Customer Reviews

Something Blue

5 star:		(275)
4 star:		(98)
3 star:		(27)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Last year, after meeting author Emily Giffin in my bookstore (where she was buying her first copy of her first book), I read her debut novel SOMETHING BORROWED during a long plane ride. Even though I knew it was better-than-average chick lit. Even though I'm a guy.

Its tale of a nice girl named Rachel - who finds romance while misbehaving with her best friend's fiance in the weeks before his wedding - was very fun. In it, I liked how Rachel came off as sympathetic and interesting, someone you could root for, in spite of the terrible thing she did to her "best" friend, Darcy the bride. In SOMETHING BORROWED, Darcy came off as an entitled, spoiled, superficial, mean girl who always got what she wanted, and watching a villain like that get her comeuppance was part of the book's fun.

Of course, Emily Giffin had a twist in mind for the sequel to SOMETHING BORROWED, and the resulting book is a terrific pageturner that surpasses the first one in pretty much every way.

The heroine of SOMETHING BLUE is the same spoiled, mean, jilted bride Darcy Rhone. And the new book, thankfully, finds her just as mean and spoiled as before. Giffin doesn't make the mistake of "changing" the character's voice from the original book. Darcy's self-centered, delusional, greedy, wicked and ... pregnant with a groomsman's baby at the beginning of SOMETHING BLUE. It's a bad situation that would jar anyone, but her fiance's betrayal with her best friend Rachel is what really throws Darcy for a loop.

As Darcy tries to recapture her fabulous life, she finds that things are more difficult for her. Accustomed to getting any man she wants to fall in love with her, she suddenly has to fend for herself without her friends, with her reputation tarnished and with morning sickness.

At one point, Darcy finds herself robbed of all her usual resources, and, with that, things finally start to turn around for her. But, again, Darcy never changes her voice or changes her methods. If you hated her in SOMETHING BORROWED, you'll still find yourself hating her in this book. But you won't be able to ignore her or turn away.

SOMETHING BORROWED, about basically nice people who find themselves doing bad things, was a fun read. SOMETHING BLUE, about awful, manipulative, lying people who learn that they can't always get things their way, is more of a juicy, guilty pleasure. Darcy's hilariously bitchy, and I found myself laughing out loud, unable to put the book down, especially after Darcy meets her match.

The fact that Giffin was able to establish a layered antagonist in one book - and then dare to tell another whole book from that antagonist's perspective - shows that she's a very smart, very capable and very good writer. I didn't think SOMETHING BLUE could equal the first book. But it topped it.

I bought SOMETHING BLUE on Saturday, and I finished it this afternoon. And I never, ever read things that fast unless they're really, really fun. And the ending, which ties both books up, is terrific and touching.

I only hope to see Emily Giffin again soon so I can tell her how much I loved SOMETHING BLUE.

Even though I loved 'Something Borrowed', I really hated Darcy Rhone, and when I found out 'Something Blue' was all about her, I was very skeptical. Much to my surprise though, I LOVED this book. I think I may even like it better than the first one!

The book starts out with a couple chapters rehashing the final pages of the first book, when Darcy finds out about Dex and Rachel's affair, and Darcy discovers her own surprise. The following chapters are Darcy being her shallow, manipulative, immature, whiney 'ol self...I still hated her, and thought nothing would change that. But about half-way through the book, when she gets to London friendless, man-less, and at her lowest, she finally starts to grow up and take a mature look at her life and where it's heading.

Figuring she needs to end her obsession with Rachel and Dex, find a job, and not be so judgmental based on shallow observations, she sets about trying to right all the wrongs in her life. With the help of her childhood friend Ethan (the one who lives in London) she slowly starts making progress in becoming a better person overall.

Bottom line...this was a marvelous read. I loved the ending, and even grew to like Darcy herself. Kudos to Ms. Giffin who has given us two very readable story's that are next to impossible to put down. I will definitely be keeping my eye out for her future novels, she really has a great talent for storytelling.

