Amazon Product Description - aka my free summary: Blair Waldorf and Serena van der Woodsen were the reigning princesses of the Upper East Side. Until now. In Gossip Girl, The Carlyles the inimitable Gossip Girl introduces the most fabulous sixteen year-old triplets to ever inhabit the Upper East Side. When the Waldorfs move from their apartment at the end of Don't You Forget About Me, the Carlyle triplets of Nantucket, Massachusetts--Owen, Baby, and Peyton-- move in. In the new titles of the Gossip Girl series, we will follow the Carlyles, plus three other teenagers living in gorgeous apartments, attending the most exclusive prvate schools-- the familiar Constance Billard School for Girls and St. Jude's School for Boys-- and treating New York's Upper East Side as their personal playground. Welcome to the new era.Lucky for you, Gossip Girl is there to whisper all their juicy secrets...
My Thoughts
I'm not sure if Annabelle Vestry worked on the previous Gossip Girl books - it's been a long time since I read them - but I think she's done a decent job of capturing the tone of the previous books. One thing that irritated me was the way she had 'gossip girl' offer pithy commentary every other page. I don't remember having to deal with that many asides in the previous books. It didn't bug me as much after I got about halfway through the book; either she stopped doing it so frequently or I got used to it.
I've always read the Gossip Girl books when I'm in a soap operatic mood: lots of drama, not too much thinking. I think the book worked fairly well on that level. There's no one I'm particularly rooting for this time around; although the plotline with Owen and Rhys is fun. It's all going to end explosively but I'll enjoy the friendship while it's still there (there are so few friends in the Gossip Girl world! I hang on to them where I find them).
Also, hello Jack, Miss Cammie-of-the-A-list-but-not-as-cool-Gossip-Girl-version. What's up? I am here, watching your antagonist plotting with some interest. Also, internally snickering everytime I forget you're a girl and think Rhys is gay. Speaking of; do you suspect they're maybe setting up Rhys to be our resident bisexual? Could be cool.
I reccomend this book for: Gossip Girl fans, soap opera fanatics, people looking for yet another catty rich girl series to make fun of (don't knock it till you've tried it. Snark is gooood).
Rating: C
