Something Blue ~ Emily Giffin

SPOILER ALERT! This is a sequel.

If you have not read Something Borrowed, read at your own risk!

Like Dr. House on House M.D., Karen on Will and Grace, or Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind, Darcy Rhone is an awful person that you enjoy as a character in a story, but you would never want to be friends with her real life. Darcy is as spoiled and selfish as they come. Up until the point at which this story begins she has led a charmed life. She is beautiful and gregarious, so most of things Darcy wants have come easily to her. However, she’s never had any qualms about lying or stealing to get the things that don’t come easily. Yes, up until now Darcy has always been able to make life work in her favor, be it with charm or strong will. That all changes when Rachel, Darcy’s loyal-to-a-fault, unassuming best friend of twenty five years, steals her fiancé two weeks before her wedding. Darcy is no innocent victim though. Before the engagement ended, Darcy began an affair with her fiancé’s friend, Marcus, and she’s pregnant with his baby. Darcy tries to spin things in her favor. She tells herself she can still have a big wedding, a beautiful apartment, and a life that will make others envious. The only difference will be that her husband will be Marcus now instead of Dex, and Marcus is more exciting anyway. Then, for the first time in her life things begin to unravel at a rapid rate. Darcy finds herself isolated from all of the people who have always been there for her in the past. She moves to London deciding that she must start over in a new place, far away from her old life. Somehow she convinces Ethan, a childhood friend who was always closer to Rachel, to let her stay with him for a while. In Something Borrowed Ethan makes his feelings about Darcy very clear. He thinks she is a spoiled, lying brat who has always abused her friendship with Rachel. One would think he would want nothing to do with Darcy, but like Rachel, he is a kind soul, and he can’t seem to say no to Darcy in her hour of need. It turns out though, that Ethan’s friendship is exactly what Darcy needs to start remaking herself. He is quick to point out Darcy’s faults. Darcy begins to take on her share of the blame for the shambles her life has become. She makes new friends, new priorities, and new goals. Darcy slowly begins to become a person worthy of friendship and maybe even love.

I enjoyed this book so much more than Something Borrowed! Even though Darcy is the kind of character that one loves to hate, I found her so much more interesting than Rachel as a main character. The reader is expected to believe that she is capable of a massive change in personality, and I found it a little hard to believe that Darcy would just wake up one day and start making all the right choices to become a good person. I was hoping she’d slip up a little bit. After all, she’s so much more fun when she’s being bad! There were a few times when I thought I knew what was going to happen, and I was frustrated that the characters were not figuring it out as fast as I was(Darcy is the narrator. At times she can be clueless and delusional about other people’s intentions, but can’t we all?). I think all that did was make me read more rapidly. So, in a way, it’s a good writing technique to peak a reader’s interest. I, for one, subscribe to the belief that everyone has good inside of them. Sometimes it’s not worth looking for, but it IS there! The entire time I was reading Something Borrowed I was looking for Darcy’s good qualities. “Why has Rachel been friends with her so long? There must be something loveable about her!” I said to myself. So, I really liked hearing a story from Darcy’s point of view. It turns out I was right. There is something loveable about Darcy and you don’t even have to dig that deep to find it. I recommend this book to those who love light, romantic fiction. It’s a fun read, and it might just make you think twice about envying those girls who seem to have everything.