Sisterhood Everlasting

Sisterhood #5

by Ann Brashares

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ann Brashares comes the welcome return of the characters whose friendship became a touchstone for a generation. Now Tibby, Lena, Carmen, and Bridget have grown up, starting their lives on their own. And though the jeans they shared are long gone, the sisterhood is everlasting.

Despite having jobs and men that they love, each knows that something is missing: the closeness that once sustained them. Carmen is a successful actress in New York, engaged to be married, but misses her friends. Lena finds solace in her art, teaching in Rhode Island, but still thinks of Kostos and the road she didn’t take. Bridget lives with her longtime boyfriend, Eric, in San Francisco, and though a part of her wants to settle down, a bigger part can’t seem to shed her old restlessness.

Then Tibby reaches out to bridge the distance, sending the others plane tickets for a reunion that they all breathlessly await. And indeed, it will change their lives forever—but in ways that none of them could ever have expected.

As moving and life-changing as an encounter with long-lost best friends, Sisterhood Everlasting is a powerful story about growing up, losing your way, and finding the courage to create a new one.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Chick Lit, Contemporary, Romance, Adult, Adult Fiction

349 pages, Hardcover

First published June 14, 2011

About the author

Ann Brashares grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with three brothers and attended a Quaker school in the D.C. area called Sidwell Friends. She studied Philosophy at Barnard College, part of Columbia University in New York City. Expecting to continue studying philosophy in graduate school, Ann took a year off after college to work as an editor, hoping to save money for school. Loving her job, she never went to graduate school, and instead, remained in New York City and worked as an editor for many years. Ann made the transition from editor to full-time writer with her first novel, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Ann and her husband live with their three children in New York.

Reviews

[K · Rating 2 out of 5]

What was I thinking? Why did I bother? Okay, I know why. I tend to do better with audiobooks that require less concentration and offer an engaging story that's not too challenging. And although I didn't have high hopes for the fifth (fifth! Am I actually still reading these?) book in the Traveling Pants series, when I saw it was available on audio I couldn't resist.

Well. If I tell you the pivotal plot point it will be a big fat spoiler, so I'll try to gripe about the book without doing that. As usual, I have several complaints.

Wish fulfillment and emotional manipulation. No. Just, no. Ever-patient, tolerant boyfriends who you up and leave with no explanation, who then proceed to lend you $10K, no questions asked? And much later, after a continued period of no contact, said boyfriend drops everything to come across the country to meet you? And when you drop a major bomb on this same boyfriend, all he cares about is YOUR feelings? In what universe? And really, would I want a long-term relationship with a guy who was so short on backbone or opinions? How genuine can this love really be if the guy doesn't even take it personally when she disappears?

Re. Lena and Kostas, I just have one word: AGAIN? Again with the back and forth? Again with the fear of revealing feelings in the context of this supposedly loving relationship? Again with...oh, I just can't any more.

Not to mention children who immediately win the hearts of women with absolutely no childcare experience, both of whom thought they never wanted kids but almost instantly changed their minds when faced with these angelic cherubs who love them immediately and never throw tantrums. Oh, puh-leeze.

Don't get me started on the ending, where the girls suddenly inherit a house from someone who supposedly had financial problems. Huh? And the ridiculously prescient letters. Yet another instance of the incredible wisdom-cum-ESP foisted on the dying.

We haven't even gotten to Carmen's incredible superficiality, leading up to the unbelievable turnaround where she does a 180 and becomes deep again. And the jerky guy she's dating, despised by all except her. Carmen really gets more idiotic in every book.

The girls haven't grown up. The few changes they've made are somewhat ridiculous and over the top. Three out of four are with the same guys even.

I will not read the next book. I will not read the next book. I will not...well, if it's the only thing available on audio, I don't know...

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

ARC of this. I'll write an official review closer to the publication date but I will tell you I have never cried so much during a book (except maybe one of the previous Sisterhood books). I stayed up half the night reading this book. I couldn't put it down.

review for library website:
A lot of books have made me cry but only a few have made me sob---tear stained pages---reaching blindly for a tissue. Two of those books are Ekaterina Gordeeva's MY SERGEI and Ann Brashares's the SECOND SUMMER OF THE SISTERHOOD (FYI: the 2nd Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movie does not do this series justice. It basically crams 3 books into a 2 hour movie) I was overjoyed to hear that Ann Brashares was releasing a novel, SISTERHOOD EVERLASTING, set about 10 years after the 4th book FOREVER IN BLUE. It is classified as an adult novel instead of young adult like the rest of the series but it's not for content reasons...it's because of the age of the characters.

You're hooked from the first page. I stayed up entirely too late reading this book because I could not put it down. The girls haven't really kept in touch since college. Like it says in the prologue "Growing up is hard on a friendship". They all have their own lives now in different parts of the country. Carmen drives me crazy in this book and I want to shake Bree. Lena and Tibby are both tied for my favorite character. Tibby reaches out and buys them all plane tickets for a reunion in Greece. None of them will return home the same. One thing I love about this series is you really feel like you're one of the "sisters". I feel like everything that has happened in this series has happened to me.
I can't tell you why I sobbed but be warned to read this with a box of tissues handy. I thought I had said farewell to the girls after book 4 but then they returned as full fledged adults in this book and I had to say goodbye all over again at the end of this book. I really didn't expect to like the ending of the book especially after sobbing so much throughout it. Everything comes together in the end. Everything happens for a reason.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

"At least I tried."

In this 5th book in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, Ann Brashares brings back the characters we knew and loved as they enter their thirties. Four friends ten years later. How has the sisterhood fared - how has life treated them and where are they now?

Although the girls had gone their separate ways and had sort of lost touch with each other, Lena, Carmen and Bee gather in Greece for a reunion arranged by Tibby. What they find there changes their lives forever.

This is a story of enduring friendship and love. Although at times almost maudlin and certainly sentimental, the narrative makes us root for each of the girls to finally find true happiness.

I enjoyed the book and recommend it as a fitting conclusion to the series introduced to the world of young adult readers in 2001. Some have said that this novel is not for that YA market, but I think teens who enjoyed the other 4 books (and movies) will want to follow this sisterhood of best friends into adulthood.

Addendum: I'm adding this last part because of advice not to read it because it's sad. Yes -- some parts of the book are sad. But who among you has a perfect life that is not marred by some disappointment or other event that you wish you hadn't gone through? I think the things that happen to the girls in the book provide a more realistic depiction of how we all fare through adulthood. There is regret and loss. Everything for most of us is not always sunny and happy. Neither is it for the girls of the Sisterhood. And I think that's how it should be.

Received free from Goodreads first reads.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This probably only deserves four stars, but I don't give a shit. I'm giving it five stars.

Until about the last forty pages, I thought I knew what I was going to write in this review. I was going to say that Brashares is incredibly good with the inner lives of her characters. I was going to say that she brings people to life in magical, absurdly readable, and moving ways. I was going to say that despite this, reading this book is like expecting to jump into pool and float back to the surface, but instead you start drowning, sucking up little bits of air at a time, just trying to survive. I was going to say that as readable as it was, it was just too much for me to handle, and that these girls always seem like they need to learn the same lessons over and over again, and the lesson never sticks.

But then I got to the end, and I started crying, and I couldn't stop. To be honest about it, I'm still crying right now. (They're the good kind of tears, by the way, the bittersweet ones. Ann Brashares is not Nicholas Sparks or Jodi Picoult, both of whom I always feel manipulated by, like with them tears are the goal, and not just a product of something great that they've created. Sparks and Picoult want me to feel luxuriously sad about my life, Brashares just wants to tell me something true. Does that make any sense?) This book just got to me. It got to me on an emotional level that a book hasn't in a really long time, and there's nothing I can do about it. I don't feel like critically evaluating this book for its failings. I only feel like feeling. So that's what I'm going to do.

