You’ve been lied to: a new Gossip Girl is NOT coming

You might have seen the story as it's now gone everywhere:

New Gossip Girl-inspired show is coming and OMG we're totally freaking out!!!!

Teen Vogue tried it first, and then it was quickly picked up by a slew of other outlets including Cosmo. Just call me the clickbait-buster (and occasional hypocritical user) because I'm here to kick the shit out of this very misleading rumor.

The fib goes like this: HBO has acquired the rights to Curtis Sittenfeld's debut, critically acclaimed novel, Prep. It takes place at a boarding school in New England, so somehow this means it's…the new Gossip Girl?

Prep is my favorite book and I can tell you guys wholly and firmly that it is nothing life Gossip Girl. It's a thick book with very little dialogue, and it's weird, introspective, and completely brilliant. It's an outsider's story, and the nuanced observations Sittenfeld makes through the eyes of narrator Lee Fiora are so terrifyingly relatable that it sounds like your own internal monologue. It's an amazing book, but it exists in a world separate from the fun, glossy glamour of Gossip Girl.

Sorry, y'all, you've been had. But if it's any consolation, Prep is still going to be great even if it has fewer stolen identity and royal miscarriage storylines.