Brett Messerschmidt is organizing Waverly Academy's annual holiday ball and secret gift exchange. But when some enterprising students decide that playing Secret Satan is infinitely more fun, the entire school starts acting naughty. All Brett wants is a successful party-and a goodnight kiss from unexpected crush Sebastian Valenti. Too bad Callie Vernon also has her eye on the newly made-over Sebastian. Sharing is caring, right? Or not . . .
Everybody at Waverly is getting into the giving spirit. The only present Tinsley Carmichael wants to unwrap is her new boyfriend, Julian McCafferty. But what happens when she uncovers a shady secret from his past instead? Looks like Jenny Humphrey, Waverly's newest small-screen star, is about to land on Tinsley's hit list. Again.
With raucous get-togethers and secret admirers, there's never a dull day in the life of an It Girl. But no one ever said being adored was easy. . . .
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.
This latest entry in the It Girl series indeed merits a mere "it was okay." Though they're back at Waverly, like the book before it (Infamous) Adored suffers from a tedious holiday-related plotline. Callie's annoying, Jenny's uninteresting, Tinsley's bitchy, Brandon's long-suffering (also when did he become such a central character?!), and as usual, it's up to Brett's plot to carry the whole book. Unfortunately, Brett is very much caught up in the boring, Christmas-related plot. Likewise, characters who were enjoyable and added interest to earlier books (e.g. Kara and Heath) are either non-existent or back to being their dull, one-dimensional selves.
I will say it picks up quite a bit toward the end and I am looking forward to the next book, which is good since when I was only maybe halfway through this one, I was having "gee, is it time to stop reading this series?" thoughts. There are some alluring teasers -- hopefully we'll have picked up once the new semester's started and won't have to suffer through a book of everyone's Christmas break/New Year's.
I am once again wondering how long they plan to let this series stagger onward, if twelve weeks = eight books. I'd be surprised to see it continue with Brett, Tinsley, and Callie away at college, so perhaps we'll only make it to the end of Jenny Humphrey's sophomore year. Then again, maybe Jenny will pull a David Silver and study extra-hard to graduate with her friends, so we'll see everyone through to the end of senior year. Even still, that'd be another 24 book -- I'd be surprised if Alloy's that committed to this series. In fact, none of their big series (Gossip Girl, The It Girl, The Clique, Private, etc.) are currently on the New York Times' children's bestseller list, so I wonder if these series are on the wane. What will become of those of us who don't want to read about vampires?
Is it just me or are books in Ziegesar series show an extremely downward sloping curve - and exponentially falling, that is. The It Girl series was, at the beginning, the perfect quick read,it kept your mind off things and swept you to the wonderful atmosphere of Waverly. This holds true for the first 3-4 books. But then, something happened. Perhaps a ghost writer came into picture, perhaps she got bored with Jenny, Tinsley and Brett. I don't know what happened, but the books' level is constantly falling. This book wasn't good, it wasn't satisfactory, neither was the ones after the fourth. The thing about these series is that it always leaves the reader wanting more but doesn't always provide what they expect - perhaps it is better to leave at the peak.
Didn't even finish this book. I was so sick of the It Girl novels at that point. Book EIGHT and still having the same problems? Seriously? I just couldn't do it. I think Cecily von Ziegesar kept inventing new nonrelevant things to add to the plot that just didn't make sense, as soon as I had to start questioning myself on whether or not I was wasting my time reading Adored, I knew it was time to put it down.
This series is dumb now. I mean it was dumb before but it was fun. Now it's not fun. Stopping in the middle of a series of books is more serious than...anything, but here I am thinking of cutting ties with The It Girl. Harsh times.
I would recommend having someone read this book to you. It's much more entertaining that way, especially if s/he uses different voices for each character.
Other than that, an enjoyable boarding school romp. The ghost writer did make one error, saying that Evergreen College is in Oregon. Bad, ghost writer, bad!
This one took way too long to get going. I wasn't happy with the storyline until Brett and Sebastian got together. Then it was nice to see tinsley and Julian sort things out. And Brett Callie and tinsley to finally all get along as friends for once. But what happened to Kara??
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Least favorite one in this series. Tinsley just annoyed me to death in this one. She should have just ASKED Julien and saved herself all that trouble of snooping.
I have to admit, the IT GIRL series is one of those guilty pleasures that I have. I can't help myself when I know another release is forthcoming. So, I eagerly sat myself down the other night when I had ADORED, the eighth installment in the series, in my hands.
