I finished my re-read of this a few days ago, just didn't have the energy to post a review. I think the main issue I had was that the re-read was a bit of a bust. Probably because this wasn't as chick-lit as I was hoping. There are some serious issues here (discussion of HIV and AIDS) but also there is some mean-girling crap that goes on that just didn't fit the characters who were supposed to be adults in their 30s. The main character of Cath just reads as a doormat throughout this book and I just wanted her to be stronger and push back on people more. The ending was okayish, just not great.

 

"Bookends" has Cath and her best friend Si dealing with being unlucky in love. Living in London they seem to be going through the motions of things. Cath refuses to try her hand at love again after having her heart broken and Si is desperate to meet Mr. Right even though the men he is usually with are terrible.

 

Cath and Si have boring, but familiar get togethers with their college friends Josh and Lucy and things seem to be carrying along fine until a woman (Portia) from their college days pops up again.

 

Most of the book is Cath thinking about Portia and how Portia supposedly held them all together until she broke up their friend group. What gets me though is that when we readers finally get a glimpse of Portia, she's not all that Cath (or Green) makes her out to be. There is no there there, and I wanted there to be better development of her.

 

Cath stumbles upon a love interest that wasn't that interesting and Si ends up with a shocking new way of life after a betrayal. The book just ends up taking too many things on and not doing them well.

 

If the above isn't enough, we also have Cath trying to open a bookstore.

 

The writing is typical older Green (when she wrote her chick lit books taking place in London). This just doesn't read or feel like chick lit. The flow is okay, though going back to past and present was a bit much.

 

I guess I was just put out by the whole lesson to be learned about real friends that people who should be old enough should already know at this point.

I love bookish gadgets, I must say that my collection of bookmarks is growing proportionally to my TBR pile. Well, almost ;-) Bookends make also great decoration of a bookshelf, especially when they correspond to the book on the shelves, I've found several that I would really love to have.

 

Bookends for favorite titles

 

 

 

Bookends for the fantasy titles

 

 

 

Bookends for the sci-fi titles

 

 

 

Bookends for romance titles 

 

 

 

Bookends for crime titles

 

 

Bookends by Liz Curtis Higgins
Dr. Emily Goetz and she is back home after 18 years of research. She has now a job there to find out the truth of the land for the Meridian congregation in a small German town in Lititz PA. We traveled there one year and was able to take a pretzel tour where they make and sell them.
Jonus Fielding is a land developer and he wants the land for a golf course. He is so opposite of her-athletic, she a book study person.
She gets roped into going with him at 430am to count birds at the preserve.
With problems from his brother the gambler and drunk he is sidetracked on his venture...Jonus contemplates ditching it.
Emily has also had some setbacks and has contemplated ditching her efforts. Problem is neither wants to give in so the other would see them as weak and a failure..
Bonus-recipes included.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).

I liked the whole idea of a novel centered around opening a bookstore/cafe and going for your dreams, but I didn't feel that aspect was central enough, or full enough of suspense and conflict. The good aspects of the book makes me wish I could rate this a tad higher, but it couldn't hold me to the end. I felt I had read this book dozens of times before. This was better written than most chicklit (which isn't high praise), with a heroine that was relatable--not size 0, not born with a silver spoon and not too-stupid-to-live. I did enjoy the English setting and voice. Though this is narrated first person by Catherine Warner, this had an unusually ensemble feel to it, since it's about five friends: Catherine herself, Portia, Simon and Josh who she met in university, and Josh's wife Lucy who is her business partner. Actually, that may have been one of the weaknesses, that the first person voice wasn't the best way to tell the story of this group of friends. And too often--which is also too often a danger of a weak first person--too much is told, not shown, sometimes dragging, sometimes running through events without developing so that pacing was also a problem. Not a problem you tend to notice much because it's really a quick read. A good light airplane/beach read if you're drawn to chicklit, but nothing here makes me want to try more of the author. If many chicklits are tired soap operas, this was far too much of a cliche sitcom.

Chick Lit at its worst.