11 Books To Read If Your Favorite Show Is Gossip Girl
Hey, friends. Gossip Girl is a show that I almost always watch over and over again. It’s one of those go-to shows that I can put on the background. I’ve noticed, in books, that most storylines are set in NYC. So, here are 11 books to read if your go-to show is Gossip Girl.
Bridgerton: the duke & I by julia quinn
Dearest Reader, I’m sure everyone has heard (if not seen) the Bridgerton series on Netflix. But the novels? This series, and this novel alone, is just steamy and romantic all at the same time.
Bookshop.org official description: “In the ballrooms and drawing rooms of Regency London, rules abound. From their earliest days, children of aristocrats learn how to address an earl and curtsey before a prince--while other dictates of the ton are unspoken yet universally understood. A proper duke should be imperious and aloof. A young, marriageable lady should be amiable...but not too amiable.”
This novel includes the 2nd epilogue, a peek at the story after the story.
Buy “The Duke & I” on Bookshop.org.
Little white lies by jennifer lynn barnes
Maybe this book isn’t set in the Upper East Side or even Manhattan like Gossip Girl, but it has a Gossip Girl vibe with a twinge of Gilmore Girls family ties to it.
Official book synopsis: “Eighteen-year-old auto mechanic Sawyer Taft did not expect her estranged grandmother to show up at her apartment door and offer her a six-figure contract to participate in debutante season. And she definitely never imagined she would accept. But when she realizes that immersing herself in her grandmother’s society might mean discovering the answer to the biggest mystery of her life—her father’s identity—she signs on the dotted line and braces herself for a year of makeovers, big dresses, bigger egos, and a whole lot of bless your heart. The one thing she doesn’t expect to find is friendship, but as she’s drawn into a group of debutantes with scandalous, dangerous secrets of their own, Sawyer quickly discovers that her family isn’t the only mainstay of high society with skeletons in their closet. There are people in her grandmother’s glittering world who are not what they appear, and no one wants Sawyer poking her nose into the past. As she navigates the twisted relationships between her new friends and their powerful parents, Sawyer’s search for the truth about her own origins is just the beginning.”
Buy “Little White Lies” on Bookshop.org.
The luxe by anna godbersen
Think Gossip Girl meets 1800s high society. Some of the characters are even similar to some Gossip Girl characters!
Official book synopsis: “In a world of luxury and deception, where appearance matters above everything and breaking the social code means running the risk of being ostracized forever, five teenagers lead dangerously scandalous lives. This thrilling trip to the age of innocence is anything but innocent.”
Buy “The Luxe” on Bookshop.org.
the thousandth floor by katherine mcgee
Bookshop.org official book description: “New York City as you've never seen it before. A thousand-story tower stretching into the sky. A glittering vision of the future, where anything is possible--if you want it enough.
Welcome to Manhattan, 2118.
A hundred years in the future, New York is a city of innovation and dreams. But people never change: everyone here wants something...and everyone has something to lose.”
Katherine McGee, author of “American Royals” and “Majesty,” made her book debut with “The Thousandth Floor.”
Buy “The Thousandth Floor” on Bookshop.org.
park avenue summer by renee rosen
This is one of my absolute favorite novels of all time. Set in the 1960s and narrated by the assistant to the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan, Helen Gurley Brown.
Bookshop.org official book description: “It's 1965 and Cosmopolitan magazine's brazen new editor in chief--Helen Gurley Brown--shocks America and saves a dying publication by daring to talk to women about all things off-limits...
New York City is filled with opportunities for single girls like Alice Weiss, who leaves her small Midwestern town to chase her big-city dreams and unexpectedly lands a job working for the first female editor in chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, Helen Gurley Brown.
While pressure mounts at the magazine, Alice struggles not to lose sight of her own dreams as she's swept up into a glamorous world of five-star dinners, lavish parties, and men who are certainly no good. Because if Helen Gurley Brown has taught her anything, it's that a woman can demand to have it all.”
Love historical fiction? Love New York City? Love the lavish lifestyle of the Upper East Side, especially on Gossip Girl?
Buy “Park Avenue Summer” by Renee Rosen on Bookshop.org.
pretty things by janelle brown
Two different women are brought together: one a can-artist, the other an heiress. Read if the Van Der Woodsens and Humphreys interest you.
Official book synopsis: “Nina once bought into the idea that her fancy liberal arts degree would lead to a fulfilling career. When that dream crashed, she turned to stealing from rich kids in L.A. alongside her wily Irish boyfriend, Lachlan. Nina learned from the best: Her mother was the original con artist, hustling to give her daughter a decent childhood despite their wayward life. But when her mom gets sick, Nina puts everything on the line to help her, even if it means running her most audacious, dangerous scam yet. Vanessa is a privileged young heiress who wanted to make her mark in the world. Instead she becomes an Instagram influencer--traveling the globe, receiving free clothes and products, and posing for pictures in exotic locales. But behind the covetable façade is a life marked by tragedy. After a broken engagement, Vanessa retreats to her family's sprawling mountain estate, Stonehaven: a mansion of dark secrets not just from Vanessa's past, but from that of a lost and troubled girl named Nina.
Nina's, Vanessa's, and Lachlan's paths collide here, on the cold shores of Lake Tahoe, where their intertwined lives give way to a winter of aspiration and desire, duplicity and revenge.