I must admit, while reading Emily Giffin's "Something Borrowed," I didn't care very much for Darcy at all (though I did LOVE the book). But after reading "Something Blue," I have come to absolutely love her! "Something Blue" finds Darcy Rhone newly pregnant--and alone. She has lost virtually all of her friends, and her parents do not approve of, nor do they have compassion for, Darcy and her impending motherhood. Desperate for a change in her shallow existence, Darcy makes an impulsive move to London and stays with her childhood friend, Ethan, much to his dismay. She tells Ethan that her stay is "just a short visit," no longer than a month, although she knows in her mind that she plans on staying in London a lot longer than a month. Along the way, the reader will grow to understand Darcy as a person, and appreciate her genuine strive for change in a world where everyone is so focused on societal status and outward appearance. The reader will also fall completely in love with Ethan, someone who is distant with Darcy in the beginning, but grows to genuinely admire her for the good-hearted, nurturing person she truly is inside; and he eventually comes to cherish the sweet, innocent closeness that blossoms between them. This sequel is a winner! It is warm and charming, a story about the true meaning of friendship and love, and the power they have to change us all. I do hope Emily Giffin's admirable, lovable characters pop up again in a new book sometime soon! Highly recommended!

In "Something Borrowed" we meet the evil Darcy and how she was betrayed by her fiance and her best friend, mostly because she deserved to be. This was payback for her shallowness in general and the years of abuse she gave her so-called best friend.

Now we see Darcy alone and pregnant and no more improved in her personality in the last book. She wheedles and manipulates others into getting what she wants because she thinks she deserves it. It's what you have come to expect from the character.

I found the path the book took to be as unrealistic as the happy ending of "Something Borrowed". All it took was for Darcy to be told off just once. All she needed was for some down-to-earth, straight-talking hero to explain everything she's going wrong and BOOM she's cured of all of her shallowness and now she's truly worth of true love.

I didn't buy it. The transformation is too quick and too obvious. If Darcy were really the kind of person Griffin wants us to think she is, she would have been outraged and slunk away looking for someone new to mooch off of. She would have married the doctor because she knew she could wrap him around her little finger.

Like "Something Borrowed" it was a quick, fun read, but it's far from believable.

When I first saw "Something Borrowed" pop up in my Amazon recommendations and saw the cover with the engagement ring, I scowled. Oh god, another story about someone engaged and something getting messed up with the wedding... it seemed like the story had been told a million times and a million different ways. But I clicked on it anyway, and after reading the description and a few reviews, I thought it sounded more interesting than what I previously thought would be a somewhat typical chick-lit-guy-meets-girl book. I was right.

I was very intrigued to see that the author, Emily Giffin, is a graduate of both Wake Forest University (a school I greatly admire and applied to as an undergrad) and UVA Law, where I was an undergrad and now a staff member. These are two exceptional schools and proved to me that this author was extremely intelligent, so it came as no surprise to find that both Something Borrowed and Something Blue were very well-written, above average chick-lit.

Beyond the great writing, however, it is a very talented author who can make you root for someone who is behaving in awful ways towards someone he/she cares about (i.e. Rachel in Something Borrowed). I happen to be quite a stickler for morality and, naturally, the concept of someone carousing with her best friend's fiancee does not please me. I was shocked to see how much I identified and sympathized with Rachel during the entire ordeal in Something Borrowed, and was so desperate to read the sequel that I bought Something Blue in hardcover, which I NEVER do.

I will say that I found the ending of Something Borrowed a tad too convenient, but Something Blue was such a fantastic sequel that it doesn't even matter. In fact, I think it had to be set up in this way to really get Something Blue to mean as much as it did. Like everyone else, I found Darcy to be a fascinatingly annoying character in Something Borrowed, and the journey from selfish, appearance-minded spoiled brat to normal human being with feelings for others besides herself is one that I always find touching.

The best thing about Something Blue is that this transition does not in any way dilute Darcy's colorfulness and character, the very things that made her so interesting in the beginning. She doesn't morph from devil woman to the Virgin Mary and drip sap for the rest of the book; she's still the same person, just a little improved and with a hell of a lot more perspective on life. The latter half of the book could have and would have been sappy and over-sweet were it not for the wonderful characters and excellent writing.

