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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
I really enjoyed this book. Read it in less than 3 days. Better than Something Borrowed.
I actually liked this sequel better than the first book. Probably because I really have a thing for imperfect characters. In this book, we see the aftermath of the events of Something Borrowed, but not through the eyes of Rachel, we see them through her best friend, Darcy.
In Something Borrowed, Darcy was portrayed as vain, shallow and a bit entitled. In the start of this book, that's exactly how she is and for some readers, that had to have been a turn off, but for me, I liked that. Why? Because by the end, you can really see how far Darcy came as a person. She was not a static character, but she changed and evolved and it was done so in a believable way.
In the aftermath of the Dex/Rachel scandal, Darcy begins her usual schemes to try and win Dex back, not out of affection for him, really, but more out of desperation as her baby daddy, Marcus had left her. Darcy doesn't want to be alone and while at this point she *was* spoiled, the reasoning isn't entirely unsympathetic. It's human nature to want company and when going through the biggest change of your life (having a child) it's even more natural to want someone along for the ride.
Out of options, Darcy takes a trip to England to visit her childhood friend Ethan, who we saw in Something Borrowed.
Now Ethan I already liked in the previous book, but this one made me like him even more. He's no-nonsense, straight to the point, calling out how selfish Darcy is, how she isn't the victim she's made herself out to be in the whole Dex thing and only reminded me even more why I liked him so much in the first book. Oh and he likes kids, bonus!
But as much as I liked Ethan, the star of the novel for me was Darcy. Like I said earlier, she really grows up in this book. Partly due to Ethan and finally having someone to call her out on her crap and partly due to becoming a mother. Some readers argue that this is a cliche, that someone has kids and changes to a better person, but for me, it wasn't so cliche and more a natural progression of events.
Darcy, for all her flaws in book one showed some of these character traits all ready-or rather the start of them. She loved Rachel and carried the memory of their shared childhood very closely to her heart. In other words, she's a bit sentimental. Darcy also knows what she wants and isn't ashamed to go after it, her goal in this book, however, was different. In this book, she wanted to be a good mom to her child. Her sentimentality, drive and Ethan's guidance helped her change into a better person and the progression for me was something I could believe with ease.
And
Spoiler
I actually liked her and Ethan's love story better than Dex and Rachel's. Rachel though consistent character that she was, was a bit spineless. Darcy wasn't when it came to telling Ethan how she felt and Ethan I found to be a more attractive love interest in Dex for the same reason-he didn't waste time making choices.However, despite all the charm this story has, the ending, though happy, wasn't my cup of tea.
The ending, for me, was just too neat.
Spoiler
The story ends at and epilogue at Darcy and Ethan's wedding. Now this I was okay with, but in attendance were Dex and Rachel as they are now all good friends again.That for me, was just too much. I feel like there would be too much history and mistrust to go back to being best friends after all that happened in the first book. Do I believe they could get along, be friendly to one another whenever they saw each other and genuinely want the best for the other party? Yes. That's called being an adult. Do I buy into the idea of them going back to being best friends and taking vacations together? (FYI, that was actually confirmed in another book of Giffin called Heart of the Matter, Rachel and Dex make a cameo appearance.)
Nope.
So, for that reason, I only gave this novel three stars and placed it on my enjoyable shelf. Because for all it's charm, it's still just a little too neat for me to think it was anything truly great. Good for an afternoon read and you can even read it again and still like it, but still, I guess I'm too realistic for these sort of endings.
Re-read January 20222: Still a solid three stars.
I hated Darcy. She was so annoying and selfish. Even when she “changed” she was a push over which made me cringe while reading. I also hated that Dex and Rachel ended up getting married because Darcy should’ve stayed with Dex because they were the hot couple. I thought the whole story was too cliche and very predictable and cheesy. I didn’t want to finish it but I didn’t have anything else to do.
I know we are supposed to hate Darcy, and to be fair, I kinda did at the start, but she was just so FUN yk. Like totally a terrible person, but I was entertained the entire time.
So I watched Something Borrowed and it was pretty terrible, but it reminded me about how much I want to see a movie made of the sequel because ummmm, I much prefer Darcy and Ethan to Dex and Rachel.
Maybe it's a bit of a predictable chick-lit book but it was a fast and fun read. I thought it was a good follow-up to "Something Borrowed".
OMG! What a powerful ending! I have been waiting to read this book since I found out that there was a "Something" series and since seeing the movie "Something Borrowed" which by the way, didn't do the book justice, but was still good. This novel was everything I did not expect it to be. I did not think that I would end up loving Darcy more than Rachel, but I do. By the middle of this book, you will fall in love with Darcy because of her effort to transform into a better person. There were so many surprises, twists, and turns. I was in tears by the end of the story. It is definitely one of my favorites by Emily Giffin!
A predictable ending, but a good, quick read. I really enjoyed Darcy's character.
Almost every character in this book in unlikeable. I had a hard time relating to Darcy at all. And her tranformation is way too easy and fast; it's sort of unbelievable that someone with absolutely no self-awareness and neediness suddenly becomes self-aware and independent (well, sort of independent; she still relies on men way too much for her happiness and well-being).
At the time I read this, I loved happy endings. Love, romance, heartache...it's all here.