Gossip Girl: You're the One That I Want: A Gossip Girl Novel (Gossip Girl, 6)

Welcome to New York's Upper East Side. The sun is always shining, which makes it another perfect day to shop. Not that any other day would be a bad one. You're The One That I Want, a Gossip Girls novel by Cecily von Ziegesar, is an incredibly well written book that tells the life stories of a high school senior, Blair Waldorf, and all of her Upper East Side friends.

As college applications start to arrive, and the word gets around, gossip builds up as the stakes are raised and friendships are put to the test. For example, the friendship between the threesome that's been together forever, Blair, Serena, and Nate. Ever since the 4th grade Blair has had her heart set on Yale, and even named her new baby sister after the university. Despite these wishes, she completely blew both of her chances to get in, and is losing sleep at night from her nerves. Without her knowing, her on and off boyfriend Nate decided what the heck, and applied to Yale too. Also not even thinking about it was her best friend Serena when she decided to apply. College application day arrives, and Blair and Serena decide to open theirs together. Big mistake. Soon after their friendship will go downhill, but now, once again will they be able to pull it back up?

But hey, who cares about college when you have a love life to look after? Nate and Blair have been dating on and off since anyone can remember, and if you don't think they'll end up married, you're in the minority.

One part of the book that really stuck out to me was when Blair was at Georgetown checking out the college and getting a tour from a girl named Rebecca and her little posse of three other bleached blonde girls that do EVERYTHING together. So that night they get Blair really drunk, and all five of them agree that Blair should be in their little "club". In order to be in this club though, you have to let the current members shave your legs and you have to die your hair blonde. Blair, although a gorgeous brunette, was drunk enough to let them do this to her, and realized in her morning hangover what a mistake she had made. Just goes to show you what can happen to you when you're drunk!

The Gossip Girls are serial books that any girl of any age can relate to because of the little phases that each girl goes through, mainly Blair. Friendship problems, boys, and self consciousness are all things that every girl goes through, no matter how rich you are, and Gossip Girls is here to show us just that.

This book in the series was the best one yet. It only took one sitting to finish the whole book you just didn't want to put it down. It leaves alot left unsaid about the futures' of the charaters. But it hits the climax forgive the pun to stories that have been devloping since page one of book one. Read it love it. But please god don't live it.

The main plot in this book revolves around college acceptance letters and what the characters plan to do with their lives after high school. In the beginning of the book, Serena, Nate and Blair meet to open their letters. Blair, whose main goal in life seems to be getting into Yale, is accepted only to Georgetown, her "safety school." Serena, on the other hand, gets into Yale, Brown and just about every other major university in the USA. Nate, likewise, is accepted to four universities. This whole scenario seems a bit ridiculous because Blair has spent her high school years slaving away in honors classes and doing community service work, while Serena and Nate have been to busy doing drugs and going to parties to focus much on school. Upon this Blair throws a temper tantrum, yells at Aaron, starts drinking, etc...

In the mean time, Jenny is perusing her modeling career with a bit of help from Serena. Vanessa is adjusting to life with her two new roommates. Dan is still the troubled, lost soul her always was, even with a new residence. Nate is still a jock and a pot head. The character's college visits are also described. Serena, as always, is breathtakingly beautiful and mysterious, causing men to fall in love with her everywhere.

What I really like about the Gossip Girl books is how well von Ziegesar intertwines the different lives and stories of her characters. There are always lots of little stories being told consecutively, lots of subplots, but the book is still very easy to read and a real page turner. The characters are all so different and yet they all stumble across each other's paths in clever and interesting ways.

The only thing that really bothered me about this book (which is more exciting than the previous one, by the way) is Blair. At the beginning of the series I found her amusing, but there are times when here drama queen antics and constant bad mood can be annoying as hell. She's completely self-centered and everything always has to be about her. For example, I can understand how she might be upset about not getting into Yale, but that doesn't mean that Serena and Nate (who got in!) should be afraid to even mumble the word in her presence. Every time someone tries to console her about it, (like her mother,) she doesn't even give them a chance to say anything. She's especially rude to her mother, by the way, who's pregnant with her baby sister. Blair gets to choose a name for her sister, by the way, and chooses Yale like the egoistical teenager she is.

