3/5 stars

​“She used to cry roughly three times a year. Now she seemed to cry three times before breakfast. Could that be considered progress?”

I enjoyed the 1st book of this series much, much more. The only thing that improved in the book two was the writing - it was more refined and less juvenile, but unfortunately that was the end of improvements.

“She got tired of herself. She got tired of not being able to say what she wanted or do what she wanted or even want what she wanted.”

The only character that had an appealing and meaningful story was Bee, everybody else's storylines were just a mess. Bee's storyline honestly saved the book for me, I really loved exploring the attic of memories with her, and watching her reinvent herself.

​I couldn't stand Carmen in this book at all - she wasn't my favorite in the first book, but here she definitely took the gold on the most annoying character ever. Her story arc was exactly the same as in the first book, but with a different parent - total waste of time.

​Tibby was as usual coarse and bitter and unlikable, which made no sense considering what she went through in the first book. I really thought that her character would be different, but she kept making the stupidest choices for absolutely no reason.

“I mean putting yourself out there in the way of overwhelming happiness and knowing you're also putting yourself in the way of terrible harm. I'm scared to be this happy. I'm scared to be this extreme.”

Lena's character was completely lost in her romantic arc -which was so incredibly unrealistic. Lena was my favorite in book one because she had personality - she loved art, books and she knew what she wanted from the world. Lena in book two was a lovesick puppy with absolutely no personality left - it was disheartening to read.

Despite the uninteresting and repetitive plot lines, this was still a good summer read. I am just hoping that the next book is much better, otherwise that will be the end of this series for me.

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4.5 stars

Tibby struggles to fit in at film school while also dealing with grief.
Carmen's mum has a new boyfriend, which makes her feel left out.
Lena is still reeling from her breakup with Kostos and uncovers a mystery man in her mother's past.
Bridget, struggling to find herself, impulsively sets off to stay at her grandmother's, hoping to learn more about her late mother. 

It is the theme of friendship - which runs through every chapter - that makes this series special. The four girls, though so different and not without their conflicts with each other, care about each other deeply. Despite the girls being apart again for most of the story, this friendship still feels prominent. Each chapter opens with email conversations between them and, touchingly, their friends are never far from each girl's thoughts. 

This book deals with a lot of family issues, particularly when it comes to mother-daughter relationships. The main characters often act in horrible ways... and yet as a reader we always have sympathy and empathy for them. Carmen feels left out, unappreciated and unsettled when her mum starts dating a new guy - and she sabotages her mother's dating life because of this. Tibby, desperate to impress her new college friends, creates a documentary which mocks her mother, while she also is embarrassed to be seen with Brian. Lena overcomes hurdles when it comes to being open and honest. Bridget struggles with her mental health and how the loss of her mother has affected her and her family. 

Each girl faces their own struggle and their resulting journeys are uplifting. This series has so much heart, which is why I enjoy it so much.

Wow the girls were angsty in this one. Great nostalgic reread

Re-read in 2019

I am so glad that I decided to read this one again because I realized that I blended the storylines of books 2 and 3 into quite a tangled spiderweb.

It's now summer again and the four friends are still confronting family, friends, and love interests issues. IMHO, the winner in this one was definitely Bridget's storyline as she travels to check out her maternal grandmother, Greta and get more answers about her mother, Marly. Of course, Bee tries to mask who she is, but her curiosity leads her to one more step in coming to terms with her mother's death.

Runner up would probably be Tibby. Attending a film camp and coming to terms with her mother issues and also being given a potential love interest made for a good storyline.

Lena and Carmen are given fairly similar storylines as book one. Lena ended her relationship with Kostos but spends most of the story pining away for him and then a couple of wrenches are thrown around. Figuratively, of course. Carmen was hung up on her Dad moving forward with a new family and now it's time to act like an infant when her mother gets a boyfriend. I think I had more sympathy for her with the father who was living away and just flung it on her during summer vacation. Also, other than being fixated on her parents, could this girl be given a meaty storyline?

A 3 star rating is still a good rating, but having re-read it, I realize that there wasn't enough growth as I would have expected. Also not washing those pants makes me realize that people must have been very patient with odors.


Goodreads review published 06/10/19

Me gusta la historia; me sigue pareciendo muy tierna y muy triste; no estoy segura si igual o más que la anterior; pero quise llorar en varias ocasiones. Me gusta mucho la historia de amistad entre mujeres.

i will admit, the beginning of this book was not good.
i will also admit, the ending of this book was very good.

everyone’s story this time, with an exception of Bee, just seemed a little meh compared to #1. however i definitely grew to love and relate myself to the characters.

