Book Review and Giveaway: The Best of Us

**Giveaway is now closed**

Tina is a frazzled stay-at-home mother of four young children. Allie has been leading a charmed life, until she receives some unsettling news. Savannah is trying to make a fresh start with her life after her husband leaves her for a younger woman. Pauline is hiding some huge secrets from her husband, causing a distance within their marriage. Pauline's husband is turning 35 and she has invited Tina, Allie and Savannah, (along with their husbands, although Savannah shows up by herself) to Jamaica for an all-expenses-paid week of paradise, since they were all friends in college. When a hurricane threatens the safety of everyone on the island, there's a heavier storm of turmoil going on at the beach house, leading the women to re-evaluate what is most important in their lives.

Amy Bromberg:
Sarah Pekkanen is one of my favorite authors. I knew she would be when I found out that Jennifer Weiner endorsed and raved about her before The Opposite of Me, Sarah’s debut novel, was released. I get giddy like a kid gets when he walks into a candy store when I receive in the mail the latest from Sarah. She really "gets" chick lit...writing about relatable characters and real life issues. Talking about giddy, I can’t tell you how excited I was when I had the pleasure of meeting Sarah last year at Watchung Booksellers in Montclair, NJ.

The Best of Us is a captivating read about four couples who are reuniting for a vacation of a lifetime in Jamaica. The four women however are all dealing with emotional burdens. Sarah takes the time to delve deeply into these women’s relationships and the struggles that they are dealing with. As with Sarah’s previous books, she has this incredible ability to bring her characters to life and make them extremely realistic. First there’s Pauline who, many a time, I wanted to slap in the face. In the beginning she has a big stick up her ass, but as we see later, there’s more to her than what meets the eye. Allie appears to be a goody two shoes, always a smile on her face, bright eyed and bushy tailed…but no one knows the secret she’s been hiding from her husband, Ryan and her best friend Tina. Tina feels she’s losing it from being a full time mom to four kids. And last, but not least, we have Savannah who looks like her separation from her husband is not taking a toll on her at all. But again, no one is ever what he or she appears to be.

If you’re like me you will want to hop on a plane to Jamaica the minute you get a taste of this gorgeous Caribbean beach setting. Sarah has an amazing eye for detail and many of her sensory descriptions draw the reader in. At certain times it was as if I felt the sand under my feet and saw the turquoise waters through my living room window. Okay, so this is a bit of wishful thinking, but you know what I mean.

While as times it was difficult to follow the lives of all of the characters, I still HIGHLY recommend it!

The Best of Us is a light, entertaining, cute and sexy read. Even though it’s not summer yet, it’s definitely a favorite 2013 beach read of mine. I can also see this being made into a movie. Picture Sex and the City 2, but with the men. I can see this being wonderful to devour while lounging on the beach with a strawberry daiquiri or a margarita.

Melissa Amster:

The Best of Us was the novel I took along during my recent vacation. It was rather fitting, since it was also about a vacation. However, we took our kids along with us, so it was hard not to envy the couples in this story at times. (Then again, going to Disney World without our kids would have felt so strange!) In any case, I enjoyed the escape afforded to me while reading this novel. I could live vicariously through the women lounging on the beach all day and getting massages or drinking cold, fruity alcoholic beverages. It made me think of my honeymoon.

Sarah Pekkanen's novels have spanned a variety of topics and don't seem to fall into a particular pattern. She tends to surprise me in this way. Her writing style is definitely consistent though. She has a way of creating characters who feel so real that I forget I'm reading a work of fiction. Even after I put down the novel before going to bed or when I was completely finished, the characters stayed with me. She had more to work with this time around, but she still gave a good amount of attention to each woman, developing a strong story line for them throughout the novel. There wasn't just the action in the present, but also a back story for each woman, along with the birthday boy. We got to learn about how they all met in college and the different ways they connected with each other back then, as well as stuff that happened in their lives between college and the vacation, such as how they met their spouses.

I could relate the most to Allie and Tina. I know how Allie felt about waiting for the other shoe to drop. Like the fact that things were going so well for her meant that only disaster was ahead. What people don't understand about living a "charmed life" is that it is anxiety provoking. We're constantly worrying about something bad befalling ourselves, spouses and children. When Allie received her unsettling news and worried about the potential outcome, I knew exactly how she felt. In regards to Tina, I know what it's like to juggle the demands of young children, worry that you're going to let someone down, and feel guilty about taking time for yourself to recharge. I saw a little of myself in Pauline, in terms of wanting to make sure everyone's needs are met and that things will go smoothly. I had a hard time relating to Savannah, but she was definitely interesting to read about.

As some of the women were carrying some heavy secrets around, I know some elephants in the room did not get addressed. I actually found this frustrating. I just wanted to yell at them "Tell your husband already!" I also would have liked to see an epilogue, where the women could be back in their daily lives a few months later, so that we could find out how the events that took place on the vacation truly affected their lives.

Overall, The Best of Us was an entertaining "escape read" that had a bit of a Desperate Housewives feel to it at times, but with less intensity. (Which I didn't mind at all, since I miss that show!) I became invested in the lives of each of the women and wanted to know what was going to happen for them going forward.

Thanks to Atria for the book in exchange for an honest review. You can find The Best of Us at Indie Bound.

Thanks to Engelman and Co, we have THREE copies of The Best of Us for some lucky US readers!

How to win:
Please tell us the first thing you'd do if you went on a week-long all-expenses-paid vacation to a Caribbean island.

One entry per person.

Please include your e-mail address or another way to reach you if you win. Entries without contact information will NOT be counted.

US only. Giveaway ends April 14th at midnight EST.

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