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    Best of Us
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    Best of Us
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    Best of Us
    Ebook395 pages5 hours

    Best of Us

    By Sarah Pekkanen

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    An all-expense paid week at a luxury villa in Jamaica—it’s the invitation of a lifetime for a group of old college friends. All four women are desperate not just for a reunion, but for an escape: Tina is drowning under the demands of mothering four young children. Allie is shattered by the news that a genetic illness runs in her family. Savannah is carrying the secret of her husband’s infidelity. And finally, there’s Pauline, who spares no expense to throw her wealthy husband an unforgettable thirty-fifth birthday celebration, hoping it will gloss over the cracks already splitting apart their new marriage.

    Languid hours on a private beach, gourmet dinners, and late nights of drinking kick off an idyllic week for the women and their husbands. But as a powerful hurricane bears down on the island, turmoil swirls inside the villa, forcing each of the women to re-evaluate everything she knows about her friends—and herself.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Australia
    Release dateDec 1, 2013
    ISBN9781925030259
    Unavailable
    Best of Us
    Author

    Sarah Pekkanen

    SARAH PEKKANEN is the #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of four novels of suspense including The Golden Couple and The Wife Between Us, and the solo author of the thriller Gone Tonight. A passionate volunteer for rescue animals, she serves as an Ambassador for RRSA India and works hands-on in India to heal and vaccinate street dogs. She lives just outside of Washington, D.C., with her family.

