Something Borrowed

by Emily Giffin
Something Borrowed  
published April 1st 2005 by St. Martin's Griffin
first published 2004
binding Paperback
isbn 0312321198   (isbn13: 9780312321192)
pages 352
description The New York Times bestselling novel about a woman who falls in love with a man she shouldn't - "You don't have to lust after your best friend's ...more
date added
12-29-06



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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 9682)



Norabee
Norabee rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
08/15/08

Read in June, 2008
recommends it for: chick lit lovers
"Borrowing" Things From Friends can get Sticky!

Best friend backstabs best friend by sleeping with her fiancé. Sides are drawn and of course, the "stealer" is the bad girl, right? Not necessarily...The characters in this book surprise you by not meeting the typical expectations. You're introduced to Rachel White, a NYC midtown attorney that has always followed the rules and has earned a "safe" and good life for herself, albeit a little boring. She has managed ...more
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Bonnie Gayle
bookshelves: girlie-fiction, library-books, reviewed
Read in September, 2007
recommends it for: fans of modern, Sex in the City style romances
I read this book because it had good blurbs from Meg Cabot, and the author of The Devil Wears Prada. It ended up being a good read, but I very much disagreed with several of the things the main character says and does.
Within the first 15 pages, Rachel sleeps with the fiance of her best friend since High School, Darcy. Things get more complicated when the 2 of them start falling in love with each other.
Darcy and Rachel have had what you would call a toxic friendship. No matter what Ra...more
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Maren
Maren rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
06/18/08

Read in June, 2008
Ok, so this book was EXTREMELY out of character for me to read. I'm usually such a jerk about "chick lit" books - I even find the genre's title to be insulting to women somehow - and I almost never read them. But there's something about just having graduated and having spent the whole year reading 17th Century drama and political tracts that just makes me much more open minded to reading something fun and easy and enjoyable. (You don't even want to know what kind of TV this attitude ha...more
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Winna
Winna rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
12/24/07

bookshelves: sweetandsassy
Read in December, 2007
I read this book in two sittings. I know it is a little controversial: some people adore Rachel for 'stealing' her best friend Darcy's fiance. And some others think it is just immoral.

Here goes my opinion. Rachel, who is a passive thirty years old woman, has lived in Darcy's shadow all her life. Darcy stole her first love Ethan (who now becomes Rach's best friend), her Notre Dame acceptance, her pride and even Rachel's own mother's sympathy. Darcy is not that evil, actually, she is self cent...more
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Sarah
Sarah rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
02/21/08

recommends it for: Women on vacation who want a quick, predictable read
So here's my take on Something Borrowed, and "Chic-lit" in general - it's satisfying in the way watching an episode of The Hills is satisfying. You know EXACTLY what's going to happen from the first lines of the first chapter (which i guess can be nice since it makes you feel smart and gives a general sense of superiority); the characters are predictable, with a "heroine" that's just likable enough to continue reading but who you generally dislike/never fully sympathize with;...more
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  1 comments

Kimmydeedoo
bookshelves: chick_lit
Read in April, 2005
recommends it for: chick lit with heart lovers
This is my absolute favourite in chick lit. The characters are very well written and real. And you can't help but to feel for the main girl. She may be sleeping with her best friend's fiancé. But that doesn't mean that she's completely cruel and doesn't deserve the other girl's friendship. Or your own. The way the author retells the girl's background. How they interacted as they grew up. And how one always used the other as a measuring stick for everything she did back then and still does. You ...more
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Brina
Brina rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
04/27/08

bookshelves: recently-read
Read in April, 2008
This is borderline chick lit. The writing is almost bland, quite traditional. The texture so commonly used in chick lit is not applied here, and the heroine, at the ripe old age of thirty, is older than most chick lit protagonists.

Still, it's a book about a young urban career woman who is looking for love. Which, in modern times, means it's chick lit (unless there is an egregious mention of throbbing appendages).

Griffin is a decent writer, and she crafts a heart-wrenching story. Her endi...more
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Bonnie
Bonnie rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
08/15/07

Read in October, 2006
recommends it for: all my gal pals
I loved this book and have passed it on to other friends! Thanks to Kristi for turning me on to this author.

