Friends Forever #6: Stacey and the Boyfriend Trap

 

Thoughts before reading:

Can't Stacey get a Friends Forever book that's not about boyfriends?

The basics:

Stacey's in NYC visiting her dad for winter break and over New Year's. She talks him into taking her to Times Square for the countdown, something she's always wanted to do, and she even makes it onto tv. The festivities get her thinking about Claudia and Ethan, and she resolves to be a better friend.

The next day, she begins her resolution by calling Ethan to go out for breakfast. He agrees to it, and they have a good time. Ethan even mentions he might by in Stoneybrook for an art opening in a few weeks. 

When Stacey gets back home, she finds a letter from Toby in the mail. He writes that he's changed, he's sorry, and he wants to come visit. Pretty soon he'll be in the area anyway with his family, because his older brother's looking at colleges. Unsure how she feels about seeing him again, she doesn't answer right away. (Wow, we haven't heard about Toby in forever... remember, he broke up with Stacey one summer and then hit on Mallory another.)

Back at school, Stacey's favorite teacher, Mr. Zizmore (math) is leaving. His wife got a job with NASA, and they're moving to Houston. Stacey's crushed by the news, but feels a little better when Pete Black suggests they throw him a going away party. The VP, Mr. Kingsbridge, agrees to help. After discussing the idea with him, Stacey runs into Wes Ellenberg (the student teacher she had a crush on). He's applying for Mr. Z's job. She then runs into Robert, who wants to help with the party. Stacey tries to talk to Claudia about the plan too, but she ignores her. 

Stacey decides to contact Toby via email, and agrees he should stop by and visit when he's in the area. 

Sam ends up coming to help out with Mr. Z's party too, and Kristy tells Stacey that he wouldn't stop talking about how great she looked. 

Deciding to try again with Claudia, Stacey goes early to a BSC meeting to ask Claudia to help out with the party, and asks if they can be friends again. Claudia agrees. (It's really quick, easy, and anticlimactic after all that drama. They don't even discuss anything that's happened.)

Toby stops by to hang out with Stacey right before the party, and Stacey finds him just as boring and cocky as before. His dad is late to get him, and while they're waiting for him, Ethan shows up hoping to take Stacey to the Stoneybrook museum. They both then invite themselves along to the party. Jeremy actually seems cool about it, but he later tells Stacey he thinks they should break up. He's not mad, but he thinks he has feelings for Claudia, and that they don't have much in common. Stacey realizes he's right.

Wes Ellenburg ends up getting hired for Mr. Z's teaching position. 

Stacey and Ethan decide to start spending more time together.

Timeline:

Begins on New Year's Eve, and goes into January.

Misc. thoughts:

*Ed and Samantha have an escargots appetizer... ick. I like to try new foods, but I could never do that.

*Richard tapes the New Year's Eve countdown? For what possible reason? Nobody's going to go back and watch those.

*Toby's email address, frighteningly, is Tobythegreat. This guy is the worst.

*Since when does Claudia have relatives in New Jersey? This definitely sounds like new information.

*Stacey has no idea how to track someone down to contact them when she's older. Just wait a couple years for Facebook, Stace.

*I guess this book at least had good continuity, with all the old boyfriends coming back, but I can't figure out what the point of this was, or the intention. It was such a boring, silly, pointless story.

*Wes's email is mathguy, which for some reason Stacey thinks is cool.

*Robert and Pete are friends now, and Robert's doing better, although he's not back to his old cheerful self yet.

*Mary Anne picks a garden cottage theme for her new bedroom. This sounds so old lady-ish to me...

*Stacey wonders if she's had a lot of ex's for a 13 year old. Well, yes, but they wouldn't really all fit into 7th and 8th grades if she'd only lived them once instead of 20 times. That's a big part of what makes this book so silly. 

*I really wondered what Maureen was thinking during this book, haha. 

*Ghostwritten by Suzanne Weyn.

*It wouldn't been nice to see more of Sam in here. He's the only love interest I was interested in, and he gets the least time.

*This book features 7 past love interests/boyfriends. It's pretty gross that her old teacher was included as one of them.

Books mentioned:

None

My rating:

2 stars. So boring and silly. 

Friends Forever #5: Kristy Power!

 

Thoughts before reading:

I hope this is better than it sounds.

The basics:

Kristy's English teacher is on maternity leave, and she has a new, young teacher who insists the kids call him Ted. They're studying biographies, and he gives out two assignments: biography and fiction reading. They first have to read a book from a list, then write about what it meant to them. Then they have to write a biography of a classmate. Ted assigns the partners for the biography at random, and Kristy and Cary are both horrified to discover they're partners. They try to tell Ted that there's no way they can work together, but he just seems amused. 

Cary and Kristy have no choice but to agree to a truce. Kristy still has a hard time finding out info on Cary though, since he gives her mainly sarcastic answers to her questions. Even when she goes to his house, his little brothers aren't much help. She finds herself looking around his room for inspiration, and snoops by reading a notebook that's open on his desk. It turns out to be a journal, and the page mentions him having been kicked out of his old school. Kristy feels guilty for reading it and doesn't mention anything about it. 