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    Reviews for Best of Us

    4/5

    65 ratings15 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Pekkanen is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I read two of her books last month, and was not disappointed by her newest. Four college friends and their spouses go on a trip to Jamaica to celebrate one's 35th birthday. They're all going through different things in life, and the narrative effortlessly jumps from one point of view to another. Allie is facing a health scare, Tina is overwhelmed by her four children, Savannah is secretly separated from her husband, and Pauline is struggling with the secrets she's kept from her husband, including an abortion and a mentally handicapped sister. Along with all the troubles they bring to the island, even more predicaments crop up during their week together. As usual, Pekkanen discusses difficult life topics in a way that addresses each possible solution, then provides a realistic and satisfying resolution.
    • 5/5
      My first book by Pekkanen and won't be my last. What a fun beach read. Reconnecting with old friends and old feelings make me reminisce back to college as well. And, to reflect on how far everyone has come, how things have changed, and your true feelings and thoughts... make this book a great read. Made me want to know what happened to all of them when the returned from their trip to Jamaica!
    • 4/5
      Whenever I see a new book by Sarah Pekkanen is coming out I am sure of two things: (1) I will be reading it soon after it comes out and (2) I will love it! There are only a few authors I have come across that seem to be able to actually make me laugh and cry over and over again throughout the story and that can create characters that either feel like they are inside my head, experiencing the same feelings and issues I am, or are people that I wish I was friends with. None are perfect but all feel very real. The characters in The Best of Us are no exception.When an invitation to celebrate their college friend Dwight's 35th birthday on an all expense paid trip to Jamaica is received, neither Tina, Allie or Savannah can think of a good reason to turn it down. Tina, a mother of four that finds herself exhausted the moment her eyes open every morning, is hoping some relaxation and time alone with her husband, Gio, will allow her to feel like a woman again, not just a mother who is constantly failing everyone. Her best friend, the always optimistic and caring Allie, needs something to take her mind off a devastating revelation regarding her birth father, information that could mean a painful, debilitating future for her and which is making it hard for even her to keep her spirits up. She hasn't been able to confide her worries to her husband, Ryan, and is hoping the trip will clear her head and allow her a week to forget about the future. And their spunky friend, Savannah, is trying her best to get over her husband's infidelity and her possible divorce by making herself even sexier than usual in an attempt to make herself feel desirable again. Maybe a Jamaican fling is just the thing to get her groove back!When Tina, Gio, Allie, Ryan and Savannah arrive at the airport they are beyond excited to discover they will be traveling on a private plane and that Pauline, Dwight's wife, has spared no expense to make this trip as wonderful as possible for all of them. Every tiny detail has been carefully planned and, while the others find Pauline to be haughty and hard to get to know, she is determined to make sure everyone has a great time. She figures if Dwight, a man who has always seemed on the outside of every other group, is able to have a once in a lifetime birthday with his friends, he might not realize that Pauline, and their marriage, are not all they appear to be.While this group of old friends celebrate a week in paradise, with endless supplies of gourmet food and the best booze you could hope for, old secrets and desires begin to surface and everyone's carefully constructed facades begin to crumble. By the time a hurricane sweeps through to clear the landscape around them, mistakes have been made, deep seeded truths have been revealed and each of the woman have reevaluated everything they thought about their lives and those of the people around them. With all the uncertainty that swirls around them, even as they board the plane to head back home, it seems one thing is glaringly true for all of them: unless you can be honest with yourself and accept who you really are, you cannot be truly happy or be all you can be for those you love.I am always shocked at how relatable Sarah Pekkanen's characters are! While I do not agree with all the choices the characters in The Best of Us made I can say that, seeing the situation through their eyes, I am able to at least understand why they made those choices. My