This is one of the best chick-lit books ever. The follow-up "Something Blue" was almost as good. The story focuses on two lifelong best friends, Rachel and Darcy. The first installment is told from Rachel's perspective; the second book is told from Darcy's perspective. Very clever.

Rachel is the single, plain, thirtysomething, always a responsible good girl attorney. Some...more
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Holli
Holli rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
09/09/07

bookshelves: chick-lit, favorites, own
Read in September, 2007
On her thirtieth birthday Rachel does a bad, bad thing: she sleeps with her best friend's fiance. They don't mean for it to happen, it just does and neither of them can summon up enough emotion to regret it, either. They ease into their affair sharing flirty phone conversations and emails. The last thing they expect is to fall in love but they do and it makes their situation even more complicated.

My best friend is big into chick lit and she's only recently got me reading it. She passed this ...more
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Lily
Lily added it
01/31/08

I would seriously have to give this book 0 stars. I am fan of light-hearted chick lit as much as the next person...but for real, their 'song' in the book is 'thunder road.'

i found this book aggravating, the character pathetic and way way too passive - she does even make a move for the guy she wants, she waits for him to come to her, and the plot dull. the only exciting part was her shallow friend. and if you dislike a person that much why are you hanging around with them for 25 years?

i...more
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liz
liz rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
01/13/08

bookshelves: fun-slash-junk
Read in January, 2008
Chick-lit, but I loved it! I really, really loved it! I couldn't put it down! (which was perfect when I had my sick brain). Rachel and Darcy have been best friends since elementary school, and now as successful adults they live on opposite sides of Central Park. The book starts at the beginning of the summer; at the end of the summer, Darcy will be getting married to Dex, Rachel's closest friend from law school (she introduced the two). For all of their lives, Darcy has been beautiful and t...more
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Amber
Amber rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
02/01/08

Read in November, 2007
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Andrea
Andrea rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
01/31/08

bookshelves: chick-lit
Read in January, 2008
recommends it for: friends
Have been working diligently on this book.
It follows a girl who, after attending her 30th birthday party, thrown by her best friend who seemingly has everything is everything, hooks up with her best friend's (yeah, the same one who threw her the party)fiance. Now, normally I wouldn't condone this type of behavior, but the book is written from the prospective of the newly 30 year old woman. She talks about the past, the present, the future. It is not a smutty novel. It is not a sappy one,...more
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  1 comments

Leila
Leila rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
08/06/08

Read in August, 2008
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Traci
Traci rated it: 1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars
05/10/08

bookshelves: guilty-pleasures
Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in June, 2007
I only acknowledge that I read this book so I can say how much I hated it. The two main characters are completely unlikable, one for being completely self-absorbed and selfish, and the other for being so spineless and whiny. So spineless, in fact, that the action of her sleeping with her friend's fiancé wasn't even a credible one. The further I got into it, the more I was disgusted with it. I also found it very difficult to believe that at 30, the two characters would continue to be friends. Us...more
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Kelly
Kelly rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
05/31/08

bookshelves: chick-lit
Read in May, 2008
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Jill
Jill rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
06/19/08

Read in June, 2008
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Kelly
Kelly rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
08/13/08

bookshelves: currently-reading, for-immediate-reading
Read in August, 2008
recommended to Kelly by: Jennifer Lancaster
recommends it for: Taryn
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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jillian
jillian rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
07/08/07

bookshelves: chicklit, contemporaryfiction
Read in July, 2007
recommends it for: my girlfriends
This was Emily Giffin's debut novel, the flip side and predecessor to "Something Blue", which I actually read first. I liked this better than its sequel; probably because I think Giffin has trouble writing from the antagonist's point of view. This is the story of Rachel, an ordinary girl from Indianapolis who finds herself in an affair, and in love, with her extraordinarily beautiful best friend Darcy's fiance, Dex. Rachel doesn't believe girls like her get guys like Dex. Rachel's ...more
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Rebecca
Rebecca rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
07/02/08

Read in July, 2008
I personally was not a fan of this book. Not only was it typical chick lit, but the heroine of the story is sleeping with her best friend's fiance. Granted, her best friend isn't super great, but still. I don't know how you can get a heroine out of a situation like this one. In addition, I didn't feel like the main character, Rachel, grew as a person by the end of the story. I kept waiting for her to finally speak up for herself or call out her best friend on her bad behavior, but she never does...more