Meanwhile, Ted's fallen into trouble for the book list he handed out, because it contains banned books and was never approved by the administration. Some of the parents accuse him of "corrupting the morality" of their kids. He gets suspended, even though most of the students, parents, and other teachers don't agree with that decision. (Elizabeth and Watson are among those who contact the school to help him.) 

When Cary comes over to interview Kristy's family, her brothers tell him a bunch of embarrassing stories about her. She gets flustered and blurts out that she knows he got kicked out of his past school. To her surprise, Cary's hurt. Seeing this, she decides he isn't so bad after all, and she now feels really guilty. 

Kristy tells her English classmates that they need to step up and help Ted. Everyone agrees that they need to defend freedom of speech, and they plan to attend his school board meeting. She goes with her parents, and there's a lot of other students with their families as well. Many people speak up on his behalf, including Mrs. Kishi and Kristy. It's decided that Ted can return to teaching, pending a final decision. 

It later comes out that what Kristy read at Cary's house was a novel he's writing. Now she's the one who's angry, because Cary has tricked her yet again. He tells her (rightly) that she still had no right to read his notebook. 

Ted ends up getting his job back. 

Kristy throws a Christmas party, with her parents permission, and it becomes something of a BSC reunion too, because Jessi, Mal, Abby, and Shannon all come. She also finally makes up with Cary.

Timeline:

It's December.

Misc. thoughts:

*Nannie loves MTV? That's a new detail. I have no idea what shows they had on during this time, but that's pretty funny.

*I actually like the books about school projects usually, because I liked being assigned creative projects in school. This one was pretty boring though. The series has done censorship and banned books a few times already, so it was a weird plot choice. Did we really need another one, especially with so few books left?

*I wish we got to read the whole book list though, because I was really curious.

*Other assigned partners include Alan and Cokie, Claudia and Jeremy, Logan and Rachel. 

*Cary has posters of Salvador Dali and Esher in his room.

*Cary has to take the bus home with Kristy, which he normally doesn't do... but in Mystery #36, he lived right by her. It's also said specifically that she has to ride her bike to his house.

*It's interesting that Mrs. Kishi is against censorship and spoke up for Ted, since she censors what her own daughter reads. 

*Ghostwritten by Ellen Miles.

*Stacey and Claudia are still arguing about Jeremy, and being really obnoxious.

Books mentioned:

*A Separate Peace, by John Knowles

*The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger

*A Life of Discovery, by Russell Freedman

*The Outsiders, by S. E. Hinton

*The Red Pony, by John Steinbeck

*A Light in the Attic, by Shel Silverstein 

*To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

*Homecoming, by Cynthia Voight

My rating:

2.5 stars. Nothing new here. 

Friends Forever #4: Claudia and the Friendship Feud

 

Thoughts before reading:

I'm hoping that the point of this book is for the girls to make up, but somehow I doubt it. 

The basics:

Claudia misses Stacey, as the former best friends haven't spoken for a month now. She's still angry about her and Jeremy though. A sitting job with Erica leaves her feeling a little bit better, and hopeful that she's found a new friend. (Gasp! Babysitting with a non-BSC member?? I think that's a series first!)

She also bumps into Jeremy one day, who mentions that he wants to invite Stacey over for Thanksgiving, but he's nervous about it. Then he tells her he still wants to be friends, and asks if her and Stacey aren't speaking because of him. She dodges the question, and they end up chatting until Stacey comes along, sees, and glares at them. 

After talking to Peaches later and learning she went through a similar situation with her best friend as a girl, and they're still friends, Claudia decides to call Stacey and make up. Yet she somehow finds herself calling Erica instead. The two girls go shopping at the mall together, which Erica's not really into. She does enjoy the art store though, and Claudia's pleased to have a new creative friend, something she hasn't had in awhile. 

Jeremy and Claudia keep running into each other, and he even calls her one evening to chat. They end up talking for an hour, which leaves Claud feeling more confused. The next day at school, she runs into Jeremy again, and they talk about how great it is to be friends. Once he walks away, Stacey comes up and whisks Claudia away to talk... then she basically just tells her to remember that Jeremy is HER boyfriend. 

Claudia and Erica end up going Black Friday shopping together, something she always loved to do with Stacey (never mind that they could have only gone once together if not for the time loop, since they met during 7th grade). Claudia talks about Stacey the whole time, and even accidently calls Erica by her name once. Erica's finally forced to remind Claudia that she isn't Stacey, can't replace her, and doesn't want to be a rebound friend. 

The Pike kids get Kristy to switch places with Stacey at a sitting job, to force her and Claudia together and reunite them. It seems to work at first... Stacey tells Claudia she's missed her and wants to be friends again... if Claudia avoids Jeremy. Claudia realizes things between them can't be like they were before, and she's ruined her new friendship with Erica over something that's gone. Her and Stacey part again on a sour note, with nothing resolved.

Claudia later apologizes sincerely to Erica, and they make up. 

Jeremy transfers into Claudia's English class, so she'll be seeing even more of him.

Timeline:

It's November.

Misc. thoughts:

*It was nice to see Claudia and Mary Anne hanging out in here. The friendships get way more attention in these books, which I love. It was also nice, once again, to see a BSC member making new, outside friends. 

*Mentions of Mallory: she sends the BSC a letter, and she has a crush on a boy from her writing workshop. It must be in town or something, because we were clearly told Riverbend is girls only. 