favorite character and the one I related to the most was Tina. Being a mother who often feels like I am somehow failing someone no matter what I do (when I'm at work I don't have as much time for my son and husband, when I'm home and doing stuff around the house I am missing out on something my family is doing, God forbid I try to take an hour for myself...it can be exhausting!) and I can completely relate to her feelings of wanting to escape it all and then the guilt that instantly encompasses her. I also felt such kindred spirit when she was incredibly excited to be on vacation with other adults one minute and then instantly home sick for her children the next. I have felt that a number of times and it was usually through Tina that I experienced my weepy moments reading the book. The other tear worthy moments for me revolved around Pauline's storyline involving her disabled sister, Therese, and it really helped explain her more prim, closed off personality.While so much of the story is heartfelt and tender, there were also plenty of the witty, snarky character moments I have come to love in Ms. Pekkanen's stories and they really helped to level the heavier actions and moments. Savannah is the life of the party and that friend that everyone seems to have, the one that has to always be the center of attention but that you love anyways because she has a big heart. She made a lot of mistakes and seemed to be at the center of every late night drinking binge, but when the reader gets a peek into her battered heart and mind after her husband's infidelity, you just cheer her on in discovering who she really wants to be.Reading a Sarah Pekkanen novel can be a very cathartic experience: you will laugh, cry, then laugh some more and, by the time you turn the last page, you have not only gone on an adventure with her characters but have gotten the chance to put youself in their shoes and maybe thought a little bit more about what you might be going through at that particular point in time. Set against the idealic paradise of a private villa in Jamaica, The Best of Us is a vacation in a bottle and a chance for every reader to vicariously enjoy the trip while also possibly thinking of how they might react experiencing the same problems as the characters.
    • 3/5
      I read two of Sarah Pekkanen's novels in quick succession - These Girls (TG) followed by The Best of Us (TBOU). Both have friendship as a central theme -TG is about a new friendship, and TBOU is about an older friendship. Both are written in the third person from alternating female points-of-view. (I missed hearing Dwight's point-of-view in TBOU - he was one of the original circle of four friends, it was his birthday celebration, he paid for the holiday and yet his view was not voiced!) Both had infidelity and weight issues as minor themes. I received both books as Christmas presents, and enjoyed them as nice light holiday reads, with engaging characters and interesting but not-too-complex plots. I now have Pekkanen's first two novels (The Opposite of Me and Skipping a Beat) on my to-read list for when my next holiday comes around in June.
    • 2/5
      There were parts I really liked but in order to get the whole picture, the story really needed Dwight’s POV. After all, he was one of the four.
      I also couldn’t connect with Allie on any level. And poor Pauline, taking the blame. It must be fun when they meet up again knowing she will always be second best.
    • 5/5
      fantastic book - very motivational...would love to read more from this author
    • 5/5
      Plenty of time to feel as though, as the reader, I could understand each of the characters. Nice mix of people and problems to be resolved...which Pekkanen manages to do successfully.
    • 4/5
      This was a really fun book to read. Just the idea of an all expense paid vacation to a beautiful villa in Jamaica was enough to hook me! The characters of Allie, Tina, Savannah, and Pauline were so written so well, you really felt you knew these women personally. The friends get together, relive old times, retell old stories, and generally let their hair down and escape their everyday lives-no work, kids, etc to worry about. Old hurts and feelings resurface, and by the middle of the week, these adults all start acting like they are kids again. Looking back, I am reminded a little of the movie “The Big Chill”, though these characters are celebrating a birthday, not mourning a dead friend.All in all, a good book-a quick and fun read-I would definitely recommend reading it-and I will keep an eye out for Sarah Pekkanen’s other works!
    • 5/5
      This book was great! The characters were so real, I totally got sucked into the book and I lived many lives in the day and a half it took me to read it! The characters would absolutely resonate with so many women (and men), even those of us who would choose to deny it.

