Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants continues in the adult installment, Sisterhood Everlasting.  Each girl has gone off in a direction of her life separate from the others: Carmen is an actress, living in New York City and engaged to a gorgeous guy in the industry (who her friends happen to not really love so much); Lena is mostly single, living in Providence and working a couple of days a week, working on her art in bits and pieces; Bridget and Eric live in San Francisco, though it's usually in a different apartment every couple of weeks, paid for through Eric's steady job but supported by Bee's fleeting fancies; and Tibby and Brian moved to Australia a few years ago for a job opportunity for Brian's software company.  

None of the girls talk to each other as much as they'd like, and none of them are really satisfied with where life has taken them so far.  However, each is completely overjoyed when they receive a package from Tibby that includes round-trip airline tickets to the Greek island of Santorini!  It's been ten years since the girls have all been together at Lena's grandparents' house and they know that this reunion is long overdue.  But before they reunite, tragedy takes one of them away and the other three need to figure out how to deal with their grief and live life as incomplete versions of themselves.  Much of the novel follows a depressing path, but light emerges in the form a few special characters, and in the end the reader is grateful for the opportunity to get to know the girls all over again.  This is a very worthy read.

Recommended for nostalgic adult readers and young adults new to the characters but looking for a book about changing relationships, truth in love, and families everlasting.

Reviewed by kate the librarian.