2005

I really like Emily Giffin's books, but I hated this. Being a sequel of 'Something borrowed', I expected a lot more. 'Something Blue' talked about Darcy and her life after Rachel and Dex, but I couldn't quite get into the book.

I believe that this book meant for Darcy to redeem herself in the end, but I don't feel that . I don't feel that she has matured much, and in my (very humble) opinion, I don't believe she deserves Ethan. I think for me, 'Something Blue' would have received a better review from me if Darcy did not end up with Ethan in the end.

Her worst book to date, I believe. It's a good thing I only read this after I finished her other 3 books, otherwise I might be put off for life. ( )

This is the sequel to Something Borrowed, and brings Darcy centre stage. From the first book, we know that she is self absorbed, selfish, fairly deluded and expects perfect things to happen to her. I must admit, I was more reluctant to pick up this book having come down firmly on the side of Rachel in the first novel, but Giffin's writing pulled me in and I found myself completely entranced by the story of Darcy.

The book is almost split into two parts. The first deals with Darcy's life immediately after she finds out of the betrayal by Rachel and Dex. We watch as she tries to make a new life with Marcus, but she soon realises that she was suffering very much from a 'grass is greener' attitude and that Dex might have been the better option. We suffer through a toe-curlingly embarrassing scene as Darcy tries to win Dex back. Her lying and insufferable attitude to relationships and imminent motherhood create the Darcy we loved to hate from Something Borrowed.

However, in the second part of the book Darcy moves to London to try and make a new life, and moves in with Ethan, her childhood friend. It takes an explosive scene between Darcy and Ethan to make her realise that she is about to become a mother and needs to make some changes to her life.

I loved the fact that Darcy really changed over the course of this book, and learnt that appearances really aren't everything. She was still the Darcy who loved luxurious things, and the Darcy who would explode in a temper, but she mellowed hugely and became a true mother.

Sure, there are a number of imperfections in the book. It does provide a fairytale ending, and Giffin clearly wasn't concerned with the accuracies of moving to a different country to live, but I feel these are minor gripes. The course of the book deals with maturity, motherhood and coming to terms with a new life. The main character had a true epiphany and became a better person for it.

When all is said and done, it's still a chick lit book, but definitely more honest and revealing than most. It says a lot that, having read both Something Borrowed and Something Blue, I am now going out to pick up the other books written by this author. Quality work. ( )

Something Blue is the sequel to Emily Giffin's other book, Something Borrowed. Here is a description of Something Blue from Amazon:

"Selfish but beautiful Darcy is reeling from the betrayal of her best friend, Rachel, and her fiance, Dex, even though she cheated on Dex with his friend Marcus. Darcy is carrying Marcus' child, so she assumes he'll take care of her. After all, she's always gotten everything she's ever wanted. But when Marcus dumps her, she finds herself pregnant and alone. Always the opportunist, Darcy contacts her childhood friend Ethan, now a writer living in London, and gets him to agree to let her visit for awhile. She jets off to the UK envisioning a charmed life where a handsome, rich Englishman will sweep her off her feet. The reality isn't so blissful--Ethan is critical of her selfish behavior and she finds herself incredibly lonely and unprepared for motherhood. After a confrontation with Ethan, she decides it's time for radical change."

At first it was very weird to be reading a book from Darcy's point of view. I couldn't stand her in Something Borrowed! Now, though, I like Darcy more than I like Rachel. She changed so much about herself when it didn't seem like it would be possible. I definitely liked this book better than the first. I was almost crying at the end. It was great reading about London, because I recognized a lot of the street names and landmarks since I lived there one summer. It definitely made me want to go back. Anyway, I loved this book and I'm so glad I got it from the library very quickly! ( )

I liked hearing Darcy's side, but it was harder to get into than Something Borrowed. I am glad she redeemed herself in the end, but I have to say I liked Rachel better as a main character. ( )

Synopsis: This book picks up where Something Borrowed left off. Rachel's ex-best friend Darcy is now the lead character, and the book opens with Darcy finding Dex in Rachel's closet. Darcy pouts and argues her way through the first half of the book, looking for sympathy and casting blame on everyone but herself. She winds up all alone, so she moves to London with Ethan to try to turn her life around. After a blow out with Ethan, Darcy has a revelation and begins to try to turn her life around, looking for a "happy ending."

