A review by ashmeanything
3 Willows: The Sisterhood Grows (Sisterhood, #4.5) by Ann Brashares

3.0

I pulled this from my childhood TBR, no doubt having gotten it when it originally released. On the cover, it's not overtly advertised as a continuation of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but it is listed online as part of the series (book 4.5). I haven't read the original series in years, but I imagine I'd be disappointed to pick up this book and find so many similarities. Childhood death, a love triangle, summer camp, a kid who feels multicultural angst, and a non-romantic character who worries about being fat are all present in this book and the main series, which feels like too many things to be coincidence. The only relation to the other books in text is that these new girls live in the same town and have interacted with the Pants girls once or twice as local celebrities. The forced connection weakened the overall book for me, since the storytelling was pretty hollow and seemed to lean on the series instead. It felt like the author was holding back somehow.

Finally, in the last 25%, the book hit a stride and tied up really nicely. The author's strengths of character development, believable and wholesome friendships, and interpersonal conflict came out fully at last, which I'd wanted the whole time. This doesn't capture the same charm of the first four, and I think it would have been better as a standalone story but maybe set in the same town (a la "there's something about this place that's a little bit magic"). I'm glad I read it but don't think it's going to be particularly memorable over time.

Content warning for vomit, disordered eating and body image (frequent), slut shaming, and child death.