*The BSC girls are scrambling to fill a job, and so they end up asking Erica for help. It seemed weird to me that they didn't ask Abby. Wouldn't she want to sit once in awhile, for some spending money? In the last book, they were bugging Logan about taking jobs still.

*We also read about a sitting job in here for the first time in the FF books, when Claudia and Erica sit for the Pikes. So, we went four books without a single one that wasn't skipped over. What a change!

*Jordan Pike has a crush on Erica.

*Janine teases Claudia for wearing her hair in braids, which seems really out of character. Since when would she notice, let alone care?

*Claudia's English class is reading Wuthering Heights? That seems too hard for 8th graders to me. It's not like Claudia's in an advanced or honors class.

*Claudia makes Lynn outfits, which is pretty adorable.

*The BSC members don't sit together at lunch every day anymore, and now it's no big deal.

*After one conversation with Jeremy, Claudia thinks he likes her again, even though he mainly just asks about Stacey. It's really sad. I feel bad for her, because it's pretty pathetic. 

*We learn how Peaches and Russ met: she had a screaming fight in college with her best friend, over a boy they both liked. It was in the campus library, where Russ was a student librarian. Peaches was crying, and he took her out for coffee. 

*Claudia's building a scene of the first Thanksgiving table for a centerpiece, which actually sounds really neat. 

*Stacey and Rachel are still hanging out. 

*None of the old BSC-verse mall stores are mentioned, except Critters. This book instead mentions stores like Old Navy and Macy's. It was really weird.

*Erica's adopted, and has been wanting to find her birth parents lately. Claudia mentions how she thought she was adopted for a few weeks (back in #33). 

*Claudia struggles with origami, the only artistic thing I think we've ever heard is hard for her.

*Claudia says she eats whenever she's stressed. So do lots of us, but we don't get to stay magically thin while we do it. 

*There's another Rugrats reference in here.

*When Claudia and Erica first sit for the Pikes, it's mentioned that if only the job was one day later, Mal would be home to sit with Claud. Towards the end of the book, at least a week later, Claudia and Erica sit for the Pikes again, and Mallory's not mentioned at all. 

*Claudia mentions spending multiple Thanksgivings with Stacey, but that's not strictly possible. There should have just been one, in 7th grade. 

*Logan serves Claudia and Erica at the Rosebud, but in the last book it said he didn't work there anymore. 

*It's mentioned that Mal, Jessi, Kristy, Abby, Mary Anne, and Claudia all hang out, but we don't get to read about it. 

*Claire doesn't say "silly-billy-goo-goo" in these books. 

*Ghostwritten by Laura Dower... a new one, and it shows. Lots of errors in here.

*I'm so sad that these books are ruining Stacey for me. I kind of wish I wasn't reading them, but then I would never complete the whole BSC series, technically speaking.

*I did like that the concept of rebound friends was mentioned. That's a pretty common preteen, pre-dating problem, at the age where your friends are the center of your world. 

Books mentioned:

*Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte

*A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens

My rating:

2 stars. No real plot at all. Yawn. 

I really like the idea behind these books, and the things they have fixed, so the intention of this series is appealing to me, but I don't like the execution much at all. So far, except for #1, they've all been really boring, had little or no plot, and ruined characters/friendships for me. 

Friends Forever #3: Mary Anne's Big Breakup

 

Thoughts before reading:

Now, here's a storyline I can get behind! This is so long overdue. I've despised these two, separately and together, from pretty much the beginning, and their relationship is so unrealistic for their age. 

The basics:

Logan loans Mary Anne the cards and letters she's sent him so she can re-create her journal, which was lost in the fire (for times and dates, I guess?). She rereads the letter she wrote him after they got back together (in Mary Anne Misses Logan) and is appalled to see that she wrote that she only felt like half a person without him. She certainly doesn't feel that way anymore. In fact, ever since the fire, Logan's been driving her crazy, being way too overbearing again. Mary Anne also tells Stacey, Kristy, and Claudia that she's thinking about breaking up with Logan, because her feelings have changed. She's sick of him deciding everything. 

Mary Anne then talks to Logan himself, telling him she's beginning to have problems with him being too overbearing again. He sarcastically asks if she wants to break up, and she shocks him by saying yes. (Haha, go Mary Anne!) He didn't see this coming at all, and even cries. She asks if they can stay friends, and he says no. 

Claudia finds her shortly afterwards, crying outside her house, and invites her over to talk. Dawn also calls later, and they talk things over. Mary Anne is confident that she's done the right thing, but it still isn't easy. It gets worse too... at school, Logan's acting sad and wounded all the time, his friends are all mad at her, and she even has to babysit for Hunter and Kerry, which is deeply awkward. Plus Logan's acting like she's going to change her mind at any time. 

The fall fling dance at SMS is coming up soon too, and now that Mary Anne is available, two other guys ask her out (one is Pete Black). She tells them she's not ready to date someone new, and decides to stay home the night of the dance. She ends up feeling lonely though. Then Logan calls and asks if he can come over to watch a movie, to give being friends a shot. She does want to see him, so she agrees. They end up fighting pretty quickly though, after Logan suggests that she's not thinking clearly because of the fire. He also still thinks she's going to change her mind and want to get back together. Mary Anne stands up for herself and asks him to go. 

