Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner

Rainy Sunday. Perfect for reading and then posting about it.


Certain Girls is the sequel to Jennifer's big hit Good in Bed. Both of which I've borrowed from women at work and they make good pass around books. Also, they are quick reads and perfect for summer. I read Good in Bed before I started this reviewing books for fun thing. That is too bad because I'd have liked to go back and review what I'd felt about that book. Not really sure how I feel about this one.

Let's start with the story, the story centers around Candace and Joy, 12 years after the ending of the first book. Cannie is a stay at home mom who writes professional fanfic based on a sci-fi/fantasy movie under a pen name. She is super mom extraordinaire. Joy is a typical kid trying to break away from her overprotective mom, trying to fit-in with the popular kids at school, and trying to figure out who she is. In a lot of ways, she is a younger version of Cannie and it makes you wonder if you ever do figure it out. Lots of things happen and everyone learns something by the end.

I really do like these books while I'm reading them. They are so light and fluffy and fun and have a sharp wit, you don't want to see them end. They are not books I'd recommend to everyone but they are great to pass around to the girls at work book club or to anyone who enjoys books about mother/daughter relationships. Unfortunately, I do have a little bit of a guilty feeling afterwards. Like eating french fries instead of ordering the salad that was so helpfully offered as a healthy alternative. Oh well, I'll try to find a salad book next time.

Perhaps this conflicted feeling is because of what happened in the book. I really don't want to give that away but it really made me sad. Sad. Sad is such an odd word, like it only belongs to 4 year olds who don't know how to articulate how they really feel but it is an accurate description. I guess, as one of the centers of Cannie's happiness is taken away, it made me just as unhappy in direct proportion to how happy it made me when she found it in Good in Bed.

Bad things happen to people and life goes on. The book does end on a happy note so no worries if you were planning on taking this one to the beach.