Customer Reviews

My Best Friend's Girl

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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....

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

"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.

From the moment that Adele Brannon and Kamryn Matika met in college, they were best friends. They thought nothing could come between them, but then Adele did the unthinkable. She slept with Kamryn's fiancé.

By the time Kamryn learns this fact, though, a few years have passed. And Adele is the mother of a child named Tegan.

When the betrayal is revealed, Kamryn breaks up with Nate and walks out on her friendship with Adele.

Years later, and after a series of unanswered letters from Adele, Kamryn finally responds to one that is truly a desperate cry for help, returning to London to a hospital room where Adele lies dying.

Her request will turn Kamryn's life upside down--but unexpectedly, it will also finally make everything right.

After Adele's death, Kamryn returns to her home and job in Leeds, accompanied by her "best friend's girl" and tries to carve out a life and family for herself and Tegan. At work, though, she has a new boss, Luke, who immediately grates on her nerves and arouses all kinds of emotions.

What will happen in the first year of this newly created family that will finally convince Kamryn that she can have the love she'd always desired? Who will be there for her, and what will eventually happen to cement the bonds formed on the day she took her friend's child home?

My Best Friend's Girl was a wonderfully emotional tale of love, friends, and the unusual forms that family can take; it was a page-turning delight that held my attention all the way through and earned five stars from me.

I picked this up from the library because I liked the premise, but halfway in, it became very tedious. It's not easy to pull off such a far fetched plot, but I grew weary of it quickly, from unlikely relationships and scenarios to the grandparents' abusiveness used as a device to justify why a non family member adopted the little girl.

Also, the author seems fascinated with blue eyes. Royal blue eyes, Steel blue eyes, and navy blue eyes get mentioned so often it could have been a drinking game. I am surprised that she is an established author as most basic books on writing tell the author to describe appearance once or twice and then trust that your readers remember and have formed their own image of the character being described. I also found "creative writing 101" style writing shoved in at any opportunity. No matter how poetic you are, I have yet to hear a real person describe someone's legs as being tanned "in the dying embers of the summer sun."

Finally, the ending was glossed over entirely. A lot happened--a whole other book's worth of activity, and it was summarized in a few paragraphs for the sake of hurrying up to the ending.

This was a real page turner for me. I found it quite enjoyable; at times sad and at other times very funny. It was very amirable that Kamryn put her successful career on the back burner to tend to Tegan, even though she was betrayed by Tegan's parents. The author created characters that are flawed but likeable and I connected with all of them. I'm looking forward to reading more from Dorothy Koomson.

This was probably one of the best books I have ever read! I kept saying one more chapter and couldnt put it down! I ended up finishing it in under 1 day!!! A GREAT read

From St. Jude's Hospital in central London, Adele "Del" Brannon sends a short pleading note to Kamryn "Ryn" Matika asking her to come visit her before she dies from leukemia. Ryn wants to ignore the letter as she never forgave her Leeds College friend for having an affair with her fiancé Nate Turner that resulted in a child Tegan. Still Ryn goes to see Del whom she stopped talking to for the past two years once she learned the truth about who sired her goddaughter.

Del asks Ryn not so much to forgive her for her indiscretion, but begs her former best friend to adopt and raise five years old Tegan. Ryn hesitantly agrees, but soon meets strong opposition from Del's stepmother while gaining support from her boss Luke Wiseman at a time when Nate, ignorant he sired a daughter, wants back in her life

MY BEST FRIEND'S GIRL is a strong contemporary drama that uses interrelationships between fully developed characters to vividly portray society's challenges. The story line digs into race, family, friendship, and different types of love relationships with vulnerable Ryn as the foci of each. Though the audience will weep at melodramatic moments, Dorothy Koomson pulls no punches with this compelling sharp look at vulnerable people.

Harriet Klausner

I bought this book on the fly for myself and one for my Daughter. I have not had time to read in a while and had put a few other books down that didnt grab my attention enough. This book not only grabbed my attention but I could not put it down!! I cried, I laughed and fell in love with the characters. I am an adopted child whose mother died when I was young so I could completely relate to the book. Awsome job! I can wait to go out and puchase one of her other books!!

Okay, I'm just not a fan of books written in first person. I just don't feel you can really tell a complete story from one person's point of view.

Although I must say that Dorothy Koomson's My Best Friend's Girl has made me re-evaluate that opinion. I absolutely LOVED this book. I bought it weeks ago and refused to read it when I saw that it was told in 1st person. When I finally got over myself and picked up the book, I was hooked from the prologue. I could not put this book down. I had to finish it and I did in 3 days. If I had the time I probably would have read it in one day.

Despite being told in 1st person, you understand the motivations behind everyone! The story was funny and heart-wrenching. I really enjoyed that the color issue was not the focus of the story. But instead it was the growth of Kamyrn. You literally saw her grow up in front of you. I felt her anguish and her joy just I felt it for the other characters. I was torn just like she was between the 2 men.

The only problem I had with the book is that the end felt a bit rushed. I loved how it ended, who she ended up with but I felt like it should have been a bit more to it.

Although, it really was a GREAT BOOK and I had to give it 5 stars!!