Book Review: Best Friends Forever

Book: Best Friends Forever (The Girls of Canby Hall book #6) by Emily Chase

Cover Art by David Cook

Edition: Paperback

Description:

Dana thinks country means quilts from cozy boutiques, and Faith can't imagine a town without hot pretzel vendors...

But they find themselves home with Shelley in Iowa for the last weeks of summer, and small-town life is anything but humdrum! One of Shelley's brothers, Jeff, falls hard for Dana, and she wonders if she's always going to attract country types. Everyone is getting ready for the County Fair when Faith is suddenly, shockingly ill. The best doctors in Pine Bluff can't figure out what's wrong. Dana and Shelley stand helplessly by, worried that for Faith, small-town care simply isn't going to be enough....



Rating: 4 stars

Review:

The title for this book immediately had the theme song of the LEGO Friends animated series pop into my head.

I bought this book at the thrift store for 25 cent. This book was published in 1984 but aside from a few references to fashion, technology, etc. of the time it didn't feel too dated. I had never heard of The Girls of Canby Hall series but I grabbed the book from the store shelf because the description seemed interesting.

This series centers around three best friends Dana Morrison, Faith Thompson and Shelley Hyde who attend a private high school but Best Friends Forever takes place during the summer. Dana was back at home in New York City and had been modeling at a department store as a job for the summer, Faith meanwhile was back home in Washington, D.C. and had been working as a photographer's assistant at a local newspaper and lastly, Shelley was back home in her small town Pine Bluff, Iowa working at her family's general store waiting for her two best friends to visit.

Prior to the school year ending, Shelley had invited Faith and Dana to visit her for two weeks in August. Even though they accepted the request and were excited for the trip, both girls were a little apprehensive because being from big cities they weren't sure they would really enjoy themselves in a small town. Faith also had another worry, since she is black, she hoped that the town and Shelley's family would be welcoming.

Once Dana and Faith arrived, they couldn't quite get pass how small the town was. No department stores, no high rise buildings just farms and open land. How were they going to survive the two weeks?

Shelley's family was kind and loved having the two girls visit, especially one of Shelley's older brothers, Jeff who had a huge crush on Dana. Although she thought Jeff was cute and interesting, Dana wasn't sure they would have anything in common.

As the three best friends hung out and explored the town, Faith and Dana were continuously having to adjust their mindset about country life. With some reluctance, Dana and Faith were slowly starting to realize that Pine Bluff wasn't as dull and boring as they thought it would be.

While the girls and Jeff went horseback riding, Faith had started not to feel well but figured it was something minor and would pass. But as the days passed by her symptoms were becoming worse but she didn't want to tell anyone. She kept hoping that whatever was bothering her would eventually pass. However, it wasn't until the County Fair that Faith became severely ill and had to be taken to the hospital.

Will Faith pull through? That's what Dana and Shelley were truly hoping would happen. But with Faith getting worse, are the small town doctors and hospital able to provide the best medical services?

This started out as a typical fun and fluffy story with a few adventurous moments but near the end as Faith was hospitalized it became more emotional. I thought the writer did a good job with the story of showing the girls having fun in the country but also having Dana and Faith change their assumptions of the small town life.

I don't know if I will be able to find any more books from this series. But if I can, I would love to give them a read. I just love finding old books.