Book Review: Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares

At First Sight: It has been 10 years since Lena, Bridget, Tibby and Carmen lost their beloved sisterhood pants in Greece, and life has taken them in far different directions.

Carmen is now an actress in New York, with a regular gig on a court room drama, an expensive loft apartment and a TV executive fiance whom no one really likes.  Lena is living as an starving artist in Providence, stuck in a holding pattern, waiting for something - or someone - she just can't name. Bee is in San Francisco, living with her long-time boyfriend Eric and going through a string of apartments and jobs without really settling anywhere. And Tibby is somewhere in Australia, living with Brian.

Then, out of the blue, Tibby calls in for a reunion in Greece, arranging everything so the girls can go there. But upon their arrival, they are struck by a sudden tragedy that leaves them reeling in its aftermath; sending them back to their regular lives more lost than ever.

Second Glance: (There might be spoilers in this section, fair warning)

I was on the fence about reading this book because I could never make it through book 4 (Forever in Blue), but James (of Book Chic) told me to give it a go, so I decided to try it, just to see if I could understand everything... next thing I knew, I had finished the book.

Sisterhood Everlasting has some of them same sweetness of the original Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. So much time has passed, and life has pulled the girls so far apart, that it's a little like getting to know them all over again. Yes, they are essentially the same , and some lessons they just can't seem to learn - and yeah, that can be a little frustrating - but I liked it anyway, because I think life can be like that, and it can be devastating.

My favorite storyline was Lenna and Kostos' even though it was plagued with false starts and near misses, and that did drive me nuts after a while, but I have always had a soft spot for these two. Bee and Carmen drove me CRAZY, but they had their moments when I didn't hate them. And Tibby, well, her storyline was a bit heartbreaking all around, but good too, as what happens in the book is largely her masterpiece.

Also, the writing style is a little different than from previous books, mostly in the distribution of the chapters. In this book, each chapter often had a couple of changes in POV and these could be a bit jarring from time to time. 

Bottom Line:  I kind of loved Sisterhood Everlasting; and I wasn't expecting it at all, but I think that fans of the series will find it quite satisfying. But, I don't really recommend Sisterhood Everlasting if you don't have at least some knowledge of what happened during the first books of the series.

Favorite Quote:

 - "You get older and you earn there is one sentence, just four words long, and if you can say it to yourself it offers more comfort than almost any other. It goes like this...?Ready"

- "Ready."

-"At Least I Tried."  (Doxie and Lena)

"You have to have some faith, Effie had said. But Effie hadn't meant faith in Kostos, Lena realized. Not faith that Kostos would be there to meet her, and throw his arms around her, and want her more than anyone else. Effie meant faith in herself. Faith that even if he didn't come, she would be all right. She had to have faith not only in trying, but in failing too. Was she strong enough to fail? Was she strong enough not to?"