Something Borrowed and Something Blue by Emily Giffin

This is a double review. Something Borrowed is one book and Something Blue is the second and both by the same author. I borrowed both from a friend at work and read them both back to back. Seemed silly to do two reviews when they are both so intertwined.

Something Borrowed, the first book, tells the story of Rachel, a lawyer in New York who discovers she is in love with her best friend’s fiancé. Rachel is the type who is smart, bookish, and has always played by the rules. In a lot of ways, she has always played second fiddle to her best friend Darcy who is beautiful and has always had guys falling over themselves to be with her. So she finds her world turned upside down when on the night of her 30th birthday party, she starts having an affair with Dex. Dex is a fellow lawyer, they went to school together and she was the one to introduce Dex to Darcy. The big question becomes, does she follow her heart and risk losing her oldest friend in the process? It is a bit more complicated than that.

Something Blue, the other book, tells the story of Darcy, a PR Rep who has just had to cancel her wedding to Dex and finds out that she is pregnant with another man’s baby. Yep, not only was Rachel and Dex having an affrair but Darcy and Marcus, Dex’s college roommate and groomsman from the ill-fated wedding, were getting a little on the side as well. Darcy has always traded on her looks to get what she wants and can’t understand how her world has been turned upside down by finding herself alone for the first time ever and with a baby on the way. She decides to travel to London and move in with an old childhood friend to get her life back on track. But what she valued in the past doesn’t seem to be working for her anymore. Is it possible for her to make a change or will she fall back on old patterns that focused on image and material things over substance?

Personally, I found Something Blue more interesting to read over Something Borrowed. Something Borrowed was more about fretting about what was going on than anything actually going on. And to be honest, when Rachel goes to London to visit Ethan, I didn’t really understand why she didn’t stay and hook up with him. He was the most appealing male character in the series and was glad to see him return for a second time around. Darcy, as a character, was a little more fascinating to read as I had so little in common with her.

As fluff books go, it wasn’t the best I’ve ever read but still fun.