Firefly Lane

Kristin Hannah
479 pages

Reason for Reading: LT Early Reviewers ARC, Pub '08 Challenge, A-Z Challenge, Chunkster Challenge.

From the Publisher:
"In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the "coolest girl in the world" moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all---beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn. Tully, steeped in glamour and mystery, but with a secret that is destroying her. They make a pact to be best friends forever; by summer’s end they’ve become TullyandKate. Inseparable."

My Thoughts:
I had a love-hate relationship with this book. I loved the fact that we see Tully and Kate from a young age and we get a sense of what makes each girl tick.

I hate the fact that Tully is such a selfish jerk and I find it hard to believe that anyone could maintain a friendship with her for that long.

This was a touching story in places but I feel like I have read this story before. For example, I guessed early on in the story what would happen to Kate and I was exactly right.

As mom to a teen-aged daughter, I felt like the author did an excellent job of portraying how painful and turbulent these years can be. However, toward the end of the book I felt like it was manipulated to make me cry and it irritated me because I did cry. I have to say that this book was just ok, despite the soggy tissues.(3/5)