I'm warning you right now, if you pick this up, you better have a box of tissues ready by the end, and your best friends on speed dial.

[Deborah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, this is not really going to be a kind review. I'm not trying to sound mean or like a weirdo Internet commenter, but there are some things that really ticked me off about this book.

So there's a spoiler that all Traveling Pants fans knew about months ago, one that you can read pretty easily online, and that many have, but if you don't know and want to read the book, stop reading here! And if you do know the major spoiler, there are more revealed below, so just take care if you do want to read the book!

SPOILERS COMMENCE

So I found out from my mother who read it in a Kirkus review a few months ago that Tibby dies in this book. Upon finding out, I was in a state of shock, and for days went around telling people "TIBBY DIES!!!" yes, including people who never read a Traveling Pants book. I considered not bothering to read the books, but I didn't think I could ever skip a Pants book. But it turns out that Tibby's death is the least bothersome thing in this book. It's easiest to explain by pretending that I'm the dust jacket of the books back when they were still YA and going character by character:

Carmen: always my favorite character, now a successful TV actress engaged to a producer that none of her friends like. Here's the jist of what Carmen's character has become -- she's horrible because she has an iPhone. Seriously, the others all look down on her because in this universe only shallow, terrible people use (shudder) iPhones!!! So instead of focusing deeply on things that are a concern like her being engaged to someone she doesn't really love, or how she barely eats anymore the biggest concern is that she uses an iPhone. But don't worry -- she becomes a better person when she meets a widowed man and his two children on a train and gives up acting. All because her iPhone doesn't work. Seriously all iPhone users, Ann Brashares is sending you a message!

Lena: always my least favorite character, she's still pining for Kostos. Sigh. Enough already is what I thought when I first read her storyline, but this surprised me by turning out to be one of the better storylines in the book.

Bridget: Oh this really annoyed me. No actually, made me angry. So while grieving for Tibby (in a very erratic way that I kind of hoped they would explore more) Bee discovers that she's pregnant. Sigh. We all know that of course she'll have the baby. Much like television characters, book characters never have abortions. But the way she comes about making her decision is just such a bizarrely anti choice scene that I could barely believe -- I can only quote -- "Bridget thought about the thing in her uterus, not a thing, but a person, a soul, and she felt chastened. Just look what she was willing to do. Had been willing to do." You hear that pregnant ladies? That's a soul you're carrying, and don't you dare even think about not having it. Then she cries, ". . . for the people like herself , grimly forsaking what few precious gifts they would ever get." I can forgive Ann Brashares for killing off a character, but I don't know if I can forgive her for forcing a stance like this into her book. As I said, no surprise that Bridget would keep the baby, but could we have had a different way of arriving at this decision please rather than condemning anyone who would consider not carrying an unplanned pregnancy?

And then there's Tibby: oh Tibby, even in death, you keep making the same mistakes over and over again, just like you did in the other books. After some thought, I've decided not to reveal the real key to why Tibby dies (those who already know some of the spoilers may know that it's speculated that Tibby may have drowned on purpose). But I will say as someone who has spent most of her life watching soap operas, the the real reason behind Tibby's death is ripped from some of the weakest soap opera storylines. I can't really reveal more except to say that her death could have been a strong storyline was weakened and cheapened by the true circumstances. Also Tibby -- way to write elaborate, long meaningful letters to all your friends (well except Carmen, but she's a shallow iPhone user) but leave nothing for your parents and siblings. Reeeaaaal Nice.

So overall, I didn't think I would love this book the way I loved the others, but I also didn't think I would hate it. This series is another one that helped gain YA some much needed respect, so it feels even more personal to me to have had some of my favorite characters used this way.

[Rachel Reads Ravenously · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Okay, so I spent the better part of today crying while reading this book. I knew some spoilers going in but didn’t expect it to have as much of an emotional punch that it did. I was very wary of this book because of mixed reviews, but I am so glad I finally read it.

Normally I would break down my sisterhood reviews by each character, but for the sake of spoilers I won’t. I loved Lena’s story arc and thought it ended perfectly. The first half of Bee’s is the reason this book isn’t a full five stars because I honestly didn’t see her character making a lot of the choices she did. But the second half of the book she found herself and I am so glad she did. Carmen and Tibby’s I have feelings and thoughts but won’t share here.

Overall a powerful final novel to a series. Even all these years later these characters are so relatable and real to me, I know for sure I will never forget them. That’s the power of Ann Brashares, and I really think she had an impact on an entire generation.

PS: this book is very much adult fiction and not young adult. I felt that needed to be stated.

[Kimberly · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was such a hot mess. I'm super dissapointed because I loved the first four books and was so excited to see that there was fifth one. But pretty much everything was wrong with this book!
1. The girls are supposed to be 29, but no one seems to act like an adult in any way. I had a hard time remembering that they weren't teenagers anymore.
2. None of the girls seem to have any drive or ambition in life at all. They don't have normal or healthy relationships with anyone! They don't even seem to have jobs. Well, Carmen is an actress, Lena works at a college, although we never really see that.
3. Despite the lack of jobs, they seem to have a whole lotta money for galavanting around the world. How many Eurpoe trips can Lena make in one book!?
4. The ending is completely absurd.
5. It's sort of weird to me that 3 out of the 4 are still hung up on or with their high school boyfriends. It's like they're stuck in a traveling pants time warp and can never move on!
6. I used to find something endearing about all 4 of the girls...I really found nothing to like in any of them anymore. Carmen and the damn iPhone! Lena just sits around and whines. Bridget's character is so bizzare that she doesn't even seem like a "real" person anymore. I never really got a good sense of Tibby, but the letters were way too hokey for me.

Okay, enough with the Pants for now.

[Jodi P · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having read the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, I was so excited to find out that there was a "ten years later ..." installment coming out.
I was definitely very greedy with this book - reading it in one afternoon, desperate to be moved and amazed by it. However, about halfway through, I realized I was quickly reading just to get to the end of it. Unfortunately I had heard that there was a pretty shocking event in the story awhile back before the book actually came out. So of course, I was anticipating that event. It happened quickly and the rest of the story just kind of started to drag for me.

At this point, I'll suggest you cease reading if you don't want any indication to spoilers in this story.


The characters were certainly not endearing to me the way that they once were. Bee was childish and irritating, Lena was just so "blah" and determined to be miserable while Carmen seemed shallow and fake. I was a little disappointed to not be introduced to any new characters. It seemed unrealistic that (aside from Jones - and honestly, he was hardly a character) these girls would not form any new relationships over 10 years.
I found the plot rather predictable, too. Even without knowing that there was going to be a big spoiler, you pretty much deduced early on that something would be up with Tibby as she was glaringly absent through the first few chapters.
Of course this story produced more than its fair share of tears. The most endearing character for me was Bailey as the scenes with her were by far the most animated and interesting. The most irritating one was the father Carmen befriended on the train (see that, I finished this book not half an hour ago and I already I forgot his name!). It felt to me that he was being introduced so that he would become a romantic interest for Carmen. Not only did I not like that idea, but it never really happened anyway. I thought the whole idea of all of them living together on Tibby's land was a bit lame and cheesy, but I saw that Brashares was trying to create the place that would be the "home base" for the four of them again.
All in all, I think that I would have been better off had I left the Sisterhood back in their teen years. Sisterhood Everlasting really just did not give me the continuance of their story that I had hoped for.

