3 Willows by Ann Brashares

Summary:

"Summer is a time to grow"

seeds

Polly has an idea that she can't stop thinking about, one that involves changing a few things about herself. She's setting her sights on a more glamorous life, but it's going to take all of her focus. At least that way she won't have to watch her friends moving so far ahead.

roots

Jo is spending the summer at her family's beach house, working as a busgirl and bonding with the older, cooler girls she'll see at high school come September. She didn't count on a brief fling with a cute boy changing her entire summer. Or feeling embarrassed by her middle school friends. And she didn't count on her family at all. . .

leaves

Ama is not an outdoorsy girl. She wanted to be at an academic camp, doing research in an air conditioned library, earning As. Instead, her summer scholarship lands her on a wilderness trip full of flirting teenagers, blisters, impossible hiking trails, and a sad lack of hair products.

Review:

Once again, Ann Brashares has written a breathtaking story that will blow readers away and have them begging for more of Ama, Jo, and Polly.

The main focus of 3 Willows is how three best friends have grown apart after four years of friendship and have fallen into different groups that don't involve the other two. Leaving them to wonder that even though they have been through so much together, do they really need each other again? As you can see, this is a big departure from Brashares The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants which focused on four girls who have been best friends since the womb. I really liked how 3 Willows was different in this aspect from the original Sisterhood because it was a interesting and cute storyline. Also, I felt that if it had been about a couple of best friends who have been with one another for forever I would have thought Ann was just trying to cash out the whole Sisterhood franchise and couldn't write anything else.

One of my favorites parts on 3 Willows were Ama, Jo, and Polly. Ann proved that she can write likable and three-dimensional characters that I personally think most girls can relate to in many ways. Also, they were fun to read about and kept the pages turning.

The only problem I had with 3 Willows was in the first 30 or so pages, the original Sisterhood was mentioned. It felt that Ann had kind of wanted to remind us that " I am still the author of the #1 bestselling Sisterhood series." Though, it was still kind of cool to hear how Lena, Bridget, Carmon, and Tibby were doing which overruled the annoying factor.

Overall, 3 Willows was an excellent book that I suggest to people who loved The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series or anyone looking for a great read.

Grade: a definite A+

3 Willows is out now in hardback you can find out more about it here.

Side Note: Is there going to be a sequel to this?