Four Friends [Robyn Carr]
This makes only the second single novel I've read by Robyn Carr although I've read all of her Virgin River series as well as the five books of her Thunder Point series that are available now. I really liked her Runaway Mistress book, although it was very different from either of her series.
I had a hard time getting into it. I wanted to read it more for the mystery of BJ's past than anything else, so I was a little disappointed in how calmly that was figured out. That and I expected BJ to tell them, rather than someone stumbling onto the information.
The drama starts with Andy's husband leaving (or her kicking him out, not really sure) and it all spirals from there. Gerri's marriage has cracks, Sonja's husband can't stand her New Age crap anymore, which he's been saying for years and she hasn't been listening. I found all four the friends (BJ included) to be interesting, but I wish Gerri's cracks didn't come in the form of a on and off two year affair that her husband had five years before. I hate cheating and I might understand his reasons (in the end due more to miscommunication on both their parts than anything else) I don't think I would have been able to forgive him if I'd been in her place. That says a lot about me, I think (and I'm not sure it's good or bad). She does forgive him and I was hoping for it in the end, since Gerri isn't me and she really wanted her marriage to work.
In some ways, there was too much going on in this book to really spend a whole lot of time on any one thing, although the main focus is the four friends (given the title, that isn't a surprise) there is some attention paid to their children as well (since most of them are teenagers, with all that implies).
I think my biggest issue is that Gerri's relationship with Phil was cracked because of something he did, rather than something out of their control. I can (kind of) understand a heat of the moment cheating (still not okay) but he had an affair off and on for over two years. I felt some sympathy for the kids (all of whom are teens, so I'm not sure how well kids works), but that ended when they all decided to blame Gerri for their father moving out (she did ask him to, but the fault was his too).
And really, why is her name BJ? I don't think you could come up with a worse nickname if you tried! I know it stands for her first and middle name, but really!
