Tuesday, Feb 24, 2009

Book Review: Something Borrowed

Author: Emily Giffin

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Website: http://www.emilygiffin.com/

Type: Fiction: Chick Lit

ISBN #: 978-0312-32119-2

Pages: 322 Trade Paperback

Purchase: $11.16 at Amazon.Com (HERE)

The Story Line

“Something Borrowed tells the story of Rachel, a young attorney living and working in Manhattan. Rachel has always been the consummate good girl—until her thirtieth birthday, when her best friend, Darcy, throws her a party. That night, after too many drinks, Rachel ends up in bed with Darcy’s fiancé.

Although she wakes up determined to put the one-night fling behind her, Rachel is horrified to discover that she has genuine feelings for the one guy she should run from. As the September wedding date nears, Rachel knows she has to make a choice. In doing so, she discovers that the lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren’t always neat, and sometimes you have to risk all to win true happiness.

(Above excerpt is from www.emilygiffin.com)

My Review

When I first became a book review blogger, I was preparing my Books Page for the website.  I went through my books and input them all into The Library Thing.  Now, of course, there are many books that I’ve read over the years that have since left my home never to return.  However, somehow over the past 5 years, books have started to stay and my book collection born.

I finally purchased a bookcase and was excited to organize all of my books.  That’s when I came across Something Borrowed.  Had I borrowed this book and forgot to return it?  I don’t think that was it.  The color had faded on the cover and the pages beginning to brown.  I can always tell when I’ve read a book.  Something that doesn’t belong there is shoved in there somewhere… a receipt, a lotto ticket… something.  This book had nothing.  It’s pages obviously never turned.  So, I flipped through the pages.  Nothing seemed familiar.  Had I purchased this book and not read it?  That’s not like me.  But, guess what?  That is the case!  It just slipped right through.

So, it was added to my “TBR Pile” like an abandoned child.  I promised myself to read it for the Just For The Love of It Reading Challenge.  Yesterday, it got its turn.  And, as quickly as I opened it, I finished it.  I’m finding that I’m getting to be that way with Chick Lit/Women’s Fiction.  I just love it.  Yes, I can read the classics and the prize winners.  I love them too.  And, I can read historical fiction and biographies… they too are great.  But, when I relax the most is when I read “Chick Lit.” I look back at my book reviews… for all of the women’s fiction/chick lit that I read, I can see that I’m really pretty happy with most of them.  I guess it’s my favorite genre.  That’s one good thing that Something Borrowed gave me.  I really like this genre no matter its age.  I can compare it to going to see a Romantic Comedy in the theatre.  I’m wearing sweats, eating popcorn, and pleased as punch to be there lost in the story line.  I see myself feeling the same way in reading books like Something Borrowed, wearing jammies, drinking tea, and engrossed in a story.

Onto Emily Giffin and this book.  As you can summarize from the story line section above, our heroine, Rachel, is a 30-year old lawyer in New York City.  She ends up in bed with her childhood best friend, Darcy’s, fiance Dex.  Now, there are many in’s and out’s of their history and Rachel, in all, is not a bad person.  The love affair between Rachel and Dex was, in fact, meant to be.  Darcy is really more the “pain in the pah-too-kah” than Rachel.  The reader wants Rachel and Dex to be together and Darcy to be humbled from her “ME ME ME” lifestyle and character.  The story is fun, classically chick-lit, and I enjoyed it.

Let me tell you what I think is so smart about Emily Giffin.  At the end of Something Borrowed, she provides the readers the first two chapters of its sequel, Something Blue.  Something Blue is told from Darcy’s viewpoint.   So, now I HAVE TO get Something Blue to find out what happens to Darcy and her baby.   I mean, how smart is that?  Giffin’s got her readers hooked into TWO books in one!  Smart, smart, smart!  I was just cruising through her website and she has a new book called Love the One You’re With. I’d love to read and review it along with Something Blue and tell you guys more about Giffin and her writing.

I’d compare Giffin to Beth Kendrick, Jennifer Weiner, or Jane Porter.  She’s a solid writer and her book was really good!

On Sher’s “Out of Ten Scale”:

What I liked most about this New York Times Bestseller are the characters.  Rachel is just somebody that you can’t help to root for, just as much as Darcy is somebody that annoys the heck out of you!  I also didn’t hate Dex for being a “cheater cheater pumpkin eater.”  Rather, you can see that he just fell for the right girl at the wrong time.  When you feel this way about characters, you know that the author has written a book that you can relate to and enjoy.  And, that I did.  From my PERSONAL viewpoint, I am awarding this book for the genre Fiction: Chick Lit an 8.5 out of 10.  It might have otherwise earned an “8,” but I just loved the response that Rachel gave Darcy about Dex’s watch!

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