Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares......

Sisterhood Everlasting is the continuation of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series by Ann Brashares (whose name I seem to want to type as "Anna" and keep having to go back and correct it). The series follows the lives of four girls who were thrown into friendship by their mothers even before birth. We witness firsthand the angst of high school, the terrors of college, the perils of relationships beyond the shared ones among Lena, Bridget (Bee), Carmen, and Tibby.


Whenever I start a series of books, I feel compelled to continue reading them, as if my life will somehow be incomplete. Or it's as if the characters (or the author) will know that I didn't read EVERYTHING I was supposed to.

That has to be the only explanation of why I read all four of the Twilight books, because I was pretty much over the vampires by the middle of the second book. But I soldiered bravely on, and those are lost hours of my life that I can never get back. Jacob or Edward? Really? Can't I have another choice? I realize some of you are devoted fans of Twilight (and perhaps vampires in general), but I'm sorry. They just didn't do it for me.

One series I did give up on, however, was the whole Left Behind series. I got to about the sixth book and got pretty tired of the repetition (I mean, really? Six books? I think there were more, but I quit on them.) Besides, I became more and more convinced that I would be on of the ones left behind, and it just sounded like SO. MUCH. WORK. 

Anyway, I read the first Sisterhood book and thought the author did a pretty good job of nailing teenage girl friendships, without all the bitchiness. (Which is to say it wasn't a very realistic depiction at all, was it?) I think the books were intended for a much younger audience, but I found them enjoyable even in my ... ahem ... maturity. [Insert sarcastic comment here]

I read the other three books out of a sense of duty, and I don't mean that to sound like I didn't enjoy them. I liked them MUCH better than the vampire books, and obviously better than the doomsday-apocalypse-you're-a-failure books.

Sisterhood Everlasting picks up with the four friends at the age of 29 (I'm sure she couldn't bring herself to let the girls turn 30). Some of the angst is still there, but the themes are more adult (thank all that is holy for THAT). And every now and then an adult word is thrown in just to make sure you realize you're reading an ADULT novel. Wait...that didn't come out right.

I don't mean to sound so snarky either. I really did enjoy this book. It made me cry ... repeatedly ... and I could not put it down. I finished it at school today (shhhh.....), and I was afraid one of my students was going to see me with tears in my eyes and ask why I was crying.

It's possible to enjoy this book even if you haven't read the earlier ones, but read them first if you have time. You will more easily understand some of the characters' relationships and personalities if you get to meet them in their teenage years.

This one was NOT free on my Kindle, if that tells you anything.