I like to think of myself as a discerning reader who finds few books worth 5-stars, so initially I gave the book 4 but the more I thought about it I had to give it 5. Why?? Well because it cut too close to the truth of life. Because once I started the book I couldn't put it down (it took about 6 hours, and really cut into my sleep, but I just couldn't put it down). I read some of the negative reviews that basically saw it as tripe, but as I read the story I felt sympathy for both Darcy and Rachel, none for Dexter but that's another story. Why, you ask, since Darcy is basically a self-centered egotistical b***, well because I've been in both shoes. Now for the summary and review.
The story is as old as time--a lover's triangle, with a twist. Darcy and Rachel lived next door to each other and have been friends forever. Darcy is the girl you envy in school and hope to be like, or hate because you can't be like her. Rachel is the girl-next-door, smart and humble who as an only child has the "must be perfect" syndrome. Dexter (Dex) is the shared love-interest.
The story opens on Rachel's 30th birthday (well the night before) at a party Darcy has planned for Rachel. You learn before the party that Rachel is at ends with herself, she had planned her life perfectly but oops things didn't go that way. At the party Darcy is the life, the center, of the party despite it being for Rachel. Things go as they usually do for both girls until the next morning when Rachel wakes up to two things: Dex is sleeping in her bed NUDE and Darcy is screaming out of the answering machine that she is basically going to kill Dex because she knows he had cheated on her. From there things should go downhill with Rachel being the fiance stealing bad woman and Darcy being the poor cheated on girl and Dex the good-for-nothing cheater, but like life things aren't what they seem. The story is pretty formula: man-stealing woman and cheating man have a steamy affair telling poor-old Darcy they are working all the while they are having sex etc. But....Formula is broken by several things (SPOILER ALERT):
1. Darcy is every woman's nightmare of a best-friend. She always makes sure she is the center of attention. If you want something she makes sure she gets it first, even if she has to lie and cheat to get it. Her life is charmed...at your expense. She's beautiful and knows it and flaunts it at everyone. And then you find she has absolutely no morals (i.e. she has cheated on Dex with his friend). S-o-o-o Darcy is really the wicked Witch.
2. Rachel is the good girl who has always done the right thing all of her life, she is the responsible never put-things-off person that your mother always wanted you to be. Rachel is also the kind of best friend you wish you had, or wish you could be, she always says the right thing to make you feel better, always thinks of your feelings before hers, and is always willing to step aside to let you pursue your dream while still being there to cheer you on. Until...she and Dex start their affair. But even then you feel sorry for her: she feels guilty for what happened and worse for not regretting it. Then once she learns Dex has no regrets either she is conflicted because she doesn't think she has the right to claim Dex as her own, she alternates between guilt for not wanting Dex and Darcy to hold hands, kiss etc to feeling she has no right to feel those things to angry that Dex still has feelings for Darcy to feeling sorry for herself for wanting Dex just for herself to guilt for wanting Dex--in a nutshell all those feelings woman have when they are cheating with their friend's boyfriend/fiance/husband that is best summed up as while you feel your entitled to win you still feel rotten because of what you're doing--it is a real ego-buster.
3. Dex--How do I describe him except that he good looking, smart, and has a good job. Dex loves Rachel, is in a long-term relationship with Darcy that you get the feeling he just can't get enough energy to get out of--I think he likes Darcy but we are told he just doesn't love her (see what I mean later). You learn he and Rachel were an almost couple before Dex and Darcy and it is thanks to Rachel they became a couple. I wanted to feel sympathy for him, and did in some parts of the book, but he was just sometimes such a jerk. He keeps telling Rachel that she is the ONE--his soul-mate--and then turns around and acts like he never said it. And then there's what he says when he breaks up with Rachel, I just wanted to strangle him. I feel the author wanted us to see him as a troubled, conflicted man who has to choose between love and doing what is right. I get the feeling he always loved Rachel, but just never thought she would love him and she thought the same until BAM they collided one day and their love for each other just hit them in the face.
So my review: "***** It's a real page turner you can't put down as you cheer and cry for the characters"
Like I said earlier "been there done it" so I had a personal interest in all the characters. Like Darcy I had a childhood friend who I swear if I wanted something and told her that she would do anything and everything to either get it first or ruin it for me (just like Darcy does for Rachel), so I hated Darcy, I wanted her to feel all the pain she had caused Rachel, I wanted her to lose to Rachel just this once. I've also been in Rachel shoes, fell in love with my roommate's boyfriend and tried to steal him from her behind her back, I liked my friend but not enough to say no to her boyfriend when he asked me out or asked me to spend the night with him. Like Rachel it was a dark period in my life when I stole happiness and time with him every chance I could. I hated him for not taking a stand on who he wanted to be with, for making me feel like I was special and then coming to the apartment and using the same lines on her, but more I hated myself for not saying no to going out and then not standing up and demanding he choose (because like Rachel I knew he would choose her over me and I didn't want it to end). So at the same time I also felt sorry for Darcy who was clueless to the end--she thought Dex was hers hook-line-and-sinker only to have him leave her for Rachel (been in those shoes too).