Enough Blair bashing though. Overall, this book is a fast-paced and exciting read. Despite being the sixth book in the series, the ideas are still fresh and the twists are very clever. It's better than Gossip Girl 5 so...read it!

Annotation: This book is the first book in a series of seven books so far. It is about a group of friends that live in New York's Upper East Side. They all go to private schools there and live in hige apartments with their rich parents. This series of books show the funny, honest, and weird things about teens and what they do.

Author Bio: Cecily von Ziegesar was born in New York City. Gossip Girl is her first novel, although she's written lots of things about lots of people.Cecily von Ziegesar herself attended one of the smart private schools in Manhattan, New York, and many of the tales told in Gossip Girl come from her experiences there. After leaving school, von Ziegesar went to Colby Collge in Maine. After she left college, she spent a year working for a radio station in Budapest. She then returned to the US and studied creative writing at the University of Arizona. She went to live in London for a short while and worked for a publishing company. Upon returning to the US she moved back to New York and started working for a book packaging firm which specialised in coming up with ideas for fictional series. It was while she was working there that she came up with the idea for the Gossip Girl series.

Evaluation: "Gossip Girl" is about a group of teenagers, living in New York's Upper East Side. They all live the rich life. They attend one of the most proper private schools in all of New York, and they live in hige apartments with their rich families. Because they have unlimited money, they can do whatever they want. In this first book of the series, we meet the characters and what they are all about.

We first meet Blair, who is the epitome of class and style. She has everything from a gorgeous boyfriend to wealth and beauty. However, her world is turned upside down with the return of Serena, her best friend who was supposed to be attending boarding school in Connecticut. Rumors fly as to why Serena has moved back to New York, and jealousy strikes as Blair feels threatened by her friend's arrival.

Serena van der Woodsen is back in town after a year of boarding school in Connecticut, and things couldn't be worse. Seems something is amiss with Serena's old friends. Blair, Isabel and Kati have better things to do besides wonder what Serena did to get kicked out of boarding school. However, not everyone is upset over Serena's return: Blair's boyfriend, Nate, is having a hard time being faithful; Nate's slimy friend, Chuck, is hoping the rumors of Serena's promiscuity are true; and Jenny, Dan and Vanessa find things in common with their new friend

This book contains it all: back stabbing, gossip, secrets, and details of these teens juicy lives. While Gossip Girl is appealing to most young ladies, some subject matter reinforces unflattering behavior like underage drinking, the use of marijuana and sexual interludes. This book is one of my favorite books because it deals with issues that teens face today. It is a rare book that you can feel like you really relate too. I'm excited to see what the rest of the series has to offer.

I recently started reading the gossip girl series and finished the first 6 books in 1 week!

I really enjoyed this book as I did all the others.

The best thing about this book is Nate and Blair finally "do it" but i couldn't help but feel sorry for Blair because no matter how hard she tries she always comes in second best to Serena. She and Serena both apply to a number of Colleges and Serena gets into all of them (including Yale) despite her bad grades and the fact that she got kicked out of boarding school where as Blair gets into one school and is waitlisted at Yale which totally breaks her heart. Nate gets into Yale as well and sleeps with Brigid his Brown interviewer so as you can see Blair is not the lucky one in this book.

I would definetly recomend this book to girls who are just above twelve but I suggest you read the first five books first.

I'm shocked. It really worries me that so many girls my age read these books. I don't like to sound like a parent, but these books set a really bad example. The characters are so spoiled, it's disgusting. And they're mean, not to mention slutty. How can this book be a bestseller? It's trash. Don't people get bored with girls acting trashy and sleeping around? Look, read what you want, but parents should be warned about this book. Gossip Girl is a serious waste of your time!!

