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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
My Review Of
The Friends We Keep
We meet Ben in the first chapter of this book, he is battling his demons when he receives a life changing text.
In the following chapters we go back in time to when Evvie, Maggie, and Topher became fast friends in college, forming a pact and a bond that they swore was never going to break.
Of course life happens, friends keep secrets form each other and Evvie, Maggie, and Topher do drift apart but manage to keep in touch over the years now and again.
These 3 characters were easy for me to relate to and I quickly immersed myself in their worlds. To me Evvie was the character that I bonded with the most. Evvie was a successful model until an unhappy marriage and weight gain
threw her modeling career off track. Having always struggling with that image of a perfect body/weight myself I could relate to Evvie's feelings about her body and self worth that was tied into how thin she was and how that impacted her self esteem.
When the all decide to meet again at a college reunion they bond like never before.
This is when things get interesting and a shocking secret is revealed. Each of these characters have their own secrets and demons that they have had to battle with through the years. Jane Green does an awesome job of telling their stories separately then seamlessly weaving it all together.
This book is the perfect summer read.This review was originally posted on Fictional Reviewer
Jane Green has become one of my go to authors that I know , will give me an amazing book that ,will fill my heart with amazing characters and have me thinking about the book long after I finish it! The Friends We Keep follows a decade long friendship between three friends who met while attending college. Eevie who is half Jamaican and half American who was a child star . Maggie is more down to earth who loves cooking and is sweet and cares about her friends with everything! Topher who is nervous for anyone to touch him he’s gay but doesn’t want everyone to know and a huge softie for his two other friends. Each friend carries a secret from their childhood. The book begins in 2016 and Maggie’s husband Ben who she fell in love with after college is on a train and receives a text saying she wants a divorce. The next chapter introduces the three friends when they meet on the first day of college in 1986. Each chapter is like a diary and it shows what each friend is going through after they left college. It shows the hardships and mistakes they make including the love throughout the years . When Eevie makes a mistake that will jeopardize her friendship with Maggie she withdraws and focuses on her now famous modeling career. Maggie keeps it hidden that her husband is an alcoholic and Topher is a famous soap opera star but feels if he tells everyone he’s gay he will lose everything. This book had me turning the page and feeling like I was on this adventure with the characters. My heart broke with each of them with every step they took. I give this four stars. This will be the perfect beach read and it I loved it!
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I don’t know…it was just…meh?
This reminds me of One Day In December but concentrates on the friendships more and the love story less. It jumps forward in time similar to One Day in December. Evvie, Maggie and Topher become fast friends in college but all go in different directions after graduating. They joke about all living together one day again when they are fifty. Their friendships dissolve over time but they reunite at a 30 year reunion. Will their friendship survive or will a secret tear it apart?
"Perhaps we all needed to go through the stuff we went through to bring us here today."
"I feel like I've lived fifty lifetimes, and none of them fit me, none of them have felt right, until this one."
"Perhaps we all needed to go through the stuff we went through to bring us here today."
"I feel like I've lived fifty lifetimes, and none of them fit me, none of them have felt right, until this one."
A not-too-complex, pleasant (if soapy) story that follows three friends from their college days through their 50s. My favorite thing about it is their decision to make a go on their pact to all live together again when they find themselves unattached later in life. This is something my own college friends and I always talked about - it at least being roommates in a nursing home. Ideal for a beach read.
Jane Green’s books will never be less than a 3-star rating for me. I have been reading her books since college, and she has become known to be as a reliably GOOD book. I enjoyed this book. I liked the setting change between a small English village and New York, and the characters are endearing. This is a good transitional book between books with heavier topics. It’s light and fun, but the writing is also great.
A very satisfying read about the family we choose.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes