Something Borrowed

Darcy has always been the one who gets what she wants, from boyfriends to attention, and Rachel has always been the sensible friend in the background. As the wedding approaches, Rachel and Dex begin seeing each other in secret through a long summer of weekends in the Hamptons, where the four friends share a house, and Rachel is torn between guilt, love and years of quiet resentment toward Darcy.

Giffin tells the story through Rachel's honest, often funny voice, and readers are drawn into her dilemma even when they disagree with her choices. Her friend Ethan, a writer living in London, becomes her sounding board and pushes her to see the friendship clearly. The novel explores how childhood friendships can become unequal, and how people sometimes stay silent to keep the peace. The affair is central to the story but described without explicit detail. The ending raises new questions that the author answers in the follow-up novel, Something Blue, told from Darcy's point of view.

Engaging, emotional and quick to read, later adapted into a film. About 341 pages in the St. Martin's Griffin paperback.