The crew has returned from Thanksgiving break and has to buckle down to get ready for finals. As with all the books in the series, ADORED only covers a couple of weeks in the lives of the gang at Waverly. All the players are back, and they've all got drama going on.
Callie is recently single, after having broken things off with Easy in INFAMOUS. She's on the prowl for a new beau, but it seems that the pickings are slim at Waverly. Everything changes when she spies an unknown hottie in the cafeteria.
Tinsley is back together with Julian, thanks to Yvonne Stidder's party in New York City. But now Tinsley has nagging thoughts that Julian may have lost his virginity already. He's only a freshman! And all Tinsley can do is picture Julian with...Jenny!
Jenny has become a small celebrity on campus. A group of freshman girls are filming her for a documentary for their class. The freshmen want to see how someone in the "in" crowd lives. But having a camera in her face at all hours is turning into a nightmare.
Brett is spreading herself too thin. After the senior prefect goes missing in action, the faculty comes to Brett and "asks" her to spearhead the Secret Santa program. And then, as if that wasn't enough, she gets suckered into organizing the Holiday Ball. How is she going to fit in studying for finals on top of those responsibilities?
And, as always, Heath Ferro is up to his old tricks. He's taken the Secret Santa and turned it into a Secret Satan event. The campus has gone crazy with dirty and sexy gifts rather than the old traditional ones. And let's just say that when a cop turns up in a classroom, emotions are going to boil over! {I laughed out loud at the crazy presents poor Brandon Buchanan receives!}
ADORED does not disappoint in all the craziness, mayhem, and hi-jinx that we have come to love. There was definitely some laugh-out-loud moments with this installment! With some of the content in this one, the age 15 and up notation on the back of the cover is a good guide.
For starters, it was an okay read. Surely entertaining, but not something I would die to read. This book gives us an inside view of what elite schools are like. I got this book from my school library and was really excited to read it as it was by the same author who has written the best selling Gossip Girl series which is also a Tv show. But I didn’t realize that this is the 8th book in the series. I saw the book and was so excited that I totally forgot to check out anything about the book before I issued it. Not having read the previous books in the series, I couldn’t feel a flow in the storyline ,that is, there was no sense of continuity. It lacked sense of humor and I found the whole Secret Satan thing really silly. But once again Cecily Von Ziegesar has successfully managed to bring out the story in its true teenage sense. The characters were as real as students in your high school. Many of them were love sick throughout the story up until the last 3-4 chapters. In general they are all impractical and let their judgments be swayed by jealousy, sympathy. Little J, back to her own tactics, becomes too full of herself, when 3 freshman students want to make a documentary film on her because they believe she’s the IT GIRL. Walking with her nose high up in the air, she doesn’t notice the potholes in her path, into which she’s likely to fall. Overall it was okay. If you’ve read and liked the other book in the series then you should go ahead and read this. Also if you miss Little J from Gossip Girl (TV Show) then you can read this book and spend some quality time with the character.
Adored Poppy Hachette Book Group 237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Cecily von Ziegesar $9.99 Pages.224 ISBN-13: 9780316025096
Never knew that after betraying a close friend, they are still want to be your friend. Adored by Cecily von Ziegesar is the eighth book in the It Girl series. Throughout the novel there are a lot of teen dramas going on. There were a lot betrayal among friends, but they still want to be friends again. Cecily von Ziegesar wrote many other books for instance, Gossip Girls series and The Carlyles series. This novel contains love, teen drama, friendship, family, betrayal, and life.
As long as Jenny Humphrey isn't Tinsley Carmichael number one enemy, she feels easy. But sooner or later Jenny was Tinsley number one enemy again, by just knowing a little more about her and what she did. Brett Messerchmidt knew that she won't fall in love with the student she's tutoring. But unfortunately Brett never knew that by changing someone's looks it would change how you feel about the person. Callie Vernon just broke up with her boyfriend, now she feels free and live her life peacefully or not. Tinsley doesn't know everything about Julian maybe it's best for her to not know everything. Because once Tinsley learns more about Julian it breaks her heart.
When I started to read Adored I wasn't that interested, overall the novel wasn't that great. But if you're a fan of Cecily von Ziegesar you should read all her books including Adored! So, go and pick up a copy of Adored.
