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When We Were Friends (2011)

by Elizabeth Joy Arnold(Favorite Author)

3.21 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0553592521 (ISBN13: 9780553592528)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Bantam

review 1: I liked this book. It was something I needed after experiencing a painful betrayal. There wasn't any real "powerful" message in this book, but it felt like a friend who could relate to what you're struggling with, in a low-key way. I laughed and cried reading this. It's about two childhood best friends, one of whom betrays the other and walks away. Two decades later, they meet up again. Lainey tries to impress Sydney so she doesn't feel so bad about how her life isn't more "successful". Sydney has her own life going and her own struggles, so she's not going to be impressed by anything. But she sees an opportunity to enlist Lainey in a plan she's concocted, without Lainey's knowledge. She manipulates Lainey into agreeing to an illegal act, without knowing all the details or... more what's really expected of her. Lainey just wants to help her old friend. There's some mystery in this book about what's behind Sydney's motives and just what's going on. The mystery and clues and answers are presented to us at the right times and with enough information to keep the reader engaged. It's definitely a book for women. I read it right after college in a time when I thought it related to something I was going through. A teenager, or young adult, would enjoy this book, and also an adult who likes more "chick" books, or just wants to read a book about friendship and betrayal and overcoming more "minor" issues. It was a good book. I enjoyed it.
review 2: This book was a disappointment in that the plot was just too unrealistic. However, I did enjoy the chapter development of Lainey/Leah, the main character of the story, the author did a good job of portraying what it feels like to be the victim of childhood bullying and how that affected Lainey in her adult life. The character portrayal of two of the other primary characters was so inconsistent that it made you feel like the author couldn't make up her mind. less

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