I was so excited when I learned that Ann Brashares was writing a new Sisterhood of the Traveling pants book. I loved that series from the beginning and couldn't wait to find out what had happened to our favorite sisterhood, ten years later! As always, this review contains SPOILERS, so if you don't want to ruin the surprise, check out one of my other posts! :)
As life goes, the women of the sisterhood are all living their own lives and not really keeping in touch as much. Carmen is a budding actress, Tibby is living in Australia with Brian, Lena is teaching art classes, and Bridget is as free-spirited as ever. The chaos of life gets interrupted, when Carmen, Lena, and Bridget get a package from Tibby. Tibby has bought them all tickets to Greece for a reunion. All of the girls are excited and can't wait to reconnect.
That is until they arrive in Greece and disaster strikes. Tibby is missing and a body has been found. The girls can't absorb the news. How can one of their own be taken from them, in such a tragic way?! The police say Tibby drowned, but the girls find letters addressed to them. Throughout the book, the girls open the letters, they are addressed to be open at various times. This leaves the girls to wonder how well they knew one another and if Tibby killed herself...?
The girls deal with Tibby's death in different ways. Carmen wraps herself up in a wedding to a man she doesn't love. Bridget runs away and learns that she is pregnant. Lena mourns for her friend and her lost love Kostos. (The man she never stopped loving.) It takes some time but Carmen is able to realize that she is making a huge mistake from an unexpected delay on a train. Bridget travels to Australia and learns that Tibby has a daughter named Bailey. This helps her to realize that she can be a mother and wants to have a family with Eric. Lena finally confesses her love for Kostos.
The book ends with the girls learning that Tibby did not kill herself. Brian shares with Bridget that Tibby had a degenerative disease. She wanted to see the girls even though she was truly too weak to travel. Brian and Tibby had planned to introduce Bailey and have a big wedding in the states soon after their Greece reunion. Tibby had picked out a farm house in Pennsylvania, Bridget had helped them move in. Carmen and Lena had letters asking them to meet at the house. Tibby had chosen a place that had enough room for the girls to each have a place to stay whenever they wanted. Carmen ends the book talking about reconnecting with the ones she loves. Bridget is excited about raising her baby alongside Bailey. Lena and Kostos decide to live together---no one knows if they will stick around, but they will always come back. Tibby's parents also have a place and are thrilled to learn about Bailey.
I really enjoyed this book. I was upset to hear of Tibby's death and didn't like the thought of her being suicidal. It just didn't seem in her nature and Tibby and Brian seemed to fit so well together. It would have been horribly inappropriate if it had been written that Brian pushed her into it. I felt especially sad for Carmen's character, it seemed that she had changed the most and not for the better. It was nice to see a glimmer of her old self in the end. I thought it was interesting that Ann chose Bridget's character to deal with a pregnancy. It seemed to be a pretty wise choice, Bridget thought herself not to be very maternal, but it seems she was made to be a mother. I was very happy to see Lena and Kostos finally together, a long time coming if you asked me! ;) I think Ms. Brashares did an excellent job of wrapping this series up. John jokes that she will write another book about them being old ladies. XD I honestly don't think so, but if she did, I would read it. She has a way of writing characters that you identify with and root for.
Has anyone else read this series? What are your thoughts? If not, do you have any reading recommendations?
<3 Anna
