Summer Reads: Book Six {Something Blue}

I had been reading so much across this summer that it hit a point where I just needed something different and frivolous. Something Blue by Emily Giffin provided that for me in spades. It was silly, it was chick lit to the extreme, and best of all - it required no brain power whatsoever. And, after weeks of non-stop camp counselor and wilderness trip leading that was exactly what I needed.

Something Blue is the sequel to the best selling book (and its movie adaptation) Something Borrowed. Instead of following the lives of Rachel and Dex post-affair, it instead is told from the perspective of Darcy. Oh, Darcy. The evil, self-absorbed, unbearable woman from book one. The one who Dex and Rachel cheated on - fiance and best friend became the betrayers. Her dream wedding is called off and her ex-fiance and ex-best friend are incredibly in love. And, despite this, at the end of Something Borrowed you hated Darcy. Perhaps because she herself wasn't so faithful to Dex, but still. She was the woman scorned, and you as the reader hated her nonetheless.

Something Blue finds Darcy - beautiful, charming, rich, always gets what she wants - pregnant and alone. She's the butt of all the office jokes and completely humiliated in her high-scociety circles in NYC. Not willing to take at least part of the blame for the end of her 'happily ever after,' Darcy runs off and hides in London at her friend Ethan's flat. She tries to recreate her glamorous life there, but finds her luck has seemingly run out. This book, then, becomes a story about Darcy's journey towards forgiveness (both given and received) and true love.

I wasn't convinced I was going to enjoy this book, gratuitous chick lit or not. I absolutely loathed Darcy at the end of Something Borrowed. When I realized it was being told from her point of view I nearly put it down for good. But I gave it a chance and found that I actually did somewhat like Darcy. True, she was her normal tricks and self-centered Darcy for the first half of the book. But once she started to realize how important Ethan was to her and how important the bab(ies) were to her as well, she softened into a character I liked. True, she still got on my nerves with her high opinion of herself, but as she walked her own path of self-discovery I started to realized she wasn't as bad as originally thought. She is, after all, completely a product of how she was raised.

Is it great literature? Not really. Is it a fun and entertaining story? Yes, it sure was! It's a total chick lit novel, and it does not fail to deliver on that front. Giffin is an amazing writer in her genre. She knows what she does, and she does it well - there is no arguing with that. This is best proved by taking a character I hated and made her human and someone I considered to be worth finding love. With her fun and fluid writing, Griffin takes us quickly and completely through Darcy's story.

Author: Emily Giffin

Pages: 338

Date Finished: 7 July 2012

First Line: I was born beautiful.

Favorite Line: You can only control your own actions. Not other people's reactions.

Last Line: Love and friendship. They are what makes us who we are, and what can change us, if we let them. [whited out, for spoiler's sake]

Recommended: Need a good chick-lit, romance? This is the book for you!