Love the One You’re With by Emily Giffin

Love the One You’re With is a classic Emily Giffin novel. The heroine is Ellen Dempsey, who has just married the perfect Andy, and is living happily in the bustling New York City. A chance meeting throws Ellen and her old boyfriend, Leo, together in the New York streets. Leo has always secretly been in Ellen’s thoughts, even though he broke her heart years before. This meeting leads to Ellen having serious concerns about the way her life is going- and the man she married.

Matters get more complicated once Andy’s career moves them from New York City that Ellen loves so much down to suburban Atlanta. The marriage begins to crumble as more “chance” meetings happen between Ellen and Leo, and feelings of resentment towards her new life pushes Ellen further from her husband.

As it seems with Giffin’s novels, just when you think you have the plot figured out, it spins in another direction. Love the One You’re With is no different, keeping readers on their toes with compelling drama, heart-stopping moments, and suspense that keeps the story line moving at a fast pace. I found this novel to be fresh and relatable, and really causing me to think about my life and goals, and I love when my readings can have that effect on me.

Something Blue by Emily Giffin

Something Blue, Emily Giffin’s follow-up novel from Something Borrowed, gives a spectacular narrative twist. Instead of following through loveable Rachel’s eyes, whom we all came to adore and sympathize in the first book, we now follow Darcy, the best friend whom was betrayed by BFF Rachel. But as we learned from Something Borrowed, Darcy wasn’t as loveable or relatable as Rachel proved to be.

But this is whole new book, a whole new chapter in Darcy’s life. We see from her point of view how she felt about her best friend, ‘plain Jane’ Rachel stealing her hunk of meat fiancée. We begin to see a different side to this character, making you actually think she has feelings, and cares for someone outside of herself.

Throw in the curveballs. Darcy has lost her perfect life. No fiancée, no big beautiful princess wedding, and no best friend. One more heartbreaker to add: a baby on the way. Darcy knows who the father is, a loser fling who wants nothing to do with her and vice versa. What’s a girl to do? Fly to London, and hide away with her childhood friend, trying to sort out of her life got this way.

Giffin’s talent shines in her second novel, showing how well she can visualize and make us feel for each and every character she adds to her books.

 

Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin is an incredibly relatable chick lit novel. Rachel, our lovable main gal pal, is an attorney living in Manhattan, enjoying cosmos and shopping excursions with her best friend of countless years, Darcy. Until the night of her thirtieth birthday, when Rachel is horrified to not only kiss Darcy’s handsome fiancée at her birthday party (thrown by none other than BFF Darcy), but actually sleep with him- and continue the affair. Follow as Rachel leads a double life, one as a doting best friend and maid of honor to Darcy, and the other as the scandalous ‘other women.’ Darcy’s wedding date creeps closer and closer, and still Rachel trudges on with her unfaithfulness, with a few close calls thrown in that stops your heart as your eyes keep reading.

Be surprised as some shocking twists are thrown in, involving parents, co-workers, and another couple of cheaters.  You will find yourself tearing up at parts, nodding your head because the scenes are so alive, and wanting to call your best friend and promise her you’ll never pull a Rachel. Giffin’s debut novel is a gem, and Something Borrowed paves the way for many more great stories surrounding these phenomenally written characters.

 

Emily Giffin

Emily Giffin, author of best selling titles such as Something Borrowed and Something Blue, found a love for writing at a young age. She wrote her first book at the age of six, and had a poem published in a magazine at the tender age of twelve. In high school, Giffin was the editor-in-chief of the school’s newspaper, and signed up for creative writing classes, already well aware of her goal to become an author.

Giffin graduated from Wake Forest University and then moved on to the University of Virginia School of Law. After realizing the legal industry was not for her, Giffin began to write in her free time, hopes of becoming an author evident again. Her first novel was rejected by eight publishers (standard practice to most up and coming writers) and five days after 9/11, Giffin retired from law practice, and like Darcy is her second book, moved to London.

Emily Giffin married at the age of 30, and also signed a two book contract with the well known St. Martin’s Press. Something Borrowed and Something Blue were released at their respective times and both became best sellers. Giffin is also author of titles Baby Proof and Love the One You’re With, and has sold the film rights of her first two novels to Hilary Swank and the production company Wild Ocean Films. She is currently writing her fifth novel, Heart of the Matter, due for release in the spring of 2010.

In her personal life, Emily Giffin was married in 2002 and welcomed twin boys Edward and George on New Years Eve of 2003. The family welcomed a daughter, Harriet in 2007. They now live Atlanta, Georgia.

Official Website: http://www.emilygiffin.com