I Like It Like That

Gossip Girl #5

by Cecily von Ziegesar

It's spring break and love is in the air. Or is that a blend of Chanel no. 9 and Gucci Rush? Is there a difference?

Blair moves in with Serena and they're back to being best friends. But will the love-fest last or will they end up tearing out one anothers newly highlighted hair? And speaking of new, Nate is on the straight and narrow, playing Nate-in-shining-armor to his crazy new girlfriend, Georgie. But he will definitely get more than he bargained for when he, Georgie, Blair, and Serena end up hanging out together in Sun Valley, Idaho. Back in Manhattan, Jenny is spending time with a mysteriously nice new boyfriend and Dan is spending time crying in the office of the Red Letter literary journal. And Vanessa, wait, is that Vanessa shopping at Barneys with a guy in a Lacoste shirt?

The long cold winter is over and the sun is finally shining along Fifth Avenue. The trees are in bloom and NYC's most fabulous are ready for a truly outrageous vacation!

Genres: Young Adult, Chick Lit, Fiction, Contemporary, Romance, Teen, High School

209 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 5, 2004

About the author

Cecily von Ziegesar is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Gossip Girl novels, upon which the hit television show is based.

Cecily von Ziegesar was born in New York City. Her childhood dream was to grow up to be a ballerina; she began lessons at age 3 and auditioned for the School of American Ballet at age 8, but was rejected.

As a teenager, von Ziegesar commuted to Manhattan at 6 a.m. to attend the Nightingale-Bamford School. After graduating from Nightingale, von Ziegesar attended Colby College before spending a year in Budapest working for a local radio station.

Von Ziegesar returned to the United States to study creative writing at the University of Arizona, but dropped out shortly thereafter.

Back in New York, while working at book-packaging firm Alloy Entertainment, von Ziegesar became inspired to create the Gossip Girl series, which follows the lives of privileged teenagers in New York. The series climbed to the top of The New York Times best-sellers list in 2002. A spin-off series, The It Girl, made the list in 2005.

The Constance Billard School for Girls in Gossip Girl is based upon an exaggerated version of von Ziegesar's alma mater, Nightingale. She also culled events from the book from the lives of her extremely wealthy friends, as well as her own life as a perpetual gossip.

She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her family.

Reviews

[Zoe Stewart (Zoe's All Booked)]

The way there's not a single person who's not complete garbage is sending me. Can a character go five minutes without lying? Just one? Nah, definitely too much to ask for 😂

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Added an extra star just for Eric.

[miss vampire 101 · Rating 1 out of 5]

oKAY I BORROWED THIS FROM THE LIBARY and i was sort of bored of blood sucking vampires and decided to cut it short and read normal books but why did i think this book was total bull shiat

because bad plot bad chapters bad everything and you know what i found myself bored of the series in under 30 mins

whoever said this book killed brain cells you are totally right i had an major exam the day after and my mind blanked all i could think about was bloody nat and whatever god help me please i should go back to vamp books

and just to be clear i bought the most new gossip girl caryles and pretty much enjoyed that maybe because it was not full with f***ing nonsense!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Madeleine Knutsson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jag är nog en av de få som inte har sätt serien än, har tänkt att göra det typ hundra gånger men jag har helt enkelt inte tagit tag i det än men jag ska, jag lovar!

Såg den här serien på en loppis för 5kr boken så slog jag till, bättre erbjudande kan man inte få.

Är böckerna bra? Inte det minsta.
Sluta läsa dom då? Nej, det går inte.
Så beroende framkallande man kan verkligen inte sluta. Gillar inte en ända karaktär men jag måste ändå få reda på vad som kommer hända dessa bortskämda och idiotiska tonåringar. Guilty plessure på högsta nivå. Ska ta fram min skämskudde och fortsätta denna serie och om någon frågar så är det "research" till jobbet. Shh

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first four in the series were total fluffy throwaway, mostly only interesting if you are a fan of the TV series and are curious to see how the show diverges from the books (spoiler - Chuck is recreationally gay!) But this book is just out-and-out boring. Blair likes Serena's brother - fizzles into nothing when she realizes she still loves Nate. Jenny has a mysterious boyfriend - turns out that the only thing interesting about him is that he is not rich.

I had a hard time getting through this one, and it didn't make me hopeful for the rest of the series. I probably won't finish it.

