These Days Are Ours by Michelle Haimoff

Publisher: Penguin Books (UK)

Source: Netgalley

Rating: 3/5

Goodreads

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Six months after September 11th, New Yorkers are instructed to get on with their lives despite the terror advisories, streets filled with 9/11 merchandise, and mail that may contain Anthrax. But for Hailey, still jobless after college and living in her family's Fifth Avenue penthouse, getting on with life means getting closer to Michael Brenner, the Princeton graduate and future human rights lawyer who seems to have it all. The city feels as if it's on the brink of apocalypse, and seeking out any sort of future seems pointless. So Hailey and her friends - Katie, already working at Morgan Stanley; Randy, a trust-fund kid who wears sweaters with holes in them; and Jess, confident of her future success regardless of her present inertia - stay out all night, dream up get rich quick schemes and aspire to greatness while questioning how much that greatness really matters. But when Hailey meets Adrian, a transplanted Pennsylvanian and recent Brown graduate who doesn't belong to Hailey's privileged mileu, she begins to realize that her view of the world might not be the only one there is, and soon she is questioning everything she thought she knew.

I liked These Days Are Ours (and not just because it's set in my favourite city in the world but that helped). It is definitely more of a 3.5 than a 3 but I don’t give half ratings. The notes and Q&A with Michelle Haimoff at the end really helped put the whole thing into perspective and rounded it up nicely.

Seth Cohen I Command You To Save Summer Roberts From Darth Vader

And leave Blair Waldorf alone.

Today, it was reported that Seth Cohen (ok, Adam Brody) is dating his The Oranges co-star Leighton Meester (yes, Queen B, see here). It got me thinking about the good old days when Rachel Bilson and Adam Brody were together on-screen and in real life. The show was the coolest (for at least the first two seasons) and they were the 'It' couple for all the teens and twentysomethings. They were the couple everyone wanted to emulate- how many Seth/Summer wannabes did you know? How many arty nerdy guys breathed a sigh of relief once they realised Seth Cohen made it ok to voice their love of comic books? How many 'cool girls' breathed a sigh of relief when they realised it was ok to voice their love of the arty nerd? See, they were just blimmin' perfect. And then...they weren't. And they moved on. As you do when you're twenty two- or whatever. 

Rachel moved onto her Jumper co-star  Hayden 'Darth Vader' Christensen and they both kind of disappeared for a while. Hayden is still technically not around. I just checked his IMDB page and he has a few films in production. It's a shame because when I really think about it, he was like the Andrew Garfield of his day, wasn't he? 

Anyway, back to Seth and Summer...Adam went...somewhere with Brangelina? To an older woman? I can't remember what I read way back then. However, I guess the main point is that neither has been as high profile independently as when they were together, which is fine, I suppose, if they don't fancy being in the limelight anymore. 

This is a bit of a nonsensical post that isn't going anywhere decent anytime soon. I guess I just wanted to say: Seth and Summer, I miss you but I accept that you're happy with your current partners. In all seriousness, Leighton Meester seems like a really cool, down to Earth person. Kind of like Rachel Bilson. Maybe they'll become friends and have to do the awkward double dating thing like Zoe, Wade, George and Tansy...

Ok, I'll sign off now because I'm obviously having a bit of trouble separating fiction and reality. Back to the England game! 

You Know I Love You, XOXO

Dear Gossip Girl,

This week, the 100^th episode of Gossip Girl aired in the UK and it got me thinking about everything we have been through over these last ten years.

I was only 13 or 14 when I found you on Amazon but alas, you were only available in the US. So, I asked for a copy for Christmas and my aunt bought it for me. In hindsight, I suspect she was reluctant to get it for me after reading the blurb on the back, after all YA was not quite what it is now ten years ago, but still she got me what I wanted and that Christmas, I became addicted to the lives of those Upper East Siders (and anything printed by Little, Brown).

Thanks to you, I delved into the world of Manhattan’s elite and never looked back. I was able to dazzle my dad with references to hotspots in his beloved city despite having never actually set foot outside of JFK until last summer. I also developed delusions of obscene grandeur with regard to designer brands, thinking it was the norm for seventeen year olds to carry Marc by Marc Jacobs totes and tiptoe around in Tory Burch flats.

A lot of people do not realise that your novels are a lot more complex and hard hitting than what is portrayed in the television series. The show started out trying to be controversial and quite frankly a little scary, just like the novels, however something didn’t translate from page to  screen- probably due to the budget and perhaps the casting. Although, it has to be said, Leighton Meester’s Blair Waldorf is inspired and the closest we will ever get to the real thing. However, now the show has found the right balance between campy dramedy and fashion show to satisfy us all. Sorry but even those who claim to hate it now were rocking headbands and patterned tights back in 07.

Thank you also for spinning off to create The It Girl series because even though they were ghost written (like the later original Gossip Girl’s) I still found them crazily entertaining. I drove myself to distraction trying to find Stila lipgloss in the UK thanks to Callie’s obsession. Speaking of Callie and moving on to Easy and Brett, thank you also for introducing all of those preppy, unusual names into our modern day lexicon.

Overall, if it wasn’t for you Gossip Girl, there would not be many of the novels and shows that are available right now that quite often do not have half the style, sass and entertainment value as you (Pretty Little Liars I am looking at you). You opened the door for the equivalent of chick-lit to YA. It is not for everyone and I am sure some highbrow sorts probably despise you and blame you for the demise in children’s literature. However, I implore them to read your novels and not these pale imitations that have been churned (yes churned, we are not stupid, we can tell) out over the years.

It has been an honour to tag along for the ride these past ten years. Hopefully there will be many more- although please, don’t release any more of the second-generation novels with the Carlyle’s- I did not like these, except for the character names (I have always wanted to call a character Baby but it just never sounds authentic).

Keep on keeping on Gossip Girl and ignore the haters.

You know I love you.

XOXO