[Yankeecountess · Rating 1 out of 5]

There’s an old Hebrew saying: “It was good…but it’s good that ‘was’.” That’s how I feel about the entire Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series after reading Sisterhood Everlasting, the supposed “long awaited reunion book”, ten years after the events of the fourth (and at the time) final book of the series.

Now originally, when I heard that the author was releasing a “future book” (seeing the characters all grown up), I was excited! But Ann Brashares has taught me a very important lesson; sometimes you just need to let things be what they were, rather than add more to it.
If you love the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series but have yet to read Sisterhood Everlasting, don’t bother.

Seriously, DO NOT BOTHER. It’s not necessary. It didn’t add ANYTHING to the series, rather, it devalued it. I admit, it’s been years since I read Forever in Blue (book 4), but if memory serves, while there were still a few unanswered questions left for us to ponder, for the most part, it was all nicely tied up and the loss of the pants was a nice way of signaling “it’s time to move forward and grow up”. But whether it was Brashares own restlessness, fans begging her to write another book, or her publishers breathing down her neck, for whatever reason we have Sisterhood Everlasting as the final book of the series (for now)**.

**SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS GALORE**

It should be noted that I knew, before going into this book, that something “tragic” happened. Still, despite that bit of knowledge, I proceeded (who’s the idiot?) The tragedy is this: Tibby dies. I don’t know if I had a specific favorite amongst the four girls, but I do remember liking Tibby. I’m not sure *why* Brashares felt it was necessary to kill off a character, other than to heave a steaming pile of ~*~*~drama~*~*~ at us (and maybe to “prove” to all of us that this is now an ADULT novel) but for whatever reason, Tibby draws the short stick and Brashares kills her off.

Now her death doesn’t exactly sneak up and surprise you. You know something’s amiss because unlike the previous four books, which attempted to neatly go back and forth between all four girls, this one from the get-go excludes Tibby’s POV. Now with the knowledge that a character died going into this book, I foolishly assumed that this was how it was going to happen:

…the girls gather for what they are about to learn is “one last reunion” as Tibby sits them all down and tells them she’s dying. There’s shock, anger, and tears, but eventually the four band together and decide to make this last summer as a sisterhood the best, and get into all sorts of madcap adventures, making a “sisterhood” bucket list, and then when the summer is over, Tibby is surrounded by her loved ones and slips away peacefully (and for an extra tear-jerker, they find the pants and Tibby is buried in them)…

That’s what I thought might happen. And quite frankly, that’s what I WISH had happened.

But that is NOT what happened.

No, instead Bridget, Lena, and Carmen *never* see Tibby alive again. They arrive in Greece (why Tibby had them all meet in Greece is beyond me, unless she had some matchmaking foresight in mind for Lena and Kostos), and Tibby never shows up at the airport, nor does she meet them at the house. They learn later that a body washed up and the body is Tibby’s. And then everything falls apart.

I’ve read a lot of bad books over the years, books that were terribly written or that didn’t make sense, or that I just didn’t care for at the end of the day. But it’s rare for me to say that I’ve read a book that just made me so angry , and I do believe that the reason it angered me so much was because these were characters from previous books which I really loved, and I more or less felt that someone had snatched them up and wrote a really, REALLY bad piece of fanfiction and slapped the series name across the cover. But it’s worse than that, because the horrible fanfic author is Brashares herself!

I felt that she “fridged” Tibby; she took this character, gave her a really senseless death off screen (or off the page in this instance). Normally the point of “fridging” a character is to “advance the plot/character-arc of another”. Well, if that was the case, it didn’t work. Because I honestly don’t think ANY of the other three girls truly “advanced”. I know that people might say, “Well they’re upset, they’re grieving, it’s realistic because sometimes death just happens”. Yeah, well you know what else is realistic? People GROWING AND LEARNING and shedding their former 15-year-old personas because they’re now 30.

That’s the thing, I had to remind myself *constantly* at the characters were now 30. But you wouldn’t know that based on how they behave. And this is true about ALL of them.

Lena is still timid and shy and has self-esteem issues. She’s still pining for Kostos though instead of FIXING the problem and confronting him or forcing herself to move forward and get over him, she sits and mopes, yearning for him while at the same time believing he’ll never want her again. And what’s really annoying (and this annoyed me all the way back in the second book) Lena is responsible for the first break-up. People always seem to forget that, I think the character of Lena and Brashares who writes her seem to forget that; Lena ended the relationship with Kostos in the second book due to her issues of self-esteem. Now I understand regret, I understand personal loathing over a mistake that is made, and I know it’s always easier to blame someone else for your problems than to look inside and admit your own fault, BUT THE FACT THAT TEN YEARS LATER…nothing has changed? Not even a little bit?

Carmen was dumbed down terribly in this book. In the fourth book she tried her hand at acting, and apparently that has become her career. She’s a successful actress living in New York and is engaged to an exec for the network her show is on, and her fiancé is a cardboard cut-out bad guy—seriously, all the guy is missing is the moustache to twirl. For some reason, Brashares likes to keep Lena, Bridget, and Tibby connected to their “original fellas”, but not Carmen. Whatever happened to Win from book 3? Why is Carmen the designated “no original boyfriend for you!” sister? Not only is Carmen’s character dumbed down and written to appear incredibly self-centered (sorry, I think Bridget wins that prize), but she’s LEFT OUT of a bulk of the book too. Pretty much up until the last 60 some pages, she’s barely mentioned. Then she’s on a train ride and she connects with one of the passengers (a widowed father just a few years older than her, who also happens to be a Chilean immigrant) and…I don’t know if Brashares was trying to set up the possibility of something with this guy or not, but if she does dare come back and write a sixth book, I wouldn’t at all be surprised.

Tibby, yes she makes this list too, she does not get a “free pass” just because she’s dead. Turns out it wasn’t suicide like all the girls thought, Tibby was terminally ill, however I can’t help but side-eye Brashares decision here, because Tibby’s letters still come across like she knew she was going to die *before* they met. And the fact that she didn’t tell *anyone* about Bailey, and just up and left Brian to deal with all this…which leads to whole other rant that involves all the guys in this book, but I’ll get to that later. Even though Tibby is painted to be this other-worldly sage, and her presence was meant to be felt through her cryptic letters, I still kept wondering, “Where is the REAL Tibby in all this???”

But the character who takes the prize home for annoying me more than any other in this entire book is Bridget. Now, I’ll admit that Bridget has always probably been my “least favorite” of the sisters (her recklessness in the previous books always drove me up the wall), but I could forgive such behavior in a girl of 15, 16, 17, even 20, HOWEVER, she’s 30 years old, and of all the characters, it’s clear she’s changed the least. She’s still every bit as reckless—more so, I would say, and it’s far less forgiving. Her behavior, I found, to be deplorable, and selfish. Even BEFORE the tragedy of Tibby dying, Bridget couldn’t sit still, and I couldn’t help but wonder if she was showing symptoms of her mother’s bipolar disorder? Eric has the patience of a saint (and I’ll get to that rant in a minute). But she can’t handle her grief, so what does she do? SHE LEAVES. She leaves Eric and hits the road with no destination in mind, just travels by bike and on foot up and down the California coast. She nearly has a one-night stand (very much aware of what she’s about to do, but doesn’t care), she learns she’s pregnant, and goes to Eric to ask him for money so she can fly to Australia to find Brian, but doesn’t tell him about her pregnancy, and still keeps the truth from him up until the last 10 pages of the book. And while she’s in Australia, she proves that she’s still a child, because the person she relates to most in this book is a toddler. I never once felt like she was acting like an adult in her interactions with Bailey, she even thinks of Bailey as a “mini Tibby” and reverts back to their childhood. The point I know was to show that Bridget would one day be a “wonderful mother”, but no, I don’t think so, I am terrified for her child, because I don’t think Bridget knows how to put boundaries out there, or limits, and she has sadly proven multiple times that when the going gets tough, you up and leave. And nothing convinced me, even by the end of the book, that she was going to change, and why would I think that? THE EVIDENCE IS THERE FROM THE PREVIOUS BOOKS! It’s 10 years since the last one, and she’s *HASN’T* changed! I don’t think she’s capable of growth, and she clearly does need some professional help.

