The Second Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares

After reading the first book, I actually didn't know this was a series until stumbling across two more in the bookstore. This book, while it was interesting and had all the same characters, didn't quite hold the same charm for me as the first book though. For those not familiar with the series, the first summer that four friends Tibby, Bridget, Carmen, and Lena are to be separated, they stumble across a pair of pants that fits them all perfectly. With these pants they make a pact and plan to do great things in them.

Now we are one the second summer (as the pants can only worn in the summer) and each girl hopes that the pants will bring them good luck, love, and happiness. Carmen, like the previous year, is having trouble adjusting to her mom dating (it was her dad the first summer) and is letting her temper get the best of her. Lena, is saddened by the end of her relationship with Kostos (who lives in Greece) and her mixed feelings about him and their time together. Tibby is at film school and while she's making new friends, they're not always the best influence and lead her to do insensitive things. Finally, Bridget who has completely changed from her old self, heads to her grandmother's house who she hasn't seen in years after finding letters hidden away by her father. This time, the girls all realize that for the magic of the pants to work, they have to work on themselves first.

The characters in this just weren't as developed as they were in the first novel. Motivations and feelings came out of nowhere with no background (like Bridget's father not liking her grandmother for no reason given to us). The characters are also written a lot younger seeming than they should be. For 16-17 year old girls, they sure talk and act like they are pre-teens instead.

The writing seems to take short-cuts and hurry along just to get the book finished. Indeed, even Carmen's plotline from the first book is reused over for her in this second book. While I'm sure this is a great book for young adults, regular adults might not enjoy it as much as they did the first one due to some of these aspects of the writing.

I'll probably read another book from the series but I don't think I'll read all of them. They're charming, but if this one is any indication, they are starting to head away from my taste.

The Second Summer of the Sisterhood
Copyright 2003
373 pages