Pros and Cons: This book was not nearly as good as the first book, however, the author still managed to suck me into the story. I give Emily Giffin props to her writing style. However, the book tend to be over the top, full of stereotypes, and just plain silly. The characters are one-dimentional and the plot is unbelievable. As with the first book, Something Blue needs to be taken for what it is - fluff reading. Just not as great as the first fluff. ( )

Picking up where the first novel left off, Something Blue continues the story, but shifts some of the secondary characters – notably wronged-fiancee-and-best-friend Darcy – center stage. Unfortunately for readers, Darcy is even more dislikable than Dex and Rachel, and the new surrounding characters are mostly two-dimensional props, inserted just to keep Darcy’s story afloat. Too bad there isn’t much worth floating here.

What made Something Borrowed so appealing was its unflinching honesty. Rare is the light fiction that dares to provide a satisfactory, yet slightly unhappy ending. And rarer still is the book that pulls it off, as Something Borrowed did. Which makes me wonder just what Giffin was thinking this time around.

In Something Blue, there is a gratuitous use of over-the-top clichés and so much of the story requires suspension of disbelief that it is nearly impossible to read. I admit, it took a mighty effort for me to overlook the glaring ignorance of immigration laws and practicalities of living abroad and keep reading. (Where were Giffin’s editors, I wonder?) I kept hoping that at least the ending would have a ring of realism, but no. One incredible plot turn after another led only to a fairy tale finish. The only thing missing were the words “And they lived happily ever after”.

I think the bottom line is that the publisher wanted another bestseller, at any cost. Had Darcy’s story kept a similar tone to Rachel’s, she would have wound up moving back to her hometown, living with her parents, getting help with both finances and childcare. Darcy’s glamorous days would be over and her new life as a (possibly) single suburban mom would begin. But that would defy chick-lit convention too strongly for most readers and cost the publisher sales. So we get this mess of a story instead.

I will give kudos to Giffin’s overall talent as a writer, though. I’ve gone on to read Baby Proof, and what I notice about all three is that she has the ability to suck you in, regardless of weak characters or poor plot choices. The pacing is quick and never lets up, but the stories never feel all that rushed either. Give her other works a chance; just skip this one. ( )

This was a really good book. It was interesting to read about things from Darcy's point of view, instead of Rachel's. At first I was definitely on Rachel's side but I started to like Darcy more as I read it. The ending was really cute. ( )

Can you believe it – Darcy is furious with Rach for stealing her fiance, Dex, even though she cheated on Dex by sleeping with his bestfriend, Marcus. She is every bit the ungrateful, selfish, spoiled and mean villain in the first part of this book and I thought she finally got her comeuppance when Marcus dumped her while she was alone and pregnant. But the author presented us with a twist. And you may be a little surprised at the ending. Overall, this two-part story is a fabulous and entertaining read. It shows the writer’s depth and good storytelling skills. ( )

I, like so many others, loved Something Borrowed. Emily Giffin has a tendency, as far as I can see, to write about not really likeable characters. I didn't much care for her last heroine on a connection level, and this time, the tale is about the last novel's antagonist. While it was certainly a good book and I read it in one sitting, it wasn't very satisfying. yes, the evil woman reforms in the end and gets the nice guy, but I don't know. There was something missing for me. it reminded me a little bit of Sophie Kinsella. ( )

This book follows Darcy, the best friend of Rachel from Something Borrowed. This book picks up after Darcy discoverers Rachel and Darcy's fiance Dex had an affair and after Darcy's own affair leaves her pregnant with her fiance's best friend's baby.

I didn't like Darcy after reading the first book, and even after reading this book I'm still not a big fan of Darcy's. But this book was still pretty good. I liked that the story picks up where the first one left off. We're not left to wonder what happened in the time between, because there is no time between.

The characters are still as great as they were in the first book. They are well rounded and I still felt like I knew them.

Darcy tries to make a turn-around but I still felt that she was self-absorbed. I have to admit that I like her more at the end of the book than I did at the beginning, but she's still mot my favorite person.

Even despite the fact that I didn't like the main character I would still say this was a really good book. Emily Giffin is great writer for her genre. She knows how to write Chick Lit and does it well. ( )

The sequel to Something Borrowed. I liked it a lot. Yes it was predictable, and yes, Darcy meets a whole lot of rich people that I just never seem to bump into, but there are also some realistic sides to the story. I finished it in almost one go. ( )

This is book two. This time the book is about Darcy. Basically its her story and not Rachels.

