Gossip Girl: The Third Collection Book

Say what you want about these books (poorly written, cliche, etc.), but they serve their purpose perfectly, to entertain. I read these in high school during the summer sitting poolside and they could not have been more perfect for my mindset. These characters and their lives offer an unrealistic escape into a world of sex, alcohol, and unbelievable amounts of money. These teenagers travel to more places than most of us get to in a life-time, all while centering around typical high school drama.

However, what most surprised me is how deep the character of Blair is. In a moment of complete brain-loss during my AP Literature essay, I chose to write about Blair's complexity as a character. She is the classic mean girl; masking her own insecurities in to a "queen bee" persona. She lives in a world that expects her to be perfect (much of these expectations coming from herself), yet reality is far from it. While Serena seemingly has the world handed to her, Blair must constantly fight to be even close to Serena's perfection. This manifests itself not only in her eating disorder, but her relationships and obsession with fashion. She must always dress perfectly to achieve her fame while Serena simply throws on an old Burberry coat. There are many examples of this, but these are the ones that jump out. Say whatever you want, but I got a 5 on my AP test. So they are mostly trashy, but Blair's character development was gold.