My Best Friend's Girl [Mass Market Paperback]

Dorothy Koomson (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 25, 2008

How far would you go for the best friend who broke your heart? This internationally bestselling novel tells an enchanting tale of life’s most unpredictable loves and heartaches, and the unforgettable bond between a single woman and an extraordinary five-year-old girl. From the moment they met in college, best friends Adele Brannon and Kamryn Matika thought nothing could come between them—until Adele did the unthinkable and slept with Kamryn’s fiancé, Nate. Now, after years of silence, the two women are reuniting, and Adele has a stunning request for her old friend: she wants Kamryn to adopt her five-year-old daughter, Tegan.

Besides the difference in skin color—many will assume that headstrong, impulsive Kamryn is Tegan’s nanny—there’s the inconvenient truth that Kamryn is wholly unprepared to take care of anyone, especially someone who reminds her so much of Nate. With crises brewing at work and her love life in shambles, can Kamryn somehow become the mother a little girl needs her to be?

In My Best Friend’s Girl, Dorothy Koomson takes us on a warm and wondrous journey through laughter and tears, forgiveness and hope—and the enduring love forged by the unlikeliest of families.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When Kamryn Ryn Matika gets a call from college friend Adele Del Brannon, she reluctantly heads to the hospital where Adele is dying of cancer. The two had been odd couple friends (working-class Ryn is black, posh Adele is white) while attending Leeds University, but their friendship did not survive Del's admission of an affair with Ryn's fiancé Nate Turner, which also ended Ryn's relationship with Nate. The affair did result, however, in the now-five-year-old Tegan, and Del has called Ryn to ask her to adopt the adorable girl. Ryn agrees, but must face down Del's stepmother, Muriel, to do it. She finds surprising help from new boss Luke Wiseman, who, after meeting her unceremoniously, loves Tegan (and eventually Ryn, too), but the return of Nate, who doesn't know Tegan is his daughter, promises to reopen old wounds. Koomson's U.S. debut is a three-hankie delight. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

“I was laughing and crying from page one. Koomson deals with grown-up issues: friendship, death, betrayal and forgiveness.” —Adele Parks, author of Still Thinking of You

“Koomson's U.S. debut is a three-hankie delight.”—Publishers Weekly


From the Trade Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Bantam Discovery; Reprint edition (March 25, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 055359141X
• ISBN-13: 978-0553591415
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #867,680 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars You can find forgiveness in the strangest of places August 12, 2006

By Kali

Format:Paperback

What would you do for the friend who slept with your boyfriend Nate and then had his child, not only that but for three years keep you in the dark about it, letting you love that child, become its Godmother and then have the bombshell of its parentage dropped on you from a great height?

Best friends since University Kamryn Matika and Adele Brannon seemed to have it all; friendship through thick and thin and they both honestly nothing could ever break up their solid friendship.

However when Kamryn finally discovers the truth about Adele and Nate's betrayal she vows never to see either her boyfriend or Adele ever again and she cuts them all out of her life, including her Goddaughter who she still secretly adores.

Two years later out of the blue Kamryn gets a letter on her birthday from Adele asking her to visit her in hospital where she is dying.

Kamryn reluctantly goes to see her and to her complete and utter shock Adele begs her to adopt her daughter, Tegan. With a job she loves, a hectic social life that does not include kids, kittens and motherhood, the last thing Kamryn needs is a five year child old tied to her designer apron strings. Especially not a child who reminds her so much of a time she would rather forget.

But upon finding a traumatised Tegan living in awful conditions with Adele's vile stepmother and uncaring father Kamryn takes the bull by the horns and takes the child on.

And so starts an eye-opening journey for both Kamryn and Tegan that will lead to a kind of redemption, motherly love and an understanding of the fragility of the human condition.

I really liked this book, mainly because it was quite unusual in its character set up, for Kamryn was black and Adele and Tegan white, this is a charming book about families and how it doesn't take the colour of ones skin to say who is a mother and who is her daughter....

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What if? June 7, 2008

By Karen OConnor

Format:Mass Market Paperback

What would you do if your fiance and your best friend had had an intimate night, only once, years before you accidentally found out but you were only a couple of months away from marrying him? What would you do if you found out that that one night produced a child whom you had unknowingly loved unconditionally because you believed that your friend was alone in the situation? What would you do if, two years later, your friend was dying and asked you to adopt her child after she was gone but you never ever wanted children of your own? Well hopefully this scenario hasn't and won't happen to you but in "My Best Friend's Girl" by Dorothy Koomson, it happens to Kamryn Matika.

I LOVED this book!! I picked it up at the base PX a week ago and finished it last night. It was well paced and told in first person from Kamryn's point of view. The characters popped off the pages and into my imagination right from the start and the plot had great twists and turns that took the characters into some situations that I never envied. Now, during the dating chapters of my life I have experienced the devastating feelings of being cheated on. The first time I was young and afraid of losing him so I turned a blind eye but in my mid-twenties I let him have it. Then I met the hubby and was worry free and very happy and have been for seven years now (four of which have been in marital bliss). But for a life to come out of one night of weakness would have been the worst.

Kamryn makes great decisions, is a tough lady and is very believable. She had built a sturdy life for herself post-her world ending, and was content with never seeing or speaking with the people who had ripped her heart out of her chest ever again. It's funny how things happen for a reason though. She learned that she was capable of raising a child, loving them unconditionally even though every time she looked at their face she saw her best friend and her fiance.

Though I have never been to England the author did a great job of describing the settings so I was ready to hop on a plane and have dinner at this one restaurant and make pizza with the kids class in another. I wanted to hang out in Kamryn's flat and go to the park and play on the jungle gym. There are dark moments in the book that made me catch my breath with the severity of what was happening to the character but of course the day was saved... thank goodness.

If you are looking for a quick but substantial beach, weekend, week or commuting on the bus/subway because gas prices SUCK, read than this is the book for you. If you want to get to know some characters that are appealing and have some depth, than this is the book for you.

My Best Friend's Girl

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars NOT your average chick-lit December 9, 2007

By Maria Elmvang

Format:Paperback

"My Best Friend's Girl" was a LOT better than I'd expected it to be. I don't know why I wasn't expecting too much of it - I mean, after all I bought it, surely I must have felt it was worth reading? I think my problem is that I'd gotten to the point where I felt good chick-lit is hard to find, and that this one would be as shallow as the rest. Fortunately I was mistaken. I laughed and cried in turn practically from page one. It's an extremely moving story and one that has you guessing right to the very end. I ended up loving the characters and simply couldn't put the book down. I highly recommend it.