Love The One You're With (GG: The Carlyles #4) created by Cecily von Ziegesar, written by Annabelle Vestry | Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.5)

In the smokin’ hot finale (I can’t believe I used that term, God I’m embarrassing myself) of Gossip Girl: The Carlyles the gang is picking up the pieces from the explosive storm of drama that had hit their lives in recent months and are fast on their way to a well earned vacation. Life on the Upper East Side has never been crazier and things have finally, mostly, cooled off for this batch of spoiled teenagers.

Just as the luxurious cast before them, the holidays (see: Thanksgiving!) are looking steamy for our kids. And I, for one, couldn’t wait to dive on in to this trash pile… ahem…

Friendships have been formed and mended, relationships have dissolved into thin air and romance is beginning to bud between a few perfect matches. And families will grow with Avery, Owen and Baby’s mothers newest – most serious – romance. But what happens when these triplets meet their soon-to-be stepsister, and just how well can they adjust to her mothers long term relationship?

Last we saw, Jack and Avery had hung up their feud and formed an unlikely friendship, but how long can these two ladies really stick together? Is their friendship real and more than just going out, partying and talking fashion? Or is their connection a genuine friendship that is beneficial for both? And what of Jack’s group of friends from Constance?


And on the top of Jack: is her relationship salvageable with J.P or have they passed the point of rekindling their romance? Last we heard, things were going great for the two but their relationship was growing incredibly boring.

Some romances are meant to be short lived, there are romances that are only meant for when you are young; it doesn’t make them less important but sometimes, we all need to move on.

And frankly, the chemistry between Jack and Owen has been off the charts – will these two wind up together? Is this why she is friends suddenly with Avery, to get close to Owen? It’s obvious from the start that things with J.P. are ending soon because her thoughts seem to always go back to Owen. And why did she up and leave the city to go visit our delicious Carlyle triplets on their vacation?

Was it because she missed her friend or because she missed Owen?

Or both?

Does she even know?

With their newly patched up friendship, Rhys and Owen are totally bromancing it up and it warms my cold little heart. Owen has made it his goal to find Rhys someone on their vacation to lose his V-card to and seems to have made it his mission to find some girls for the both of them. Although Rhys seems a bit disinterested in this all, even though he agreed to this plan, and his eyes are trailing to Avery and it becomes more and more difficult to fight the feelings he is having for his best friends sister.

Could their friendship already be on the rocks so soon?

I will say this: Rhys and Avery are a match made in heaven. Both are incredibly sweet and similar and I definitely had a feeling that there would be a romance between the two a while back. I enjoyed their scenes a lot and found myself rooting for them to end up together.

As for Baby…

Our littlest Carlyle triplet has found herself in quite the sticky situation. During a chance encounter at the airport she found herself attracted to a really rad and charming guy only to find out he is dating her soon-to-be step sister. She forms a really great connection to this almost sister and I’m glad to see that their families are meshing well. In the end, we see a great deal of growth from Baby and are pleasantly surprised by the outcome of this love triangle.

We also see Baby and Jack put aside their differences and share a moment that leaves us with the question: can the two be friends one day? Unfortunately, we don’t ultimately know or find out because the series ended rather abruptly in my opinion. I’m not saying there was a bunch of cliffhangers from this one or that we didn’t get closure or whatever, because it wasn’t a horrendous end to the series it just felt like there was so much more that could have been added to the Carlyles.

Still, it was enjoyable and exactly the kind of book to drown in on an otherwise dull, cloudy day.