The Second Summer of the Sisterhood by ann brashares

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

2.5 Stars

I know I'm a hypocrite, but are boys really all that matter? The Second Summer is 90% boy drama, worrying about if the boy likes her back, pining over boys, wondering if she's good enough for boys to look at. Girls, get some hobbies!

This novel is infuriatingly predictable. Around 20% in I made guesses about how the summer would go for each of the girls, and in 3.5/4 cases I was right. Yeah, it's gratifying, but I didn't want to be right. Give me a plot twist, please. (Actually, I was happy with the one (and only one!) that I did get.)

If you haven't recently read the The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants you are going to be very, very lost. I was. The author would drop the names of characters or events or places from the previous book with no context and expect you to remember the role they played.

The writing is generically decent--nothing special. It wasn't bad, but I also wasn't impressed. Something, however, kept me hooked, and I read this almost non-stop, voraciously, from beginning to end.

That said, I don't know that I will ever read the next book in this series. I don't own a copy, so I have no excuse to do so...

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Ren0001

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

I might have enjoyed this more if I were 12.

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AniGirl_Maniac

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

may or may not be the biggest fan of this series. and to be honest, this one might have been better than the first. the stories were SO good and the characters were SO good. lenas? actually insane. tibbys? by FAR the best story i LOVED it & brian was so good. bee? actually OBSESSED with her story and how much she grew. and carmen forever my favorite sister. overall much enjoyed

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Robop-MAL

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

Amazing, fantastic, and beautiful. I ADORED The Second Summer of Sisterhood even more than I did The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. In this book, Carmen, Tibby, Lena, and Bridget are separated once again during the summer, and there's more distance between them then there was last time. But this distance is important, because it allows the girls to discover more about both themselves and their mothers.

I really loved how this sequel focused on mother-daughter relationships (even for Bridget), because familial love is just as important as the friendship to me. As the girls grew up even more through their own self discovery, they learned a lot about their mothers, too. They realized just how much their moms cared for and loved them. Also, ALL of them struggled more with staying true to themselves and learning to love again, (Tibby romantically and familywise, Bridget familywise, Carmen familywise, and Lena romantically and familywise), which made me cry SO MANY TIMES.

I can't say more without spoiling and rambling and repeating myself even more, but Ann Brashares' beautifully woven story of happiness, love, self, and pain, really resonated with me. I cried when the girls cried. I cried even when they didn't. They learned so much about staying true to yourself, recognizing the love of mothers, and how to let go of things because you love them, and so did I. I can't wait to read the next book ;)

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Kruktic

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up. I feel like in my mind this would be like the second movie where they were in Greece- but it totally wasn’t! But that’s okay, I really enjoyed the character development of them all. Leena and Carmen are still very dumb, and the worst. But it was a cute read, I’d say better than the first in some ways.

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cestrob

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

September 2022 reread, paperback.
As before, enjoyed this one almost as much as book one, because you're already established with the girls and their personalities.

July 2013 reread, audiobook.
August 2011 reread.

May 2008
I almost liked this volume more than the first story, as the characters have all been established and we are able to watch them grow and deal with their mothers (in one way or another). My heart breaks for Lena and heals for Bridget.

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CpsEricT

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

I like these girls. I like the struggles they are facing because they feel real, painful and part of growing up.

Unfortunately I have two issues with this book that annoyed me:
* Could not understand why none of the mothers were capable of talk things through. I understand teenagers who cannot get their shit together, but moms should be able to confront rather than go with silent treatment.
* Could not get why girls were not actually talking and supporting each other. I understand that these books are about finding their own story and living through struggles on their own, but where this glorious friendship stays? Tibby lost her friend in first book, Bee who has suffered loss before might understand and support her, but she is too busy with her own problems. Carmen’s mother is getting back out there, she could have talked with Tibby who feels similar with her parents having another kids after a long time, or Paul and Krista who actual were in the same situation when their mother started over with Carmen’s dad. All other girls know how Brien feels about Tibby, no one tells anything, lets wait and see how she screws everything up.

With this I want to say, I was missing actual dialogues between girls. Therefore I have to give only 3 stars.

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