Kristy, Stacey, and Claudia come over to cheer Mary Anne up the next morning. She already feels better, and is looking forward to finding out who she is on her own. 

Timeline:

It's October.

Misc. thoughts:

*Does Mary Anne suddenly have long hair again? They don't describe the characters anymore, but her cover model does.

*This book references Sea City, Mary Anne's makeover, and the Together But Independent thing Mary Anne and Logan did in Hawaii. Good continuity. 

*Mary Anne's still having nightmares about the fire.

*Logan has kept all the cards and letters that Mary Anne ever sent him. Mary Anne had too, but there all gone now. 

*Stacey's late to a BSC meeting because she's talking to Jeremy. Ugh.

*Logan doesn't work at the Rosebud anymore? Maybe in the Friends Forever universe you have to be 16 to work legally, haha.

*Claudia says her and Josh aren't really friends anymore. They don't actually hang out or talk like they used to, which seems sad to me. She mentioned being friends with him still a book or so ago. 

*Since when do all these guys like Mary Anne? If she's so quiet and shy, it's a little hard to picture. 

*Mary Anne goes apple picking with Kristy's family in here, and Elizabeth and Watson are both there, and they watch their own kids! Will wonders never cease?? Even if I'm not loving the FF books so far, I do love how they fixed so many of the problems with the original series. 

*Three of Mary Anne's favorite movies are Fly Away Home, When Harry Met Sally, and Paulie. I LOVED Paulie when I was a kid. For awhile my siblings and I watched it everyday. 

*Logan is so desperate in here, it's really pathetic. He spends the whole book sulking and acting like Mary Anne was insane to let him go.

*Ghostwritten by Suzanne Weyn.

*There's a lot of talk in here about how Mary Anne doesn't remember who she is without Logan, which is funny, because it's impossible to even say how long they were supposed to have dated... since they started dating at the beginning of 8th grade, and they broke up at the beginning of 8th grade. 

Books mentioned:

None

My rating:

3 stars. I love that this finally happened, and it was definitely worth dealing with Logan being awful for a whole book. 

Friends Forever #2: Stacey vs. Claudia

 

Thoughts before reading:

I'm very sad that they're going to ruin this friendship. It's been my favorite of the series, and now it's going to be thrown away over a guy, of all things? 

The basics:

Stacey's upset because Ethan's taking a new art class on Sundays, and weekends are the only time they can see each other, because of the distance between them. He promises to come visit her in Stoneybrook to make up for it, which makes her feel a bit better, but she still has a vague feeling that something is off between them. 

That Monday, Stacey notices a really cute new boy in school. Her and Claudia both end up chatting with him in the lunch line that day, and learn his name is Jeremy Rudolph, and he's just moved from Olympia. They invite him to have lunch with their group, which he accepts. Both girls are instantly infatuated by him. Claudia tries to defer, reluctantly, by saying that Stacey met him first, but Stacey says she's still seeing Ethan, and therefore not available anyway. Claudia's instantly cheered up by the thought, but Stacey feels disappointed even as she's saying it. 

There's another new student in school as well, Rachel Griffin. Claudia, Mary Anne, and Kristy are all groaning over the news... they went to SES with her, and she was a real mean girl back then. They were all glad when she moved away after 5th grade. Stacey thinks they're overreacting though... after all, that was awhile ago, and when she meets Rachel she seems perfectly nice. She's in Stacey's English class, in fact, and the two girls end up chatting. They have quite a bit in common, namely that Rachel is also from a city, London, and really misses it. 

Ethan backs out of coming to Stoneybrook because he has to cover at work (he still works at the art gallery). He also mentions that he's really busy all around, and maybe they should cool things down for now. Stacey agrees, but still feels hurt and upset. In school the next day, she tells Claudia the news, and is annoyed to learn that Claudia really likes Jeremy and keeps mentioning him. Stacey finally realizes that she also has a major crush on him. After lunch period, Claudia asks Stacey to help her find out if Jeremy likes her. She agrees, very reluctantly. (I remember doing this exact sort of thing in junior high, haha.) 

Stacey realizes she needs to put Claudia over Jeremy and bite back her jealousy, because Claudia's her best friend and she just met Jeremy. (This is the #1 most sensible statement I've ever read in a BSC book! Too bad she doesn't hold on to this decision... but based on the book title, we know what's coming.) Stacey invites Jeremy to go hang out at the mall with her and Claudia, then cancels at the last minute so they can be alone. (Claudia knows about the plan ahead of time, of course.) Stacey feels terrible afterwards though, and keeps obsessing over Jeremy. 

Since Claudia never calls to tell her how the "date" went, Stacey calls her over that weekend to ask. Claudia tells her it was amazing, and thanks her profusely for helping. Right after they hang up, Jeremy stops by to see how Stacey's feeling. She asks him about the date, and he quickly says it wasn't a date at all, and he'd been really disappointed that Stacey wasn't there... then he asks her out. She's thrilled but quickly feels guilty, and promises to call later with an answer. 

