Re-Wind: Back Track on I Will Always Love You

I'm one of those people that tends to act like I have a personal relationship with their favourite characters, both in my favourite books and my favourite TV shows. Since I grew up reading Gossip Girl for most of my teenage life the Blair, Serena, Nate love triangle will always hold a special place in my heart. Knowing this is the final novel in the series is actually a little heartbreaking, and in some ways a parallel to the closing chapter of my own adolescence. In my last few posts I've been a bit nostalgic, maybe even overly so, but the truth be told is sometimes you need to look to the past, especially when you're trying to figure out where you're going. I credit Blair Waldorf for my undying love for Audrey Hepburn which at this point in my life surpasses my love and adoration for Blair. It's actually made me into the person I am today, it's the first series I really interacted with and now the final novel was in some ways self reflexive of the last four years of my own life. There are however a few things I'd like to say about the one I will truly always love. I'll forgive Cecily Von Ziegesar and her editor for their momentary lapse in judgement (i.e. the additional, need I say forced) Chuck & Blair story line, that had very little development because she stayed true to the thing that made the books compelling, the never ending love triangle between Blair, Serena and Nate. I may deny that I'm a romantic but when it comes to Nate and Blair, I'll always have a soft spot. It's true what they said when the TV series first started - Nate was always caught between the love of his life and the girl of his dreams, but who does he choose in the end, or for that matter who do Serena and Blair choose in the end: that you'll have to read to believe. You'll love it if you loved the book series, and if you haven't read the series yet, you should seriously think about it (but don't cheat and read just the last one, start from the beginning, it's way more interesting that way). You're nobody 'til your talked about. xoxo - Gossip Girl

The More Things Change...

The more they stay the same. Now that may sound like a cliche, and I'd ordinarily agree and never even think of using it in this post but in the case of the new and final chapter in the original Gossip Girl series it couldn't be closer to the truth. I finally ordered in online when to my dismay no one bought it for me for my birthday or for Christmas, Yes I am a twenty year old English major and this is technically a young adult/teenage read that my professors would probably be appalled that this made the cut so high on my reading list but meh! It's a guilty pleasure that I am not willing to give up. Seventy Seven pages into Cecily Von Ziegesar's brand new masterpiece, "I Will Always Love You" and I've been transported back to the days before the TV show, when I sat in my room and instead of watching TV and talking on the phone I was enraptured in the likes of "Would I Lie to You" "It Had to Be You" and "Nothing Can Keep Us Together". I was slightly apprehensive about picking up this book, after so many years, could Cecily be able to recapture the essence of the characters? After the It Girl and The Carlyles, would I be as in love with it, or have I matured too much. (Ha, that's a laugh) Turns out, I'm just as much of a kid now as I was 6 years ago when I opened my first Gossip Girl novel. I wish these books could live on forever and find it quite strange to compare it to the TV show when (except for the accurate depiction of Blair) everything else seems so far removed. Thankfully the images of the characters I'd created in my head all those years ago have remained unscathed by the small screen adaptation. To all avid Gossip Girl lovers alike: we may all have to grow up sometime but even if it's just for now pick it up and give Gossip Girl one last read. You know you'll love it xoxo.