Rating: 
Summary: Jane Green Never Lets Me Down
Review: I have become an avid Jane Green fan over the last 5 years. I have to resist the urge to pick up a copy of her newest books from AmazonUK even before they are published here. Usually, I loss that fight and have to pay international shipping costs :)Anyway ---- "Bookends" is a wonderful character and plot driven escape into the lives of 4 London chums from college. While they might be a bit cliche' : the sophisticate, the gay guy, the young hip heterosexual male, and the slightly overweight smart girl, I found them heartwarming and very charming. I wanted to know their tales and find out how they got to where they are today. I loved the bookstore setting and found main character Cath (the slightly overweight one) very interesting and charming. Jane Green hits again with "Bookends" - which is a great and fun read!
Rating: 
Summary: A Worthy Read
Review: Another winner from Ms. Green. This book is a light, witty read based around a character named Cath and her close-knit group of friends from college. We follow the lot of them as they make their way through their early thirties, bust mostly we watch as Cath matures and learns to let go of the past in order to embrace the possibilities of the future. This is a great novel to take to the beach or read over the weekend to relax.
Rating: 
Summary: This book was ok....
Review: I didn't hate this book...but I didn't love it either...it's saving grace was definitely the character "Si". I did find most of the others endearing, but I've got to tell you..I often flipped ahead to see how many more pages I had until I was through...maybe it's because at heart I'm a romance junkie...or maybe its because having read other books by Jane Green I expected better......whatever the reason..I just found this book to be little more than mediocre.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad at all!
Review: I assumed this would be great summertime fluff; however, I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of the characters and the surprising plot twists that only strengthened their bond. I'd recommend this one.
Rating:
Summary: Another good novel from Jane Green
Review: I read this novel thinking that it would be like Jemima J. (another bestseller by the same author), but I the fact that this novel was different was a refreshing. The thing I like about Jane Green's novels are that they don't just deal with the fluff of the single girl lifestyle and how older women are desperate to find a husband. Her novels have an overall message and try to rip a part a certain presumptions women have about themselves. This novel takes marriage for the sake of marriage and makes us question it in the same way that Jemima J. forced us to tackle issues with weight and body image, yet a different writing style and atmosphere was created.
Rating:
Summary: My least favorite, yet still quite good
Review: I like Jane Green's style a lot, and this book does not disappoint. It was, however, very predictable (I figured out Portia long before her story was revealed), as well as unusually heavy at the end. Heaviness and moral lessons are quite important, but when they sit in stark contrast to the rest of the novel---well, the story can lack flow and continuity. Jane struggles with that here, in my opinion. Though over all, I'd recommend it. My favorite Jane Green novel is Mr. Maybe, and then Jemima J after that. Perhaps the reader should start there before jumping right into Bookends.
Rating:
Summary: A dramatic, comedic, and real look at friendship + love!
Review: I'm a sucker for a romantic comedy, and after Bridget Jones's Diary, I became eager to read more books in that genre. When I picked up Bookends by Jane Green, I was looking for a light, fun read, but what I received was a novel that would not let me put it down. Bookends is hilarious, witty, and full of tension and drama, and characters that you will love...and some you might not like all that well. In Bookends, the reader is introduced - by way of narrator, Catherine "Cath" Warner - to a group of friends who meet in school and though individually different as night and day, they become a tight clique of trusted friends. That is, until the ever-beautiful Portia - the friend thought to be the sun in the clique's universe - destroys friendships that were meant to last forever. Fast forward ten years where we find Cath and lifelong friends, Josh and Lisa, and her best friend, Si, living and loving in their early-thirties, in London. Si, the sweet, adorable, and gay love of Cath's life spends most of his time in friendly counsel with Cath regarding the lack of men in their lives, and discussing how each deals with that situation in their own way, whether it's Cath's refusal to believe she wants a man in her life, or Si's ability to lower his standards, for fear of living alone. Just as everyone's life seems to be on track, a blast from the past in the form of an older and more self-indulgent Portia, pops back into the group's tight circle and in an instant, lives are shook up, adulterous innuendoes are cooked up and friendships are tested. I have to say, this book is a wonderful read. I fell in love with the main character, Cath, and her feelings on friendship and love. Green does a great job in creating characters that you want to care about, characters that you can feel and even relate to. I think readers will be thoroughly and happily surprised that there is more to this book than pure entertainment. I finished this book with tears in my eyes because I felt a connection with Green's characters and I felt moved by the way Green deals with some heavy subjects in this novel. I would definitely recommend Bookends - love the title - to those who want a fast read with a lot of bite and wit. Shon Bacon
Rating:
Summary: Unsatisfying
Review: I rather like Jane Grene's writing style. In general, it is what it's meant to be, fluff. Bookends was deeply unsatisfying in its latter part because it strayed from the expected and became heavy. I wish the author had realized that many of us read her novels as an escape, not to learn, and not as part of the thinking process. The jarring story line disrupted my serenity and left me deeply unsatisfied with the novel. Otherwise, it is a fairly entertaining read but as we all know, the ending is what leaves the greatest impression and because of reasons previously mentioned, mine is not a good one.
Rating: 
Summary: Borrow it from a friend or the library
Review: I borrowed this book from a friend and am extremely relieved I did not buy it myself. While the plot and characters had excellent potential, it was never fulfilled. The writing style in this book really distracted me from what could have been a good story. Green uses too many long descriptive passages to describe situations and does not develop other situations fully. Others are just plain unbelievable (i.e., Cath discussing her bookstore dream and Lucy calling on the very next page, wanting to collaborate). I had picked the book up for light reading, but had expected much better (more like Bridget Jones).
Rating:
Summary: Marvelous!
Review: I have just finished Jane Green's third novel, Bookends, and I loved it! This story brings out the tenderness of Jemima J that seemed to be missing from Mr Maybe. I loved the characters and really felt like these were people I could become friends with. Si's witty personality lent to a great reading experience and seemed to balance out Cath's insecurities. While Jemima J is still the shinning sibling, I would rate Bookends at a close second. Jane Green is a fabulous "Brit Chick" writer, I would say one of the best out there. I am eagerly awaiting her fourth book due out in 2003.
| 
