Oh the drama!!! This is why I avoid chick lit. There were parts that were witty and it was a quick read, but over all, it was childish. ( )

I totally "get" Gus! She is like me with a lager outer circle of friends (which I'm jealous of LOL) I was very happy with the way this book progressed and the ending. Oh and Helen!!!! Who doesn't know a Helen. ( )

This is one of my fav books. Found it in my storage yesterday and am re-reading it. Might come back and do a proper review, but I love this book and would recommend it. ( )

1/2 way through and I like the book. Its a little juvenile, but then even the cover alluded to the fact that the main character feels she's living a high school drama. I like the dialogue, and some of the stunts that Gus pulls are pretty funny to read. Who wouldn't wanna yell/sing Janis Joplin's "Piece of my Heart" 3 inches from your ex's face (and the skank he was getting some from on the side.) Its annoying how weak Gus comes off being, but lets face it, thats generally how people live in life. Missing opportunities to defend yourself in the name of confusion, mental paralysis, or just in the name of social politeness.This was a good book. It followed Gus as she grew up. Yes somethings irritated me about the characters behavior traits, but I think the story was written well. ( )

Augusta "Gus" Curtis was banking on one person to keep her from feeling totally alone and backward on her 30th birthday: her aloof boyfriend Nate. So when she catches him lip-locked with college friend Helen, Gus is forced to consider how well she really knew or liked any of these people -- including herself.

Frenemies is definitely a novel exploring the nature of women's friendship, as Megan Crane herself notes in the afterword. She says she wanted to write about the things women do to each other, looking at it all from a Mean Girls perspective. I think she succeeded in that. But was it all that interesting? Not really.

I thought Gus was this strong-minded, almost rebellious librarian -- an interesting concept -- only to realize she's quite dependent on those around her, including best friends Georgia and Amy Lee. That's okay -- I wouldn't immediately hold that against her -- but it takes so long in the novel to see Gus's growth that it just becomes . . . frustrating. I wanted her to break out of the blindness to see that when Nate says he "can't be" what she needs him to be, he means it! And move on. She wasn't in love with him -- everyone sees that. She's just angry that Helen, her so-called "friend," took what was hers, thereby destroying the illusion Gus had created for her life.

The novel is well written and full of witty banter, and I was relieved to see how far Gus had come at the end of the book, but getting there made me feel a little tired. Many of the peripheral characters are very unlikeable, including Henry, Georgia's former "crush to end all crushes" and Nate's housemate. I wanted to feel something about him, but I didn't.

Overall, a quick read looking at friends-as-family and the way women depend and hurt one another. Did have some insightful scenes, but overall fell a little flat for me. ( )