Book Review: Something Blue by Emily Giffin

At First Sight: Darcy Rhone's life has always been charmed. Beautiful and confident, it seemed like the world was her oyster, everything falling neatly on her lap. The summer before her 30th birthday, it looked like she had it all: a great job, a great apartment, a best friend, a handsome fiancé and a perfect wedding set for September. But that summer, everything changed.

First, she began a flirtation with her fiancé's friend Marcus- which soon escalated into full-on cheating - while Dexter (the fiancé) was distracted falling in love with Rachel (her best friend), which eventually prompts him to call off the wedding (See Something Borrowed).

In the aftermath (and after finding Dex hiding half naked in Rachel's closet), Darcy tells herself SHE had picked Marcus anyway, that she is prettier and most successful than Rachel. But when Marcus turns out to be a flake, Darcy finds herself in the outs with her family, without the only truly nurturing presences in her life (Dex and Rachel), and pregnant to boot.

Not wanting to stick around for the reckoning of her actions -and still convinced she's the innocent victim - Darcy maneuvers another childhood friend, Ethan, into letting her come to stay with him in London for a few weeks. Though they were never particularly close, Ethan somehow agrees and Darcy sets off for London,where she can't avoid reality any longer.

Second Glance: After reading Something Borrowed, I wasn't sure about reading this companion book/sequel, since I never liked Darcy much, but I was surprised by how easy it was to get into her story. Seeing things from her perspective was interesting - even if he was in complete denial and delusion for the most part - and I really appreciated how Ms Giffin kept Darcy true to the character she had portrayed in Something Borrowed.

Darcy is obnoxious, self-centered and whinny, but - slowly - I began to realize some of her charm, which mostly came from her confidence. I loved Ethan - and frankly wished there was more of him in the story - how he is so honest with Darcy, unwilling to sugar coat anything for her but, at the same time, kind of happy to have her around.

I liked the slow progression of Darcy's character, how she starts to see the cracks in her relationships and her own flaws, and stops from repeating some of the mistakes that landed her in a mess in the first place. I was annoyed that she goes jobless for most of the book, because well, I don't know, it irked me.

Bottom Line: Something Blue is a surprisingly entertaining book, more chick lit than romance and quite enjoyable. However, be prepared to stick with Darcy through her transformation, you might not like her from the kick off.

2/3