3.5 stars. It was nice to be back with these girls again, and to see more of their story. I also really appreciated the fact that each of the girls is going through something that feels personally difficult for each of them; it’s always interesting to see how characters react to hard or new or emotional things.

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!

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.

Better than the first. The ending made me angry and sad though. Poor, poor Lena.

I liked the first one, I thought it was cute and liked that the four girls had a friendship and bond, all the while sharing a pair of you could say, magical pants.

But with this one, I don't know, some of the arcs the girls were going through, I wanted to read more of or others I juts didn't care that much. I liked the ones with Brigid, a little bit of Carmen and Tibby. But Lena's I wasn't sure about.

Mostly for the romance drama I was like, sigh, really. I mean, I liked that with and without the pants, they did learn something from their parents at least.

Basically, I liked the characters that I kept reading. I liked the sequel but it didn't love it. Its still a good read and the writing too. Giving this a 3.5 at least.

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.

Though this book was enjoyable to read, just like the first one, I found it pretty disappointing. I basically lost all of my respect for Lena, even though I did feel bad for her. Once and Kostos got back together, I was disappointed that all they did was make-out and all Lena wanted from him was sex. I really wanted their relationship to develop further and instead of just having sexual contact with each other, maybe they could have actually had a conversation and caught up over the past few months. Even though Kostos does marry someone else in the end, I felt like Lena and Kostos only had physical attraction, and I miss the relationship they had in the first book. Carmen's story was pretty much the same exact story that she had last book, but with her mom. Listen, Carmen, I get you have a bad temper and I get that you're a turbulent teenager, but seriously? Must you act like you're 3 years old? She just gets on my nerves throughout the story, I don't care how repentant she is in the end, she just comes off as bratty who feels bad about the stuff she does but does them anyway. Tibby's story was my absolute favorite in the last book because it was so full of emotion and beautiful characters and incredible lessons. And this time around, it was really, really boring. The author spent hardly any time on Tibby, and she attempted to make it deep full of life lessons, but kind of failed. It didn't even come close to the Baily/Tibby story in the first book. Now Bee's story was the best story and the only good one in the book. I really came to enjoy Bee's character and I actually wished that Bee's story was focused on more then, say, Lena's or Carmen's. Bee is definitely my favorite in this book.

As for the author's writing, I just felt it was so immature and pathetic this time around. I felt like Brashares was thinking, "Oh, well, the first book was already a success, so I don't really have to try to make this one good at all." I felt like Brashares had so many opportunities to make this a beautiful and touching book, but failed. There were moments when I was like, "Oh, I liked that thought a lot," but they were few and in between. Brashares only talent is her knack for entertaining and realistic dialogue. Otherwise, she was lacking tremendously in descriptions and other writing skills. Loved the first book, very disappointed with the second, not too sure I'll read the next.

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.

Excellent Book! Love the sisterhood series.

Carmen- I love Carmen’s story in this book. She has grown to be jealous of her moms love life and she Dosent exactly have one of her own. Carmen’s story always kept me wanting more.

Bridget- She did some soul searching at her grandmas house, undercover as Gilda. She reconnects with an old soccer pal. Her story was very emotional.

Lena- Lena had lots of drama and sadness go on in her story. Lena’s story was my favorite in the book. A bit disappointed in her, I feel like she’s changed a lot. :(

Tibby- I never really liked Tibby. I found myself bored with her story. She is the only reason why I gave it four stars. Nothing really happened to Tibby that interesting. Maybe it was a good break between all the other girls drama? Idk, but she was defiantly my least favorite story.


Overall can’t wait to read the third book!

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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These books make me so incredibly nostalgic and happy. ❤️ So glad I chose to re-read them this year.

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!