Certain books leave me feeling a bit unsettled, on a line between happiness and sadness. Confused, and yet, understanding. This is how I feel about Ann Brashares’s Sisterhood Everlasting. It’s the follow-up novel to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, which I fell in love with after watching the first movie (before, I had hesitations about reading the books thinking they’d be fluffy and childish, but was proven oh so very wrong).

Sisterhood Everlasting revisits the beloved four characters Carmen, Lena, Bridget, and Tibby 10 years after Forever in Blue, The Forth Summer of the Sisterhood. I absolutely loved that entire series and was overjoyed when I heard about Sisterhood Everlasting. Whether or not I had read the Sisterhood, I think I would have enjoyed this book. I spent all of Saturday reading it and didn’t go to sleep until I’d read the very last word.

The girls are 29 years old. Much has changed, much has stayed the same. Each girl is more-or-less following her dreams, but at the same time… at first, I was annoyed with the ways they’d changed, which didn’t seem to be for the better. Ann Brashares writes of a dream world mixed in with the real world. So, while there were parts that were just like a fairytale, the novel sticks to reality and leaves you feeling very sober.

Life has its ups-and-downs and it’s unpredictable moments, that is what Sisterhood Everlasting is full of. I had no idea what to expect and, at times, even felt like I was reading a mystery novel. Towards the end, when the last piece of the puzzle fell into place, I was shocked with the outcome. I wish all of you had already read the book so that we could discuss it!

There’s one word that really shook me and I know there aren’t many people in the world that will understand or have the same effect, but it made this book feel that much more like it was written for me. I wanted to go back and re-read the entire novel now that I knew everything there was to know.

It wasn’t until reading this book that I realized how brilliant a writer Ann is. In parts, her words are like poetry. Her characters come alive. She waited the perfect amount of time to bring this story back from the bookshelf and onto new pages. Sisterhood Everlasting is a beautiful read.

Ann brought back my friends from her previous novels and I’m so grateful to her for that. She crossed out that question mark I had and just left the period. The Sisterhood has completed its full circle for me and I’m completely satisfied. I went through many stages while reading Sisterhood Everlasting: disbelief, laughter, anger, sadness, and finally… acceptance.