Synopsis courtesy of Barnes & Noble:
Rachel White is the consummate good girl. A hard-working attorney at a
large Manhattan law firm and a diligent maid of honor to her charmed
best friend Darcy, Rachel has always played by all the rules. Since
grade school, she has watched Darcy shine, quietly accepting the
sidekick role in their lopsided friendship. But that suddenly changes
the night of her thirtieth birthday when Rachel finally confesses her
feelings to Darcy's fiance, and is both horrified and thrilled to
discover that he feels the same way. As the wedding date draws near,
events spiral out of control, and Rachel knows she must make a choice
between her heart and conscience. In so doing, she discovers that the
lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren't always neat,
and sometimes you have to risk everything to be true to yourself.I'm a bit torn about liking this book to be honest. I'm totally not behind someone cheating on their significant other, if they are married or not. This entire book is pretty much about cheating -- both on a significant other and on a friend. Despite the cheating in this book I really did like it. I liked Rachel despite my severe reservations about the decisions she makes, and I liked Dex (her best friend's fiance).
Rachel has been best friends with Darcy since elementary school. They stuck it out through good times and bad, despite the fact they could not be less alike if they tried. Rachel is intelligent and hard working whereas Darcy relies mostly on her good looks to get her through life. The author Emily Giffin makes it very difficult to like Darcy due to this, at least for me. She seems like girls you may know from high school who seem to have the perfect life, the perfect body/face, and the perfect boyfriends. That automatically makes you not like her for the most part, for the rest her attitude finishes it -- she's selfish and more than a little unfeeling for others.
Rachel meets Dax in law school and automatically feels an attraction for him, but she's always had very little self esteem (perhaps due to her friendship with Darcy in my opinion) and doesn't think that a good looking and intelligent guy like Dax can like her. When Dax meets Darcy, Rachel encourages the relationship and after several years Darcy and Dax get engaged. Fast forward to Rachel's 30th birthday party where Rachel has too much to drink and has sex with Dax.
Dax later tells Rachel that he wasn't that drunk and that he has always really liked Rachel. From this point on an affair begins between Rachel and Dax, which is very polarizing. As Rachel is the main character and the novel is told from her perspective it is difficult not to like her and feel for her in her relationship with Dax. Both she and Dax seem to really love each other, but the difficulty comes with the fact that Dax doesn't immediately break up with Darcy and cancel the wedding. Rachel doesn't grow a backbone until far too late in the novel for my liking and when she does you really want to cheer for her, but yet you shake your head because she is so late in understanding.
I don't want to spoil the end of the novel for anyone, but all I will say is that the only way Rachel and Dax's relationship can be redeemed from it's status of an affair is to demonize Darcy even further. Emily Giffin addresses Darcy's feelings in her follow up to this novel, Something Blue.
Overall, this book is well written and a light read despite the heavy themes at times. If you end up liking Rachel and disliking Darcy I think you will enjoy this book. If you dislike all the characters involved you may not like this novel at all. For me it kind of depends on where your moral compass lies and how far you're willing to let it swing to the other side.
Grade: A-