And the guys…I honestly don’t know what Brashares was trying to prove here with Kostos, Brian, and Eric. Jones (Carmen’s fiancé) is the cardboard cut-out of a bad guy, but the other three are all “upstanding gentlemen”, though I think she wants us to look at Kostos through Lena’s eyes and vilify him, though I think that’s unfair to do when Lena is every bit as guilty, but I digress. I felt really bad for both Brian and Eric; Brian, who her friends KNOW Tibby loves…no one even TRIES to reach out to him and tell him about Tibby’s death. HOW did he find out she was dead? I don’t know. But Bridget (the only bit of credit I’ll give her) actually makes the effort (though it’s several months down the road) but no one, not even Tibby’s parents, reach out to the poor guy, and no one seems to consider *his* grief in all this. And then there’s Eric, who is the poster-child for “Mr. Perfect” in Brashares mind; Eric, who stands by his woman even when she leaves him without warning, returns to ask for a thousand dollars without explanation or any understanding that she’ll be back, and who doesn’t say ANYTHING about the fact that she’s pregnant with his baby even though she has several opportunities to do so. And Eric just *takes* it. I wanted him to, at the very least, show some anger and hurt at her keeping the pregnancy from him, but he doesn’t. He silently accepts the news and holds back any complaints about all the moving they do and continues to up and move his life around Bridget and her whims, and will most likely get stuck caring for their baby because Lord knows Bridget can’t be trusted with the task. In fact, Bridget is far more likely to put Bailey’s needs ahead of her own child. Which leads to another rant…

Apparently Brashares ships Bridget x Brian, or that’s the indication given at the end of the book in the follow-up questions for book groups. Both within the questions, *and* in the interview she did about the book, it’s mentioned that Bridget and Brian have developed a relationship. Now yes, the two lived under the same roof when Bridget appeared in Australia, and Brian asked Bridget to help him with Bailey while she was there, but any hint or indication of a “romantic nature” doesn’t come across, but Brashares thinks there’s something there, because in her interview she talked about the possibility of writing a sixth book (Lord help us all) because she really wants to explore that relationship, and she doesn’t mean in a friendly or family sort of way, she means romantically (“is there something between Bridget and Brian?”)—that’s what she says in the interview. And I have NO DOUBT after the way she wrote Eric in this book, that he’ll just happily fold over and let Bridget and Brian run off together, while he takes care of their baby. Seriously, the idea of this happening turns my stomach, which is another reason why I am never reading another Sisterhood book.

And the ending…oh God, the ending. Turns out that Tibby had all this money (Brian must have done very well in his software programming business) because they bought a farm somewhere in rural Pennsylvania, WITH THE INTENTION of having the other girls show up and just MOVE IN. There’s living quarters for all three of them, and what do you know? THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THEY DO! Bridget feels at “home” for the first time, Eric (naturally) quits his job in California to go and look for one in New York which is only an hour and half commute, Carmen moves in because what else has she got? And Lena and Kostos, well they might not move in permanently yet, but you know it’s going to happen eventually (I’m sure Kostos could just quit his job in London and be like Eric and Carmen and commute a 3 hour round-trip back and forth, five days out of the week). Oh, and Tibby’s parents move in too (would have been nice to see their reaction to the granddaughter they never knew about). So really, it’s a commune that they’ve created.

AND THAT’S IT! The book ends like that. So what growth has happened? None. The girls haven’t really learned anything. Because instead of trying to work on keeping relationships strong through distance, and going into the world to live your life, they all come back and once again revert back to their teen selves, living together because apparently their friendship is so fragile, it can’t handle any sort of distance. Nor can any of them have friends outside of each other, apparently. But hey, apparently none of them are allowed to have lives outside of each other, either.

This book was just one giant headache. I’m amazed I pushed through and finished it. I remember gobbling these books up within a matter of days, but this one I treated like a marathon, reading 40-50 pages a day just so I could get through it.

Sisterhood Everlasting doesn’t deserve a rating more than a single star, and it certainly doesn’t deserve a place on my shelf beside the other books in the series. If you’re thinking about reading this? Don’t. Seriously, don’t do it, especially if you loved the previous books. Your collection will not be incomplete without it, let the events of Forever in Blue be how the series ends, imagining what might have happened with the ladies, imagining them actually GROWING AND MOVING FORWARD in a positive way, and not turn into the hot mess that was this book.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

So here I am, writing a review for a book before it comes out. This makes me a big loser. Whatever. Anyway, words cannot describe how excited I am to read this. When i realized that this is a new Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book, and not another 3 Willows book (yes, it was cute, but not the same.) i started tearing up. I wish I was joking. I'm not. Thats how excited I am.

REVIEW:

When an author has written a good book, you feel like you are part of the story, the characters are your friends and you can identify with them all. That has definitely been the case for me with the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I was there to see them come-of-age. When Carmen’s dad got remarried, Lena fell in love with Kostas, Bridget found out the truth about her grandmother, and Tibby had a pregnancy scare, I felt like I was going through the same things with them (not literally of course). In return, Lena, Bridget, Tibby and Carmen were better friends to me than most of the people I knew at the time (I read them in middle school, and my middle school classmates? Not so nice.) I was like an honorary sisterhood member. And even though they were older than me at the time, and I wasn’t going through the same things as them, I identified with each of the girls. I related mostly to Tibby and Lena, but I also saw myself in Bridget and Carmen. It is like Carmen says in the first book; they are four girls with very different personalities, but when together made a “complete” person. Mix up all of the girl’s personality wise, and I saw a lot of myself in them. I finished the original series in freshman year of high school and was very sad to see the series end. Fast forward four years later, to the publication of sisterhood everlasting. I’m sure you can imagine what my reaction was. I cried with joy. I couldn’t wait to be “reunited” with the Sisterhood, the girls who were there for me during the less than pleasant times in middle school, my friends. This book started out being about the reunion of the Sisterhood, and I felt like I was reuniting with the Sisterhood as well. I was happy when Bridget, Carmen, and Lena reunited at the airport after all the time. However, as much as I didn’t want to, I could sense what was going to happen from the very beginning. Not the way it happened, but that it was going to happen. I have read through Sisterhood Everlasting much quicker than I had planned, or even wanted to. Although I have really enjoyed reading it and having a final reunion with my childhood book friends, the beginning was hard to read. Not hard as in boring, quite the opposite. Hard as in it was painful to ee the characters so depressed. The book takes a turn mid-way, which reminded me of why I loved the Sisterhood so much in the first place. Despite the unfortunate events and their aftermath in the beginning of the book, the characters all grew up and got to where they needed to be. Part of me is wishing it were longer because I feel like this is really the end of the series, which makes me sad. Like the original Sisterhood books, Sisterhood Everlasting will stay with me for years to come, and it was nice to say a final goodbye to the much beloved characters.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe that this is the last book in the series and its a great way to wrap up the story lines of the characters. I'm not saying that just because I won a free copy of this from good reads. It is just too bad that Tibby had to die; its so sad!! She left behind Brian, her daughter, Bailey and friends and her family. She wasn't even thirty yet.

