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3.52 of 5 stars
Readers fell in love with Cannie Shapiro, the smart, sharp-tongued, bighearted heroine of Good in Bed who found her happy ending after her mother c... read full description

reviews

May 05, 2008
Rebecca rated it: 5 of 5 stars
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5 comments like (9 people liked it)
Jan 31, 2008
Naomi rated it: 4 of 5 stars
I procured an advanced reader copy of this title in a couple of days, being so excited for the sequel to one of my favorite books ever. Cannie is a great heroine and I couldn't wait to revisit her 13 years after the birth of her daughter, Joy.

While initially I was a bit disappointed, "Certain Girls" is a fast read, and anyone looking for a continuing story of Cannie, Joy, Peter and the rest won't be sorry. While I don't want to give up any spoilers, I sobbed like crazy th More...
0 comments like (8 people liked it)
Oct 07, 2008
Alisha rated it: 2 of 5 stars
First off, let me start off by saying I'm a big Jennifer Weiner fan. Her books are the perfect in-between books. You know, those books that are light and fluffy reads and that are perfect to read in-between serious books? That's what describes Jennifer Weiner's books.

Now, "Certain Girls" is a sequel to Weiner's hit novel "Good in Bed". In my opinion, there are three types of sequels. The first type are those certain sequels that are great. They are even bett More...
11 comments like (21 people liked it)
Jan 06, 2011
Min rated it: 4 of 5 stars
I was excited about this book since it was a return to Cannie Shapiro's world. We met Cannie in Good In Bed, where Cannie (like author Weiner) lives in Philadelphia. This book picked up twelve years after where GiB left off.

Joy is preparing for her bat mitzvah, and Cannie is figuring out how to navigate being a wife, a mother of an adolescent, and a good Jewish mother all at once. The last she needs is for Joy to read the semi-autobiographical book Cannie wrote right after Joy's bi More...
0 comments like (2 people liked it)
Aug 02, 2008
Eva rated it: 3 of 5 stars
"Good in Bed" was such a toothsome piece of chick lit that I was very much looking forward to reading more about Cannie. However, Certain Girls is quite pallid by comparison. Much of the earthy energy of the first book is missing, and instead this is an almost mediocre mom-and-teenage-daughter story. I say "almost" because Weiner is an entertaining writer who often throws a surprising insight or a fabulous one-liner into the mix just as things are getting tiresome.

More...
0 comments like (3 people liked it)
May 14, 2008
Barbara rated it: 3 of 5 stars
“Good in Bed” is one of my Top Ten Favorite Books of All Time. It’s funny, it’s all about various relationships and there are even lesbians in it. Over the years, I’ve wondered whatever happened to Cannie Shapiro and Joy?

Well, Cannie turned into a scaredy cat housewife/closet writer and Joy turned into a typical teenager.

“Certain Girls” takes place 13 years after the end of “Good in Bed.” Cannie is married to Dr. K and Joy is in middle school, preparing for her bat More...
0 comments like (2 people liked it)
Apr 14, 2008
Whitney rated it: 5 of 5 stars
I, of course, loved this book because I think I would love anything Jennifer Weiner writes. I am a little surprised that people disliked the book because of the overwhelmingly sad occurance at the end of the book. Did you all think Good in Bed was light hearted and breezy? Because, compared to this, I would say it was much less fantasy. The reason her books touch so many of us profoundly is because she writes about things that many of us endure, but aren't necessarily socially acceptable to More...
0 comments like (2 people liked it)
May 12, 2008
Ellenjsmellen rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Got this from the library and really enjoyed it. It's where Cannie Shapiro from Good in Bed left off plus another 12 years later. Mother/daughter story told from each point of view in alternating chapters. Break out your tissues towards the end.
0 comments like (3 people liked it)
Aug 05, 2008
Wendi rated it: 2 of 5 stars
Well...what's to say about this book; it's no different than any other book Jennifer Weiner has written. Fat chick whining about being fat.