Darcy thought she had it all figured out. She knew the more beautiful the was the more of a fantastic life you had. She always got what she wanted even from when she was a young girl. She asked and she got it no question asked. Darcy didn't care about substance, morals, karma or the rules. What Darcy wanted Darcy got was the rule of thumb. She didn't care who she hurt as long as she got what she wanted.

Darcy's perfect world got turned up side down by her best friend Rachel. (Rachel to her is a plain Jane and good girl.) Darcy found out that her best friend stole her fiance Dex. It was only after she told Rachel that Dex called the wedding off. We find out that Darcy cheated on Dex with his best friend Marcus and that she was pregnant with Marcus's baby. Then she found out about Dex and Rachel.

Life with Marcus isn't the greatest and he leaves her. Darcy finds herself for the very first time in her life alone and with a baby on the way. No idea what to do she heads to London to hang with Ethan (yes the same guy Rachel went to see) and while thinking of going to London she is thinking of staying. Once she is there Darcy resorts back to her old ways of getting what she wants. While she is there she tries to make her life what it was in NYC.

She soon discovers through Ethans help that her rules that she use to live by before no longer apply. She needs to change or else. Ethan really let into her on the way she was and how she treated people. The reason she is alone with no friends to lean on.

Upon thinking of what Ethan has told her she realizes that she must begin the journey towards being self awareness, motherhood, forgiveness and friendship. Darcy discovers the true meaning of friendship, love and being able to have the happiness ever after.

After reading this book I truly feel in love with Darcy's character. ( )

A sequel to SOMETHING BORROWED I enjoyed this one much better. The materialistic and self centered Darcy finds herself pregnant, unmarried and reeling from being dumped not once, but twice, in quick succession. For the first time in her life she is all alone, with no-one to worship her. She contacts her old High School friend, Ethan, and persuades him to let her stay with him in London for a few weeks while she sorts herself out. Translation - shop, find a rich husband and new friends to boss around.

Unlike the first book where Rachel remains pretty much the same character - the character of Darcy grows. She is a different person by the end of SOMETHING BLUE - and it is this growth that is the main thrust of the story. A much better tale than the first book - not that the first was bad - but it should be read in sequence because I think you will miss out on so much by starting with this one. ( )

This is the second book in the two book series following Darcy and Rachel, two best friends, whose friendship is tested with infidelity, age, and maturity. I enjoyed this one more than the first one, Something Borrowed. Watching the characters progress and grow was much more satisfying than just reading about their emotional shallowness. Even though the book finished with a happy ending, the story and meaning were clear and it was fun trip to end up here. ( )

One of my favorite chick lit books!

Even though I didn't like Darcy at all in the first book, Something Blue ended up being my favorite of the two books. It was a great read! ( )

How can an author make you hate a character in one book and love the same character in the next book? I don't know but Emily Giffin does! I hated Darcy in the first book, but I fell in love in this one! ( )

At the end of SOMETHING BORROWED, Rachel’s life seemed to be on the upswing, while her ex-best friend Darcy’s was going downhill fast. Darcy was pregnant with Marcus’ baby, while she found out that Dex, her ex-fiancé, had been having an affair with Rachel—that traitor!—for the whole summer. It’s enough to give any girl used to luxury, comfort, and coddling (like Darcy is) a major migraine that even a shopping spree won’t help. Darcy intends to marry Marcus and raise their baby together, but when Marcus refuses to have anything to do with her, Darcy, panicked and out of options in what once was the opportunity-filled New York, decides to go stay with her childhood friend Ethan in London. So she packs up most of her clothes and toiletries and jets over to Ethan’s tiny basement flat, sharing his bed with him.

At first, Darcy is having a blast in London, what with all the new shopping that she can do and all. Who needs Rachel and Dex anyway? But a big fight with Ethan opens her eyes to all her faults. Despite his stinging words, Darcy realizes that he has only spoken the truth, and vows to turn her life around, for herself, her unborn baby, and Ethan.

