Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
Many years ago, when I was first married, I read my first Jane Green novel, Jemima J and fell in love with her writing. Since that time, I’ve read a handful of Jane Green’s novels, but I’ve drifted away from her women’s fiction, and fell into a bit of a romance vortex, reading many contemporary romances with strong alpha males, and beautiful, intriguing heroines. I’d forgotten the joy that can come from reading a good contemporary fiction book, and I’m so glad I was reminded of it as I fell into the pages of The Friends We Keep.
The Friends We Keep centers around three friends from university: Maggie, Evvie, and Topher. Unlike the romance books I’ve been reading lately, friendship is at the center of this story, and it is all the better for it. Evvie and Maggie meet those first few days of university, when everyone is scared, nervous, and trying to find themselves. They quickly find Topher, the missing point to their trio of friendship, and in this odd little group of personalities, they find their home. Unable to survive university without each other, they find themselves living together, and creating a cozy, little life together. But all good things must come to an end, and they soon find themselves going their separate ways, and creating their own lives, all while slowly drifting apart. It isn’t until their fifties, that these three friends find themselves at a a crossroads, where the only people they can turn to are each other.
Told over a number of years, The Friends We Keep moves between the three narrators, telling us bits and pieces of their lives both together and apart. While the book does center around their friendship, it is not without the romantic element, or the drama that often comes with relationships. There are secrets and lies amongst the three that could topple their friendship, or in the end, bring them closer together. I loved the layout of this story, and despite the fact that it wasn’t action packed, or overly plot driven, and still moved at a good pace, and never found myself bored with the story or the happenings going on around the three friends. Everything that happened had a purpose, and while I had some things figured out much before they happened, I still enjoyed the book tremendously.
The biggest lesson that we learn from The Friends We Keep, and Jane Green’s exquisite writing is that ultimately, good friends are the backbones of our lives. And without these friends, we will often times feel lost and alone in this sea of life. It teaches us how secrets and deception can quickly ruin a friendship, and how we can overcome these derisions in our lives. This book was written to not only give us the warm feels of friendship, but to also cause us to think about our own friends, and the roles that they play in our lives.
Overall, I was thoroughly entertained by The Friends We Keep, and I’d recommend it to any love of Green’s writing, or woman’s fiction in general!
The Friends We Keep centers around three friends from university: Maggie, Evvie, and Topher. Unlike the romance books I’ve been reading lately, friendship is at the center of this story, and it is all the better for it. Evvie and Maggie meet those first few days of university, when everyone is scared, nervous, and trying to find themselves. They quickly find Topher, the missing point to their trio of friendship, and in this odd little group of personalities, they find their home. Unable to survive university without each other, they find themselves living together, and creating a cozy, little life together. But all good things must come to an end, and they soon find themselves going their separate ways, and creating their own lives, all while slowly drifting apart. It isn’t until their fifties, that these three friends find themselves at a a crossroads, where the only people they can turn to are each other.
Told over a number of years, The Friends We Keep moves between the three narrators, telling us bits and pieces of their lives both together and apart. While the book does center around their friendship, it is not without the romantic element, or the drama that often comes with relationships. There are secrets and lies amongst the three that could topple their friendship, or in the end, bring them closer together. I loved the layout of this story, and despite the fact that it wasn’t action packed, or overly plot driven, and still moved at a good pace, and never found myself bored with the story or the happenings going on around the three friends. Everything that happened had a purpose, and while I had some things figured out much before they happened, I still enjoyed the book tremendously.
The biggest lesson that we learn from The Friends We Keep, and Jane Green’s exquisite writing is that ultimately, good friends are the backbones of our lives. And without these friends, we will often times feel lost and alone in this sea of life. It teaches us how secrets and deception can quickly ruin a friendship, and how we can overcome these derisions in our lives. This book was written to not only give us the warm feels of friendship, but to also cause us to think about our own friends, and the roles that they play in our lives.
Overall, I was thoroughly entertained by The Friends We Keep, and I’d recommend it to any love of Green’s writing, or woman’s fiction in general!
Very disappointing. Very contrived and unbelievable plot twists.
Fabulous! I loved this book and could not put it down.
A quick, enjoyable read that you know will have a happy ending. Perfect end of summer read or one to curl up with on a cold winter night.
The Friends We Keep by Jane Green was disappointing to me. This isn’t a bad book. It just wasn’t a great book. I love Jane Green. She’s one of the authors I look forward to reading. But this book was just meh for me. It was a little predictable at times and honestly, I felt like Topher’s storyline was just there because maybe the publisher wanted it because we always seem to need the gay best friend? He served very little purpose to the story. Maggie, Evvie and Ben’s story would have been a better way to go, in my opinion. That book would have been awesome. And, Topher is a great character; he’s just in the wrong book. Hopefully, this is a rare miss for Ms. Green and she gets back to writing the storylines that I adore.
Guys, I can’t believe how disappointed I am in this book. And I tried. I really did. Jane Green has historically been one of my favorite authors but this book was just so boring. I finally threw in the towel at 87% done after wasting 11 hours on it. None of the story lines were compelling. Literally every time I turned it on, I would fall asleep. The audiobook was super weird too. The author tries to do different voices and some of them are so odd.
This is a story of a group of friends who evolve and change over the years. I have to admit this is one of my favorite tropes. I always love seeing how people grow together and apart over the years. Also, I really want to live in Maggie’s house. It sounds so wonderful although in real life it would probably be too cold for me. This was a sweet book and I enjoyed it.
I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book started out slow for me, I also felt the story went on too long and that the last few chapters were not needed.
I think the story had so much potential, but trying to follow three different main characters over the span of 30 years is too much. The characters lacked depth and I had a hard time connecting with any of them. I didn’t find any of them very likable either. The pacing felt so off and many scenes felt rushed or glossed over. The author included so many topics and subplots—a marriage destroyed by alcoholism, a model with an eating disorder stuck with abusive romantic partners, a man dealing with childhood trauma and an aging mom, single parenthood, infidelity, a love triangle, dark secrets and betrayals and forgiveness and friendship… and they all seemed interesting but it felt like too much for one book. Especially with all the time jumps.
What I like most about the book is the discussion questions in the “readers guide” in the back. I appreciate that the book did spark such thought-provoking questions, like “have you lost touch with close friends then seen them again? What did that feel like? How did time change the relationship?” “Is shared history enough to sustain a real friendship? What are the elements required of a true friend?” “Do different perspectives allow you to sympathize with each character despite their flaws?” Digging a little deeper and relating the stories to my own life did, of course, help the book mean more to me.
What I like most about the book is the discussion questions in the “readers guide” in the back. I appreciate that the book did spark such thought-provoking questions, like “have you lost touch with close friends then seen them again? What did that feel like? How did time change the relationship?” “Is shared history enough to sustain a real friendship? What are the elements required of a true friend?” “Do different perspectives allow you to sympathize with each character despite their flaws?” Digging a little deeper and relating the stories to my own life did, of course, help the book mean more to me.
I enjoyed this story. I liked most of the characters, and the stories they told are all engaging.