installment of the Gossip Girl series and will affect them both in some surprising ways.

Jenny steps up as a bit of a diva after her successful modeling with Serena. She wants to see and be seen, and makes friends with rock stars. When the older girls graduate, Jenny seems poised to step in as queen of Constance Billard. Her brother Daniel's quick rise to fame as a rock singer is over almost before it starts, along with his rock-star wannabe look, thankfully.

Fans of this series will enjoy the usual fashion tidbits and foray into the glamorous teen life inside parties and suites at The Plaza and in the Hamptons.

So nothing much has changed here, and yet everything has. The characters are in a holding pattern, but there are lots of clues that the series will graduate on into college life with some of the key players. New characters and plots will be welcome.

   --- Reviewed by Amy Alessio

This book was one of my favorites of the gossip girls series, although it was more than a little irritating that nate was high for practically the entire book. what ever happened to him at least attempting to clean up? oh well. and the other thing that irritated me was it said vanessa won the constance billard film contest when serena actually did. am i the only one who remembers this, because apparently cecily herself has forgotten it. but all in all, a great guilty pleasure quick read, I can't wait to read the next one.

In the seventh addition to the based on "real life," but too good to really be true 'Gossip Girl' series, 'Nobody Does It Better,' more soap opera type drama occurs than ever before. To begin, Nate and Blair continue to persue their extremely intense relationship, and, for once, Nate tries to change his wandering eyed ways, while Blair developes a complete and undivine trust for him to continue to be faithful to her. Yet, although Nate has become more honest and truthful, he still lacks full intelligence, as well as the the ability to turn down an adventuire with his stoner friends.

But, the storyline doesn't stop there. After getting invited to hang out with Serena, Jenny feels "badder" than ever, and starts disobeying her embaressing but good father, Rufus, and decides she would prefer to go to boarding school afer her "celebrity status" of being a model and groupie becomes too public for her current school to handle, only resulting in huge trouble for her.

Speaking of celebrity statuses, Dan is just earning his as he continues writing and singiong songs for the mega-hit band, The Raves, making him an official group member, who can't wait wait to get chased by girls or paparazzi. But, Dan just may spoil all the "rave" of the hit group if he isn't careful.

As for what happened to Dan's once girlfriend, shaved headed and black obsessed Vanessa? She's out looking for a new roomate... and love, but things only become more twisted and complicated. But, wait, doesn't Vanessa usually prefer it that way? Things are changing for the talented film maker.

But, however, Serena doesn't change much. She's still wild, carefree, and boy crazed. But, that isn't isn't always necessarily a good quality, and things only heat up between her and her closest friends... in a more than one way.

The other characters, such as Adam, Chuck, Kati, and Isabel, well, they are getting busy with girls, college, boys, hosting parties, girls, fashion, boys, and, most of all, more gossip, which is just about thier favorite thing to do... if the initials B, S, N, J, D, and V are involved.

I am giving this book two stars. Although I am a huge 'Gossip Girl' fan, the ending of the book threw me off and made me gag. Not only is Serena getting more annoying, but she is also a lousy friend, and a major spoiler of the story line, and the same could be said for Nate's stoner friends. The only thing more unrealistic than some of the previous books is the fact any of them could be considetred "smart." But, I still love the books, and can't wait for the next one.

There was so much I didn't mention in my review about the book due to the risk of spoiling the entire story, so be sure to check out a copy for yourself and enjoy.

Cecily Von Ziegesar really keeps things interesting in her seventh Gossip Girl book. In this book, Senior Spa Weekend is coming. Things with Blair and Nate aren't good, when Nate steals his parents yacht to bring with stoner friends on vacation. Blair gets mad because Nate was supposed to meet her at the Plaza Hotel. Dan leaves the Raves band after he pukes all over at a concert, and Jenny joins as the lead singer, that is until things fall apart with her life. Next year she won't be back at Constance Billard, unless she repeats ninth grade. Blair moves in with Vanessa and gives her apartment a makeover and hooks Vanessa up with Aaron. At the Senior Spa Weekend, Blair finds out that she has made it into Yale, and also that Nate is cheating on her with Lexique and she finds Serena making out with him. Interesting gossipy book. I really liked this one!

Gossip girls is a good book. Its comparable to "Sex in the City" in teen characterisation. Its mostly about sex, drugs, and drama. Pretty much teen life now. The girls in this book are the prettiest and go to the finest schools.

They're basically the "IT" girls. They're really rude and act like snobs but what do you expect from rich teens.

By the title you can already tell what it is about which is gossip. Honestly there was some parts where I turned the page from boredom. Also other parts where I couldn't stop reading. There are four main characters. Blaire, Serena, Vennasa and Nate, Blair's boyfriend. The characters have just graduated from high school. In this book Blair and Nate are back together, couldn't be happier. Until Nate ends up screwing things up and tries to fix things. Blair and Serenna are best friends still, until Blair catches Serenna and Nate kissing. Blair ends up moving in with Vennassa. She also gets accecpted into Yale so she has accomplished a goal. It's a very good book. I recommend it to older teens, but not so much younger because of the crude humor.

I recommend it to anybody who would like to read real life books. However I would think you would want to read the other books first because this was the first one I read and I was a little lost. I would have to say Cecily von Ziegesar is a good author, she has a good grip on what's happening in real life and shoving it into a series of books and making it fun to read.

Overall I liked it.