By Kristin Sommers (May 7, 2003)

Something Blue by Anne Hood is a story of three friends coming together in New York City. When Katherine leaves Andy at the altar she arrives in New York on the doorstep of her old sorority sister Lucy. But old pal Lucy has changed since her college days and is almost ashamed of her past. She’s now a struggling illustrator of children’s books on the verge of a best seller but until then, has to give weekend tours of European cities and cope with problems with her dancer boyfriend Jasper who is about to give up his dream.

Lucy is now best friends with Julia, a chronic liar who apartment sits and makes up a new life story for herself at every one she stays at. She is never in a relationship with someone who doesn’t have a foreign accent and the relationships only last as long as she stays at that apartment. She has issues with her mother who is an author. She feels that her mother created a character that she wanted her daughter to be and Julia feels that she will never live up to that. Whew.

The characters in this book are funny and the dilemmas they get themselves in are also funny. But at times the book is so complicated that you spend almost as much time reading about the situations as trying to figure out who each person is and what the other dilemmas they were in before.

Katherine is having more than just a relationship problem with Andy; she is also having problems with Lucy. Lucy is not the same person she was in college and doesn’t want Katherine around because she reminds her of her past. Julia is also feeling a little bit of upset because she never had to deal with competition for Lucy’s attention. But somehow the three form a relationship, dysfunctional though it may be.

But now the three friends have to deal with outside problems. Lucy has to decide if she wants to be with Jasper or her ladies-man publisher. Julia has to decide if she wants to settle down with one boyfriend, one house, one life or to keep running away from her past and what she really is. Katherine has to decide if she wants to be a housewife in Boston with Andy or date every man she meets in New York but they never call her again.

The problem with this book is the stories and characters are hard to keep track of. There are so many different stories and it switches from one character to the next very quickly. The situations they’re in seem to be a little strange so it’s hard to relate to any of the characters in the book. In fact, the situations are a little off-the- wall. In the beginning of the book the characters aren’t identified so it is really hard to tell which character is which.

This book was good but it just didn’t keep my attention. I would recommend it to people who are more interested in "chick" books. I can’t really see guys enjoying this book.