Let's review...'Best Friends Forever' by Jennifer Weiner

Being laid off has its perks. I've had plenty of pool time this summer...and plenty of reading time. Of course, my husband is growing more concerned by the day. I've already read most of my new books and I think he's concerned I'm going to send us to the poor house with weekly trips to the bookstore. I haven't yet joined the library. I like to own the books, stare at them in my bookcase and imagine them in my own "library" someday. My husband likes to imagine them in the trash, I'm sure.

I think all told I have read at least 10 books in the past month and a half. Last night I finished "Best Friends Forever" by Jennifer Weiner. I am a big fan of hers. I have read almost every book she's written. Being that there are only seven of them, it hasn't been a hard feat. I like her writing style and find her books entertaining.

"Best Friends Forever" was cute and had its moments but I found the plot a little outlandish. And I have a very large imagination. I usually don't have a problem with outlandish plots. But even this plot got on my nerves. I just kept asking myself, "Why? Why? Why?"

The book centers on Addie Downs and her best friend Valerie Adler. The two friends have a falling out in high school but reconnect after a high school reunion when Adler appears at her friend's door for help. What follows is the part I find unrealistic.

Adler thinks she has "killed" a fellow high school classmate, who she is angry with because of a past event, when she struck him with her car. Only she didn't hit him that hard and when she and Downs go back to the scene of the "crime," he isn't there. Do dead bodies walk away, I ask you? Only in "Weekend at Bernie's."

So of course the two would decide to hightail it out of town because they think they might be found out. It's just logic, don’t you know.

I found myself getting angry at the book and the characters...asking them, "Why? why? why?" are they being so stupid! It annoyed me to no end. As did the incessant whining from Downs about her being VERY overweight in high school (she claims at one point to have tipped the scales over 350 pounds). Perhaps she shouldn't have binge ate in the middle of the night, every night! I hate whining characters.

This is definitely something you can wait to read until it comes out in paperback...or check it out from the library. A place I plan to visit one day...maybe...we'll see...not sure I'll have time...