Happy Tuesday all!
Today I have a review for a book about friendship and forgiveness. This was a wonderful story that I strongly encourage you to add to your summer TBR!📚🏖
My Thoughts
F҉r҉i҉e҉n҉d҉s҉h҉i҉p҉. F҉o҉r҉g҉i҉v҉e҉n҉e҉s҉s҉. L҉i҉f҉e҉.
Jane Green has crafted an engaging story full of friendship, forgiveness, and finding out who you really are. Evie, Maggie, and Topher met at University where they forged a strong friendship that they swore would never end. A friendship built on love, respect, and trust. After university they all go their separate ways. Evvie does something to betray Maggie’s trust, rather than telling Maggie she pulls herself even further away from the friendship. Evvie moves to New York where she becomes a supermodel, Maggie works at a PR company, and Topher becomes a soapstar. Years later they all reunite at Maggie’s wedding to an old crush. The reunion is short as they all have their lives to live and then Evvie does something that might end this friendship forever. Fast forward and the three of them are in their 40s and they are all at a point in their lives where it makes the most sense for them to all live together. But as the three begin to get closer again, secrets begin to come out. Secret that may not be forgivable.
I love stories about friendships and that this was a friendship between two women and a man was a bit of a different twist that I found refreshing. I really liked all three of these characters even though they weren’t terribly relatable and they sure did frustrated me at times. The story spanned many decades and I Love that. It is so amazing how much we change and grow through the years. How we let go of dreams and develop new ones. That really was evident in the lives of these characters. I probably was most sympathetic towards Maggie, because I could relate to her more than the other characters. I know what it’s like to have a spouse who is an alcoholic, and if I’m being honest Maggie is a much more forgiving person than me. In oh so many ways!
This was a great read that will resonate with many. I think we all have those friends that we thought would always be part of our lives that we don’t see much of any more. Although I have to say some of the characters in this book really push those friendship boundaries, and I am not sure if I would be so ready to forgive. Jane green has a engaging writing style that kept me completely invested in the story throughout. This was another wonderful read that I encourage you to add to your summer TBR!
*** Big thanks to Berkley for my gifted copy of this book ***
About the Book
Evvie, Maggie, and Topher have known one another since college. Their friendship was something they swore would last forever. Now years have passed, the friends have drifted apart, and they never found the lives they wanted – the lives they dreamed of when they were young and everything seemed possible.
Evvie starved herself to become a supermodel but derailed her career by sleeping with a married man.
Maggie married Ben, the boy she fell in love with in college, never imagining the heartbreak his drinking would cause.
Topher became a successful actor, but the shame of a childhood secret shut him off from real intimacy.
By their 30th reunion, these old friends have lost touch with one another and with the people they dreamed of becoming. Together again, they have a second chance at happiness…until a dark secret is revealed that changes everything.
The Friends We Keep is about how despite disappointments we’ve had or mistakes we’ve made, it’s never too late to find a place to call home.
Berit Talks Books 