The conclusion to the original four-book series, Forever in Blue by Ann Brashares bittersweetly sends Lena, Carmen, Bridget, and Tibby off into their adulthood.
After several tormented years of trying to banish the love she lost from her mind, Lena spends her summer painting, trying to see if she can truly move on from Kostos. As she paints, she begins to form a new picture in her mind: What could life look like without him? As she finally begins to move on, Kostos returns. Although Lena doesn’t exactly welcome him back with open arms, she does consider the possibility of someday…maybe…in the indeterminate future… reuniting with her first love.
Carmen, of course, spends the summer brooding, but for new reasons. Under the influence of Julia, a confident-as-a-cover-for-insecure actress, Carmen joins a stage crew for a summertime production of The Winter’s Tale. When Carmen wins the leading role, Julia’s jealousy almost sabotages Carmen’s debut as Perdita. However, as always, Carmen finds her confidence at the last second and rises to the occasion, finally getting a happy ending without damaging any of her important relationships in the process.
Bridget’s storyline is perhaps the most complex. On an archaeological dig in Turkey, Bridget realizes she is scared of her feelings for her long-time sweetheart, Eric. She thinks their lives are marching in two separate directions, and instead of communicating with Eric, finds herself in a messy emotional situation with a married man, who is a fellow member of the dig team. As she works through her romantic problems, she also realizes how brief life truly is and decides to live it to the fullest.
Four years of friendship, friend zone, and budding romance later, Tibby calls it quits with Brian, having decided she’s too afraid of the potential consequences of their love. However, Brian doesn’t want to wait around for Tibby to realize (again) that too much of a good thing isn’t bad and begins dating Effie, Lena’s younger sister. Seething, Tibby spends the summer lamenting Brian’s seeming ability to move on; after all, she only broke up with him, she didn’t give him permission to date other girls, right?
The foursome reunites for one last adventure in Greece. As revenge for being excluded from the group and being dumped by Brian, Effie steals the Traveling Pants, only to lose them in Santorini. Lena, Carmen, Bridget, and Tibby fly to Greece to find them, but to no avail. On their last night together, they go swimming in the Caldera, and Bridget shares in the Epilogue how the magic of the Pants may not have been in the actual Pants, but in what they represent. The girls know now that their lives are changing and they will always be drifting apart as they begin adulthood on their own, but they must remember to make time for one another. That even apart, they can still be close at heart.
Forever in Blue is a solid conclusion to the original four-part series, wonderfully completing each girl’s storyline from unsure fifteen-year-old in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants to a less-unsure new adult. While Girls in Pants will always remain my favorite portion of the story, Forever in Blue comes in a close second. The growth of each girl is believable, but hearkens to The Second Summer of the Sisterhood in the sense that it’s clear Lena, Carmen, Bridget, and Tibby still each have much to learn. While the book is rampant with self-doubt, I can’t say it’s unrealistic for a new adult, and each of their situations are plausible. I give this installment four stars.
The fifth part of the story, Sisterhood Everlasting, takes place ten years later. While I haven’t bought the book yet, I look forward to reading this final installment (again) soon.
The Pensive Bookworm 