This book teaches readers a great life lesson: life rarely goes accordingly to way we plan it but the obstacles that one faces does not serve as an excuse to stop trying or caring. Yes the loss of a loved is extremely painful and should be mourned but just because they're gone doesn't mean that you should stop living your own life too. Because life is that short, you should live life to the fullest and follow your heart. Not everyone would agree with the decisions you make but those who truly love you will come around.

Tibby's decision to move to Australia with Brian puts strain on the girls' friendship. With Carmen being a famous actress who lives in New York and Lena as an art teacher at a prestigious school in Providence and Bee moving to San Fransisco, the distance makes it harder for the girls to stay in touch. Tibby's absence make the girls feel that it is wrong to have any get-togethers or formal meetings without her because it was always the four of them.

In the beginning of the story the girls are supposed to meet up in Greece for a reunion; it was Tibby's suggestion. But when the girls arrive and see no Tibby, they decide to wait. After hours upoon hours of waiting the girls start to get worried. Morning brings no better news as the girls find out that Tibby has drowned in the ocean. The girls, at first, assumed that Tibby had taken her life because the letters that she leaves the girls indicates that Tibby knew that she was going to die. The girls are shocked and blame themselves for Tibby's death. They are angry at Tibby for her lack of communication with the girls and her family in the states but they are also angry at themselves for not trying harder to reach out to Tibby.

As the story progresses on, the girls all go through a series of phases where they recover from Tibby's tragic death. The letters Tibby leaves the girls instruct them to do things that would not have done on their own. At the end of the story, all three girls with their respective lovers and Tibby's family all meet up the ranch that Brian and Tibby bought.

Lena is finally with Kostos and Bee is pregnant with Eric whereas Carmen breaks up with her self-absorbed finance. The girls are all staying at the ranch to watch over Bailey, Tibby's daughter. Tibby writes in one of her letters that she knows Bailey won't be without a mother; in fact she'll have three loving mothers who will watch over her as she grows.

[Shannon A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating 4.5 stars

I know, I know - this book is VERY polarizing b/c some crazy things happen. And when I first read it when it came out, I was devastated and not the biggest fan. Reading it now, 4 years later and with a lot more adult life under my belt, I have to admit that I LOVED THIS BOOK. I feel like it embraced the true characters of Lena, Tibby, Bridget and Carmen, yet also perfectly tackled the new struggles and challenges that come along with adulthood and moving on.

I cried many tears and while my heart broke at times while reading, it is ultimately full upon completing the series! Loved it and I'm so happy Felicia and I decided to reread it over this summer <3

[Heidi · Rating 1 out of 5]

I should have stuck with book four and left it at that. It seemed like all the characters reverted to their 18 year old behaviors and no one had grown or matured. I was not happy with the whole premise (no spoilers -- but come on!) nor any of the characters lives. I also found the letters the girls received lacking any heart or soul -- they did not move me in anyway not to mention the lack of believability for most of the plot(s) I mean what 30 year old can buy her friends a house??, plus they are all able to live in the house??, there were no planes available for Carmen??, Tibby never told her family or friends about her child - let alone her health??, Eric put up with Bridget's behaviors -- also Bridget didn't learn not to runaway from her problems already??, Lena was still the closed/shy person from 10 years ago??, Carmen didn't learn anything from acting camp in book 4 about being selfish??, and so many more questions....

[Meredith (Austenesque Reviews) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not The Story I Expected, But One I Grew To Love and Appreciate

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Last year I started this book. And something I didn't expect happened within the first 70 pages and I couldn't bring myself to read any more. I didn't want to think of the sisterhood this way...

I wrestled with what happened for a whole year and finally learned to somewhat accept it. Also, I began to feel curious enough about what happens after that first 70 pages that I decided I wanted to complete the book rather than leave it permanently unfinished. And so yesterday I began it again. This time I read the whole book. In one day. It was that compelling and moving. And it brought me to tears every few chapters. But that was okay. I love how emotionally invested I feel towards these characters - how I feel that they are real living, breathing people that I have come to know, understand, and see myself in.

Ann Brashares is a brilliant story-teller. Her prose is so evocative and so latently packed with emotion and perception. This is book sends you on a spiral and it shows you some challenges of becoming an adult - how sometimes you lose sight of yourself, how sometimes you let fear control your choices, or how sometimes you can't settle down. I thought it resonates very well and like always I learn more about myself through each of the girls and their experiences.

The reason I'm giving it 4.5 stars instead of 5 is because of poor Carmen. She has never been my favorite, but I did feel she got the short-end of the stick in this tale. I would have loved for her journey to be more interesting or for more resolution (or HEA) with her story. I definitely loved what was happening on the train, but before that she had around 280 pages where I was mostly uninterested in what she was doing. However, I've always felt strongly attached to Bridget and Lena, so I guess I didn't mind too much that this story featured them more heavily.

