Reviews

I Will Always Love You by Cecily Von Ziegesar

impybelle's review against another edition

4.0

As far as the actual Gossip Girl series goes, I liked this one better than most of the latter BSN-era books. The quirk of skipping ahead and only glimpsing their lives around New Year's could be annoying or gimmicky, but it worked for me.

I loved the glimpses into Blair and Serena's pasts and my absolute favorite bit was the two of them finally choosing each other over Nate.

nuska's review against another edition

3.0

The last book of these super-rich kids adventures. I don't like Nate and his inability to choose between his two best friends -or so he says-. I don't like Serena either. I love how the two girls ditched the indecise boy at the ending, though. I would have loved Blair moving with Chuck, but in my mental alternative ending they married after college. Xoxo. I will miss you all.

ajlawford's review against another edition

1.0

What a terrible end to a terrible series. I read the books because I like the show, little did I know how different they are! The first few books were okay, but after that it went steadily downhill. I tired of the same love triangle drama, only the year and semester being the difference between books. After well over a year of seeing the last in the series still sitting on my book shelf unread, I finally got around to reading it. Mostly I just wanted to find out if the Gossip Girl revealed in the books was the same as the show. Well spoiler alert, Gossip Girl never reveals her identity!! WTF I just tortured myself reading another book for no reward! Over than that massive failure, this book combined all that I hated about the series into one boring story. The amount of brand names being dropped was pathetic. Can't the author just say that a girl stepped out of her apartment, without a full run down of what she is wearing complete with which designer the garments are from? This happens every single time anything happens. *yawn*. The worse example of over branding was naming the brand of a refrigerator that someone gets a beer out of. Not only is that pathetically unnecessary, because it's clear the characters are rich and would have the best of everything, to repeat it the very next page is ridiculous overkill! The final book is life post high school. This time though, time moves forward in large unspecified months or years, trying to cram all of college into one book. Even the author knows the series is dead. I could practically write down the formula used to create the lackluster drama. Cycle though each main character pairing a boy and a girl up. Create said romance. Create said breakup. Repeat with different characters. Intersperse with Serena and Blair loving then hating each other. None of this is new material. I no longer care who ends up with who. I just want it to end. You could basically skip the first 11 books and just read this one and not miss a thing. Especially because there were constant recaps back to past story lines. Strip out the past, the brands, and the expected relationship dramas and this book has absolutely no substance. None at all.

elenasmaragd's review

emotional lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

luisaandrade's review against another edition

3.0

The true paradises are ones we have lost.

Tinha poucas expectativas - considerando que achei os volumes anteriores péssimos - mas foram definitivamente superadas porque aparentemente encontraram um ghostwriter com mais talento que conseguiu dar profundidade aos personagens e aos acontecimentos.

Ouso dizer que com algumas modificações daria um ótimo standalone de chicklit, como se Emily Giffin tivesse escrito One Day.

bunnylover381's review against another edition

4.0

My favorite guilty pleasure series. It was just how I remembered from reading them back in high school. I think this final book had a good message, hoes before bros;)

alids's review against another edition

1.0

Aaaahhh my ears, they're bleeding

sbrads's review against another edition

2.0

I actually liked the ending of book 11 and would have been happy if it just ended there. The ending to this last instalment felt much more open. I get the feeling there were plans to write more books that never happened. The book itself wasn't that terrible, but it was just unnecessary. It was 300 pages to have everyone end up in the same place they started, but a few years older and none the wiser. What else is new.

courtneys_reading's review against another edition

4.0

Full review with spoilers here

The final Gossip Girl book. And probably the best one out of them all.

Set over four years we discover how college and life has panned out for our favourite Upper East Siders.

Here's a little recap of what is going on:
B and S have a more rocky relationship than ever since B went to college and S decided to be a movie star for a bit, N realises he can't sail around the world forever and will never choose between our faves so settles for a weird California college, V cheats on D and ends up shacking up with her old film TA - though they split over creative differences, D moves back to the city and continues to be mostly the same grumpy guy we know and sometimes love...

And they all end up tangled together in some way or another at one very special New Year's Eve party, every year for four years.

It's more drama than we have ever had in the series and I think that's what is missing from the others. I enjoyed it a lot and if all the books were set like this I think the series could have been a bigger winner for me.

bookishgaby's review against another edition

funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75