Once he leaves, Stacey goes jogging to clear her head, and ends up running into Rachel. They get to talking, and Stacey explains her dilemma. Rachel tells her she has to talk to Claudia, and even though she'll be hurt, hopefully she'll understand. Knowing she's right, Stacey returns home and nervously plans a speech to explain things to Claudia, complete with index cards. The next day though, she finds Claudia sculpting Jeremy's head and chickens out. Stacey ends up telling her before the BSC meeting that same afternoon, but in her nervousness it comes out much more bluntly than she'd intended. Claudia's furious, feels betrayed, and they spend most of the meeting yelling at each other. 

The next day, Stacey agrees to hang out with Jeremy after school, and they have a great time. She decides he was worth all the trouble after all. When she gets home, there's several messages from Ethan on the answering machine, but she doesn't see the point of calling him back now. 

During school the following day, Jeremy pulls Stacey aside to ask about Ethan... who Claudia's just told him all about. Jeremy doesn't believe it's really over between them, and tells her he needs to think things over. Stacey confronts Claudia about it, and they have a really nasty fight, with cruel things said on both sides. Afterwards, Stacey talks things over with Rachel again, not wanting to put Kristy or Mary Anne in the middle. 

After avoiding her for a few days, Jeremy asks Stacey out again. She agrees, Rachel helps her get ready, and just after she leaves, Ethan shows up with flowers. He starts to apologize to Stacey for everything, but then realizes she's dressed up and about to go on a date. Stacey tells him she doesn't want to see him anymore, and her deep feelings for him are gone. They share an emotional, but quick, goodbye. 

Right after Ethan leaves, Jeremy shows up. They go bowling, out to dinner, and share a goodnight kiss. Stacey has a wonderful time. 

Timeline:

It's fall, 8th grade has begun for the last time.

Misc. thoughts:

*Stacey's studying American westward expansion in history class. That was always one of my favorite parts of history to study. (I'm a history nerd.)

*I'm glad Abby eats lunch with the OG BSC still, and that new people can join the group for lunch without any of that old weirdness. 

*Claudia and Josh are still friends.

*Stacey says the club still meets 3 times a week? I thought they agreed to scale back the meetings, but that hasn't been mentioned again. 

*Rachel's compared to Lucy von Pelt, Angelica Pickles, and Helga Pataki. It's weird to hear those 90s cartoon references in here, since none of those shows have been mentioned before in the series.

*The girls are still calling Logan about jobs, and he's annoyed about it. They had agreed to just turn down jobs, so between this and the meetings, they already aren't following their new rules.

*Why doesn't Kristy just look for some new members? Just because a few people didn't work out, look at all the ones who did... plus, she's clearly not ready to let go of the club. If they added a few people, they could at least keep up their job load throughout one more school year at least. 

*Stacey sits for the Rodowskys in here, and they skip over the whole job! It's awesome.

*Stacey and Claudia pass notes, like actual teenagers! I like that everyone seems much younger in the FF books so far, way more like how they acted at the beginning of the regular series.

*Maureen apparently goes jogging every Saturday morning and forgets her keys? This sounds a lot more like Sharon to me.

*The rule about boys having to stay in the kitchen when Maureen isn't home is mentioned again. Hooray for continuity!

*This wasn't quite as bad as I expected, although still annoying. It is a bad situation, and a messy one, I'll admit. It's not worth ruining a friendship over though. Both girls just met this guy, so it's not like anyone is in love. He's basically a stranger when they begin fighting over him. They're 13 though, so they just don't have the maturity to decide neither of them should date him. I get that, I just really wish they hadn't done this storyline at all. It not only ruins this good friendship, but it makes both girls come across as petty, annoying, and unlikeable. 

*Kristy wants to make a chart to assign free time on weekends?! Yikes, she's lucky anyone wants to be in the club still.

*Despite the nastiness of Stacey and Claudia's fight, I couldn't help but enjoy Stacey ripping into her about her spelling. Everyone's always just ignored it before, but it really is ridiculous.

*Ghostwritten by Suzanne Weyn.

*This is the only BSC book with two character names in the title. I wasn't completely sure who was narrating until I started it. 

*Despite the circumstances, it was nice to see Stacey make a new friend. Everyone had stopped doing that for a long time. 

Books mentioned:

*The Midwife's Apprentice, by Karen Cushman

My rating:

2 stars. There was really nothing to enjoy about this for me, and I'm bummed that this story will dominate the FF books now. 

Friends Forever #1: Kristy's Big News

 

Thoughts before reading:

I don't know much of anything about the rest of this series, so we'll see. This one sounds promising at least. 

The basics:

Kristy's enjoying a family dinner when her father, Patrick, shocks everyone by calling. He has some big news: he's getting married again, and wants Kristy, Sam, and Charlie to come to his wedding. Charlie promptly hangs up, while Sam and Kristy reluctantly agree. Patrick's unbothered, saying he knew they wouldn't let him down, and he's sending them plane tickets ASAP. He doesn't even mention or invite poor David Michael. Charlie's (understandably) furious, and tells the others he won't go and can't believe they are. David Michael, of course, hears all this and keeps begging to go. It falls on Elizabeth to tell him he can't, and to try and explain. She also decides that if Charlie doesn't go, Sam and Kristy also can't. This gets Kristy upset, because she really wants to go, and thinks this will be an important turning point with Patrick. She explains to Charlie why it's important to her, and he agrees to go, for her and Sam's sake. 

