Tag Archives: Ann Brashares

Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares

Book Review, , , , ,
Overview
Sisterhood Everlasting

Title: Sisterhood Everlasting
Author: Ann Brashares
Series: Sisterhood #5
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Chic lit, Easy reading, Strong women
Pace: Fast
Format: Novel
Publisher: Random House
Year: 2011
5th sentence, 74th page: She could hear the same kind of wetness at the bottom of Bridget’s breathing.

Buy The Book Now at The Book Depository, Free Delivery World Wide
Synopsis

On the cusp of turning thirty, Tibby, Lena, Carmen, and Bridget are now living separate lives, out on their own. Yet despite having jobs and men they love, each knows that something is missing: the closeness that once sustained them. Carmen is a successful actress in New York, engaged to be married, but misses her friends. Lena finds solace in her art, teaching in Rhode Island, but still thinks of Kostos and the road she didn’t take. Bridget lives with her longtime boyfriend, Eric, in San Francisco, and though a part of her wants to settle down, a bigger part can’t seem to shed her old restlessness. Then Tibby reaches out to bridge the distance, sending the others plane tickets for a reunion they all breathlessly await. And indeed, it will change their lives forever – but in ways that none of them could ever have expected.

Thoughts

I cried like a little bitch. And it tends to take quite a lot for me to cry. I have lots of internal tears over books, and I tend to sit up long after I’ve finished reading a really good book to reminisce and think about it. But actual tears, leaking onto the page? Yeah, that doesn’t happen often. Which is a testament to not only how brilliantly this is written, but to the potency of the emotions and the storyline.

Forever in Blue left the girls at the beginning of adulthood. Together, yet apart. It was an ending in a way, the ending of childhood, the pants and that innocence that we have the privilege of when we’re young. It was a really fitting ending to a great series about coming of age. But, that doesn’t mean that revisiting the four girls after ten years wasn’t the most exciting thing I’ve done all weekend (to be fair, I’ve been sick, so I’ve been very bored).

Explaining exactly why I cried so much throughout this book would give away too much of the storyline. But, suffice to say, Sisterhood Everlasting deals with issues of adulthood and mental health that the rest of the stories only briefly touch upon. It’s a lot more serious and heart wrenching than the other books in this series. Having said that, I finished this book last night and lay in bed, curled up next to my partner for almost two hours just smiling. Those moments when a storyline is able to swell your heart in your chest, remind you of all that there is to be grateful for in life – Sisterhood Everlasting gave me this. Now I’m feeling a little bereft and lost, trying to find the next book / series to read.

 <- Forever in Blue ReviewThe Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Review ->
Image source: Pinterest

Forever in Blue by Ann Brashares

Book Review, , , ,

Overview

Forever in BlueTitle: Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood
Author: Ann Brashares
Series: Sisterhood #4
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Chic lit, Easy reading, Strong women
Pace: Fast
Format: Novel
Publisher: Ember
Year: 2007
5th sentence, 74th page: She wasn’t completely alone.

Buy The Book Now at The Book Depository, Free Delivery World Wide

Synopsis

Some friends just fit together.

With unraveled embroidery and fraying hems, the Traveling Pants are back for one last, glorious summer. It’s a summer that will forever change the lives of Lena, Bridget, Tibby, and Carmen, here and now, past and future, together and apart.

Thoughts

This was kind of the end of the series (but not quite, since there is actually a fifth book). It felt like the end though, because Tibby, Carmen, Bee and Lena all finally join the real world of adulthood. They’ve just finished their first year at college (I still refer to it as university though), and they’re trying to find themselves as women. But, and this is the biggest difficulty, finding themselves as adults, while still staying true to each other.

It was kind of strange the stark contrast between the four girls in Girls in Pants to the four girls in Forever in Blue. It actually made me wonder if I changed that much in my first year of University. They turned into completely new characters, but still had the threads of themselves working through their new identities. For me, Carmen was the one who underwent this change most drastically. Although, that could be because so far in the series, I recognised myself in her most of all.

This entire series so far has been about coming of age and finding out who you are. Both with your friends, and apart. So, it almost comes full circle when they reconnect and finish their metamorphosis into adults. The lessons that the pants imparted on each of them have truly been learnt, and there is an acceptance of change in each other that you rarely find in friends, just the true ones.

 <- Girls in Pants Review Sisterhood Everlasting Review ->
Image source: Amazon

Girls in Pants by Ann Brashares

Book Review, , , ,

Overview

Girls in PantsTitle: Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood
Author: Ann Brashares
Series: Sisterhood #3
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Chic lit, Easy reading, Strong women
Pace: Fast
Format: Novel
Publisher: Ember
Year: 2005
5th sentence, 74th page: It was the life he had grown up in.

Buy The Book Now at The Book Depository, Free Delivery World Wide

Synopsis

Some friends just fit together.

It’s the summer before the sisterhood departs for college . . . their last real summer together before they head off to start their grown-up lives. It’s the time when Lena, Tibby, Bridget, and Carmen need their Pants the most.

Thoughts

This series just keeps getting better and better. It’s definitely one that will be read again and again and again. The four girls continue to grow older, confront their pasts and turn from the girls that they were into the women that they can be. Actually, pausing between books to write this review is a little like torture. Girls in Pants leaves them right on the cusp of adulthood, heading off to college (or university for us Aussies). And I can’t wait to open up Forever Blue.

