Make New Friends, But Keep the Old…

Friends Like Us
Lauren Fox
Fiction

…one is silver and the other is gold. Anyone else remember that classic gem from Girl Scouts? I still do. Ah, GS. I sure do miss going door-to-door to sell those damn cookies. Not. Ahem, where were we? Oh, yes, a book review.

Friends Like Us is the story of Willa, her best friend Jane, and her high school best friend Ben. She’s living with Jane and puttering along in a freelance career (oh, how I can relate to that) when she runs into Ben at their eight-year high school reunion (that’s such a random number. Do eight-year reunions really exist?) They lost touch after high school and she discovers it was because he had a crush on her and she never noticed. Willa introduces Ben to Jane and the two start dating. Willa’s not totally okay with it, but she deals. Then Jane and Ben announce they’re engaged and things start happening. Bad things. I’m not going to tell you what kinds of bad things because that would ruin the plot, but if you think long and hard about it, I’m sure you can guess.

Willa really got on my nerves. She was a total sad sack downer. Whining about her crappy job, her bad relationship with her brother, her parents’ traumatizing divorce, how much fun she and Ben used to have in high school and how it’s so awkward now because he’s with Jane. I occasionally appreciated her dry sense of humor, but most of the time she just annoyed me. And then there’s the horrible thing she does to her so-called “best friends”. I don’t know, I just could not empathize with Willa at all. Another irritating habit was the way she referred to her mother as Fran. Hello, what happened to "mom"? I know that was to show how isolated and distanced she was from her, but even if I despised my mother, I doubt I would think of her by her first name. I also wanted more dialogue. Always, always, more dialogue!

The end bugged me, too. What is wrong with these authors that think giving us an I’m-gonna-let-you-guys-decide-what-happens ending is what we want? Maybe some people do, but I sure as hell don’t. I want answers. I need answers. Urgh. This book. Since the main character is so annoying, I’m not sure I would recommend it. Read Friends Like Us at your own risk.