Carmen- i can now find little bits of myself in her personality and have really grown to love her.
Tibby- her part here was very coming-of-age ish and i am so excited to see what she does next.
Bee- how can you not love her? i waited in anxious anticipation for her to fly back into soccer like the beast she is and it soooo paid off. her bossing the guys around just made me so happy and ugh
Lena- see below:

now it’s time for my little flabbergasted rant that contains spoilers to please do beware:
Lena? at the end? what? who? when? how? WHY?

i really did love the relationship with Kostos once we got past the ridiculous part. and i get he’s a gentleman and all, but don’t authors usually just throw common sense out the window and work some author-magic to make everything okay? “we’ll get through this,” they said. “no,” i said.
well there certainly was some common sense being thrown out of windows at the end. Lena just dropped everything and ran to a different love. dude. no. don’t do that. this is coming from a single as heck person who would like to find some confidence. the plot with Paul and Lena, Lena and Paul, just slightly made me want to scream.

ok, good talk.

It wasnt as good as the first book but it was excelent.
With scince fair going on i couldnt read a big fantasy book today so i thouht i would pick up this one!

I'm doing my best to try to clear some of my shelves as I am downsizing, so I figured I might as well pick up some of the more "popular" books as I go. Why not? Throw in some of the books more people have read and get a feel for where I'm at. Bonus marks if it's from my youth so I can try to travel back in time and enjoy the nostalgia!

I figured going further in this series wasn't a bad thing. I was glued to the first book and absolutely loved it (with full intentions of watching the movie too because why not go full Briar's youth and nostalgia trip for it?). I picked this book up and was kind of sad that it didn't live up to the first book. The first three quarters of the book was rather dull for me, but the ending pulled me back in. I will work on finishing up this series since I happen to have the last two books in print form on my shelves, but it's not one I'll be jumping to right away.

This series is great because you're going to relate to somewhere. As a young woman, I can totally see the parts of me in these characters. I can also see how they've grown and where they need to grow. It's a unique read that really brings me back to when I was young and read books with young girls like me. It was an insane and amazing feeling back then so I can respect what these books do and who they are for. I'm not the audience, obviously, but it was still nice to take a trip back in time and see what I was missing.

For now, the rating is low. The other books might pick up (and I sure hope they do) but since this book didn't pull me in that well and I wanted to put it down too many times to count... It's low. It's still an amazing book and I truly recommend this series to young readers. You'll fall in love with these characters and find people you relate to. Honestly, it's a great series. An emotional series with some heart break, but also lots of love too.

Two out of five stars.

Ugh. That’s all I have to say. How could I have possibly liked the first one so much as to want to read a sequel? What happened? The storyline was trite, the characters were empty, the dialogue was cheesy and I was BORED. The second summer sucked. Nobody had really changed since last summer. Tibby made a movie about Bailey at film camp and felt bad when she acted like a normal teenager wanting to impress some people thereby shunning a dorky friend. Bridget went on a journey…to Alabama to visit her grandmother under an assumed name, for some reason, and she learned about her dead mother. I’m not sure what happened, but it made her feel good enough to let her hair go blond again and lose weight so she could play soccer again and impress some guy. Lena acted ditzy over the Greek guy, Kostas, until he dumped her because he got some girl pregnant back in Greece. She didn’t make this revelation until she returned for her Bapi’s death. However, she may hook up with Carmen’s step brother, and of course Carmen is worried about who will listen to her. Carmen acts like a baby again when her mother gets a new boyfriend. Yuck.

The Second Summer of the Sisterhood conitnue. I am so excited reading what happen after the first book. A lot of moral messages from Miss Brashares. I think the messages can relatable for all the young girls out there.

4 stars

Update! Here's the full review: https://bookishrealmreviews.blogspot....

3.5 Stars. While I still had a problem with some of the characters, this was a little better than the first and definitely explored more difficult topics. If I had to pick a character that I resonated with the most, I would definitely have to pick Lina. She went through so much during this book and still a managed to keep it together just to be 16. I’ll be doing a full review of this book on my blog.

I honestly thought this second installment was just as much fun as the first! Sure, it's a little predictable at times, but that's not always a bad thing. It's the characters that really make the book, and they have all gone through quite a bit of growth so far.