      Sarah Pekkanen did a great job with developing the personalities of the characters in the book and watching the secrets of their souls and their insecurities unfold and how it affected their lives was fascinating.

      I would totally recommend this book to anyone.
    • 5/5
      This book was great! The characters were so real, I totally got sucked into the book and I lived many lives in the day and a half it took me to read it! The characters would absolutely resonate with so many women (and men), even those of us who would choose to deny it.

      Sarah Pekkanen did a great job with developing the personalities of the characters in the book and watching the secrets of their souls and their insecurities unfold and how it affected their lives was fascinating.

      I would totally recommend this book to anyone.
    • 5/5
      This was my first Sarah Pekkanen novel and I really enjoyed it! (the front cover was a draw). I purchased the audio which was excellent! I have read all Emily Giffin and Jennifer Weiner books and she is a similar author—so would encourage fans of these authors to read this book! It was so realistic and each and every woman or man in a married relationship or single would enjoy ---especially young mothers.

      I am so looking forward to reading more from this author and purchasing another audio or e-book tonight! Very sexy, funny, and will keep you laughing ---very well written! Good food, sex, romance, travel, and more!!!!
    • 3/5
      In The Best Of Us, Sarah Pekkanen explores friendship and marriage when college friends reunite for a week long vacation in Jamaica. It is Dwight's thirty fifth birthday and his wife, Pauline, has arranged the all expenses paid trip to celebrate. Tina, a harried mother of four is worried about leaving her children behind but can't resist the lure of temporary escape. Allie is confronted with an uncertain future while Savannah is still recovering from a broken heart after her husband left her.The villa is a private piece of paradise, with Pauline ensuring their every whim is catered for and the group, which includes Tina's and Allie's husband's, are eager to take advantage of the once in a lifetime experience. Initially, the good humour and college reminiscences flow as freely as the alcohol and good food, allowing the reader to develop a good sense of who these people are and what they mean to each other.I found it easiest to relate to Tina but each of the women is familiar in one way or another. While I thought the women were well developed and realistically flawed characters, their path in the story is predictable. Allie, for example, who always puts others before herself, commits a selfish act while the sultry Savannah flirts outrageously to hide her own insecurities. The men are marginalised for the most part - even birthday boy, Dwight- though they provide context for the women's everyday lives.As a hurricane approaches Jamaica, unrest builds amongst the house guests and the camaraderie is slowly tainted with envy, guilt, secrets and lies. The women of the story are eventually forced to come to terms with the choices they have made and find a way to move forward in their lives.The Best of Us is an engaging novel, I found it a quick and satisfying read and it is sure to be enjoyed by fans of ensemble women's fiction.
    • 4/5
      Tina, Allie, Savannah and Pauline are four women with very different lives. All four have their own set of issues to overcome and all four think that the others are great examples of what life could be. Tina, Allie, Savannah and Dwight all attended college together and have remained friends over the years. They've added their spouses into this mix and Dwight's wife, Pauline, has invited all of his friends and their wives to Jamaica for one week to celebrate his birthday. When a near tragedy strikes, all four women will be forced to take inventory of their lives and make some hard choices in The Best of Us by Sarah Pekkanen.Tina worked as a nurse in a busy and hectic emergency room. She was used to chaos and stress . . . or she thought she was before having four children within eight years’ time. Now she's always tired. She simply doesn't have the energy to cook "elaborate" meals such as homemade lasagna any more. She worries about money because she knows that her husband, Gio, may suffer as a contractor due to the economy. Now she's feeling guilty because she's leaving her children for one glorious week in Jamaica.Allie has two glorious children and a loving husband. She works part-time as a social worker and keeps fit by jogging daily. She loves her adoptive family and is grateful her mother has volunteered to take not only her children, but Tina and Gio's four, so that they can all go on this one-week vacation to Jamaica. Allie's life is good but she's recently received some news that has her terrified. Does she admit her fears to her husband? Does she follow through with special testing or just ignore the issue and enjoy life?Savannah has always been the flirt. Now that her husband has left her for another woman, and not even for someone better in her opinion, Savannah is determined to prove that she is just as lovely and desirable as anyone else. Although the invitation included Gary, Savannah is determined to go on the trip alone and enjoy herself as much as possible in an effort to forget Gary and the fact that she's truly alone.Pauline is determined to make this week in Jamaica as enjoyable as possible. All she wants is for Dwight and his friends to have a good time and for this birthday to be memorable. She knows she's gone a little overboard but wants to impress Dwight's friends. She's also a little jealous because she simply doesn't have the history with Dwight that the other women have with him. She's also forced to face whether she should reveal her family secrets relating to her dying sister and more.Ms. Pekkanen has provided a wonderful study of friendship, family and the effects of tragedy or near-tragedy on relationships. All of the characters are quite likable, even when they are doing something rather detestable. This one week in "Paradise" reveals that no one is ever what they may appear to be and that even "Paradise" has problems. All of the main characters have secrets that they are forced to deal with over the course of this vacation. The Best of Us is crammed with drama, revenge, secrets, affairs, romance, death, guilt, self-awareness, jealousy, envy, and forgiveness. Although Ms. Pekkanen deals with some weighty issues, she does so in a way that never detracted from this reader's enjoyment. If you’re looking for a contemporary fiction read that shows the grass is not always greener, then you want to read The Best of Us.
    • 4/5
      This is a fun beach read type of book. I enjoyed the writing and the characters. I was jealous if the college friends going on a beach vacation as it is now the middle of winter!Each of the characters is facing a personal crisis in some fashion whether it be self inflicted or not. Tina is overwhelmed by her life with four small children. Savannah is dealing with a separation from her husband. Allie has a potential genetic disease. Finally Pauline is facing the illness and death of her brain damaged sister. The book highlights how each character and her spouse deal with their personal crisis. The interactions are fascinating with some good behavior and some not so good behavior. Alcohol and other substances are involved. Overall a fun and interesting read. Reader received a complimentary copy through the Good Reads First Reads program
    • 5/5
      The Best of Us by Sarah PekkanenPauline was so happy to be pulling off her husbands big birthday party. A week in Jamaica for them and his other college friends and their spouses. In total 6 people.Savannah was to bring Gary but she hadn't told anybody they were getting a divorce. He had found a younger nurse. He was an anesthetist doctor and she sold real estate/houses. Allie was married with 2 teen kids, everything on an even keel when she wasn't working as a social worker. Her mother and father would watch all the kids. Ryan her husband also worked for the local company, engineer dept.Tina was the one with 4 kids and her husband, Gio was in the local company in the architecture dept. She just couldn't seem to get things balanced and there was always something to do...Dwight was the dot com millionaire who was going to be treating them all to whatever their hearts desired in the weeks time.The house and island are pure paradise. Along with the food and body massages, huge rooms and there are other surprises for the upcoming days of adventure.Love the detailed descriptions, this would so make such an awesome movie!Everyone although keeping their most private secrets to themselves are having a wild time of relaxation as they reminiscence about college days and it seems everything is NOT so good in paradise after all....