"Five children meet on their first day of school, one bright September morning. Gabby, Billy, Izzie, Andy and Sean - bursting with their own personality, all with strikingly different looks and diverse talents - soon become an inseparable group, known to everyone else as the Big Five.
As they grow up, their seemingly perfect lives are altered by families falling apart, and losses and victories great and small. As they emerge from school, their futures seem neither safe nor clear, and the challenges and risks they face become greater, the losses sharper. It becomes much harder to know the right path to choose.
But despite life's ups and downs, together the Big Five are able to face up to the challenges, and to treasure valuable friendships that last a lifetime... friends forever."
Although the blurb makes this story sound thrilling and exciting, I wasn't really that impressed.
What's good about it:
- There are many unexpected twists in the book which leave you feeling shocked, surprised and eager to read on.
What's bad about it:
- There are too many characters to keep tabs on. It's hard to remember the parents and siblings of all five friends.
- The story was fairly boring and uneventful for the first 150 pages. It's only after around half way through the book that it finally becomes worth reading.
- The plot is far-fetched and very untrue to live, making the story hard to believe and relate to.
- Danielle Steel has chosen to write Friends Forever from the third person, but I think the story would have benefited a lot more from five first person perspectives. It's difficult to connect to characters when you are unaware of their thoughts and feelings.
- The ending felt rushed. The first half of the book needs condensing so the eventful part of the story is focused on in more depth.
Overall, I would give Friends Forever a miss. Danielle Steel does not live up to her name with this novel. I was slightly bored throughout and could have easily put the book down. I'm glad I only paid £1.99!
Abbey xo
