Something Borrowed

Something Borrowed
Emily Giffin
388 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's
Source: Target
★★☆☆☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

With the movie coming out I decided I finally had to read this book, despite the fact that a lot of readers seem to have been disappointed by it.  Still, the movie-tie in paperback was 25% off at Target, so I picked it up to finally decide for myself.  I thought it would be a cute, chick-lit-y read.  I was half right; it was chick-lit.

Darcy and Rachel have been friends since they were kids and they have what I would consider a toxic friendship.  Darcy and Dex are engaged to be married, but Rachel likes Dex and they start up an affair all while Darcy is still planning the wedding.  Throw in a little Marcus, a potential love interest Rachel's friends throw at her, and you've got your plot.

I'm not so sure about this book.  For one, you've got the main character, Rachel, who I assume we're supposed to like and have compassion for, cheating with her best friends fiancé.  Second, the author tries to play it off like the best friend, Darcy, had it coming because in the fifth grade she stole the crush of the main character and has been stealing the thunder of Rachel all along.  Um, what?  I don't care how mean you best friend was to you in middle school, it's never okay to sleep with her fiancé.  Not to mention the age old phrase, "Once a cheater, always a cheater."  You steal your best friends fiancé and start a legitimate relationship, the question becomes, which one of you is going to cheat again first?

So for that I found that I didn't have much compassion for any of the characters.  The book didn't make me laugh like it claimed it would, either.  When I was done reading, I felt a little blah, and I doubt I'll ever read the next in the series, Something Blue, unless I find it for free at a garage sale or something.  I think Emily Giffin is one of those authors you either love or hate, but I'm not giving up on Emily Giffin altogether.  I will try reading one of her other novels that isn't in this series and see how that goes, because this time around I only objected to her plot, not to her writing skills.

PS:  It's on my PaperBackSwap bookshelf!  It's a wish listed book, but I had to post without an ISBN because the formats didn't match.  So it is available.