Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

This book first came to my attention when it was chosen by The Book Bitches to be their Book of the Month for June. Yes, I know I am about six months too late in reading it. What can I say...I have had lots of other books on the go!

Meet Rachel White, a young attorney living and working in Manhattan. Rachel has always been the consummate good girl - until her thirtieth birthday, when her best friend, Darcy, throws her a party. That night, after too many drinks, Rachel ends up in bed with Darcy's fiance. Although she wakes up determined to put the one night fling behind her, Rachel is horrified to discover that she has genuine feelings for the one guy she should run from. In her wildest dreams (or worst nightmare?) this is the last thing on earth Rachel could ever have imagined happening.

As the September wedding date nears, Rachel knows she has to make a choice. In doing so, she discovers that the lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren't always neat, and sometimes you have to risk all to win true happiness.

Something Borrowed is a phenomenal debut novel that will have you laughing, crying and calling your best friend.

Now bear in mind when you read this post that I actually finished this book on 25 November. Yes, the distinct lack of book related posts over the last couple of weeks or more is not because I haven't been reading - just that I haven't been reviewing! And now I am looking at my backlog and it is scaring me so I am determined to catch up soon!!

Rachel has been living in the shadow of her best friend Darcy for years. Darcy is gorgeous, fun, generous and has a fantastic job that she just seemed to fall into. She basically could have any bloke that she wanted, but she is engaged to Dexter - a man that was friends with Rachel, and then hooked up with Darcy. The wedding is coming up, and Rachel is looking forward to the wedding, or at least she was until she had sex the groom on the night of her thirtieth birthday, and then did it again a few days later, even though they both promised that they weren't going to! From there the novel becomes one of Rachel's angst as she both wonders whether she is always going to be the other woman, or if Dex will finally grow enough courage to tell Darcy that the wedding is off, if Rachel and Dex are going to be able to pull off the deception required to continue their clandestine meetings or if they are going to get caught.

Another focus was Rachel considering the nature of her friendship with Darcy. Darcy seems to be one of those friends who loves to participate in oneupmanship - you know the ones where you say "gee my knee is hurting today", and they will go off on a convoluted story about how they had to have an arthroscope just yesterday. Maybe a little bit far fetched as an example, but you know the type I mean!

Throw in a sudden side trip to London, and that's pretty much it. The ending felt somewhat rushed to me, especially in the resolution, but it does leave space for the sequel.

I've read a fair to middling range of chick lit over the years, and quite enjoy quite a few authors (for example Marian Keyes), and I liked this book - to an extent. Whilst the voice was fun and chatty, there was an appropriate level of brand name dropping and female angst, what there wasn't was likable characters. I didn't really like Rachel, I didn't like her best friend Darcy, and I didn't really like Dex, who started the book out as Darcy's fiance. So why, if I didn't really like the characters, do I really want to read the sequel, Something Blue. The only explanation I can think of is that I have to know if the characters can all be redeemed into something less...less....selfish is not necessarily the right word...maybe self obsessed.

This was an okay journey into chick lit. I'm hoping for better next time around!

Rating 3.5/5


Other Blogger's Thoughts

Blue Archipelago

The Dirty Girls Social Club by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez

THE DIRTY GIRLS SOCIAL CLUB is sassy, funny, moving and smart, an unputdownable read. It is the story of six very different women who met at college in Boston and swore to be friends for the rest of their lives.

They call themselves the Dirty Girls Social Club. The only obvious thing they have in common is that they are all professional women and Latin American, but the real thing about them is that their lives tap into universal truths about women and sisterhood. There is Lauren, a journalist, who is used to getting what she wants and kicking ass when she doesn't, except when it comes to men...- Sara, wife of a corporate lawyer, upstanding member of the Jewish community, one of the best interior designers and party givers around, and seriously uptight...- Elizabeth, the beautiful co-host for a TV morning show and former runway model with a secret which will test the bonds of their friendship to the limit...- Rebecca, owner and founder of the most popular Hispanic woman's magazine in the market; nobody works the room like she does...- Amber, a rock singer waiting for her first big break, the spiritual one of the group...And then there is Usnavys, a big gal who is as showy as Libera They all feel perfectly licensed to tell each other what do and how to live their lives, and boy do they ever...

So this was the book that I thought I had lost on the train!!

I first heard of this book over at Book Bitches when they chose it at as Book of the Month in July. Okay..so I am four months late! What can I say...I have had a lot of other books to read!

So there are 6 friends who met in college and have a strong bond between them. Each year they meet up a couple of times, for drinks, gossip and fun. And yet, despite the fact that they have been friends for years, and would consider themselves close, there are plenty of secrets between them.

In fact in many of the dialogue sequences it would almost seem that they don't necessarily like each other all that much, with all the sniping that goes on. And yet, when they all need each other their bond is strong and they are their for each other.

Each of them have their own secrets and issues. With chapters told from each characters perspective, we get to read their perceptions of each other, and to hear their stories from their own point of view. We see their lives as they make realisations about their own situations, and those of their friends - as they end relationships and marriages, as they fall in love, as their careers take off, as they change, as well kept secrets (both good and bad) are revealed, and as they struggle to define what it means to be Latina.

