Good, but not as good as the first.

Following the tradition of last summer, the Pants make their rounds again. Tibby's leaving for film school, Bridget's off to Alabama while Lena and Carmen spend their summers at home.

I loved the Second Summer of the Sisterhood! This book was much more emotional than the first. I shed a few tears along the way. My favourite character in this instalment would have to be Bridget. She did a 180 from her impulsive and reckless ways in the first book and took time off to rediscover herself. I really liked her grandmother and Billy. I love how the book alternates between the four girls' stories in a way that you will never get bored.

I read the last 300 pages in one stand and it felt really good. I'm so glad I decided to reread this serie. I forgot almost everything and it's so amazing to relive it.

This was an interesting summer with the girls and the pants.

I won't say I loved every storyline, but overall, I enjoyed reading about this summer of change and disappointment. It was odd to see that Bridget, who is the hot mess of the group, was really the only one who had her act together. Her storyline was probably my favorite, because it was her working through her grief, learning more about her mother, and reconnecting with her grandmother. Brashares did something nice there at the end too.

I am looking forward to see what adventures they have in store for me in book three.

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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.

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!

This and other reviews can be found on The Psychotic Nerd

n  Short and Simple Reviewn
I liked this one okay enough. I couldn't remember the first book so I had to keep looking up details online so I wouldn't get the girls mixed up. The story switches between the four girls, sometimes within very short periods (a page of one girl, a page of the next, etc.). Sometimes it was annoying because the girl we were focusing on never did anything or I was more interested in what another girl was doing, but doing so did also sometimes showed how close the girls were (and how some summers, nothing interesting actually happens). I had to keep reminding myself that the girls were teenagers and were bound to make stupid decisions. Of the girls, I was incredibly frustrated with Carmen and Tibby. Carmen acted really bratty because her mom was dating someone and Tibby was making friends with the wrong people. I had to remember that they were bound to make stupid decisions and they did eventually realize that. I was more interested in what Bridget was doing because she was staying with her Grandma that she hadn't seen since she was really young, but was pretending that she was someone just looking for a summer job. Her story was one of the more heartfelt ones in the bunch.

Overall, I was annoyed at points, confused at points, but I also wanted to see how these girls were doing. I admittedly am jealous that these girls are such close friends because I never had friends like that. While I am not wowed by this series, I will likely keep going because I own the rest of the books and I am curious to see where these girls will be when they are older.

Reread po 15 latach, jako stara baba. I tu już czułam, że mój wiek przeszkadza mi w zrozumieniu zachowania bohaterek i musiałam się wysilić, żeby przypomnieć sobie, jak to było mieć te 15-16 lat i czy też wtedy problemem byliby dla mnie to, co dla dziewczyn. Ale nadal dobrze się bawię przy tym rereadzie, lektura idzie jak po maśle, więc kontynuuję i czas na tom trzeci.

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 feel like I am falling in love with this series all over again.

I loved the character development for 3 out of 4 of the main characters:

-Carmen is angry, but most teens can be fairly angry. I thought it was great to see her relationship with her mom and how her rock after so many years changed a bit. Plus her relationship with her step siblings continues to form and grow stronger and I thought that was really sweet to see.

-Bridget (Bee) was probably my favorite of this book heading to Alabama to reconnect with her estranged grandmother. Bee is still reeling from last summer and over the last year she really lost sight of herself. So learning more about her mother and where she came from helped her a lot and she really transformed in this book.

-Tibby is still affected by the death of Bailey but not acknowledging it. She and Brian have become close friends over the last year since Bailey’s passing. Away at film school Tibby is struggling with leaving her parents and understanding her place in her family.

-Lena. Oh Lena. It’s funny because when I was a teen I loved her love story, but as an adult I really just want to scream at her. I don’t understand her connection with Kostos because they spend almost no time together (ever). I don’t remember much about the next two books but hopefully they get much better.

Overall, I am loving my reread of this series. I can’t believe that I donated my original hardcovers to the library.

I read the first book a couple of years ago so I don't know all the details of the first one. So if I make mistakes in this review then bear with me :)

The Travelling Pants, the Magic Pants, the Pants that helped the 4 girls have a great summer the last year are now not helping at all. Bridget leaves for the summer to visit her grandma, but not as Bridget. She gives herself an alias to find out more about her family. Carmen gets super jealous when her mother gets a boyfriend. Tibby attends a photography college course and wants to be cool for once. And Lena struggles with her love to Kostos.

I do love when characters I like get into struggle. So you learn a bit about their coping skills. But it was a bit too much here because everyone had it hard, there was not one of the girls who started out good in the summer. And that's just unbelievable.

Furthermore the story progresses pretty fast, what is great but also not, as it lacks depth and communication. But I'm probably expecting too much of a teenage book.

Other than that I enjoyed reading this book as it's still lighthearted and kind of brings me back to my teenage years (they were not as adventurous and memorable as for the girls in the book though).

I can't wait to read the next one and I can't wait to someday watch the movie adaptation.

When I first read this book in my late teens/early twenties, I was more focused on the sisterhood and the adventures that they had, but now that i'm older, how I relate to the girls (and their moms) has definitely changed. The characters that I really connected to in this second book were the ones going through some heavy stuff: Christina, Tibby, and Bridget. It was these characters that taught me the most about being open to change and love, about learning from and accepting our past, about how to deal with grief, and how to take pride in ourselves and those around us. I also loved discovering new things about the moms, specifically Marly and Ari's backstories. Looking forward to the third one.