By Emily Giffin, 2005

ISBN 0312321198

An unexpected love affair threatens a long-lived friendship in this soap opera like debut from Atlanta ex-lawyer Giffin. Since elementary school, Rachel and Darcy have been best friends, with Darcy always outshining Rachel. While single Rachel is the self-confessed good girl, an attorney trapped at a suffocating New York law firm, Darcy is the complete opposite, a stereotypical outgoing publicist, planning a wedding with the handsome Dex.After Rachel's 30th birthday party, she knocks back one drink too many and winds up in bed with Dex.

Instead of feeling guilty about sleeping with her best friend's fianc , Rachel realizes that Dex is the only man she's really loved, and that she's always resented manipulative Darcy. Rachel and Dex spend a few weekends in the city together "working" while Darcy's off with friends at a Hamptons beach share, but finally Rachel realizes she'll have to give Dex an ultimatum.The flip job Giffin pulls off here it's the cheaters who're sympathetic (more or less) gives Dex and Rachel's otherwise ordinary affair extra edge. Rachel would be a more appealing heroine if she were less whiny about her job and her romantic prospects, and rambling dialogue slows the story's pace, but this is an enjoyable beach read one that'll make readers cast a suspicious eye on best friends and boyfriends who seem to get along just a little too well.Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.

All rights reserved. *Starred Review* Chick lit is already a crowded genre, but Giffin's compelling debut truly stands out. It is as much about the meaning and value of friendship as it is about love, and it takes some risky chances that pay off.Rachel is celebrating her thirtieth birthday with her friends, including her lifelong best friend, Darcy, and Dex, Rachel's handsome friend from law school and Darcy's fiance.

One thing leads to another and Rachel ends up in bed with Dex. Suddenly, all of her repressed feelings for him rush to the forefront, and Dex says he feels the same.But thoughts of Darcy nag at Rachel. Perfect, pretty Darcy has always gotten everything she's wanted, as well as things that Rachel wanted, like her admission to her first-choice college.

But Rachel and Dex can't deny their attraction, and Rachel wonders if they might possibly have a real future together.It's a gamble to cast her heroine in a potentially unsympathetic light, but Giffin manages to create empathy for her likable characters without cheapening the complexity of their situation, making for a genuinely winning tale. Kristine Huntley Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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