This dazzling, twisty, mesmerizing novel showcases acclaimed author Janelle Brown at her best, as two brilliant, damaged women try to survive the greatest game of deceit and destruction they will ever play.”
Buy “Pretty Things” by Janelle Brown on Bookshop.org.
anna k by jenny lee
Official Bookshop.org synopsis: “At seventeen, Anna K is at the top of Manhattan and Greenwich society (even if she prefers the company of her horses and dogs); she has the perfect (if perfectly boring) boyfriend, Alexander W.; and she has always made her Korean-American father proud (even if he can be a little controlling). Meanwhile, Anna's brother, Steven, and his girlfriend, Lolly, are trying to weather an sexting scandal; Lolly's little sister, Kimmie, is struggling to recalibrate to normal life after an injury derails her ice dancing career; and Steven's best friend, Dustin, is madly (and one-sidedly) in love with Kimmie.
As her friends struggle with the pitfalls of ordinary teenage life, Anna always seems to be able to sail gracefully above it all. That is...until the night she meets Alexia "Count" Vronsky at Grand Central. A notorious playboy who has bounced around boarding schools and who lives for his own pleasure, Alexia is everything Anna is not. But he has never been in love until he meets Anna, and maybe she hasn't, either. As Alexia and Anna are pulled irresistibly together, she has to decide how much of her life she is willing to let go for the chance to be with him. And when a shocking revelation threatens to shatter their relationship, she is forced to question if she has ever known herself at all.
Dazzlingly opulent and emotionally riveting,Anna K: A Love Storyis a brilliant reimagining of Leo Tolstoy's timeless love story,Anna Karenina--but above all, it is a novel about the dizzying, glorious, heart-stopping experience of first love and first heartbreak.”
Buy “Anna K: A Love Story” by Jenny Lee on Bookshop.org.
my friend anna by rachel deloache williams
Based on the true story of Anna Delvey, this storyline is like it was taken straight out of a “Gossip Girl” episode.
Official Bookshop.org synopsis: “Vanity Fair photo editor Rachel DeLoache Williams's new friend Anna Delvey, a self-proclaimed German heiress, was worldly and ambitious. She was also generous--picking up the tab for lavish dinners at Le Coucou, infrared sauna sessions at HigherDOSE, drinks at the 11 Howard Library bar, and regular workout sessions with a celebrity personal trainer.
When Anna proposed an all-expenses-paid trip to Marrakech at the five-star La Mamounia hotel, Rachel jumped at the chance. But when Anna's credit cards mysteriously stopped working, the dream vacation quickly took a dark turn. Anna asked Rachel to begin fronting costs--first for flights, then meals and shopping, and, finally, for their $7,500-per-night private villa. Before Rachel knew it, more than $62,000 had been charged to her credit cards. Anna swore she would reimburse Rachel the moment they returned to New York.
Back in Manhattan, the repayment never materialized, and a shocking pattern of deception emerged. Rachel learned that Anna had left a trail of deceit--and unpaid bills--wherever she'd been. Mortified, Rachel contacted the district attorney, and in a stunning turn of events, found herself helping to bring down one of the city's most notorious con artists.
With breathless pacing and in-depth reporting from the person who experienced it firsthand, My Friend Anna is an unforgettable true story of money, power, greed, and female friendship.
Buy “My Friend Anna” on Bookshop.org.
tiny pretty things by dhionelle clayton And sona charaipotra
Think Gossip Girl but with ballet dancers.
Official Bookshop.org synopsis: “Gigi, Bette, and June, three top students at an exclusive Manhattan ballet school, have seen their fair share of drama. Free-spirited new girl Gigi just wants to dance--but the very act might kill her. Privileged New Yorker Bette's desire to escape the shadow of her ballet-star sister brings out a dangerous edge in her. And perfectionist June needs to land a lead role this year or her controlling mother will put an end to her dancing dreams forever.
When every dancer is both friend and foe, the girls will sacrifice, manipulate, and backstab to be the best of the best.”
Buy “Tiny Pretty Things” on Bookshop.org.
the immortalists by chloe benjamin
This is Gossip Girl, but set in the 1970s and illustrates the ties that bind family together.
Official Bookshop.org synopsis: “If you knew the date of your death, how would you live your life?
It's 1969 in New York City's Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children--four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness--sneak out to hear their fortunes.
The prophecies inform their next five decades. Golden boy Simon escapes to the West Coast, searching for love in '80s San Francisco; dreamy Klara becomes a Las Vegas magician obsessed with blurring reality and fantasy; eldest son Daniel struggles to maintain security as an army doctor post-9/11; and bookish Varya throws herself into longevity research, where she tests the boundary between science and immortality.
Both a dazzling family love story and a sweeping novel of remarkable ambition and depth, The Immortalists probes the line between destiny and choice, reality and illusion, this world and the next. It is a deeply moving testament to the power of story, the nature of belief, and the unrelenting pull of familial bonds.
Buy “The Immortalists” on Bookshop.org.
rules of civility by amor towles
Official Bookshop.org synopsis: “On the last night of 1937, twenty-five-year-old Katey Kontent is in a second-rate Greenwich Village jazz bar when Tinker Grey, a handsome banker, happens to sit down at the neighboring table. This chance encounter and its startling consequences propel Katey on a year-long journey into the upper echelons of New York society--where she will have little to rely upon other than a bracing wit and her own brand of cool nerve.”
Buy “Rules of Civility” on Bookshop.org.