best friends books

Two girls, best friends. Planned a future together, always vowing to be there for one another. Until one took a different path. Twelve years later, these former best friends meet again. Can they find a way to be friends again? Can they learn to understand what happened twelve years ago?

Katherine- beautiful, driven, and single. Katherine is an executive at Blend Cosmetics, an exclusive brand. Katherine’s days are filled with meetings, parties and more- she’s on the move always. New York City is Katherine’s home and she has a hard time imagining living elsewhere. However, once upon a time she was Kitty- shy, slightly insecure and set on a life with her best friend, Laney, by her side.

Laney, married, has a 12 year old daughter. She runs a spa, Oasis, in town- a job that she loves (besides her boos, that is). Laney’s days consist of family, work and living in Manchester- a town she never dreamed she be living in as an adult. Life has a funny way, though.

Luella Hancock, a kind and older lady who lived on the same street with Kitty and Laney. Luella welcomed both into her house and life- but it was Kitty that she took a bit more of a shine to over the years. Luella showed both the girls the finer things in life- sparkly dresses, beautiful jewelry and more.

Katherine and Laney both get notifications to meet at an attorney’s office regarding Luella Hancock. Both go, each without the knowledge the other would be there. Both are surprised because they haven’t seen each other in twelve years. Luella, loving both the girls in special ways, leaves her house to them- with the stipulation that both must work together to clean it out and they could sell and split the proceeds. Luella remembers a time when it was Kitty and Laney, best friends forever. She hopes that they might remember this time as well as they clean the house that Luella left them in her will.

Together the two ladies work on the house- but without discussing the past. The past is complicated with broken dreams, promises, and hurt feelings. While Katherine is in Manchester, she realizes that there is more than 1 set of unfinished business left for her to take care of. Can Katherine find a way to explain the past to another person she hurt? Can Laney forgive the past? Can Katherine forgive Laney?

Working on Luella’s house brings back memories of their friendship, of the sisterhood they shared before their lives took different paths. Katherine and Laney are both grown up- but is there still a spark of Kitty and Laney, best friends forever, in there? Or is the past too complicated, too broken to mend?

Traveling With T’s Thoughts:

Emily Liebert’s debut novel, You Knew Me When, tells the story of 2 girls, Laney and Kitty, neighbors and best friends. The story is told in alternating perspective- present and past years. Emily Liebert weaves the past and present together to create a story that is about the heart of a women’s friendship.

Funny, charming, and sweet- You Knew Me When is an enjoyable story. A story that hints that friendship never dies, that a person can go home again and that love will happen in it’s perfect timing. Recommended for fans of women’s fiction- this book is a story to give to friends to read and discuss. Book clubs will love discussing this- as there is a little of Laney and Kitty in all of us.

*This book was sent to my by the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.

If you read my blog at all, it’s pretty documented that I adore Judy Blume. Simply adore her. While I have many favorite characters, Vix and Caitlin from Summer Sisters are the ones we’ll discuss today.

On the surface, they don’t really have many things in common. Different types of families, different up-bringings- but yet they became summer sisters. And for the most part- the bond remained un-broken.

On the other hand, 2 other characters I like from Emily Giffin’s Something Borrowed are interesting characters in the best friend category- Rachel and Darcy.

Rachel and Vix and Caitlin and Darcy have more in common with each other than the best friend pairings. Vix and Rachel basically do what’s expected of them, both are smart, and both let the brighter part of the duo take center stage.

Caitlin and Darcy- both of them are “takers”, center-stage characters, selfish (but still have some loveable qualities).

Best friends are great characters to write about- usually so much history to explore- the book can be taken in a million different ways. I also think these type of books are great for book-club discussions. The allure of “best friends” s that usually you can see yourself in one of the characters- which makes for a more personal experience.

If you’ve read Something Borrowed and Summer Sisters, can you see the correlation between Caitlin and Darcy? Vix and Rachel? Which set of characters would you rather be in real life? Speaking of the betrayals in both books- which would be the one that is more real? If you could pick which betrayal to experience, which one would it be? And lastly, the endings in both books- which one was more satisfying? Believable?

If you haven’t read either of these books, both are highly recommended by me. Great summer reads!