Cecily von Ziegesar

After graduating and moving on to college, Blair, Serena, Nate, Dan, and Vanessa are forced to come to terms with past events when they are reunited in the city during the holidays in this coming-of-age story.

A Gossip Girl Novel

Gossip Girl: I Will Always Love You

Geoffrey Froggatt

** spoiler alert **
           This is the twelfth and final book in the Gossip Girl book series, and the thirteenth book chronologically if you count the prequel. Blair, Serena, Nate, Dan, and Vanessa graduated and went off to live their lives. Now they're coming home for the holidays. A lot can change in a few months, but some things never do. I liked seeing how things changed for the characters in this book since there wasn’t much character progression in the first eleven books. Dan’s poetry was as pretentious as ever, but I liked seeing Vanessa pursue her passion for filmmaking. I liked seeing the glimpses into the changed lives of these characters, I just wish there were interesting character developments in all of the books. I liked how this story begins with Serena and Blair in different places than where they were in previous books, with Serena as a successful famous actress and Blair attending Yale while in a committed relationship with a man that wasn’t Nate. I liked how Nate’s character returns to the Upper East Side after running away from himself and his mistakes. It was interesting seeing Chuck as a changed man, despite being a lesser secondary character in the book series. I liked seeing Jenny return for the final book, but she deserved a better storyline than rehashing things with Nate. The love triangle between Serena, Blair, and Nate finally felt interesting (at the beginning) because the characters have grown a little and the stakes were higher because this is the last book in the series, but I still would have preferred this storyline if it had been a true love triangle with Blair and Serena also having romantic feelings for each other. I liked how the characters started off different and more grown, but they quickly devolved into their old selves and the middle of the story becomes a rehash of the same storytelling beats from every other book in the series, with the characters running around in circles and having minimal to no character or plot progression featuring storylines we’ve already explored multiple times before. 

I managed to get through eleven books because I kept expecting things to get interesting, but once I hit the middle section of this final novel, I was crawling towards the end, I just wanted it to be over and wrapped up. This didn’t feel like the final book in a twelve book series, it started off great and then devolved into mediocre storytelling, weird pacing, and wasted potential. I liked how it ended with Blair and Serena choosing each other and their friendship over Nate and running off to Europe together, but the ending itself wasn’t satisfying for the entire series as a final book and it wasn’t a decent conclusion or send off to all the characters. It felt like the author finished the book in a way where she could plan a spin-off sequel series or return with future books in the series, but they never followed up on it. Half the books in the series could have been skipped and readers wouldn’t lose any context or understanding of the overall story because all the character and story arcs are fleeting and random, with some books only connecting to each other flimsily. 

While I liked how this book series started, I found that all the books after the first didn’t live up to the potential this series had. Much like how the television adaptation started with a brilliant first season then rapidly declined in quality until the end, the book series started with a perfect foundation for a book series then rapidly became mediocre books with boring storylines. Even though the television show lost the satirical look at nepotism baby rich kids and became a straight forward look at their opulent lives, there were always interesting and dramatic storylines to keep your attention. The book series similarly starts with a cynical and satirical look at the upper crust world from which the characters (and the author) were born, but the books rapidly became simple-minded misadventures of vapid nepotism babies. In my review of the first book, I mentioned that this book series had the potential of becoming an interesting satire and story with a vibe similar to the works of Bret Easton Ellis. Looking back at that statement, I feel embarrassed at how quickly this series became exactly what the first book was poking fun at. The creators of the television adaptations have done a great job at salvaging these characters and inventing creative and engaging storylines for the show, and it’s hard to believe that they were able to make something so fun out of something so empty like the book series. 

With twelve books in this series, you would expect some dramatic storylines and enticing singular plots from book to book, but so many of these books felt like filler and repetitive drivel. Instead of using the characters as a vehicle to explore interesting storylines and ideas about this glamorous world, every book after the first has these vapid and pretentious characters running around in circles with slim to none character/plot development. It feels like the author genuinely had a passion for these characters and this world, then she realized she could make some serious cash from these books and just started pumping out books (sometimes using a ghostwriter) to capitalize off of the initial success. Some of the most interesting characters are secondary characters that are introduced then immediately made irrelevant and forgotten. Erik, Georgina, Aaron, Chuck and more could have all made an interesting secondary cast and acted as character foils and storyline goldmines for the main characters, but they’re simply introduced to move the plot of certain books forward then immediately written off. All the characters in the television show are interestingly fleshed out and instantly iconic. The only characters fleshed out in the book series are Serena and Blair, and even they lose any interesting characterization throughout the series, and they don’t hold a candle to the portrayals of Serena and Blair in the television adaptation. Dan and Nate’s characters were so bland and boring compared to the girl characters and their own television counterparts, and the most interesting male characters are minor characters who only make brief appearances. I preferred Gossip Girl (the website) in the television show since she felt like a character and a presence that had an effect on the main cast and the plot itself. In the books, Gossip Girl is simply a framing device for the story. I didn’t like the reveal of Gossip Girl’s identity in the show, and I wish they would have left her anonymous like in the books, but I still prefer her presence in the television adaptation because of her power and control over the plot and characters. This book series would have greatly improved if Gossip Girl’s blasts had effects on the story. I do feel like these books were scandalous and subversive when they were first released, but these days they feel tame, and I do feel like that’s partly why they didn’t have the impact that they should have on me. I would have loved these books if they had been darker and written today. After loving (most of) the television show, I was excited to read these books, and while I don’t regret reading this series, I do wish there were a book series with the same energy, drama, and vibe that the television adaptation of Gossip Girl had.

Jessica 

Blog | Twitter | Instagram | 
  They chose each other.

Just then, the dark sky lit up with fireworks. A cab sailing the street honked in celebration . In the night air, Nate thought he could hear Serena and Blair's laughter, though he knew that was impossible; they were too far away by now.

But as we know, in this city anything is possible.


Flashback to 2008 or 2009: in a surprising move due to the popularity of the then-hit television series, Gossip Girl came back for one final look into our beloved teenagers lives as they explore adulthood and come home for the holidays during breaks in university. Much like the final books and spin-offs of the original series, it is penned a ghost writer and not Cecily herself.

I Will Always Love You, or as I like to call it: the pitiful (but still fun) attempt at drawing in fans of the television series and unnecessarily destroying the characteristics of the books, takes place over the course of four years and is told in the usual rotating narration and blog entries. We’re split up to focus ONLY on the four years of holidays our kids have as breaks from classes.

(I’m being a bit dramatic: the installment wasn’t horrible it just wasn’t Gossip Girl in the way longtime readers wanted it to be. There were some redeeming qualities to it, though, like the endgames. Which is why I've still given it a high review like the rest of the series.) 

Continued @ BOOKEDJ.

Gossip Girl: I Will Always Love You A Gossip Girl Novel

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