Read Something Blue Online

Authors: Emily Giffin

Tags: #marni 05/21/2014

Something Blue

Something Blue
Darcy & Rachel [2]
Emily Giffin
Thorndike Press (2005)
Rating:
★★★★☆
Tags:
marni 05/21/2014
marni 05/21/2014ttt

Following the smash-hit
Something Borrowed
comes story of betrayal, redemption, and forgiveness.

Darcy Rhone has always been able to rely on a few things: Her beauty and charm.  Her fiance, Dex. Her lifelong best friend, Rachel.  She never needed anything else. Or so she thinks until Dex calls off their dream wedding and she uncovers the ultimate betrayal. Blaming everyone but herself, Darcy flees to London and attempts to re-create her glamorous life on a new continent. But to her dismay, she discovers that her tried-and-true tricks no longer apply--and that her luck has finally expired. It is only then that she can begin her journey toward redemption, forgiveness, and true love.

**

From Publishers Weekly

Giffin's sophomore effort-which tells the story that her bestselling Something Borrowed did from a different character's point of view-stars such an unsympathetic narrator that it's a little like reading a Cinderella story featuring one of the wicked stepsisters. Perhaps beautiful Darcy Rhone isn't really wicked, but she is one of the most shallow, materialistic, self-centered and naïve 29-year-olds around. Ostensibly a high-powered PR person in Manhattan (though she never seems to work), Darcy spends most of her time shopping, partying and getting ready for her wedding to perfect guy Dex. But an alcohol-fueled Hamptons fling with one of Dex's pals, Marcus, starts to break Darcy's perfect life down; and discovering Dex hiding in her best friend Rachel's closet really shatters it. Pregnant with Marcus's baby, Darcy decamps for London, where she crashes in high school pal Ethan's flat and annoys the heck out of him with her endless shopping and complete disregard for her impending motherhood. But after a good lecture from Ethan, whom Darcy has started to fall for a little, Darcy embarks on a self-improvement plan, thereby demonstrating she can think about someone besides herself. And if readers don't mind the first 200 pages in which she doesn't, they'll enjoy her happy ending and the few surprises along the way. Fans of Something Borrowed, too, may relish the "she said, she said" fun.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Starred Review
Readers who enjoyed Giffin's stellar debut,
Something Borrowed
(2004), might be surprised to find that the villainess of that novel is the heroine of this one. Selfish but beautiful Darcy is reeling from the betrayal of her best friend, Rachel, and her fiance, Dex, even though she cheated on Dex with his friend Marcus. Darcy is carrying Marcus' child, so she assumes he'll take care of her. After all, she's always gotten everything she's ever wanted. But when Marcus dumps her, she finds herself pregnant and alone. Always the opportunist, Darcy contacts her childhood friend Ethan, now a writer living in London, and gets him to agree to let her visit for awhile. She jets off to the UK envisioning a charmed life where a handsome, rich Englishman will sweep her off her feet. The reality isn't so blissful--Ethan is critical of her selfish behavior and she finds herself incredibly lonely and unprepared for motherhood. After a confrontation with Ethan, she decides it's time for radical change. Making an unsympathetic character likable isn't an easy thing to do, but that's just what Giffin succeeds at in her second outing. Giffin's writing is warm and engaging; readers will find themselves cheering for Darcy as she proves people can change in this captivating tale.
Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

SOMETHING BLUE

By

Emily Giffin

also by emily giffin

Something Borrowed

something blue

emily giffin

ST. MARTIN’S PRESS NEW YORK

something blue. Copyright © 2005 by Emily Giffin.

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.

www.stmartins.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Giffin, Emily.

Something blue/Emily Giffin.—1st ed.

p. cm.

ISBN 0-312-32385-9 EAN 978-0-312-32385-1

1, Pregnant women—Fiction. 2. Americans—England—Fiction. 3. Rejection (Psychology)—Fiction. 4. London (England)—Fiction. I. Title

PS3607.I28S658 2005 813’.6—dc22

2004066388

First Edition: June 2005 10 987654321

For Buddy, always. And for Edward and George.

acknowledgments

I would like to thank my family and friends for their love and support, especially my parents, who were a great source of strength to me over the past year. Thanks to my agent, Stephany Evans; my editor, Jennifer Enderlin; and my publicist, Stephen Lee, for being so professional, enthusiastic, and kind. Deep gratitude to my loyal triumvirate, Mary Ann Elgin, Sarah Giffin, and Nancy LeCroy Mohler, who read every draft of this book and offered so much valuable insight; thanks for always being there, in big ways and small. Thanks also to Doug Elgin and Brian Spainhour for joining the party late and offering their quality male perspective. To Allyson Wenig Jacoutot for being the best of confidantes. To Jennifer New for her enduring friendship. And to all the readers of
Something Borrowed,
who came to my signings, invited me to their book clubs, or took the time to share their very generous comments. Finally, my biggest and most heartfelt thanks go to my husband, Buddy Blaha, and our twin sons, Edward and George. I love being on your team.

something blue

prologue

I was born beautiful. A C-section baby, I started life out right by avoiding the misshapen head and battle scars that come with being forced through a birth canal. Instead, I emerged with a dainty nose, bow-shaped lips, and distinctive eyebrows. I had just the right amount of fuzz covering my crown in exactly the right places, promising a fine crop of hair and an exceptional hairline.