It's not long before the tickets to California, where Patrick's still living, arrive, and the three are on their way to Sausalito. They arrive there to find things very different from what they expected. Their father is now a chef, has a big fancy house, and seems to be together now, although he offers them no apologies or explanations for the past. In fact, it's quite the opposite... he's easily angered by Charlie's open hostility towards him, still fails to even mention David Michael, and is clearly still a very selfish person. They do all like Zoey, his fiancé, who proves to be very warm and kind.

Patrick asks Sam and Charlie to be his best men, which Charlie angrily declines, much to Patrick's annoyance. He also refuses to go tux shopping, so Sam and Patrick go together, and end up picking out ugly yellow-orange suits. (I can't even picture what this would look like exactly, haha.) When Zoey, Charlie, and Kristy all agree that the suits are hideous, Patrick gets angry again. All this makes Kristy remember how easily angered her dad always was when he didn't get his way, or even when she didn't understand something right away. 

The next day, everyone goes together to get new tuxes. Patrick sulks and acts bored the whole time, like a put out little kid. Zoey finally snaps him out of it, to Kristy's relief. She's unsettled to realize she likes Zoey better than her own father. (Which begs the question, why is this nice woman marrying this loser?) Another day, Patrick wants the kids to go spend time with Zoey while he goes windsurfing, and isn't thrilled when she suggests he take them to Angel Island instead. (Why spend time with the kids you abandoned, after all?)

Kristy also learns that her and her brothers are Patrick's only family attending the wedding. His parents died before she was even born, and his younger brother declined to come because of a fight they had awhile back. Zoey also mentions that her and Patrick want kids, which leaves Kristy feeling sick and angry. 

Patrick ends up losing his temper with Charlie completely after an innocent comment (Charlie calls his tie a noose) and asks him if he could just "behave like a good son". Charlie responds that he never behaved like a good father, and Patrick has the nerve to then say they never gave him the chance because they didn't stay in touch! He even blames Elizabeth for how things have ended up, and calls Charlie spoiled. Kristy jumps in to defend Charlie, citing all he's done for the family. 

All this goes down right before the rehearsal dinner, which Patrick ends up leaving for alone. The three kids talk things over, and Sam points out that Patrick will never live up to their expectations. They all agree it's best to just not have any. Kristy thinks that it's this moment and realization when she finally gives up on the idea of Patrick as her dad. They decide to go to the rehearsal, for Zoey. 

Later that night, Kristy talks to Zoey and tells her about how their father just walked out on them. To her surprise, Zoey already knows. (To my surprise too! She really wants to make more kids with this guy??) She also says Patrick has grown up a lot since then, but will probably always be a bit of a kid, and she thinks he's learned from his mistake. (I don't! If he has then why is he blaming the kids and Elizabeth for it?) 

Charlie still declines to be a best man, but Sam goes ahead and does it, and Charlie even makes a brief toast at the reception. Kristy dances with Patrick, and he thanks her for coming. 

Back in Stoneybrook when everything's over, Kristy tells her mom all about the trip. Elizabeth isn't angry, and wishes Patrick and Zoey well, sincerely. This makes Kristy realize her mom loves her life and is truly happy. (Not to mention, Elizabeth is the much bigger person.) 

Later, Kristy talks things over with the BSC (by which I now only mean Stacey, Claudia, and Mary Anne... how weird is that??). She admits that although she loves her father, she doesn't like him. They sympathize and agree he's the one missing out on life, since if anything gets hard he just leaves. 

Timeline:

It's August. 

Misc. thoughts:

*No chapter 2 recap! No babysitting chapters! No side plots! This book is about Kristy alone, and we don't have any idea what's going on with the others back in Stoneybrook, or what babysitting jobs they have. It was really nice.

*Another nice change in this series already? The adults are actually around, and they watch their own kids! There's also parenting! Crazy, right? For instance, in a BSC series book, it would be Kristy explaining things to David Michael and trying to fix everything. Watson and Elizabeth would probably be off at an estate sale the whole time. I love that instead the adults are actually around now, and the 13 year old's are back to being kids. 

*I really, really hate Patrick. Poor David Michael. I really wish the fact that he just completely forgot about him had been addressed more. 

*Patrick apparently couldn't even pick Sam, Charlie, and Kristy up from the airport. He leaves them a car and directions to his house instead. 

*Charlie's anger and hostility is completely justified in my opinion, and I think Patrick really gets off easy. 

*I would love to read this story from Elizabeth's POV. I wonder what she was thinking this whole time, and what her and Watson had to say about it, away from the kids.

*Kristy says she wants to wear a tuxedo someday, like Princess Diana. 

*All I could think about while reading this was, thank god these kids have Watson. Also, I'd love to read a scene where Watson tells Patrick what he thinks of him...

*I already said it, but I have to again... the biggest mystery of this book is why Zoey wants to marry Patrick. She must be really lonely? Yet she seems perfectly nice and sweet... I'm sure she could do way better.

*Watson's paying for Charlie's college tuition. Aww. That's a real man and father for you.

