A Review of 'Sisterhood Everlasting' by Ann Brashares (Audio Book)

"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 shares 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."

A little fan-girl squeal escaped me when I found this audio book at the library.  This is a continuation of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, though Tibby, Carmen, Bee, and Lena are much older than when we last saw them at age eighteen/nineteen.  Even though they're almost thirty in this book, I, a teenager, got a lot of enjoyment out of this book.  The characters still have their same old personalities as before, which was lovely!

I think I liked this one more than the other Traveling Pants books because it had the added elements of loss, dealing with grief, and moving on (in more ways than one) along with the usual elements of romance and being human.  I appreciated the more grown-up novel as opposed to the novel that's meant to be read on the beach during the summer.  It was beautiful in ways that the original four books couldn't be.

I didn't like that the new minor characters weren't introduced more.  There was a character, Drew, who showed up once or twice, but I couldn't remember who he was-- whether he appeared in a previous book or not-- I feel like a little context could have helped, even though Drew wasn't important.  This would have been more important for Carmen's fiance, Jones, though.  He's a more prominent character any way.  It would have been nice if Jones had put up a little bit of a fight for Carmen.  It would have shown that he wasn't a completely one-sided character-- that he cared at least a little bit about Carmen and wasn't just rushing into marriage because it was the thing to do.

This is definitely not a book you can just pick up and understand.  It really helps to have read the first four books in order to truly appreciate the book.

Overall, this book is a great read (or listen) and those who loved the first four Traveling Pants books will simply devour it!

I give 'Sisterhood Everlasting':

Thanks for reading!

--Jude