This series is so nostalgic for me.

Brought this book along with me to my trip to Vegas two weeks ago and it made a nice addition. YA, so it was definitely an easy read. It's been a LONG time since I originally read these books so it's been interesting reading it now that I am older.

I do still love the story and the idea behind the series even if it does come off cheesy at points.

Looking forward to re-reading the third book next!

Good, but not as good as the first.

Yes, Ann Brashares does it again! Who knew the second book could be as good as the first?
You'd think the plot wouldn't work as well, with Tibby so close to home, and Lena and Carmen not going away. But somehow, it still worked. Yes, the girls saw each other a lot more often. But they still talked online, or sent little postcards to each other. They still made it seem they were apart, even when they were five minutes away. And those conversations are what I really love. The letters that break up the usual writing style, the messages that show the change from different point of views. Instead of reading a book, I'm the fifth member of their little group. Well, not quite, but I really, REALLY wish I was.
As with the last book, I didn't like Carmen. She's so selfish and whiny. I understand, it's upsetting for her to see her mum supposedly moving on without her. But then talk to her about it! Say you don't like that she's acting like a teenager, and you can fix the problem. The way she reacted, like a five year old, made me mad. Honestly, she's one of the biggest reasons this book doesn't get a five star rating. I could replace her in the group, then everything would be perfect!
The other three girls, I absolutely adore. Bee is my favourite. In this book, she's gone a little depressed. I couldn't help but think about her mum, and worry that Bee was going to turn out like her. But I shouldn't have worried. Our Bee is far stronger than that. She didn't hide away in bed forever; she got up and flew to see her Grandma she barely knew. Because, you know, why wouldn't you? I loved seeing Bee get better over there. The character growth done there was brilliant. It was also good to find out more about her past. We knew her mum had died, we were told that in the first book. But that was really all we knew. In this book, as Bee cleaned out her Grandma's attic, we got to find out more and more. Bee started accepting the awful past her mother had had. It was heartbreaking, but necessary.
Tibby grew a lot too. She was at film school, which sounded so great for her. At first, she made terrible mistakes. I mean, come on, anyone could tell that Alex and Maura were going to be lame. Plus, why would you not want to be best friends with Brian? He's so sweet, and he adores Tibby. But she learned. Through Bailey, her friend from the first book, she learned what a moron she was being. In the first book, Bailey didn't make me cry. But this time she did. Like Bee, Tibby started to actually accept her death. And that's what made it so sad. I wasn't a huge fan of Bailey, but I missed her. Tibby needed her, so then I needed her. Now all we need is for Tibby to realise that Brian is crazily in love with her, and they can both live happily ever after.
Lena changed, but I'm not sure if she grew. Like Bee said, "she used to cry about three times a year. Now she cried three times before breakfast." It's so unlike Lena to be so heartbroken over a boy. But she really did love him. She was probably better off without him. Having a boyfriend in Greece was never going to work out. But she didn't know that! She needed him! I'll admit, I did a little squeal of joy when they realised they loved each other. Oh, it was so cute!! But that was all the happiness Lena got. Everything went downhill from there. I won't spoil it, don't worry! But I was genuinely shocked by the Kostos plot twist. Yes, it was the right thing to do. But SERIOUSLY?!?!?!? Lena desperately needed hugs, and chocolate. I'm glad her friends were there for her. I needed friends like that there for me, just on behalf of Lena! I'll admit, I even shed a tiny tear.
We got to see more of the mothers too, which I liked. Of course, I like the Sisterhood more. But it was still kind of nice to see the mothers old relationship. Plus, we got to find out more about why they aren't friends any more. And their secrets, and their love lives, and their relationships with their daughters. All very good things, that made the book even better.
While this book was a little more depressing than the first one, I still loved it. How can you not love these girls? I can't wait to get my hands on book 3!

A YA staple of any teen girl's book collection, I found this read during the pandemic and immediately felt the writing was so endearing and earnest, I ended up finishing it. The narrative of this close-knit group of friends before their first year of college touches upon growing pains, boy issues, family issues, etc., but as a whole, the theme of a 'true blue' friendship is what shines.
I hope there are still teens out there as honest, funny and loyal as these characters!
Ann Brashares is a YA queen, and I marvel at her ability to write 4 different profiles, while still making each compelling and distinct (Tibby was a hipster before hipsters were thing; Bridget's hair-dye / weight-gain journey sounds like 2020 in a single vignette).
This read was refreshing, satisfying, and not overly snide in tone, especially amid today's avalanche of internet content.
Thanks to this random book for falling out of my bookshelf; I guess I'm the type of late-20-year-old who reads YA now!

it isn’t as iconic as the first one. or maybe im just old now

best one yet (ignore the fact that i havent read any of the others yet)

5

For a while there, I was getting so frustrated with this book, and how irritating most of the girls were being. Then I get to the end, and I remembered why it was one of my favorite in the series. Each of the girls had a huge hurdle to climb in this book, and in a way, this book was a turning point in all of their lives. They all learned something they needed to in order to be a better person. Bee will forever be my favorite character in these books, but I can honestly say I am loving rereading the series and reliving all the old feelings I had when I read them for the first time!

