You Know You Love Me: A Gossip Girl Novel    by Cecily von Ziegesar Order:  USA  Can Little, Brown & Co., 2002 (2002) Paperback      Reviewed by Hilary Williamson You Know You Love Me is the 2nd in the Gossip Girl series, the title taken from GG's trademark parting remark in her chat room discussions, which are interspersed through the books and full of catty scoop on the latest gossip, of course. Blair is still not amused by her life. First her father came out with the announcement that he was gay and her parents divorced, while her best friend Serena van der Woodsen partied in Europe. Then her mother announced a wedding in the wings - her own to Cyrus. He was going to be Blair's new stepdad and he 'smelled like bleu cheese and sweat.' While all this has been going on, poor Blair has been foiled repeatedly in attempts to lose her virginity to boyfriend Nate. It's enough to make her throw up her dinner even more than usual. Isolated and hurt by Blair's rejection of her, Serena has met and befriended Dan 'from the West Side', who drinks too much cofee, smokes, and pens poetry to her. Unknown to Dan, Vanessa, an artsy young woman in black, has had a terrible crush on him for years. Dan's younger sister Jenny (the one with the well-developed chest) reveres Serena, and is attracted to the half baked Nate, big time. Then the announcement of the 'Wedding of the Year' causes an escalation of gossip, and musical pairs becomes an unplanned part of the wedding reception entertainment. During all this, the seniors spend varying amounts of time agonizing over their college admissions and interviews. Confused by everything happening in her life, and by Nate's absence, Blair takes a ride to Connecticut with her soon-to-be stepbrother Aaron, with a disastrous impact on her admission to Yale ... or is it really so bad? Surprisingly Nate's Brown University interview goes well, but none of the others do and the descriptions of the interviewers and dialogue are hilarious. When Blair finally foregoes her fangs and reconciles with Serena, they watch Audrey Hepburn and Breakfast at Tiffany's into the sunset, in a celebration of the importance of old, tried and true, friendship. You Know You Love Me is a super sequel about young people skimming the surface of life, juggling their fears, friendships and futures as they cope with the intensity of one-sided passions. You know you'll love GG! ~] Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Teens books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews