Hooked on Cecily von Ziegesar

You read it here first. I'm coming clean about one of my strongest reading addictions, - which is darn near everything the amazing Cecily von Ziegesar puts pen and paper to!

As you can imagine, my addiction began innocently enough when I picked up a copy of Gossip Girl at a yard sale. Sure, I'd heard of the series. It'd been out for a while, but I hadn't read the books or watched the tv series. OooO this sounds good, I thought as I scanned the back cover. Spoiled, snarky private school bee-atches with their own private Manhattan kingdom. Yuppie-puppies. Well, for only 50c what could I lose? Plus, Gossip Girl was a huge change of pace from my, then at the time, standard reading fare which largely consisted of Quantum Physics For Beginners and 1,001 Ways to Interpret Goethe.

See, I hadn't quite discovered the incredibly delightful, enthralling & escapist world of YA literature, as yet. At the time, when I wasn't pounding my head against a brick wall on subject matter I found fascinating if not ultimately beyond my ability to comprehend, I was reading Science Fiction like it was going out of style. At least via science fiction, I could enjoy the vagaries of Null physics, String Theory, and the Multiverse without hurting myself.

But. Boy, was I ever curious about those brats from New York. Who the hell was Serena and WHY did she sleep with Blair's boyfriend?? I mean, weren't they best friends and all?! He he he, I chuckled to myself as I thought back to my high school years, which apparently didn't hold a candle to the shady misadventures of those scandalous gals who power-shopped like it was a new religion.

And, after reading my FIRST Gossip Girl novel, I was H.O.O.K.E.D! That's the moral of this diatribe, and also one of the first contemporary YA series in a long line of future series I was destined to fall-in-love-with.

So, in a nut shell. I luv, luv, luv Cecily von Ziegasar's writing! She has a beautiful unique style that really straps the reader in the driver's seat, with alternating POVs, all intelligently presented, and with just that PERFECT touch of snarkiness that keeps the reader wanting more. She never writes down to her audience, either. I like that. Yes, the Gossip Girl series is certainly aimed at the YA audience, but it's easily enjoyed by adults, even old rips like me**.

Again, I'm hooked and always filling in any holes in my Ziegasar collection. I've gone from the original Gossip Girl series to the It Girl series, then back to the Gossip Girl: Carlyles. And, let me tell you, if you haven't read any of these books, do so NOW. They are so fun, so enjoyable, it's like eating peanuts and you just can't stop.

And, did I mention that sometimes you can find them on sale really, really cheap??? See, it's not always a bad thing to be the last horse coming out of the literary gate. Yesterday, at Wal-Mart, they had a slew of Gossip Girls in the April bargain bin. I picked up several I was missing for the paltry fee of $2.97 each :D

There was even a later day It Girl book I was missing and found!

**Don't tell anyone, but I also have nearly the entire collection of The Clique series by Lisi Harrison. Eh-ma-gawd!