Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Book Rave #7: Those Same Sweet Girls

I perhaps need to stop reading in public. (Um, sure, that'll happen.) But my current standard for must share this book is if I potentially embarrass myself in public reading it. I picked up The Same Sweet Girls by Cassandra King at some sort of chain store deal. I had not previously heard of either the book or the author, but the back cover about a group of long time female friends sounded good.
I read the first bit in fits and starts so while it felt slow, that was really my distraction at work. Oh, this book was so good. These friends who all met in college now gather twice a year, and the story starts just before a gathering. I was prepped at the beginning for all this now to fade back into big long flashbacks, but it didn't. (Kudos!) There are some stories to give you a sense of their relationships and connections and there even is a flashback for one of the characters, but for the most part it is firmly rooted in the now. Yes, they have lots of history, yes, enough is explained that you understand their history. Yes, they talk to each other like real friends. They are even friends like real long term friends.
The points of view remain with only a few of the friends, but I still feel there was enough information. And as with the best books, I kept wanting more. More time with these great folks, more info, more back story, more. With the water main breaks, my getting home bus was running a bit slow so I hit the end of the book while standing at the Silver Spring metro, and I had to stop and think happy thoughts so I wouldn't cry in front of all my fellow bus patrons. A really great read.