*I liked seeing more of Charlie in here, as he's one of my favorite characters. It was also nice, and so overdue, to see how Patrick leaving has affected each of them, likely for the rest of their lives. Charlie's angry, which is 100% realistic, since he remembers the most, and as the oldest, sacrificed the most. As a result, he's grown up to be easy going and reliable, the real man that his father never will be. Sam's (heartbreakingly!) trying to get his dad's attention any way he can, and I'm sure this is why he comes off as such a goof. It will probably affect his relationships too, as his dad leaving him has clearly made him insecure and in need of extra attention/validation. Kristy's conflicted on how to feel, hence the bossiness... she takes control of everything she can control. 

*It was also interesting to see what kind of person Patrick is. Lends insight into what happened back when he walked out.

*I can't believe Patrick even wants to have more kids. He's clearly completely delusional... I really don't see him doing any better the second time around. He hasn't changed at all, if he's blaming his actions on his ex-wife, or on his kids for not keeping in touch... after he abandoned them and moved across the country?? It's infuriating how he can't own up to his mistakes or apologize, even after all this time.

*Kristy thinks that Patrick and Sam are similar, taking things lightly, avoiding what's hard or unpleasant. While this is technically true, I don't think it's fair. Sam has a lot more substance, and we've already seen his sweet, serious side. He isn't impatient or quick to anger either. I think he's just eager to please, mainly because of being fatherless. 

*Patrick and Zoey walk down the aisle to "Take me out to the ball game". How lame.

*Ghostwritten by Nola Thacker.

Books mentioned:

None

My rating:

4 stars. This was sad and infuriating in turns, but this story was long overdue. I'm very interested to see what the FF books do next, as this was a very solid start. I loved how all the formulaic aspects of the BSC series were removed, and replaced by a focus on character development, family relationships, and exploring old dynamics that we've heard little about before. 

BSC Friends Forever Special #1: Everything Changes

 

Thoughts before reading:

Everything changes all right, it just takes 15 years...

I haven't read this, or any Friends Forever, before, but I like the basic concept behind it, based on what I know going in. However, I think this whole idea of downsizing the BSC and changing things would have been 1000x better if the girls graduated 8th grade in this book, then we followed them through their first year of high school in this series. After doing 8th grade for over a decade, it would be so nice to see the biggest change of all actually happen: the passage of time. Then the transition to high school would account for all the other changes in their lives, and with the club, instead of just randomly happening. This book could cover the summer before 9th grade, and how starting high school is affecting everyone.

The basics:

It's summer vacation still, and Kristy's worried about the BSC because everyone's going to be gone in July, except for Mal, Jessi, Logan, and Shannon. (Never mind that something like this happened in every Super Special.) Mary Anne, Abby and Kristy are going to be CITs at Camp Mohawk, Claudia's going on a surprise family vacation, and Stacey's spending 5 weeks in NYC. 

While Kristy's packing for camp, things go from bad to worse. First, Logan calls her to drop out of the BSC... he says he'll be too busy with sports next year. Naturally, she's furious. Then Mary Anne decides not to go to camp, because she has too much going on at home, and she's still having nightmares. Kristy isn't very sympathetic, and gets mad at her for backing out. To top all this off, she finds out that Jessi's going to a new ballet school in Stamford, 6 days a week.

Mary Anne's living in a rental house provided by the insurance company for the time being. She's still worried that her dad will take the job in Philadelphia, as nothing's been decided yet. Logan's also been driving her crazy since the fire, being really overprotective. He's constantly hovering and making her feel suffocated, not to mention frustrated. She doesn't understand why he can't see that she's a strong person, and starts to question whether or not she still wants to be with him. 

She does get a little break from worrying about all this when her grandma from Iowa comes to visit, for the first time since her daughter died, bringing along boxes of things that belonged to Alma. There's photos, letters, toys, even grade school art. Seeing how much of her mother is truly left, Mary Anne feels much better. (Of course, all the things she had from Alma herself were lost in the fire.) 

Things get even better when Richard surprises her with some amazing news: he's turned down the job in Philly, deciding it's not right for him. He then suggests they renovate the barn to live in, an idea that Mary Anne and Sharon both love. It will take about a year to complete though, and their current rental is too small for them to stay in for so long. Richard and Sharon search for a new temporary home, leading to more great news... the Goldmans, Claudia's neighbors, are renting their house out. (They've just retired, and are spending a year in Florida.) Mary Anne is thrilled to be returning to Bradford Court, where she grew up, and she'll be right next door to Claudia!

Claudia's family is going to Monhegan, a small island off the coast of Maine. They want to return to the simple life for awhile, or at least the adults do. Claudia's less than thrilled, and she's quickly bored on the island, with no technology and no phones. As time goes on though, she comes to love it, and ends up not wanting to leave. She even thinks she might want to move there someday.

Stacey's summer with her dad in NYC gets off to a rough start when he sees Ethan standing outside The Pony, an adult club. Based solely on this, he decides Ethan's a bad influence on Stacey. (Plus he has an earring! GASP!) She's now allowed to see him only 14 hours a week. He also sits Stacey down and announces that he's having Samantha move in, which she's less than thrilled about.

Ethan convinces Stacey to give Samantha and the move a chance. Her dad's so impressed, he lifts the new rules... just in time for her vacation to be over anyway.

At camp, Kristy and Abby are in the same cabin, assigned to 8 year old's. Despite her excitement about the summer, Kristy's depressed over what's happening to her "beautiful BSC". Then Abby pulls her aside at camp to talk, and tells her she needs to quit the BSC. She wants more free time, and time for other things. Kristy's beyond furious, and decides that Abby's a lazy traitor, a wimp, a bad sport, etc, etc. 

