Thursday, April 2, 2009

3 Willows-- Ann Brashares





*Sigh*

I did it to myself, really. I knew, in my heart, that 3 Willows just couldn't be that good. Still, I thought I should give it a chance and not prejudge the book based on all the terribly Traveling Pants sequels. I mean, after all, I did like the first Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book before The Pants took over the universe.

3 Willows tells the story of Polly, Jo, and Ama. The three girls were best friends all through elementary school, but when Jr. High struck, they went their separate ways. Jo is the hot popular one (aka Bridget), Ama is the beautiful scholastic one (aka Lena), and Polly is the curvy artsy raised by a single mom girl (hybrid of Tibby and Carmen). All three girls have separate adventures during the summer, learn a lesson, and decide they need their real friends after all. Cue the "aaaahhhhhs".

What made this story even worse, is that Brashares kept bringing up the Traveling Pants girls. Lena and her sister Effie make an appearance, as does Bridget and Tibby's siblings and boyfriend. I mean, really, just let it go! Even the cover of the book felt dull and uninspired.

I am curious to see if girls enjoy this book. My guess is die-hard Traveling Pants fans and young girls who like clean romance will enjoy it. But I think most girls will enjoy another series a little more... this one just feels blah and recycled. Anyone else read it? What do you think?

3 comments:

Ms. Yingling said...

Blah and recycled hits it. I'm not even going to order it. Eternal bothered me, though. The vampires really didn't have much humanity left, and I think that's what the students like.

Bookieworm said...

What? I really liked the book. Yeah, Ann Brashares did bring up the characters of the Traveling Pants, but she more hinted at them. I actually did like 3 Willows, and I agree with you about the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants-the first one was good, but the rest were blah. Maybe you should read it over? Give it another chance, look more into everything. You'll be surprised.

HydroJen said...

You know I often do find that books are better after reading them twice. Maybe I just wasn't in the right space for it when I read it.