The Best of Us
Pages: 352
Publication Date: April 9, 2013
Can you imagine? An all expense paid trip to Jamaica with your college friends? Allie, Tina, and Savannah have been friends since college, nearly twenty years ago. They were also friends with the resident nerd, Dwight. While Dwight made millions in the early dot-com boom, Tina is a busy stay-at-home-mom who is in desperate need of a vacation. Allie is a nurse who just received news that she has a 50% chance of getting ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease. And Savannah is keeping the truth from her friends, her husband, Gary, has left her for his nurse.
Fast forward and the gang is celebrating their thirty-fifth birthdays one by one. Now it is Dwight's turn. His wife, Pauline, plans the most elaborate birthday ever. They fly the girls and their husbands to Jamaica on their private jet where they have a private house on the beach. It is truly a dream vacation, but each of the girls has a hard time letting go and fully enjoying the vacation. Their troubles from home and own past relationships put a slight cloud over their gathering, but it is nothing a small hurricane and a lot of tequila won't fix. Will the girls still be friends when the vacation is over?
Sarah Pekkanen is quickly making a name for herself among women's fiction readers. It is easy to lose yourself in one of her books and pretend like her characters are your friends, too.
The Best of Us is no different. The ease at which the three old friends get together is something many of us experience with our own old friends. While the three women seem to be at ease with each other, for the most part, their relationship with Dwight does not come across as easy and their relationship with his wife even less so. Especially when some truths start to come to light. It is even a bit uncomfortable at times. But the story, the dynamics and worries withstanding, is pretty fun to read. How can it not be with a beach, plenty of alcohol and an all expenses paid vacation.
Bottom line,
The Best of Us may be a bit early to be considered a "beach read" - but it really is a great book to take to the beach. The story is fun without being too fluffy. The characters are interesting without being too cliche. If you are looking for a "take me away" kind of book,
The Best of Us might be right up your alley.
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