From then on, Kristy gives Abby the silent treatment, ignores her outright, gets her in trouble, and plots ways to torture her. It's only after one of their campers tries to reunite them that Kristy apologizes and finally comes to understand. 

Once all the girls are back in Stoneybrook, the OG BSC members get together. They all admit that they'd like to have more free time, and that when school starts things are going to be really busy as it is. Kristy's heartbroken, especially after calling Shannon, who tells her she was working up the courage to call and drop out too. Kristy's panicked about how the four of them could possibly ever do the work 9 of them struggled with... but she has to admit that even she would like more free time. The four girls end up agreeing to run the club on a scaled back basis: no new clients, less meetings, and if they can't do a job, they'll just turn it down. 

Mary Anne decides to break up with Logan, but is still unsure how to do it.

Kristy decides to start a new journal for this new chapter in her life, and wonders about who she'll be when there's no more BSC and she's just a regular babysitter. 

Timeline:

Opens on June 25th, and covers July and a little of August.

Misc. thoughts:

*This alternates POVs, just like all the other Super Specials, but only the OG 4. The whole book is comprised of letters and journal entries, complete with Claudia's spelling (but thankfully not her handwriting).

*Kristy says Mal and Jessi can't run the club by themselves, but they actually have before, in SM #1.

*Kristy's started keeping a journal, because she's been inspired by Mary Anne.

*Other summer plans include Jessi going to a special summer ballet program, Mallory's plan to write a book, Logan has joined a baseball league called the Panthers, and has football practice, and Dawn is in California until August. (Why, when that's her only Stoneybrook time? Plus she came to CT in #131, so why would she leave and then come back again later in the summer?)

*Didn't Kristy go to Monhegan in her Portrait book, or was that a different random island?

*Claudia still can't spell Mary Anne's name, after knowing her for her whole life? Sigh. Her chapters in here were really annoying, because the spelling was so distracting. They should have just said she used spell check and then had everything be written normally.

*Stacey's learning how to needlepoint? Didn't she already learn this in another book, way back? I thought she took a project to Sea City with her on one of the trips.

*The World Trade Center is mentioned.

*I'm baffled by the handling of Jessi's character. By the #80's, she was barely getting any books or storylines. Then her last series book was #115, quite awhile ago, and that was the Dance NY book. Since she never got another book, or wrapped up, and is now leaving the BSC to attend a dance school, why didn't she just leave back then? It would explain more and make so much more sense. 

*This book refers to the previous trip to summer camp from way back in SS #2 as having been last summer, which makes the time loop obvious and awkward. 

*Claudia's parents let her eat at McDonalds in here, which surprised me. 

*Apparently the last time Stacey took Ethan to Bloomingdale's, he embarrassed her by trying on hats in the women's department because he was bored, LOL.

*Ethan tells Stacey he only goes shopping when he needs something. Stacey figures this must be one of the great differences between men and women, which made me laugh.

*Also, Stacey and Ethan's entire trip to Bloomingdale's in here was hilarious, especially him trying to find the "guy couches" to read on, and getting all flustered in the bra department.

*This book was a LOT different than I expected. I thought there would be a bunch of big changes, life events, figuring out the BSC, farewells to characters... not everyone taking separate vacations and then writing about them. 

*I already like Friends Forever Mary Anne better. Her relationship with Logan spanning the entire BSC series was ridiculous, and I'm thrilled that she finally wants to dump him.

*Before their fight, Abby and Kristy both love camp, and Kristy loves getting to know Abby better.

*What's with Claudia's sudden lobster obsession? She's trying to eat it everyday on her vacation, which got really tedious to read about in her letters.

*It says in here that Mary Anne's grandma traveled with more luggage than even Stacey, but it's actually Claudia who always has the huge suitcases.

*I can't really blame Abby for wanting to be a kid and not be working so much... the most cult-like aspect of the BSC to me is how hard it is to get out of it. When anyone leaves, regardless of their reason, Kristy totally flips out.

*After all these years of not being allowed to read Nancy Drews, Claudia catches her mom reading a Harlequin Romance! Definitely my favorite moment of this book, haha!

*Claudia and Janine take an art class together, which I thought was sweet.

*Kristy is so mean to Abby in here that it's ridiculous. I'm surprised Abby even wants to be her friend anymore.

*There's an error in here where Claudia refers to "Claud" in a letter to Stacey, like it's someone else writing a letter to Claudia.

*No ghostie? 

*I wonder why they didn't have all the girls write to each other for this? It was always Claudia and Stacey or Kristy and Mary Anne. 

Books mentioned:

*Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck

*A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle

*Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott

My rating:

3 stars. I loved the idea of this: a smaller, simpler club, a new focus on characters, more friendship driven, a return to the original four characters, actual changes/growth, and Mary Anne finally dumping Logan. I didn't like the execution so far though. Other than the first 10% and last 10%, this was so boring. There was no plot at all. I also really wish everyone, all 9 characters, would have had chapters in here, to wrap them up and say goodbye. Since there was really hardly anything going on in here, it would have fit in fine. Mal and Jessi, especially, really deserved better.