Annotation: "You're the one that I want" is the sixth book of the Gossip Girl series. This was the book when everything came to a close, or at least we thought so. It was the big day when all the college letters have finally arrived, the nerves we so high you could barely control the butterflies in your stomach. The big question, was Blair going to get into her dream college, Yale? It would make everything so complete; she could live there with her boyfriend Nate, along with her best friends Serena. Everyone knew Serena had a automatic exception just for who she was, and Blair knew she could never leave Serena and Nate alone, look what happen last time. When it comes to these upper class Manhattan crowd, it is all about the money and who you are. It doesn't madder if you aced the ACT's or spent every weekend giving your time to the community, it was all about the family you came from, how known you were, and what kind of money you have.

Author Bio: Cecily Von Ziegesar grew up in the land of Blair, Serena and Nate. She attended an all-girl private school, attended socialite galas and generally "did the do" like only a real New York City diva can. In this series of books Cecily puts her high school experiences to use. Cecily said that she doesn't' feel like she has changed much since she was seventeen, so she doesn't find writing about teenagers all that hard. When asked what character she relates to most in these books Cecily said Blair because she has a wild imagination, she's kind of cruel but sensitive at the same time, she's ambitious and competitive, and her family is insane.

Evaluation: "You're the one that I want" is my favorite book out the series. I was disappointed that when it all came down to the end, Blair only got on the waiting list at Yale, that was basically a major part the past five books in the series. I mean she did everything she could, she was top in her class rankings, aced the ACT's, chaired every charity event in town, and was active in every club or group in the school. But when you have an enormous hang over the day of your interview with the admissions because you didn't stop drinking until two hours before in your hotel room and then end up dramatically explaining your horrible life while bursting into tears and then give the officer a kiss good-bye, what more could you ask for. But if Blair didn't get into Yale it would ruin her whole family reputation. After she explained the tragic event to her dad, who was an alumni at Yale, he got her another meeting with an admissions officer. But dating, or "Hooking up" with the officer sure didn't get her pasted the waiting list. I think the reason I liked these books was because it was so easy to relate, in some type of way this goes on with my friends and life all the time. Even though they're rich and spoiled on the surface, they're still just like everyone else. At least one event that happened in this series of novels, I know everyone could relate to. These novels are meant to be funny and interesting but they are soft and sensitive people like everyone else, they just happen to have more than anyone else could want. I think that they is one of the big reasons that I, along with many others enjoy these books so much.

Open your eyes, whoever you are! If you find this book boring, you obviously can't read beyond what's written -- and that's sad. HOW can this book be boring? It's like a literary soap opera! The constantly-changing relationships von Ziegesar creates are intriguing. Each character is full of depth. Anyone with half an emotion can see that Blair's shallow, bitchy behavior is attributed to her chaotic home life, misunderstanding mother, fat stepfather, and the fact that her best friend slept with her boyfriend. Von Ziegesar bases all of these characters on people she actually knew, so don't think it's some figment of imagination. And next time you have a stick up your ass about something like this, you should really pull it out. People would like you more. Kisses!

~ Erica

Seventeen.com's Book Corner

TO WHOEVER REALLY WRITES THIS SERIES: PLEASE!!! Most of what you wrote in this book is soooo dull and boring. I realize there are a lot of girls out there who are followers and they will read whatever someone tells them is cool which is why this trash is popular, but come on!! If you want to read a good series that has some depth and believability read THE A LIST BOOKS such as BLONDE AMBITION. Yes, the main character Anna has a functioning brain AND a sense of morality. Shocking, huh?? Girls, use your time for something better than this trash. Yawn.

Though Gossip Girl is one of my #1 young-adult gasp/blush books, it is immediatly engrossing and a fabulous way to waste time in the south of France, at your Daddy's private club in Maui, or in Aspen warming up to a harcore skiier whos desperate for love. This is a satisfying installment of the Gossip Girl phenomenon; full of scandals, snickers, and boys, this book is by far the best Gossip Girl tale. I would tell you what happens to our favorties like Blair, Nate, and Serena, and even baby Jenny, but I know you want to experience that for yourselves! So jump into that Chole bath robe, lug yourself around in those Coach flats and jump into the whole new tale of Gossip Girl.