Again, Carmen is forced to face her destructive tendencies. And just in time, I loved her self-destruction in the first two books (since I totally relate), but it was starting to get a little repetitive. So, finding out more about the Good Carmen was a lot more enjoyable. It also helped to send her off to the start of her adult life on a much more kiltered level. Again, Bee has to face up to emotions that she thought long buried. But this time, instead of just finding her footing and self, she finds someone else. Which was such a beautiful ending to her individual story that I was left smiling in that quiet way that you do when something just works so beautifully and sweetly.

Finally, Lena and Tibby go on two completely opposite journeys. While Lena struggles to get over her past love life and stand up for herself; Tibby tries to begin one and stop rebelling quite so hard. The reverse-parallel between the two stories works beautifully and it’s a reminder of how completely different these four young women are. Yet, how similar they are and the ways in which they’re just trying to find themselves in their new and ever growing world.

 <- The Second Summer of the Sisterhood Review Forever in Blue Review ->
Image source: Ann Brashares

The Second Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares

Book Review, , , ,

OverviewThe Second Summer of the Sisterhood

Title: The Second Summer of the Sisterhood
Author: Ann Brashares
Series: Sisterhood #2
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Chic lit, Easy reading, Strong women
Pace: Fast
Format: Novel
Publisher: Ember
Year: 2003
5th sentence, 74th page: So what’s your project going to be?

Buy The Book Now at The Book Depository, Free Delivery World Wide

Synopsis

Some friends just fit together.

With a bit of last summer’s sand in the pockets, the Traveling Pants and the sisterhood of four best friends who wear them – Lena, Tibby, Bridget, and Carmen – embark on their second summer together… a summer that does not go the way they expect.

Thoughts

It was just as good as the first! No. Scratch that. It was better! Because I already loved the characters. And I had already spent one summer of tears and trials with them. So I just needed to spend another one with them. And I wasn’t in the slightest bit disappointed. Some sequels are just not all they’re cracked up to be – this one was a lot better than I had expected. And more of a surprise since I haven’t seen the movie.

As with the first Sisterhood story, each of the four girls undergo their own journey of self-discovery and growth. For Lena, it is the admittance that she is actually in love. It is her discovery that she needs to put herself out there, and she finally suffers the consequences of opening herself up. Both the good and the bad. She also finally lets her family in beyond the well-defended exterior. On the other hand, Carmen, yet again, tries to learn to curb her emotions. Lessons, it seems weren’t quite learnt from the year before. And this constant self-sabotage is honestly something that I can relate to more than anything in this series. It took me years and years and years to curb my temper, and even now, my tongue causes chaos when I open my mouth. Much like Carmen.

Finally, both Bee and Tibby struggle and fight to get over the tragedies that befell them the summer before. Both fight to find themselves in a new world where they don’t quite know how to act. One sinks into her family, and both remember their past.

 <- The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Review Girls in Pants Review ->
Image source: Ann Brashares

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares

Book Review, , , , ,

Overview

The Sisterhood of the Travelling PantsTitle: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
Author: Ann Brashares
Series: Sisterhood #1
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Chic lit, Easy reading, Strong women
Pace: Fast
Format: Novel
Publisher: Ember
Year: 2001
5th sentence, 74th page: Antiperspirant rolled in all directions.

Buy The Book Now at The Book Depository, Free Delivery World Wide

Synopsis

Some friends just fit together.

Once there was a pair of pants. Just an ordinary pair of jeans. But these pants, the Traveling Pants, went on to do great things. This is the story of the four friends – Lena, Tibby, Bridget, and Carmen – who made it possible.

Thoughts

I never really expect a book that is related to a movie I love to be good. And vice versa (I like the Harry Potter movies, but no one will watch them with me anymore). And although one of my girlfriends said that this was a really good book, I was still really tentative. But, as my rating shows, I LOVED THIS.

The thing that I’ve always loved about the movie is that there are four distinctly different and strong young girls, but they are also seriously flawed and rely heavily on one another. That, and the fact that this is the BFF girl friendship that people dream about (I have it, and it’s as good as the movies!) But the book just highlights all of this and makes it so much more entertainingly and awesomely complex. Tibby is far more confused twisted, and less cool than the movie; Bridget more unstable and more intense and fun; Lena far less okay with her looks, but with better reasoning; and Carman, well, I just related to her ridiculously throughout the entire story. She is temperamental and feisty – I now provide warnings when I know I’m likely to blow a fuse (for absolutely no reason). I think it’s the fact that the four girls are less picturesque and cool (Bridget is even described as manly), and far more selfish as human beings that really drew me in. I could completely relate to their flaws (not their strengths) and just, just, just… no words, I loved them all that much more.

There are so many monumental and meaningful things I would love to say about this book. But even a few days after finishing it, and constantly thinking about it… I can’t find anything that does it justice. I literally read this book cover to cover (and was a little late to work) because it was that good. It has been years since I’ve done this!

 <- Sisterhood Everlasting Review The Second Summer of the Sisterhood Review ->
Image source: Another Toast