The Groom is Usually not the Something Borrowed!

Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

Rachel White is an independent attorney that works and lives in Manhattan.  She is an easy going, dependable, ever present friend and if someone was to describe her while growing up the phrase “goodie two-shoes” might have been used.  Rachel turns thirty and her best friend Darcy throws her a huge party to celebrate, Darcy also gets wasted and has to leave the party a little early.  Dex, Darcy’s finance and Rachel’s Law school study partner and friend stays behind to keep the birthday girl company, one thing leads to another and Dex ends up in Rachel’s bed.  Rachel immediately regrets her actions and longs to put the one night stand behind her, but Dex has feelings deeper for Rachel than either one of them bargained for.  As the wedding date gets closer and Dex and Rachel’s hidden relationship grows more intense, Rachel is overcome with jealousy of Dex and Darcy’s real relationship and regret for what she is doing behind her longest closest friends back with her fiancé.  You’ll have to read it to see how the web of lies and deceit grow thicker as the novel moves forward.

This was a “beach read.”  This is the term I give chic lit usually, but mainly it was a fun book with great characters that give you enough depth to get to know the characters, but you don’t need a dictionary to understand half of the dialogue.  I enjoyed Rachel’s point of view and I’m always a fan of first person books. Rachel and I had several similarities and therefore I was able to connect easily with her character.  She was passive and allowed Darcy to walk all over her because Rachel could always see the good within her friend.  Rachel is a giver and therefore when she found that she was frustrated with her self-induced situation, it was hard for her not to give Darcy or Dex whatever they needed or wanted from her.  I also felt that Rachel knew herself.  She may not always understand or know why she was doing something, but she knew her thought process behind her actions and generally knew all of the possible outcomes.

I found the friendship dynamics interesting.  All girls know a Darcy, we may not have been friends with her, but we all know someone who is just like Darcy in every way.  I also know people who are not absolutely like Darcy, but maybe have several of her bad attributes, I find these people are usually selfish and do not have a lot of self realization, they usually don’t think anything is their fault and always find blame with others.  For this reason, I have a hard time relating to people like this and I am not exactly looking forward to Something Blue since it is from Darcy’s perspective. 

I am slowly trying to get through my stack of borrowed books, Something Borrowed is mine, but Something Blue is my friend Leighanne’s and therefore I am anxious to get it back to her since I’ve had it for quite some time.  

What’s on your “to read” book shelf?  Do you borrow more books than you can read in a year?  Keep Reading my friends!