Nothing Can Keep Us Together (2005)

I know, I know the Gossip Girl books are not the most intellectual but they happen to serve as my literary guilty pleasure and I was forced to spend 3 hours on an airplane this morning (I at least only read like 2 or 3 of these books in a calendar year).For those unfamiliar with Gossip Girl, these novels are about the lives of very, very spoiled and rich high school teenagers who go to private schools in New York city. As I read this book, I kept on feeling like I was watching several of the characters make poor decisions. That said, the plot actually moved along at a good clip making this a quick fun read that I didn't want to put down until I'd finished (I started this last night and finished it this afternoon). An overall enjoyable read. ( )

Everyone graduates and has a party. To tell you the truth, I'm getting a little bored with all the partying, shopping, hooking up, breaking up, and getting back together. I mean, how many ways can you tell the same story? ( )

The book was a modern day soap opera that has strong language, sex, abuse of drugs an alcohol, spoiled rich girls spending money, and the narrator is from a blog named Gossip Girl who is not known. The story fits some parts of the young adult characteristics including writing from the viewpoint of a young adult, very fast-paced, many subjects involved, characters are from many different backgrounds but not cultural, the characters are very optimistic with a few accomplishments but many bad decisions that are not resolved with better outcomes, emotions that young adults deal with are very prevalent, and the characteristic of pleasing the mother is somewhat there but only a little. The book is definitely a realistic and controversial story. The characters are similar in many ways including young and naïve when it comes to making decisions. Adults are almost non-existent. The storyline is left opened for a continuous series so all of the problems seem to remain with many questions unanswered. The problem with Serena’s acting was tidied up a little too neat and with no adult intervention. This is not a book I would recommend to any young adult because of the influences and messages it conveys. If I were a librarian I do not think it would be ordered for the collection. As a parent I would have to be a censor.

Another fun read in this series. ( )

The characters are very free with their bodies. There appears to be no consequence for their actions. Hopefully, the scenarios that are played out are far from reality. I would not recommend this to high school girls although this series seems to be very popular. ( )