The first Jennifer book I read was "In Her Shoes". I read it because I saw the movie adaption because I love the actress who plays the older sister. Being an only child I was totally enthralled by the relationship between the sisters in the book and the grandmother they didn't know. I loved watching how both sisters transformed and beca More...
0 comments like (2 people liked it)
Aug 05, 2008
Lauren rated it: 4 of 5 stars
There is just something about Jennifer Weiner that I love. It could be that she is less than skinny, sort of Jewish, and from Philly (remind you of anyone?). Maybe I am vain, but I like books that I can relate to (at least a little bit) and that remind me of things that I know...like growing up Jewish, struggling with weight and then learning to love yourself, crazy hair, and of course all of the wonders of Philadelphia. And then of course there are things that I can't relate to in this book...l More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Dec 22, 2008
Elizabeth rated it: 4 of 5 stars
I thought this was a good sequel, and found it interesting that so much time in Cannie's life had passed between book 1 and 2. It was not quite as good as Good in Bed to me, but still thoroughly enjoyable. My only criticism: I thought Cannie's daughter was written with a little too much mature insight for a 7th grader—but other than that, just a fun read.
1 comment like (1 person liked it)
May 13, 2008
Charlotte rated it: 3 of 5 stars
I really wish that I could have given this book 3.5 stars. Like all of Weiner's books, it was very well written and engaging. A follow up to her first book Good In Bed, this story shoots us ahead 13 years as Cannie prepares for her daughter Joy's bat mitzvah. I had a few problems with the book... First, in this book Cannie has written a story about a portion of her life and is dealing with the repercussions of this. This gets a bit confusing when she starts talking about the things that she More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
May 02, 2008
Linda rated it: 1 of 5 stars
I actually did not finish this book. I have been reading it for 5 days now and should be finished with it by now but am only on page 71. It is so slow, that I cant even get excited about reading it.
I will read the last couple of chapters to see how it ends. Even if it is a book that I like, I can read the end and then go back and finish it.

I have read other Jennifer Weiner books and really liked them, but I cant recommend this one.


Okay I tried to read the More...
2 comments like (4 people liked it)
Aug 11, 2008
Stephanie rated it: 4 of 5 stars
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0 comments like (2 people liked it)
Apr 08, 2008
Keris rated it: 4 of 5 stars
I couldn't decide whether to re-read Jennifer Weiner's debut novel, Good in Bed, before reading the long-awaited follow-up, Certain Girls, but in the end I chose not to. I thought I could remember enough about Good in Bed that it wouldn't be necessary and, at the same time, I wanted to see if Certain Girls could stand on its own.

Well, it turns out that I didn't remember Good In Bed as well as I thought, but Certain Girls certainly stands on its own. I think (but, you know, I can't be More...
0 comments like (2 people liked it)
Aug 16, 2008
Bea rated it: 5 of 5 stars
I went ahead and bought the book for our trip to Maine. I really wished I had reread "good in bed" prior....although it was easy to remember parts of it--especially the younger sister!

this sequel was wonderfully written, I love Cannie's character, how her husband adores her, how she is obsessed about her teenage daughter. I like how the daughter was experiencing growing pains and how Cannie had to deal with them.

I got a potential parenting phrase from the book More...
1 comment like (1 person liked it)
Jul 22, 2008
Erika rated it: 4 of 5 stars
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0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Apr 22, 2008
Katherine rated it: 3 of 5 stars
I have this feeling that I like Jennifer Weiner. Not necessarily her books, but her. And so I keep reading her books, and sort of enjoy them, and am always sort of disappointed. She has promise on which she doesn't completely deliver. Her plots are fairly conventional. I nearly gave up reading this, as I began to find the format (switching chapter between and mother and a really annoying daughter) to be tedious. For some reason I persevered and found that it improved. And yet... still, I apparen More...
0 comments like (3 people liked it)
Dec 17, 2008
Kirstin rated it: 1 of 5 stars
No need to read
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Mar 27, 2009
Coco rated it: 5 of 5 stars
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Feb 16, 2009
Jennifer rated it: 5 of 5 stars
This was the first of Jennifer Weiner's books that I've read. I first heard of this author on a morning news show, can't remember if it was Good Morning America, Today, or CBS Early Show.