In many ways this book was an easy one to relate to, and yet in other ways it wasn't! As an Australian with a pretty common background (i.e basically my forefathers were from various corners in the UK), I don't think I have ever had to give much thought to what defines me as an Australian, yet these girls, with their backgrounds in Cuba, Puerto Rico and Columbia amongst other places, spent a lot time discussing what it meant to be Latina, and how to be Latina without losing their individual backgrounds.

Another way that I didn't really relate is that I really don't have a group of friends that I have been friends with for years that I catch up with regularly in the same way. I do have some friends who if I see them, they are always pleased to see me, and if I call them, they are pleased to hear from me, and many of them will say things like "I haven't heard from you in ages", to which my internal response is...what, don't you have dialling fingers? Anyway enough of that.

When I started reading this, I really thought that I wasn't really getting into it, but when it came to Saturday afternoon and it was the ONLY thing that I wanted to read, and then I couldn't find it, I guess it's fair to say that I was hooked. I did enjoy reading it, but I don't know that I will be going out of my way to track down more books by this author, mainly because I already know that there are no others by her in my library. If they happen to get any more by her in, and I notice it, I would read some more by her.

Overall, an enjoyable read that was funny and entertaining, and I am somewhat surprised to say, gave me some things to think about in terms of my own life!

Rating 4/5

Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes

The second of the books following the ups and downs of life for the Walsh sisters, following on from Watermelon. Coincidentally it is also the Bitches Book Selection for this month over at The Book Bitches.

'How did it end up like this? Twenty-seven, unemployed, mistaken for a drug addict, in a treatment centre in the back arse of nowhere with an empty Valium bottle in my knickers...'

Meet Rachel Walsh. She has a pair of size 8 feet and such a fondness for recreational drugs that her family has forked out the cash for a spell in Cloisters, Dublin's answer to the Betty Ford Clinic. She's only agreed to her incarceration because she's heard that rehab is wall-to-wall jacuzzis, gymnasiums and rock stars going tepid turkey - and it's about time she had a holiday.

But what Rachel doesn't count on are the toe-curling embarrassments heaped on her by family and group therapy, the dearth of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll - and missing Luke, her ex. What kind of a new start in life is this?

Marian Keyes writes books about subjects that aren't very funny (and shouldn't be treated lightly) but manages to inject the books with charm, humour, and meaning without making the books seem preachy or condescending...not an easy task I am sure!

Rachel Walsh is a good time party girl....who unfortunately doesn't seem to have a very good idea of self. When her family and friends decide that drastic action is required because her drug taking has gotten out of hand, Rachel seems genuinely bemused. There's no way she's an addict - no way known, especially once she gets to Cloisters and sees some of the other patients there. It is only Rachel gets to know her fellow patients and here's there stories, that she begins to see that there are still some aspects of her behaviour that she shares with them.

It is not until she is confronted by some of the people that she has been closest to that it really becomes clear to her just how much of a problem she really does have.

Sounds gloomy huh? But it really isn't. The Walsh sisters are an eclectic bunch of young ladies, and it is interesting as Rachel dwells on what role her family have played in her issues that have led to her addiction. Rachel is not always likeable...which is particularly evident when we look at the origins of her relationship with her ex Luke, and the ways that she treated him and the others around her. Her time in New York is told in a series of flashbacks as Rachel contemplates the choices that she made.

As her self awareness increases, Rachel needs to start looking forward to the future, and a life without drugs and alcohol, but that may still mean that she needs to face some of her old demons.

In closing I'd just like to say........I want a Luke!!! He was so lovely!!!

Rating 4.5/5

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

This was the Bookclub book for May over at The Book Bitches. I finished it a little late because I was listening to it, and because I am catching the train to work these days and reading books, I no longer get through the audiobooks I have anywhere near as quickly!

Somewhere in South America, at the home of the country's vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of Mr. Hosokawa, a powerful Japanese businessman. Roxanne Coss, opera's most revered soprano, has mesmerized the international guests with her singing. It is a perfect evening -- until a band of gun-wielding terrorists breaks in through the air-conditioning vents and takes the entire party hostage. But what begins as a panicked, life-threatening scenario slowly evolves into something quite different, as terrorists and hostages forge unexpected bonds and people from different countries and continents become compatriots.
Without the demands of the world to shape their days, life on the inside becomes more beautiful than anything they had ever known before. At once riveting and impassioned, the narrative becomes a moving exploration of how people communicate when music is the only common language. Friendship, compassion, and the chance for great love lead the characters to forget the real danger that has been set in motion and cannot be stopped.

You know...the blurb on this one tells enough to make it interesting!

The main characters in this novel are Roxanne Coss (the opera singer), Mister Hosakawa (the opera fan), Gen (his interpreter) and Carmen (one of the terrorists), however there are several other characters that take a turn in the spotlight.

Whilst the pace of this book is ponderous at times, the writing is beautiful, and you can feel the book moving to an inevitably crashing crescendo. The hostage situation has been ongoing for many months, and whilst for the people within the compound that life has settled into a pleasant routine with music and football as part of the life they have become accustomed to, as far as the world outside is concerned the situation cannot continue.

If there was one thing that I didn't like it was the Epilogue, which certainly tied up a couple of loose ends, but in a way that was almost against the flow of the relationships that happened throughout the rest of the book.

If you are looking for a book to meander through, then this could be one for you!

Rating 3.5/5