Book Review - Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner and a giveaway!

Best Friends Forever
Jennifer Weiner
Atria
ISBN # 978-0743294294






Discover what happens when your best friend from high school shows up on your doorstep and says "You're my only hope. Help me."

Considering that Jennifer Weiner's book, Best Friends Forever just attained the coveted position of #1 on the NYT Bestseller list - Congratulations, Jennifer! - I'm sure she doesn't need more promotion... but, I wanted to talk about it anyway.

Best Friends Forever is about acceptance, forgiveness and love. High school can be like a haunted house for lots of kids. You never know if you're going to meet Casper the friendly ghost, or some entity that will suck your soul out through your nose. Teenagers are inherently insecure, always looking for a group to belong to, and always wary of betrayal. Jennifer's characters are no different.

What most of us come to realize as adults is we all do the best we can. Love (of self and others), acceptance and looking outside of ourselves brings perspective we don't possess as teenagers. I liked this book, and apparently many other people do, too.

Now, for the giveaway! I have 2 copies of Best Friends Forever to share. All you have to do is leave a comment, by midnight July 31st, and you will be entered. Giveaway only open to US locations. Was high school tough for you or the time of your life? Do you still know and talk to your BFF from back then? Have you come to understand why your friends were the way they were back then?

The drawing will be decidedly old fashioned. My 7 year old will draw two names from a hat - or a bucket, depending on how many entries there are. Good luck!

Book Review - The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand

The Castaways
Elin Hilderbrand
Little, Brown and Company
ISBN # 978-0316043892

"Greg and Tess MacAvoy are one of four prominent Nantucket couples who count each other as best friends. As pillars of their close-knit community, the MacAvoys, Kapenashes, Drakes, and Wheelers are important to their friends and neighbors, and especially to each other. But just before the beginning of another idyllic summer, Greg and Tess are killed when their boat capsizes during an anniversary sail. As the warm weather approaches and the island mourns their loss, nothing can prepare the MacAvoy's closest friends for what will be revealed."

No matter how well you think you know your friends, never assume they've told you everything. Elin Hilderbrand might as well have written a case study of human psychology/sociology, although I must say, The Castaways held my attention far longer than a thesis would have.

The webs woven among the four couples (self named The Castaways) begin to unravel when Greg and Tess McAvoy die in a boating accident. The mess they leave behind changes the way their friends view each other and themselves. Hilderbrand is masterful in her approach, interspersing flashbacks and real time to show how the friendships begin, grow and are stretched to their limits.
(July 2009, pp 368, $24.99)




Enter to Win EXCLUSIVE ElinHilderbrand.net Tote Bag, plus a copy of THE CASTAWAYS, BAREFOOT, and A SUMMER AFFAIR

Woah! I wrote that?!

Have you ever written something, just to get it down on paper before it drove you insane? And then come upon it much later, only to have it take your breath away? That happened to me yesterday.

I won't share it here, mostly because it's very personal. But, I have been struggling with writing for the last 8 months or so, and it gave me hope that all is not lost. The words are still there, waiting for me to write them.