This book was the kind of book that was just for enjoyment and fun. I liked this book so much because it was the typical teenage drama novel with a hint of mystery and a dash of romance. It talks about Jenny, a small city girl who ends up in a big shot boarding school where everyone is pretty much loaded and can swim in their family's money. Where everyone has a trust fund bigger than Jenny's bank account, she constantly has to find ways to prove herself. That is until she befriends Waverly Academy's most popular girls. From then on, Jenny finally felt like she could fit in. Then of course more drama strikes. I feel like the themes in this book, any teenage girl can relate to. Constantly trying to prove yourself, proving that you're good enough is just one of the struggles that lots of girls face in school. There's also peer pressure and the pressure to impress certain boys. Popularity and cliques also play a big role. Just because someone might come from a certain family or look/dress a certain way doesn't give you a right to judge them, because honestly, you don't know them. People build up walls to protect themselves, but sometimes they don't even know what they are protecting themselves from. Maybe it's the world, their parents, or even their own judgement. For Jenny, it's all of the above.
Ok, so I was briwsing through the shelves of my local library, and found this book. I had heard about Gossip Girl and the It Girl series, but hadn't read any of the books for either series, and even though they didn't have any books before this one I said 'Screw it! I ust wanna see what older teens and even grownups are dieing about, why is this series so good?'
I'm not sure if I made a good or bad choice, but one thing I found - at 13 (or 12 and 3/4) you shouldn't read this kind of book. No. Even if you're mature enough to handle reading about all the things in this book, you'll still feel weird on the inside. At least, that's how I had felt.
This book got three stars because honestly, I DID like it, and I tried very hard to like it, not looking at all the 15+ content it had in it, but since it did have that content, I had to lower my rating because some of the things it mentioned in the book, I went like 'What the heck!? I'd never do that at 13!!!'
So yeah. Looking forward to fully diving into this series later on when I get a bit older but right now, not for me, although like I said I did enjoy this book beyond all the surprises it held.
Just like other It Girl novels, Adored is a quick & fun read.
It's almost Christmas and Callie wasn't used to being single until she set her eyes on Sebastian, Brett's tutee. Tinsley & Julian were cute together. It was like, we really got to see the other side of Tinsley, the good one. It was kinda funny having her going gaga. Brett was jealous with Callie and denied it. Poor Jenny thought she's gonna be the it-girl, but who knows?
Anyway, what's interesting about this book is the secret satan part. Poor Brett, her party was all ruined - and i'm not gonna tell who's ruining it! Everyone's getting hellish presents for like a week -oh well, not everyone, i know- and i think the poorest one is Brandon. But i think it's really funny, though.
Rereading my favorite series from middle/high school for the guilty pleasure nostalgia.
Getting kinda sad because this series is almost over and I know it won't feel finished/satisfying. I'm not freaking out over the drama as much as I was during the first few books, but I'm still having a great time. It finally feels like we've said goodbye to some of the repetitive relationships that were getting a little stale. I'm so beyond bored by Jenny by this point (I have been the entire series, truthfully), but I'm still loving Tinsley and Heath, and occasionally Callie and Brett. Also my favorite relationship of the series is finally happening! (ok, second favorite relationship, because Alison/Alan will always be my number one....)
We're up to #8 in this series and still haven't made it to Christmas--starting from September. So, yeah, they cover even less time than the Gossip Girl books do on a book-by-book basis and are somehow even more dependent on descriptions of designer clothes than the GG series. Still, I will read them 'til the end, because, you know, sometimes you need to roll your eyes at your book and want to scream at people, "JUST TALK" and you still can't help but to want to have gone to a private boarding school in New England. And so you keep reading.
This book is a typical It Girl novel showing what a stereotypical clique does when the members get insecure, try to go out with boyfriends who are only trying to make another girl jealous, and how dirty and scandalous a Christmas party can turn out. This particular book in the series includes some references to the previous book but otherwise has only minor steps forward in relationships. The juicy part deals with who is whose Secret Satan. . Looking for a novel for fun & short but sweet then this is a great pick.
I really liked this book, because I think that the moral of it is really true and sort of inspirational in a way. Its saying you shouldn't be worried about who likes who because you are so young, and you should enjoy having fun while you're young. I think people in our school are always so frustrated and get so upset over crushes and things, but reality is, you will barely know the people you go to school with now when you are older so you just need to enjoy life and just go with the flow, and I think that's what the author was trying to portray in this book.
Things actually got a little spicier. I must admit though I was in a bit of a reading slump. It doesn't take that long to read books like this. Really liked the Secret Satan they had going on. Was extremely pleased when innocent Jenny was thrown off her base. I'm going to stop reading this series now since I don't have the 9th book and just focus on plowing through other series.
Would I read this again? No.
Was it a good read? It was okay. Characters were catty. It was interesting while it lasted. Kind of dragged on though.