This is a heart-wrenching story, but it is a beautiful one. In the end, I can say I appreciate Ann Brashares for sharing this more poignant and heartbreaking tale with us because sometimes that is what our lives are. We don't always have happy summers and smooth sailing. Sometimes we experience something so devastating that it shatters are core, and it takes some time to pick up the pieces.

~~~GIVEAWAY~~~
I actually have a second copy of this book (it is an unread Advanced Reader Copy paperback). I am always happy to share the books I love with others, so if anyone wants me to send this second copy to them, I'd be happy to do so. I'll ship it anywhere in the US. No charge. First person to message me claims it. ;) (I'll announce here if the book is already claimed)

[Madeleine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had no idea this book existed until I found it at a yard sale a few weeks ago. I paid my fifty cents. I am so glad I didn't know of it until then, instead of paying 25 dollars for it.

This used to be a series where four girls used a pair of pants as a system of pen-pals as they split up for a few months. The first fifty pages of this book, one of them dies. I threw my book at the wall at this part.

My early teens were spent with Bridget, Tibby, Carmen, and Lena. I had this personal connection with all of them. I fell in love with the same boys they did. I wanted to be them. I saw the worst of myself in many of them.

So I was hesitant to see them grown up. And it feels like they didn't, because they still have the same insecurities and 'quirks' about them they had at fifteen. Which was awesome for fifteen, but they still acted like high schoolers the entire book. Let's break it down by girl.

Bridget- famously impulsive, reckless, and free spirited as a teenage girl. which led her to fall in love, drop everything and travel, and act on her emotions. She was this fun free-spirit who all the boys loved and the girls wanted to be.
she's completely absent minded in this book, laid back to the point of stupidity. She packs up her apartment and moves on a whim, dragging her poor boyfriend along with her. she "loses" her cell phone is trash cans. She wants to live like a homeless person, she romanticizes drifters and bums. she gets knocked up (too much of a free spirit to care about birth control!)
Yet poor Eric, trying to be a respectable lawyer, gives her space, freedom, money -ten thousand dollars- with no compromise. He takes care of her. She "Keeps him for overworking/being too serious" I was praying he'd leave her. No such luck.

Don't get me wrong, I loved Bee. But she's not 18, she's pushing thirty, and her impulses weren't cute anymore. she freaks out over her boyfriend buying her a bed. She makes this man sleep on a mattress like a hipster grad student. she was my biggest problem with this book. she showed no maturity.

Carmen- Her entire plot is she's engaged but then she isn't. Her only scene of meaning is a train ride where she has a connection this single father (I actually enjoyed the hell out of this part, but of course she never hears from them in the book again) She's a slightly famous actress, is still materialistic and whiny, and stays engaged to an asshole for the hell of it. Finally, she dumps him.

Lena- Lena loves Kostos and won't act on it -BIG SURPRISE! They eventually get back together for the...third, fourth time? I lost track. Lena has the same plot every book, and it revolves around some guy she hooked up with when she was fifteen. I never got true love from them. they barely talked about anything other than a bunch of old people in Greece. They get together. Ten bucks says she breaks things off again.

ever since the second book, i kind of hoped she'd get with Paul, who was in NONE of this book. I missed him. He was my favorite boy in the series.


Tibby- Drowns in the first fifty pages. Hasn't contacted the girls in years. Is dying of a disease she chooses to tell no one about, even her family. Has a baby she tells no one about. Plans an elaborate way to tell everyone about each of these things before drowning in Greece. Gives no one any way of figuring out on their own.


I feel like the only lesson the book teaches is the boy you fell in love with when you were sixteen is the boy you were meant to spend the rest of your life with. Except for Carmen, but she never really lets Carmen find lasting love (I always wondered why that was)

i wish i never knew this book existed. I was so disappointed. Tibby might have still been alive in my mind if i hadn't read this. Lena relives the same dilemma. Poor Carmen just fills pages like she does every book. Bee seemed more mature by the third book than she did at 29. It was ridiculous.

[Sydney Arvanitas · Rating 1 out of 5]

Y I K E S. Annie B., who hurt you? Was it the housing market crash in 2008? Or Gerard Butler's P.S. I Love You performance in 2007? Was it swine flu??? Did you get the swine flu??? These books used to be a fun teen series about four friends who shared a pair of pants, but--I'll say it--this final installment was Depressing with a capital "D." Honestly, such an unfortunate epilogue to what had already been a solid finale.

A brief recap for those whose curiosity might still compel them to read this book: 10 years have passed and our four friends are nearly 30. Judging from the precedent set by this book, if "Pants=LOVE," "30=DEATH" because the sisterhood is NOT doing well. Bridgette goes insane and sets off on a 3 month homeless trek across America because her successful lawyer boyfriend buys her a bed frame--a BED FRAME, y'all. Lena is an agoraphobic associate professor who surprisingly has unlimited funds to fly back and forth between New York and London not once, not twice, but three times to ding-dong ditch a boy she used to date. Carmen has become more of a b than she ever was, but manages an 11th hour personality overhaul by being forced to hold a baby on a train. And Tibby...well...at least her character arc couldn't be ruined...?

Lessons learned? Don't begin a series about 4 main characters if you're only interested in writing about 3 of them and never, ever turn thirty years old. 30=DEATH!!!!

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Caution: Spoilers!

If you feel like having your childhood wrecked, read this book. Our beloved characters have aged ten years, and instead of having relatively bright futures despite their individual baggage and relatable flaws, they utterly hate their lives, one so much that she actually offs herself. Seriously. (It's not the one you expect, either.) Everything is poorly explained and depressing, and I realized early on that it kind of reads like fanfiction. I'm not sure why Ann Brashares decided to write this book, other than to spoil any semblance of happiness we might have imagined for the characters. The first two books of the series are great, the third is okay, but that's where you should stop reading. JFC.

EDIT: I finished it and technically she doesn't "off" herself (SHE WAS DYING INSTEAD, ISN'T THAT GREAT? ^_^), but the book is still horribly depressing, don't read it.

[E · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hate books that make me cry. Couldn't stop reading this. Cried several times. Spent the first half of the book feeling like Brashares had unfairly recycled her characters, but it came together in the second half.

Now I have to go blow my nose.

[Erin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really excited to read this book and I'm not sure why. I think the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books are a really good idea but their execution leaves a lot to be desired. However, I like the idea of them so much that I tend to forget that I don't really like them during the time it takes for each of them to come out. The characters have barely changed in the last ten years, and it annoys me that I spent so much time reading about them and they have learned nothing from their experiences. They are still dealing with the same issues and struggles and by this point in the series, it is very tiresome to read. The way that Brashares brings the characters back together, after a few years of not really connecting, feels cheap, like she was playing with my emotions, trying to get me to care about characters that are really just annoying and kind of unbelievable. I also felt the plot device she used was the same as one used in the very first book, only this time, she used it to teach all the girls the lessons (that they will probably not learn anything from) that Tibby learned in the first go around. I really wanted the reunion of these girls to be good, and I felt like it could have been but the opportunity was missed.

[Traci Haley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always been more of a fan of character-driven books than any other kind. There's just something comforting knowing that, at any given moment, I can spend an afternoon with Harry, Ron and Hermione, or help Joe Pickett and his family solve a mystery, or relive the life of Edgar Mint or Garp. And once in awhile, an author comes along and builds a character (or, in this case, characters) that are so well developed that they nearly jump off the page and come to life. Ever since the first Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book, I've felt that Tibby, Lena, Carmen, and Bee are characters like that. I have rejoiced in their happiness, cried with their heartbreaks, and fallen in love with each and every person close to them. At the end of the fourth novel, I was deeply sad that it seemed Ann Brashares had decided to end the series for good. And I was so excited when this book, Sisterhood Everlasting, came along. I pre-ordered it without even reading a plot description, so I had no idea what the book would be about (other than that it would be a more grown-up Sisterhood book).

I cannot even describe the roller coaster of emotions I went through reading this book. I devoured it in only a few hours, needing to know the fate of my favorite characters. No spoilers here, but those who have read the book will know the significance: my favorite character has always been Tibby. It has been a VERY long time since a book made me cry so hard and mourn so greatly along with the characters. I'd just get done with one tearful moment, only to start again a few moments later. My heart ached so deeply for the girls and their circumstances.

I really shouldn't have worried that the book wouldn't end the way I wanted to, because it certainly did -- even better than I expected it to, judging from the first part of the book. I love how the characters ended up. I wish I could go live with all of them and be another member of the Sisterhood. These books truly are classics -- every girl who has ever had a close friend should read these. Thank you, Ann Brashares, for giving us one last moment with the Sisterhood.

[Selene · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are other plot twists than pregnancy...