It took me much longer to get through the second book then the first. To be honest, it was painful to read most of the time. I continue to detest Carmen and her childish behavior--yes, I realize she's a teenager, but I couldn't stand to read how supposedly she was so sad to hurt people's feelings and then she'd just go ahead and do it anyway. I couldn't stand reading about Lina's heartache anymore and was especially angry when Kostos's big bomb dropped after the author FINALLY got them back together. I thought the only real person in the book was Bee, strangely enough. The way she dyed her hair and gained weight reminded me of a time when I was a teenager and wanted to do everything possible to be the exact opposite of myself. I'm not sure I'm going to continue reading the rest of the books--the characters are NEVER happy and go on for pages and pages about their own self-woe and doubt. They spend chapters beating themselves up for their dumb mistakes and then never seem to learn from them. It might just be too much dumb girl emotion for me.

Reread in February 2021 - Gosh, rereading this was exquisite.


Reread in February 2019 - this book made me cry and think about moments of my life I'd buried long ago. Very powerful writing and the characters are so lush.


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Wonderful as usual. So so beautiful.

Avevo iniziato a leggere il primo libro di questa serie con davvero poca convinzione, pensando che fossero libri per ragazzine e stop e quindi che non mi potessero piacere. Invece sono rimasta entusiasta dal primo libro al punto di procurarmi il secondo dopo poco tempo e leggerlo tutto d'un fiato senza neanche lasciarlo a decantare il libreria come faccio di solito. Devo ammettere che anche per questo secondo libro avevo dei timori, perché vista con superficialità la storia alla base del libro può sembrare senza dubbio banale e durante le prime pagine di lettura la sensazione è quella. Ma dopo qualche capitolo, tempo di rientrare in sintonia con la storia e le sue quattro protagoniste, ogni dubbio si è dissipato. Confermo quindi il giudizio positivo che già avevo avuto con il primo libro. Perché questo seguito si è dimostrato non solo all'altezza del precedente ma mi è addirittura piaciuto di più. Se c'è una cosa che devo dare atto all'autrice è la sua bravura nel descrivere le più svariate situazioni e i più svariati stati d'animo. Le quattro protagoniste del libro hanno tutte caratteri molti diversi l'una dall'altra, e vivono anche vicissitudini diverse, eppure il lettore riesce ad entrare in sintonia con ognuna di loro con una semplicità disarmante, ed ad avere la sensazione di conoscerle da sempre. E non solo. Le vicende narrate mi hanno preso talmente tanto che gli stati d'animo dei vari personaggi li ho vissuti come se fossero i miei, e mi sono ritrovata spesso a rivivere alcune sensazioni già vissute e a pensare a come fosse brava l'autrice a sapere descrivere con così tanta precisione gli stati d'animo che anche io avevo provato in quella identica situazione. Ovviamente non tutto ci che accade nel libro è accaduto anche a me, ma anche per quanto riguarda esperienze non vissute la sensazione è stata quasi identica, ovvero la sensazione di avere già provato tutto ciò e di sapere che meglio di così non poteva essere descritto. E' quindi un libro davvero prezioso dal punto di vista dei contenuti e delle emozioni suscitate. La storia a volte può sembrare spensierata, ma ha sempre dei risvolti piuttosto drammatici, che si alternano ad altri momenti di calma e serenità, proprio come accade nella vita vera. E' per questo che mi è piaciuto così tanto, perché è un libro realistico, con momenti di felicità e infelicità, senza finali assurdamente lieti e definitivi, ma con dei piccoli traguardi raggiunti, piccoli attimi di felicità che non sono mai assoluti ma che evolvono cone le protagoniste stesse.

This is the second book about Carmen, Lena, Tibby and Bee. In reality, it’s the first book about their mothers, who have a history together that is completely independent of their daughters.

I spend a lot of my time at 30 years old feeling sad over how I thought about my mother when I was younger, and how I spoke to her. This isn’t a cycle that I’m alone in, nor is it a cycle that will end with me. But this series is meant to give voice to things that happen to women that are taboo to talk about. If the first book is about how, as young girls, we struggle within ourselves, then this one is about how we as adults can grieve how we maybe treated the women who probably wanted the best for us and how we can extend a hand to them now to leave anger behind and embrace joy and peace.