Reviewed by Joni Reads on
I loved the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. Devoured it. And I loved 3 Willows. So when I got a copy of The Last Summer of You and Me by Ann Brasheres I thought it would be good. I was wrong. I put it down and walked away after the first few chapters. For some reason I cannot get into Ann Brashere's adult novels. But I gave this book a chance because it was about the Sisterhood and I had missed these characters and had hoped for a book like this for years. Well, I hate to say, the excerpt of the first two chapters was the best part of the book.
What bothered me? Well, the characters were so different. Carmen, who prided herself on being Puerto Rican and curvy in the first four books is now a size 2 and eats one meal a day. Tibby lives in Australia and has lost contact with the other three. Lena is in a relationship with someone she doesn't even care about and has basically cut herself off from her friends and family. Bridget is the only one who hasn't changed much, which relieved me because I loved her spirit in the first books and thankfully, for better or worse, she still has it in this book. But I felt like I didn't know the characters anymore. It didn't feel like a follow up to the other books, it felt like a whole new book with characters I didn't know. I understand people change but the magic of the sisterhood that drew us all in was gone for me.
I wound up skimming the book to find out what happened instead of actually reading it. I will cut this review shirt by saying that I was disappointed. I will continue to read young adult books by this author but that's all.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- Finished reading
- 23 August, 2011: Reviewed