Ann Brashares is the Oprah Winfrey of pregnancy... "You get a baby, you get a baby, you get a baby... Everyone gets a baby!"

[Alexa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can’t believe my journey with this series has finally come to an end! It was my first time reading this particularly installment, and... well, my feelings are all jumbled up so I can’t actually give you a rating yet.

There were things I really loved about this, and other things that I wasn’t necessarily keen on. But it was still a situation where I felt for these young women and all they went through (even when I didn’t always like what they did).

[Tanya (Girl Plus Books) · Rating 2 out of 5]

WHAT I LIKED: Um... *crickets*. No, that's not really true. It was satisfying to see the series to the end. And I will admit that the ending, while not very believable, was emotional and mostly satisfying.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: Oh where to start? I can't recall reading a book where the main characters were all so thoroughly unlikable. What a bunch of miserable people! They were all equal parts selfish, self-absorbed and and just plain unlikable. The major plot line is a major spoiler so I'm just going to talk about the characters. Three of them, in particular.

Carmen was as insufferable as ever and now, as a professional actress, came across as an obnoxious prima donna. She seemed to care more about her iPhone than anything else in her life. Seriously. She obsessed over it constantly.

Lena never had much of a personality but even less so here. She was living the smallest life possible and was so passive and timid it was pathetic. And the never-ending back and forth with Kostos... after a decade? OMG, enough already. I was desperate for one of them to just do something. Someone have enough backbone to take action. Gah!

Bridget seemed to have barely progressed since we last saw her at 19. At first it seemed like she had changed but after a significant event she was right back to her old ways - as flighty and destructive as ever. Except now, at the age of 29, it just smacked of self-indulgence and I had little empathy for her, especially when her flightiness included disappearing for months on a boyfriend who adored her. Who does that?! Any warm and fuzzy feelings I had left for Bridget vanished as soon as she behaved so cavalierly with someone who loved her.

I will say that Sisterhood Everlasting has an average rating of 3.9 on GoodReads so obviously this is a "it's not you, it's me" situation. So if you're interesting in revisiting the sisterhood and learning what has become of them, don't let my issues sway you. Because I'm definitely in the minority here.

[Crystal's Bookish Life · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a love/hate relationship with the traveling pants books. Mainly because three of the four characters made continuously stupid decisions and it was SO frustrating. But I wanted to read this book anyway because I DID like parts of the series (especially Tibby's character) and I wanted to see what happened to the girls as adults.

About twenty five pages into this book I almost stopped reading it because of the HUGE tragedy that I never saw coming. I was angry. How could Ann do this to us loyal readers of the Sisterhood????

I'm still mad just thinking about it.

But. . . there was a lot of scenes involving Bee's character in this book, a lot of growth for her in what felt like a very positive and permanent change. And I loved that part. Seeing her finally overcome all her emotional problems that plagued her for so long was what I liked most about this book. If it had been her story alone I would have probably given this book five stars, but because of the shocking beginning I just can't give it anymore than three.

[Aileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sisterhood Everlasting picks up on the four girls of the Sisterhood ten years after we left them -- pantless, but still a group.

Bridget -- As the book opens, we learn that Bridget lives in San Francisco with Eric, the first and only boyfriend she's ever had. She's still trying to run from life, but as a 29-year old this manifests as making poor Eric move once a month and donating most of their substantial belongings so as to be more freely mobile.

Carmen -- Carmen lives in New York in a posh loft with her ABC executive fiance, Jones -- who's described as looking something like Daddy Warbucks. She's a series regular on a crime-scene investigation show and, with the help of Jones, capitulating to her more superficial impulses and is basically a caricature of a person.

Lena -- Lena graduated from RISD, got her Master's in Fine Arts and now teaches at RISD four times a week. She's more insular than ever before, and rarely seems to leave her apartment. She's casually dating a sandwich artiste and following the news on Kostos (of course), who is now some sort of financial mogul and worth bazillions of dollars (of course).

Tibby -- Tibby distanced herself from the group two years before, when she and Brian abruptly (as in, they came to visit her at her apartment and found it completely vacant.) moved to Australia and only responded to emails maybe 2-3 times a year. Carmen, Lena, and Bridget are surprised when they receive packages from Tibby with tickets for each of them to meet her at Lena's family home in Santorini.

Although there is so much heavy foreshadowing in the pre-Santorini part of the novel that I'm unsure whether this next part is a spoiler, but I'll hide it because the book jacket does not reference the event at all. When the girls get to Santorini, Tibby fails to pick them up at the airport or come home. They report her missing, and the Greek police come to the door the next morning to report that Tibby's drowned body was found in a cove.

The girls come back from Greece with a lot to work through. Tibby gives each one a series of letters, meant to be opened at certain dates and give them directions of things to do. The perspective follows the old routine, with each girl narrating a couple pages of what's going on in their lives. The timeline of the book moves quickly, but is somewhat hard to follow -- as Brashares doesn't include a lot of references, except for dates on the letters.

Other than that, it's an addicting read. Brashares has a gift with drawing the reader in -- even though her stories are less complex than heavy-duty readers would prefer. The Sisterhood series, heretofore, was pretty light and relatable. Brashares had each girl dealing with separate issues and helping each other through the problems. In this novel, however, all the girls have the same issue to deal with and are struggling to find ways to cope. It's interesting to see the girls pull away from each other and really look inside, rather than running to one another. Brashares knows these four well, and keeps consistent with their personalities through the tragedy -- except for maybe Tibby. I found Tibby's letters to be a little too prescient. Even if you've grown up as close as these four have, even if you're as observant/wise as Tibby is, you can't predict what other people are doing as well as she does in her letters. Especially considering the letters were written months before the situations that arose.

The same frustrations exist in this novel, i.e. Bridget's still running away from everything good in her life, Carmen's still pretty self-absorbed and ridiculous, and Lena is still refusing to admit that she's crazy in love with Kostos and denying the obvious -- that he's been humiliating himself for years in his love for her.

The plot resolutions are good, and I'd recommend any fan of the Sisterhood novels to revisit the series with this conclusory novel.

[J.A. Belfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

To summary this in one paragraph would be impossible. There were a few bits that niggled me (listed in the cons sections below), but due to the fact I believe I am to blame on part for those, for not having read any earlier titles in the series, rather than the author, I decided it would be wrong to hold that against my rating--because once I'd figured out the who's who, the author pretty much had me hooked. See below for more details:

What bugged me:

The opening bothered me. The first person writing, giving a rundown (or a recap) of the main characters of the book. 1) It jarred my flow when it suddenly then switched to third person from three differing POV's. 2) I'd much rather have learned about them as I went through, but that's probably just me. But, when I reached the end and discovered a closing summary written in exactly the same style as the opening, I then wondered if this might be a quirk/tradition of the series, which I might have got had I read the preceding titles.
Also, because there were three differing POV's, and I wasn't familiar with the characters from not having read the earlier books, it then took me to around 12% to keep up with which character/personality I was dealing with each time the switch was made.

What I loved:

Well, I pretty much loved everything else. This is possibly one of the most beautiful yet saddest stories I have read in a very long time. From beginning to end. Yes, the three ladies were 'lost' before the pinnacle moment of the tale that pretty much pushed them all over the edge. But it took something as devastatingly shocking as that occurrence for them to realise exactly what they had but had just forgotten was there. I suspected from the off that Tibby hadn't committed the suicide the other three had (in their grief and frustration and desperation) believed of her. I suspected, in fact, pretty early on that a terminal illness would be to blame.
However, I never once predicted the possibility of a child for her, or pretty much anything that followed.
The only outcome I guessed correctly was the inevitable one (to me) for Lena and the man she'd never quite fallen out of love with. I prayed and prayed the entire way through that they would find their way to each other. Thank you so much for delivery of that because I doubt I'd have forgiven the author had it ended differently for them.
Carmen's path: I hoped she wouldn't go through with the wedding, yet some little part of me worried the whole way through that she might. Then her train journey pretty much undid me, her interactions with the father she met and how they somehow connected. Although it didn't happen in this book, I'd like to think they might one day speak again.
Bridget: Damn, that was one lost and fragile woman. And God bless that beautiful man of hers for forever being there for her. I almost felt proud of her during the moment when she finally figured out what her heart needed again.
And then back to Tibby: Tibby who knew them all so well that she understood what they needed way more than they knew themselves.