[Noah de Campos Neto · Rating 2 out of 5]

These books are getting worse and worse the more I listen to them but for some reason I just can’t stop listening 😭

[Moonie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was working on something as I listened to the audiobook and almost finished it in one sitting. That being said, I droned out a few times because this was boring. New things developed with certain characters but it all seemed pointless by the end. The last chapter was anti-climactic. This is the fifth book in the series and still the only character I like is Blair. I didn't enjoy this one but I borrowed it from the library and as I said, I was multitasking while listening to the audiobook so I technically didn't waste my time reading this.


P.S. I'm writing this review on Christmas Eve so Merry Christmas! (in the off chance that you're reading this also on Christmas in the future).

[Phoenix2 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though the first half was boring, the second half raised the bar a bit. I really love Leo and I want to see more of him, though, judging from the rest of the books, he will be easily dismissed.

[Sully · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is also posted at http://readingnookandcranny.blogspot....


And what bothered her, what made her feel like crying all over again, was that now they were broken up, she had no one to love, and no one to love her. Not that she didn't love almost every boy she'd ever met, and not that every boy in the world didn't totally love her. It was impossible not to.

Seriously, what is it about this series that makes it so readable even though the characters are kind of terrible? It feels like we are rehashing old themes yet again, what with Blair still desperate to lose her virginity, though she's met her fair share of guys more than willing to take up the cause to help her out. Her latest victim is Serena's older brother, which does add a new element to the mix.

Stone cold sober or just stoned cold, Nate still can't seem to decide what he wants. While trying to get into the pants of ultra druggie Georgie (Harriet the Spy, y'all!), he can't seem to stop playing knight in shining armor for Serena or lusting over Blair, the one he let away. And Blair still finds Nate attractive even though he cheated on her with her best friend (still can't get over this one, sorry!).

The Humpreys are a sad bunch. Shallow Jenny learns her new boyfriend might not be all he's cracked up to be, much to her dismay after lots of stalkery moments (desperate, anyone?). And sad, loner Dan is living it up (ha) with his new internship of a lifetime. Turns out, he can't even mail letters properly. I guess once you get a bit of an ego, or get a taste of the privileged life, you're too good to do the remedial tasks we all start off doing.

I definitely love to hate and hate to love these characters. They are so unrelatable on the surface, and yet there is one or two characteristics in each of them I can strike a chord with. But, again, I'm glad I don't have any of their lives. I am definitely not a drama mama. But I so enjoyed the interactions that the additions of Georgie and Chuck added to this installment in the series. Bwhahaha.

[Myra · Rating 1 out of 5]

http://imlovingbooks.blogspot.nl/2014...

Halfway trough the book I didn't see any progress in the story-line as well as the development of the main characters. The writing style is really annoying to me at this point, as well as the overall thoughts of the main characters. To me this book showed even more the lack of character-development and stayed with stereotype personalities then the previous ones in the series.
The quote below is an example. Serena just met a Dutch snowboarding team on holiday.

Quote:

page 126: 'Jan laughed and took a swig of dark amber beer. "We are not always snowboarding. I go to university in Minsk. I'm studying to be a dentist". "Oh." Serena had imagined that the whole team lived together in a cabin on top of a mountain in the Alps somewhere, snowboarding all day and getting drunk together every night. She'd thought it would be cozy, being the only girl in the group. She could cut their hair for them and make French toast for breakfast. '

Really, REALLY?? ,that's what she thinks...come on. Read the entire review on:
http://imlovingbooks.blogspot.nl/2014...

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

"I like It Like That", by Cecily von Ziegesar, was a novel full of drama and gossip. Blair is having problems at home and decides she wants to stay with her best friend, Serena, for a while. Serena decides to invite Blair to go on vacation together in Manhatten. When they are there, they see Nate and his new...girlfriend. This friend group is full of problems and with Nate's girlfriend, there are even more problems. I would recommend reading this book. The book is slow and boring at times, but when something important happens it becomes very entertaining!

[Lonely Panda · Rating 1 out of 5]

I heard so many people talking about Gossip Girl and how cool it was that I wanted to check it out, after being immensely disappointed by the series.
Well... The books are, at least this one, are not better! The plot was absent and uneventful. The characters boring and annoying. I found nothing positive to say about it and I will absolutely not read any others.

[Andrea · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maybe I'm burning out on this silliness. This one just seemed to read very slow and I wanted to slap nearly all the characters silly. Also - what is up with the way Chuck is being written? It's giving me the homophobia willies...but I can't tell if it is meant to or if this is just reflective of it's time and sort of poorly written.

[jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

read in 2006 - read after seeing tv show - better review to come

2 stars

[Nila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the previous ones..............

[AJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

okay I cannot do this anymore you win Cecily von ziegesar

[Jenny ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Por mim Erik van der Woodsen era personagem fixo no lugar do Dan.

[Ali D · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really enjoyed things turning around for Blair and not going completely Serena's way this time.
Blair deserves some happiness, poor girl.

[Cait Corbett · Rating 3 out of 5]

mid, but Dan & Vanessa’s parts of the story were less boring in this book

[Rachel Waldhelm · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the novel "I Like it like that" by Cecily von Ziegesar she creates a intriguing mystery. In a circle of friends and unidentified "gossip girl" makes a blog revealing secrets and keeping her subscribers in the loop. Ziegesar uses the "gossip girl" to carry on the plot and create fuss.
At a busy time time in characters lives, because of picking schools, a blog appears with a gossip girl. She writes all the latest drama in her friend circle and even tells embarrassing things, or where the person was last spotted. She even uses their initials to make it seem more secretive. She has different parts of her blog, like a Q & A where she gives her advice on asked topics. The group all coincidently, over spring break. After a trip that was way different from their city-life and filled of romance and drama it's time for the crew to face their acceptance letters that came in the mail.They never reveal what school each person got accepted to.
The thing I like about the book Is how the gossip girl interacts with the people reading, for example she sent a thanks to everyone that came to the party even though they didn't know who she was. It made it seem like a real blog by adding the touch of the W & A and advice section.
The thing i found that I disliked was actually be Serena is frustrating because she is gorgeous and the basic "supermodel" but is still i satisfied with herself and looks. It gets very agitating through the book but it's a very small thing to look past. Also, a few irrelevant people from the crew stayed back in the city which made it hard for me to decipher where the setting was in between chapter change.
I 10/10 recommended this book if you are a girly girl who is also into mystery and drama. It's a perfect mix because it has teenage drama that has the intimate and romantic moments.

[Jenny Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOOOW, this book took me a while to read but it was totally worth it. Ohkay, so in this book Blair & Serena finally made up on their differences & they're getting to know each-other a bit more. But i have to admit, she's still a bit wild. (x & of course, college is coming up for all of them! WOOOW, i'm only through the 5th book & things have been going pretty fast. Just when you ask yourself 'WHY CAN'T TIME GO FASTER' it's already going faster than you think it is. Maaaan, i still wonder who the heck gossip girl is, 'cus she sure keeps the whole series going. I've also noticed that in every gossip girl book theres also either a break up & a hook up or both. (actually, there's ALWAYS a new hookup) I don't get it, how do they move on so fast? Jenny was with Nate just a few books back & now she's already with someone new. & Blaire, Serena & Nate! When will they ever settle on just that one person? A bit picky, i would have to say. Agh~ all this hooking up is getting a bit annoying. Make up your mind, please? I'm just glad Serena & Blair are finally bff's AGAIN. ^^ I definitely recommend! (=

[Abi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another okay read in the series, but at times it dragged slightly for me.

[Jenn G · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me way too long to read this book. The first fourth books were entertaining but this one dragged... I don't really like any characters.

[Aliana · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual, another great Gossip Girl book. I just absolutely love reading about kids growing up in the upper East side of NYC. And of course, it’s glamorous. Definitely recommend this series!

[grazi ♡︎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

When it comes to Upper East Side teenagers, the subject is always more interesting.

Gossip Girl was, without a doubt, one of the series I most enjoyed starting this year. Even though I find some things exaggerated and futile, I love the characters and finish reading the books quickly, usually within two or four days. And with this volume it was no different.

Despite betting again on the characters' vacation - Eu Quero Tudo! you've already covered that — these moments are Sun Valley, in a ski resort, and the story has already scored points with me just for unfolding in winter. The highlights of the book were on the spot, after all the best characters in the book series are Serena, Blair and Nate, and the three of them were there. Unlike the previous ones, in Do Jeito que eu Gosto, Serena was not in any relationship. Her plot at the time was the jealousy she felt of seeing Blair interested in Eric, her older brother - showing how small the world is, since in the third book it was Blair who was in this situation due to Serena's romance with Aaron.