I'm realizing that most of this review is geared towards people who have read Something Borrowed or at least know a little about the story, but I will say that you absolutely need to read Something Borrowed before Something Blue. Without that order, you can't get the unsettling sensation of rooting for someone you previously disliked. Although the beginning of Something Blue does show Darcy off as a grating, unlikeable character, you just don't get all the backstory about the events leading up to her situation without Something Borrowed.

At any rate, I thought both books were absolutely fantastic. Giffin does a great job of taking very uncomfortable, borderline bizarre situations and making them and the people involved seem very down-to-earth. The books are well-written and quick, easy reads, and they honestly stuck with me (and still do) long after reading them. I can't wait for her next book to come out.

Darcy was such a difficult character to like in "Something Borrowed," and I found her just as difficult to like for the first third of "Something Blue."

Darcy is having a difficult time moving on and not wallowing in self pity with the betrayal of her best friend with her fiance, Dex. She is sure that it was a one time only hook up, after all, Darcy is beautiful, and Rachel is plain. Never mind that Darcy is pregnant with a baby fathered by Dex's former college roommate, Marcus. Darcy assumes that she and Marcus will marry, but it does not take a rocket scientist to see that at his first taste of freedom, Marcus will bail. Dumped and heartbroken, Darcy tries to win back Dex, to no avail.

She flees to the home of childhood pal, Ethan - the first man to come between Rachel and Darcy. He now lives in London, and thinks she's staying for a couple weeks; she plans to stay until the baby is born. As she settles in, she's still up to her same old narcissistic tricks - like shopping for herself without a thought to the child she is carrying. After a blow up, she finally gets her comeuppance when Ethan tells it like it is to her, and she finds herself attracted to him, but could it be too late, since both of them are dating others?

Author Giffin manages to make a thoroughly infuriating and self centered character capture your attention and then your heart, making you believe that even someone as nasty as Darcy deserves a happily ever after. "Something Blue" does what few sequels are able to do - continue the quality storytelling while also being able to stand on its own merits.

I only purchased this book because I had read the first book ("Something Borrowed") and felt that because of my time already spent with these characters, I was obliged to read the second book ("Something Blue"), regardless of how much I loathed the main character in this new book. I simply couldn't imagine how Ms. Giffin could make Darcy tolerable enough to be a heroine you want to root for in this new book, but alas, she did. I can't believe it, but she did! For good measure I reread the first book before I read this new book so my loathing of Darcy was at its peak. Yet, this new book chronicles Darcy's journey into a character that has redeeming qualities and that you want to pull through. It's a story of a woman coming of age a little late and finding happiness with herself, for herself, and for her friends. In that process, she manages to finally learn what true friendship is.

This book is definitely a quick read. Its flow is continuous and its characters are vivid. I likely would have finished it in one sitting, rather than the two it took me, if not for basic human needs like food and sleep. I highly recommend that you give this "Something" series a try. Ms. Giffin has managed to take situations and characters that seem to have no possible chance for a happy ending and makes them work. Like me, you'll be happily surprised at what an enjoyable read these two books are. However, I would not recommend reading "Something Blue" until after you have read "Something Borrowed."

Enjoy and happy reading! I loved it, even when I was predisposed to think I wouldn't! Perhaps, like Darcy, I have learned not to judge a book by its cover. :)

First of all, if you're considering reading this book, be sure to read "Something Borrowed" first. I decided to read Emily Giffin's debut novel last year because I was looking for something light and fun (and I also happened to be newly engaged and liked the sparkly diamond on the pretty pink cover!). I was pleasantly surprised to discover that GOOD chick lit actually does exist!

To summarize the plot, "Something Borrowed" is about two girls who have been best friends their entire lives. Rachel is a smart girl with average looks who has always played second-fiddle to her glamourous, selfish friend Darcy. On the eve of Rachel's 30th birthday party, she gets drunk and ends up in bed with Darcy's fiance, Dexter. Even though Rachel tries to extinguish her feelings for Dex, she ends up falling in love with him. It turns out that Darcy had been cheating on Dex with one of his best friends, so at the end of "Something Borrowed," Darcy and Dex break off their engagement after they learn of each other's indiscretions, leaving Dex free to be with Rachel.