I've seriously never cried quite so much. For around the final 40% of the novel, there must have been something wrong with my Kindle, because the words were constantly blurry. ;o) This is quite possible the most moving story of self discovery I've ever read. Just beautiful.

This review can also be viewed at Bookaroo-Ju

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

(audio)

Sigh. I don't know where to start, really, with this book. I loved the others, was found of those girls, and have often used them as an example of how young adult literature can be smart and well written. I read that this book was an extension of the young adult books, but for adults. It is and it isn't. I've not read Brashares actual adult novel, so I'm not sure how her writing is there, but this was quite disappointing.

First, I don't think the book knew what it wanted to be. Most young adult books don't have protagonists in their 30s worrying about getting married and having babies, but the writing itself seemed very young adult (obvious, a bit over the top, a bit juvenile). I think the only people the style could really work with are people, like me, who started the books when they were young like the girls and is now 30, like the girls, so that the style, sort of, makes sense. If I wasn't a writer myself, it might not have bothered me as much...

Spoilers coming, so if you haven't read the book, but are going to, don't read on.

I'm still not totally sure I understand the decision to kill of Tibby. These books live and breath on the idea of the four person story, how those stories weave together, and the magical relationship between the Septembers. Of course, there have been darkish moments in other books, but never like this. I kept thinking, "How did she decide Tibby would be the one? Wasn't she attached to these girls? How could she just kill her?" I was really furious when I, like the girls, thought that Tibby had committed suicide (of course I also figured out pretty early that she hadn't). This felt like a desperate move on the part of the author to up the ante, make her books more suitable for a mature audience. Whatever. Just about everything that happened in the book could have happened with Tibby still living.

The saddest part for me is how annoyed I because at Bridget, Carmen, and (especially) Lena. These were girls I loved, but women that I didn't really even like. I was frustrated by their immaturity, their floundering. It's as though they are still 15. With this exception of looking different, none of them seemed to have grown very much mentally or emotionally since the time they were girls. I understand how the death of someone close can change you, throw you into a tailspin, but at least two of the three girls acted more like people with a mental illness than someone dealing with extreme grief.

Overall, I felt this story and the writing here was very heavy handed. Brashares flogged us with grief at ever page. There was little joy, until nearly the very end. I do admit, I did keep wanting to know what was going to happen, but I think mostly because I just wanted to relief from the misery. Also, as a sidenote, I'm not totally thrilled with the fact that at least three of the four girls were in someway "saved" by this idea of motherhood. That doesn't seem like a very modern message to me.

[Iryna *Book and Sword* · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here comes the end of my journey with The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants.
As with all other traveling pants books I half hated and half absolutely adored Sisterhood Everlasting. Ann Brashares just evokes those emotions in me. Often both at the same time.

I related so much to certain things and feelings and felt the most validated I've ever felt in my life, and other times I could not stop rolling my eyes at the absurdity of situations. I've cried and felt exasperated equal amounts of time, and somehow it works for me.

After spending 5 books with the "sisters" I can say with certainty that Lena and then Bee were my favorite characters throughout.

I don't read or recommend a lot of young adult books, but these series I see myself re-reading many, many times in the future.

Overall series raring:
4/5
(minus The Three Willows, skip that, it's a filler book with different characters and does nothing for the overall story)


My WEBSITE
My BOOKSTAGRAM

[Sarah Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's so hard to decide how I felt about this book! I genuinely think the first two books in this YA series are great, and the second two were deplorable. This adult venture is better than 3 & 4 but not as good as 1 or 2.

First, what I liked: it's a fast, engaging read. I read it straight through in 2.5 hours without getting bored. I cried my eyes out. The resolution was satisfying, and felt like it brought more satisfying closure to the series than previous "ending." Also, I love getting to see YA characters as adults in a fully realized book way, as opposed to a 2 page "see into the future" epilogue.

Now, what I did not like, in the form of several questions. This is where the spoilers come in:

1. How could you kill off Tibby, Ann Brashares! She is my favorite character! And not only did you kill her, you do it right away, so we don't even let us get a glimpse of story in her voice!

2. And Tibby! Why on earth did you go swimming in the ocean by yourself when you are weakened by a debilitating illness? When your friends are coming in a few hours? Wait until tomorrow for crying out loud! Also, I get that it has to be hard to tell people that you're dying, and I can't even imagine what you went through. But by not telling people you cheated them out of spending time with you and knowing you as a mother and sharing your last moments with you. Stupid.

3. Lena has a job teaching at RISD but seems to be able to take limitless time off of work to travel without losing her job. I wish I could figure out how to do this.

4. Why does Carmen have to have the same plotline and learn the same lesson in EVERY book? I think she would have figured it out by now.

5. Also, while we're talking about Carmen, why does she never get to have good epic sexy romance? All of the others do, but she is either alone or dating jerks.

6. AND WHY ARE ALL THE OTHERS STILL WITH THE SAME BOYS THEY MET IN HIGH SCHOOL? I mean really. It's totally implausible. I buy the relationship between Tibby & Brian because I feel like that's built out of friendship and we've seen it develop over the course of the books. But I have always felt that Bridget being in a relationship with Eric is more than a little creepy and inappropriate given the circumstances of how they met. And Kostos? Other than the fact that he is a sexy Greek man, we have no clues as to what is so special about him, or the depth of connection between him & Lena. And sorry Carmen. If you didn't meet a good man when you were fifteen, clearly it is impossible to find love and happiness in this universe.

7. All of the girls are in relationships with men who make a lot of money (or at least more than they do). 3 of the 4 (Brian, Kostos and Carmen's jerky, destined-to-be-dumped fiancee Jones) are described as remarkably wealthy, and Eric does well for himself with a good job & law degree. All of our protagonists are getting by, but none of them are granted the same level of financial or professional success. They get to be taken care of by these brilliant & successful men so that they can devote their time to the job of Being a Good Friend (see #3).

8. Continuing in the same vein, all of our heroes, even poor Tibby, find redemption by the end of the book, but not one of them finds it through professional success. They find it through their relationships with men (Lena, Bridget), motherhood (Tibby, Bridget) and weirdest of all, for Carmen, realizing that her career ISN'T important after all. Here we have these four fantastic women, we spent their whole teenage years getting to know, and learning about their intelligence and talents and capabilities. But as adults they aren't fulfilled by these things, they aren't enough. We don't learn a thing about Tibby's career - I had hoped she would leave some kind of documentary for her friends as a legacy (it would have been cheesy, sure, but meaningful and I would have wept through that whole scene), but no. Her filmmaking abilities are shuffled aside in favor of motherhood.

Would I recommend this book? Sure. Especially if you read and liked the earlier books. But as a standalone, or introduction to the characters - probably not.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't expect everyone to give this five stars, or even to understand why I gave it five stars. It's not a masterpiece, nor is it perfectly written. When I read the first sisterhood book 10 years ago I was 20 and a sophomore in college. I still loved YA lit (something that endures today) and I was in love with the book. I truly felt as if I would have been friends with these girls in high school, that they were hilarious and so much like me and my friends. Now picking up their story 10 years later, as they are 30, like me, I still felt that connection.

So yesterday when I bought the book, after discovering on Tuesday Brashares published that day, I immediately went home and started reading. Seven hours, and a very tired back, later I had finished the book. The last time I read a book in one sitting was HP7, but I just couldn't stop myself this time.

The book is sad. I'm not going to ruin anyone's reading experience or address the major plot points, but it's just very sad. I found myself relating most to Lena, someone who can't deal with change and longs for a time when things were better and she was more connected with her friends. I too have lost contact with friends, something that weighs on my heart every day in invisible ways to the outside world, but you just feel a bit empty and broken without those people around.

Overall I just loved the book because it made me feel something: sadness, a bit of heartbreak, happiness to see the girls succeed in life, comfort in spending some time with old friends, and a universal truth about friendship. Cheesy, yes, but I don't care.

Quotes I loved:

“People said things they didn't mean all the time. Everybody else in the world seemed able to factor it in. But not Lena. Why did she believe the things people said? Why did she cling to them so literally? Why did she think she knew people when she clearly didn't? Why did she imagine that the world didn't change, when it did? Maybe she didn't change. She believed what people said and she stayed the same." (Lena, 211)

“It was frustrating when people loved you and took an interest in you and sometimes worried about you and personally cared what you did with yourself. Lena wished that love were something you could flip on and off. You could turn it on when you felt good bout yourself and worthy of it and generous enough to return it. You could clip it off when you needed to hide or self-destruct and had nothing at all to give." (Lena, 194)