Blair, in turn, continued in his saga of losing his virginity and this time he chose the aforementioned Eric. I thought it was cool that at one point, he told the girl that she knew he wasn't the right guy for her, leaving it open whether Blair should be with Nate or Aaron. I particularly prefer the character with Nate, as unlike the TV series, she and Chuck don't have any kind of involvement in the books. And speaking of Nate, he continued on his walk against using drugs again, which shook his relationship with Georgie, as that's the only thing the character knows how to do - and her situation only gets worse when she starts hanging out with Chuck.

But part of the book also takes place in New York, with Vanessa, Dan and Jenny. The plots of the first two were extremely boring - Vanessa with a new boyfriend and her parents always preferring her sister, Ruby; and Dan being played slave by a writer while the writer used the excuse that this was a learning experience - and to make matters worse, it looks like the two will return in the next book. And as everyone knows, I can't like this couple. Laziness defines!

Jenny's managed to catch my attention, with all this story of secrets that Leo was hiding from her. I expected it to be something like what happened to her and that boyfriend in season 1 of the show, but it wasn't. The revelation itself was not so shocking, but rather, his reaction to discovering it, showing that Jenny is not as romantic and unprejudiced as the previous books. And the Gossip Girl... Well, we've only accumulated more suspects, but I'd rather not risk betting on anyone!

Overall, I also liked this volume and it was much better than the previous one. But it will probably be the last book in the series I'll read this year, so we'll be reunited in this Upper East Side world only in 2016. See you there!

[Kyisha Walter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went into this book very excited and was a bit disappointed. While Cecily von Ziegesar did not let me down, I had more problems with this book than the first 4. Representation was a sore point for me, with the overwhelming number of white characters, although I can understand it in terms of the story. Sexuality was also mishandled here with the second gay character in the series being very stereotypical and paired with irrelevant negative traits. Overall, the plot moved a bit slow but did pick up and the recap was written well. However, I did wish that there was more of a contrast between the fake glamour and gritty reality like we saw with Serena in the sled. That is something I feel the show lacks but has been showcased well in the books. Even the inclusion of Eric and Blair - beyond gross references here and in other plot-lines - did not ruin the story for me because of the context it resides in. I usually do not include quotes, but I felt it important here.

Dan makes an advance on his sister's friend Elise and after she jerks away, he recalls, "All of a sudden Elise didn't seem so old anymore -Dan noticed a roll of pink baby fat". Cecily von Ziegesar clearly knows what she is doing, and beyond creating a great New-York atmosphere, is able to draw clear moral lines. Even with Eric and Blair, it is not only taboo but quoted as not right or with the right person. Teens reading these books need to understand the moral limits of their lives and the lives they aspire to. That limit is handled impressively well here.

[Maitê de Marco · Rating 2 out of 5]

Apesar de ter gostado de acompanhar a relação dos personagens e a forma como elas se desdobram, achei os cenários extremamente entediantes. Não aguentava mais ler sobre Sun Valley e as babaquices da Georgina ( sério, nenhum personagem pode ser mais irritante que ela, Vanessa perdeu o posto depois que ela apareceu 🙄). Também me decepcionei muito com a Jenny e a coisa toda com o Leo. Só por que o garoto é pobre ela de repente parou de gostar dele ?! E Blair e Eric , wtf ?? Nate merece coisa melhor, apesar de já ter aprontado muito e eu espero que nos próximos livros ele também seja feliz, assim como Blair e Serena. Gosto demais do Dan( não me julguem )e estou adorando acompanhar sua jornada literária ! Que no próximo livro Blair finalmente entre em Yale e seja uma excelente irmã mais velha e que a Serena sossegue e pare de querer ser o centro das atenções sempre ... 🥱 booooring.

[Lese87maus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gossip Girl ist & bleibt einfach unterhaltsam.

Ich bin erst durch die Serie zu den Büchern gestoßen.

Ist halt schöne leichte Kost, ideal auch zum zwischendurch lesen oder als Urlaubslektüre.

Nicht nur für Teenager etwas, sondern auch für uns Junggebliebene.

Ich kann mir auch gut vorstellen, dass das Leben der „Schönen & Reichen“ Teenager sich wirklich so gestaltet, von Party zu Urlaub zu Unibewerbung etc.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was pretty good and for people who love gossip girl they would love this. It was full of drama and romance like any teen novel. I would recommend this book to other teens.

[Niek Emm · Rating 3 out of 5]

lekker easy reading ♡