And changing herself turns out to not be very difficult at all. She finds a gynecologist, Geoffrey Moore, but very soon switches doctors after she and Geoffrey start being an item. Geoffrey is everything Darcy had ever wanted in a man: handsome, rich, smart, caring. The perfect gentleman. Which is just as well because Ethan has started to see someone too.

But although life in London is turning out just as she imagined—finding the perfect man to take care of her and her child—something is just not right. Darcy can’t seem to pinpoint it out, until, over her baby’s security, she realizes that maybe she was with the wrong man. That maybe she had never been in love before until this moment, and that the man she loved was right next to her and just might love her back.

As always, Giffin does an envious job creating real, complex characters and helping them grow into better people. In SOMETHING BORROWED Darcy was the me-me-me girl who wanted and got everything and who got on your nerves, but here she is a genuine heroine who you can grow to love and cheer for. ( )

http://www.lonelymountain.net/books/d... ( )

A shocking sequel to Something Borrowed - this story follows Darcy from her betrayal from her fiance Dex and her best friend Rachel.

She is now pregnant and decides leaving to go see her friend (although we don't see him as being much of a friend based on the first novel) across the pond.

This book had the ability to switch my sympathies and witness a complete change of character and growth in Darcy.

I loved this book and was sad to see that Giffin's third book was not another sequel. ( )

Great book! Nice easy reading. It started out a little slow, but once it got going it was tough to put down. Just a nice, easy read for a winter day. It was fairly predictable, but still had some nice surprises. ( )

This book picks up right where Something Borrowed left off. I knew it would be a companion book to Something Borrowed, told from Darcy's perspective, but I thought it would re-tell the same events from Darcy's perspective (and maybe go on from there). But in fact, it picks up exactly where the first left off.
I had two problems with this book, both related to the realism of Darcy as a character. Let me prelude this with how the plot begins. Darcy starts off pretty much as the Darcy you'd expect, given Rachel's description of her in the first book. Rachel was not overly mean about Darcy's flawed personality. So we get a pretty superficial but lots of fun Darcy, indignant at what others have done to her. And that's all fine and good, because that gels with foreshadowing.
So this is pregnant Darcy, whose just broken up with her fiance, Dex, with whom she'd been for seven years. She is now with Marcus, and carrying his baby. And Darcy remains Darcy and Marcus gets fed up and breaks up with her. By then, she's told her mother about the pregnancy and had a falling out with her. This is soon to be followed by a falling out with her newly-promoted-to-best-friend so-called friend, Claire.
So Darcy finds herself pregnant and alone.
She turns to her old friend, Ethan, who lives in London and convinces him to agree to having her visit. Most of the book thusly takes place in London.
My first problem with Darcy is that despite losing all these people whom she was close to (or believed that she was close to), her entire network of people, including a life-long best friend and a man she was with for SEVEN YEARS, she feels no long term heart break. Or sure, there is the initial drama and some anger and resentment. But very little on-going sadness. It's great that she's decided to move on and never look back, but shouldn't that decision present a challenge? Shouldn't she have some crying fits, some endless days where the heartbreak feels like it might kill her, even if these moments are few and far between? That's problem one.
Problem two comes after Darcy had been selfish and insensitive for several weeks in London and Ethan calls her on it. He gives her a pretty realistic assessment of her flaws. And Darcy is hurt and in denial for about 2 minutes. Then she realizes Ethan is right and makes a list of seven or so chances she wants to make in her life to be a better person and then she becomes this new person.
Yup, that's right, she decides to be an entirely new person and she does it. No problem. No looking back. No special challenge. No real difficulty in doing a total personality makeover in one day.
(Incidentally, this must make it much, much easier for Giffin to write Darcy's story, since Darcy decides to no longer be Darcy and successfully makes the change, effortlessly at that.)
Having said that, I still really enjoyed the book and devoured it very quickly. Having described the flaws, they seem pretty significant, but they weren't as flagrant during my actual reading of the book(suspension of disbelief, I suppose).
And since I'm a sucker for a happy ending, I really liked how this all turned out. ( )

The flip-side of Something Borrowed, this novel tells the story of Rachel and Dex's romance through the eyes of Rachel's best friend and Dex's fiancee, Darcy. Little did anyone know that Darcy had a complex love life as well. ( )

Soooo good! Even though Darcy was a hated character in Something Borrowed, I grew to love her in this sequel. I even had to pull out the tissues! ( )