Sure enough, my hair grew in thick and silky, the color of coffee beans. Every morning I would sit cooperatively while my mother wrapped my hair around fat, hot rollers or twisted it into intricate braids. When I went to nursery school, the other little girls—many with unsightly bowl cuts—clamored to put their mat near mine during naptime, their fingers darting over to touch my ponytail. They happily shared their Play-Doh or surrendered their turn on the slide.

Anything to be my friend. It was then I discovered that there is a pecking order in life, and appearances play a role in that hierarchy. In other words, I understood at the tender age of three that with beauty come perks and power.

This lesson was only reinforced as I grew older and continued my reign as the prettiest girl in increasingly larger pools of competition. The cream of the crop in junior high and then high school. But unlike the characters in my favorite John Hughes films, my popularity and beauty never made me mean. I ruled as a benevolent dictator, playing watchdog over other popular girls who tried to abuse their power. I defied cliques, remaining true to my brainy best friend, Rachel. I was popular enough to make my own rules.

Of course, I had my moments of uncertainty. I remember one such occasion in the sixth grade when Rachel and I were playing “psychiatrist,” one of our favorite games. I’d usually play the role of patient, saying things like, “I am so scared of spiders, Doctor, that I can’t leave my house all summer long.”

“Well,” Rachel would respond, pushing her glasses up on the bridge of her nose and scribbling notes on a tablet. “I recommend that you watch
Charlotte’s Web. .
. . Or move to Siberia, where there are no spiders. And take these.” She’d hand me two Flintstones vitamins and nod encouragingly.

That was the way it usually went. But on this particular afternoon, Rachel suggested that instead of being a pretend patient, I should be myself, come up with a problem of my own. So I thought of how my little brother, Jeremy, hogged the dinner conversation every night, spouting off original knock-knock jokes and obscure animal kingdom facts. I confided that my parents seemed to favor Jeremy—or at least they listened to him more than they listened to me.

Rachel cleared her throat, thought for a second, and then shared some theory about how little boys are encouraged to be smart and funny while little girls are praised for being cute. She called this a “dangerous trap” for girls and said it can lead to “empty women.”

“Where’d you hear
that
?” I asked her, wondering exactly what she meant by
empty
.

“Nowhere. It’s just what I think,” Rachel said, proving that she was in no danger of falling into the pretty-little-girl trap. In fact, her theory applied perfectly to us. I was the beautiful one with average grades, Rachel was the smart one with average looks. I suddenly felt a surge of envy, wishing that I, too, were full of big ideas and important words.

But I quickly assessed the haphazard waves in Rachel’s mousy brown hair and reassured myself that I had been dealt a good hand. I couldn’t find countries like Pakistan or Peru on a map or convert fractions into percentages, but my beauty was going to catapult me into a world of Jaguars and big houses and dinners with three forks to the left of my bone-china plate. All I had to do was marry well, as my mother had. She was no genius and hadn’t finished more than three semesters at a community college, but her pretty face, petite frame, and impeccable taste had won over my smart father, a dentist, and now she lived the good life. I thought her life was an excellent blueprint for my own.

So I cruised through my teenage years and entered Indiana University with a “just get by” mentality. I pledged the best sorority, dated the hottest guys, and was featured in the Hoosier Dream Girls calendar four years straight. After graduating with a 2.9, I followed Rachel, who was still my best friend, to New York City, where she was attending law school. While she slogged it out in the library and then went to work for a big firm, I continued my pursuit of glamour and good times, quickly learning that the finer things were even finer in Manhattan. I discovered the city’s hippest clubs, best restaurants, and most eligible men. And I still had the best hair in town.

Throughout our twenties, as Rachel and I continued along our different paths, she would often pose the judgmental question, “Aren’t you worried about karma?” (Incidentally, she first mentioned karma in junior high after I had cheated on a math test. I remember trying to decipher the word’s meaning using the song “Karma Chameleon,” which, of course, didn’t work.) Later, I understood her point: that hard work, honesty, and integrity always paid off in the end, while skating by on your looks was somehow an offense. And like that day playing psychiatrist, I occasionally worried that she was right.

But I told myself that I didn’t have to be a nose-to-the-grindstone soup-kitchen volunteer to have good karma. I might not have followed a traditional route to success, but I had
earned
my glamorous PR job, my fabulous crowd of friends, and my amazing fiance, Dex Thaler. I
deserved
my apartment with a terrace on Central Park West and the substantial, colorless diamond on my left hand.

That was back in the days when I thought I had it
all
figured out. I just didn’t understand why people, particularly Rachel, insisted on making things so much more difficult than they had to be. She may have followed all the rules, but there she was, single and thirty, pulling all-nighters at a law firm she despised. Meanwhile, I was the happy one, just as I had been throughout our whole childhood. I remember trying to coach her, telling her to inject a little fun into her glum, disciplined life. I would say things like, “For starters, you should give your bland shoes to Goodwill and buy a few pairs of Blahniks. You’ll feel better, for sure.”

I know now how shallow that sounds. I realize that I made everything about appearances. But at the time, I honestly didn’t think I was hurting anyone, not even myself. I didn’t think much at all, in fact. Yes, I was gorgeous and lucky in love, but I truly believed that I was also a decent person who deserved her good fortune. And I saw no reason why the rest of my life should be any less charmed than my first three decades.

Then, something happened that made me question everything I thought I knew about the world: Rachel, my plain, do-gooding maid of honor with frizzy hair the color of wheat germ, swooped in and stole my fiance.

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