What's my bottom line? I gave it five stars because it made me thing a lot, a whole lot about myself and others I knew, and because I ended up reading it three times in 24 hours and each time cheering for different characters.
To me a good book not only tells a story but also makes you look at things differently. This was not a shallow book of romance but one that made you want to take sides and cheer for that side to win. It made you look inside and ask what would you have done if...if you were Rachel-were her friends right to cheer her on with "If Darcy was in your shoes she would do it so do it back to her". Or should she have been strong and told him upfront to choose--her or Darcy. Or should she have stuck to her life game plan and done what was right--"Sorry I got drunk and had sex with you but it can never ever happen again". And I disagree that Rachel's displeasure with her job was annoying. Haven't you ever had a job that you just hated but didn't want to quit because--it was your dream job that made bad reality, paid well to pay off debts to school, you always thought the next promotion would make it better, Aunt Rita sold her soul to get you this job, it was your parent/friend/spouse/lover dream job and you hoped if you just stuck it out it would be yours. Haven't you ever dated someone because someone in your family or someone you care for has set you up and you want to do it because--to please them, maybe they're right and he's____(fill in the blank with a good trait), you're bored/unhappy with life and would do anything to change it? I have for all these reasons. I've also been in Dex's shoes, in a long-term relationship headed for marriage when suddenly I don't know why I'm there because I really don't love him he's just--an old shoe you hate to throw out, you know him and he's safe, someone thinks you two are great together, your parents love him and think he's great for you--and so as not to rock the boat you do what is expected of you.
So another bottom line:
If asked the first time I read the book I pictured me as Rachel (because I was that perfect child who always did what was right-in fact I had a boss tell me once I was the perfect employee because I was never late, I did my job no matter what he asked, and I never complained-and guess what that was the job I did because it was short-term until I moved to the next job at a different place in the same field and I absolutely HATED it and him). Darcy was my friend from home who always won when we competed. And Dex--well he was the boy she stole from me in high school. I wanted Rachel to win Dex, marry him and live happily ever after, because that's what I had dreamed for me and that boyfriend.
But still (after reading "Something Blue") I felt my line was too pat. Was Darcy really that bad and Rachel that good? Well the answer was no. Like Darcy I have ran over some good friends in an effort to get what I wanted. I've been like Rachel and let someone else take what I wanted. And last I've been like Dex, more than I would like to admit, and wavered in choosing what was easy over what was right.
So I read the book again and again and then thought if the author wrote about my life who would I be: Would I be Rachel because more often than not I've done what was right even when it wasn't easy. Or would I be Darcy and the author would tell the tale of my downfall and eventual rise to be that person who did what was right. Or would I be Dex, the conflicted person who wants to do what is right, but isn't sure what is right: should I marry Darcy because I've promised her I would or should I marry Rachel because she's my soul-mate or should I marry Darcy because Rachel isn't my soul-mate--what a choice.
SO? This is a great book that I think everyone should read just once, along with "Something Blue", because it's not just a romance or light read, but makes you re-think your rules and values, makes you think about how life is not black-and-white, cut-and-dry, right-and-wrong. That sometimes there is no right answer, no pat answer, that life is like the blank composition book we got in honors chemistry-"There is no one right answer because sometimes one thing can be approached, or done, from more than one angle and what I'm looking for is that you are able to take what you've learned and apply it to real life and give an answer that will solve the problem" (I always thought he was full-of-brown-material but 30 years later I realize he was one smart guy).
Give the book to your 20-something daughter who is young and single, or happily married, or your best-friend and then discuss the book, really discuss the book like we did back in the 60's and 70's and ask "What do you think and why? Who do you think was right or wrong and why? But most importantly if you were in Rache/Dex/Darcy/Marcus/Rachel and Dex/Darcy and Dex/Marcus and Darcy's shoes what would you do and why? And is a guy worth sacrificing friendship for? And remember to tell them there is no right or wrong answer because not everyone thinks the same about a problem and sometimes what you think at 20 (or 30 or 40) isn't what you think at 50-60-70.
Like I said this book makes you think about life and the tough questions and problems we sometimes have to answer. So without reservation I give this a five-star recommendation.
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About the author
Darcy deserved it if you ask me......
I am so excited that my book is here, i actually just opened the package. I watched the movie at first, I didnt realise it was a book-turned-movie until I was hunting for good reads on Amazon, and realised it was the same thing. Now is my chance to prove to myself if the book really is always better than the movie lol. The books came quickly and in mint condition. No complaints here. =)
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2011
Top reviews from other countries
- T. LamReviewed in Australia on September 20, 2015
Great novel! Find myself in Rachel
- Amazon CustomerReviewed in India on September 17, 2016
Could't keep it down once started, sacrificed 2 nights ...
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