Anyway, a while later, a friend of mine mentions reading her book "In Her Shoes." I didn't think much of it until the movie of the same title came out and was showing on cable.

I saw it and loved it. So, when I saw this book at the library where I go to school, I picked it More...
Oct 03, 2011
Kim rated it: 3 of 5 stars
Personally I liked "Good in Bed" better than the sequel, Certain Girls, but it was still a good book. I like when series books like this flash forward so you know what happened to the character. And here is Cannie, with Joy already 13 yrs. old and she is married to Peter as well.

Things start getting crazy when trying to plan Joy's bat mitzvah. Joy is being a typical 13 yr. old girl. She is just hating her parents, as her mom is just embarrassing to her and she wants to be ab More...
Jul 26, 2011
Though Jennifer Weiner in undoubtedly a fine writer, certainly in touch with the feelings of girls from preteen-age through older adult, I did not enjoy this tale as much as I had hoped. The problem for me was the manner in which she bounced back and forth from the main protagonist Cannie's voice to that of her young daughter, Joy. When chapters alternate from speaker to speaker, I find them to be quite interesting as a rule, but in this instance the 'voices' of the mother/daughter pair were s More...
Jul 22, 2011
Rebecca rated it: 3 of 5 stars
A long coming sequel to another Weiner book, whose name is escaping me at this moment, which I read years ago and I liked, even if parts of it were a little far-fetched. Anyway, this book is about the Girl and her Daughter and told from their points of view, alternating chapters. The Daughter is in her bat mitzvah year and some of the ways she was written, just seemed a little old. Now if the Daughter was like 16, this book would have made more sense, but as a 12/13 year old? The dialogue was wr More...
Jul 01, 2011
Offbalance rated it: 2 of 5 stars
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Apr 14, 2011
Anne rated it: 4 of 5 stars
When I read a Jennifer Weiner book, I expect a "chick lit" book but I so much more impressed. I think the Sophie Kinsella Shopaholic Series recreated this heap of "chick lit" books which are Introduction, Body, Conclusion "you feel in the blank" (something similar is said by the main character in Certain Girls by I don't want my comments to be a spoiler). First, I did find the first Shopacholic book cute and second, Certain Girls so much funnier than your classic ch More...
Aug 20, 2010
Michele rated it: 3 of 5 stars
Following the story collection The Guy Not Taken, Weiner turns in a hilarious sequel to her 2001 bestselling first novel, Good in Bed, revisiting the memorable and feisty Candace Cannie Shapiro. Flashing forward 13 years, the novel follows Cannie as she navigates the adolescent rebellion of her about-to-be bat mitzvahed daughter, Joy, and juggles her writing career; her relationship with her physician husband, Peter Krushelevansky; her ongoing weight struggles; and the occasional impasse with Jo More...
Jul 30, 2010
Michelle rated it: 3 of 5 stars
I kind of have a love/not so much love relationship with Jennifer Weiner’s books. I really enjoyed Good in Bed, kind of liked In Her Shoes, pretty much hated Goodnight Nobody. I’m having a hard time though figuring out exactly how much I liked Certain Girls. With two narrators the book lacks a cohesive voice and I think it suffered because of it. Of course that may just be because one of the narrators is exceedingly whiny.

I really hate terms like chick lit or fluffy. They’re condesce More...
Jul 28, 2010
Lauren rated it: 2 of 5 stars
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May 10, 2010
Jennifer rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner is the sequel to Good in Bed. In this book, we meet up with Canny Shapiro when her daughter, Joy, is getting ready for her bat mitzvah. Joy is growing up and is arguing with her mother while also trying to find her place in the world. Joy reads her mother's book and begins to question everything that she held true from her childhood. Does her mom even want her? Was her grandfather such a bad man? Did Bruce care about her, or was she totally unwanted by both More...