"Something Blue" picks up right where "Something Borrowed" left off, only this time the narrator switches from Rachel to Darcy. Giffin actually walks us back through the climax of "Something Borrowed," so we get to see all the drama unfold from Darcy's point of view. As things stand, Dex and Rachel are together and Darcy is furious with both of them. However, she's pregnant by her new boyfriend, Marcus, and is excited about starting a new life with him. Unfortunately, Marcus is less than thrilled with the arrangement, and it doesn't take Darcy long to realize that her new beau isn't the fabulous catch she thought he would be. Being the conniving little witch that she is, Darcy tries every dirty trick in the book to get her life back in order again, but no one sees through her desperate charades and the only so-called "friends" she has left betray her. Poor Darcy finds herself pregnant and alone with no one to turn to. The only thing she can think of to do is flee New York and head to London to stay with her childhood friend, Ethan, in hopes of building a fresh start for herself far away from everyone that hurt her.

At first I didn't think "Something Borrowed" would live up to its predecessor. Eventually I realized that was because Giffin does such a good job portraying Darcy as the selfish little witch that she is! However, Darcy's nastiness is what makes the book so good. We get to see how, with the help of Ethan, Darcy decides to better herself for her own sake and for the sake of her unborn baby. She hits some major bumps along the way, but by the end of the book Darcy has become even more endearing than Rachel...I never thought that would be possible, but it is!

"Something Blue" does a great job of connecting the readers with Darcy's character and also tying up all the loose ends between Darcy, Rachel, and Dexter. I read this book in one night because I just couldn't put it down. The only thing that disappoints me is that there's really no way Giffin can write another installment of the Rachel/Darcy saga...I'm sad that it's all over! But this book is one of the rare sequels that might actually be better than the original book. I highly suggest reading "Something Blue" (and "Something Borrowed," if you haven't already done so!).

...And if you didn't run out and purchase both of these amazing books!! I thoroughly enjoyed Emily Giffin's debut novel `SOMEHTING BORROWED' where Rachel, who always played second fiddle to her beautiful, outgoing (self-centered & narcissistic) best friend Darcy Rhone, happened to find the love of her life in Darcy's fiancé. Giffin took this taboo subject and put a witty and engrossing spin on it without making light of the situation. However, I only gave that book four stars because of what I felt were loose ends. I wanted to know what happened to Darcy after she found out about her best-friend and fiancés betrayal as well as how the secondary characters reacted to the news. Well, I had no idea that Giffin intended to do one better than just tying up a few loose ends with an extra chapter or two at the end of `SOMETHING BORROWED'. Instead she gave fans of the first book this gem of a novel that picked up perfectly where the other left off.

`SOMETHING BLUE' begins right after Darcy discovers Rachel and Dex's affair and although she too has had an affair and now finds herself pregnant as a result, she is determined to make the lives of everyone who she feels had wronged her miserable. As one of the other reviewers stated Giffin does not change the character of Darcy a bit, she is still as self-centered and narcissistic as ever, however, now she has another life to worry about, yet cant seem to quite get that through her head. But when she decides to move to London with long time friend Ethan she is forced to take a closer look at the person she is and determine what kind of person and mother she wants to become.

Giffin really outdid herself with `SOMETHING BLUE', which stands to make `SOMTHIGN BORROWED' even better. I highly recommend buying both of these wonderful books together and reading them back-to-back, you will not be disappointed! A great second novel by a very talented and creative new author!!

I enjoyed Giffin's previous novel so much that I thought Something Blue couldn't live up to it. In fact, it may have surpassed the prequel.

Something Blue picks up where Something Borrowed left off. Darcy has discovered her best friend and her fiance together, and storms off in a huff. When her relationship with her ex-fiance's roommate peters out, she finds herself pregnant and alone, with no real friends.

Determined to make a fresh start, Darcy cajoles Ethan (her fifth-grade boyfriend) into letting her stay with him in London. He is reluctant, but agrees.

What follows is a personal journey, bumpy and engaging, as Darcy evolves from an extremely self-centered person into someone who can take part in a real relationship. The book, like its predecessor, is deeper than the pink and blue covers imply.

Strongly recommended.