More Than Friends

Once I got into this book I could not put it down, Barbara Delinsky has a way of making me feel like I know her characters personally. I felt sorry for them, I was angry with them and relieved when young Michael woke up. I have reread it several times because of its very real themes - friendship, cheating, jealousy, power and love - and they are not so ridiculous that they aren't believable like some books. Definitely a keeper!

This is a story about trust, and about how different people react to feeling that their trust has been violated. Two families' lives are changed when a moment of spontaneous passion occurs between two individuals of each respective family. Told from the point of view of all the major characters, including the children, every emotion from guilt, anger, sorrow, and love surfaces as a result. The story evolves with an outcome that reveals how each person comes to terms with what has occurred. Among Delinsky's best.

This book begins beyond the point in a relationship where many romance novels end. Members of two very close families both make mistakes that are life altering. All family members learn to deal with seeing people they love as flawed and fallible. Eventually we learn that it is foundations that count and not so much of what is built on top. Sam is wonderful! He is able to cope with his feet of clay and not make a full fledged Greek tragedy from a blunder. He hangs in with his family, admits to his flaws, AND does the work that is needed to get the outcomes that he wants. He deals with life and its imperfections and does a great job of it. I can't imagine who could have done a better job of rediscovering the joys of family under such imperfect circumstances.You should read this, I learned many important lessons from this Delinsky novel.

I absolutely loved this book! I read it in only 3 days. The characters are so believable and real. You feel every anguished moment that the families are going through. Barbara Delinsky has a way of making you feel as though you really know these people. How my heart bled for Annie and how I thought J.D. was an awful baby. This is the second book I have read by this author and I have just purchased two more. She is great! You won't be disappointed by this book.

This was one of the best books I have ever read, EVER. Barbara Delinsky puts us right in there with the Popewells. She showed how Sam took responsibility for his actions and how one unfortunate, blurry incident changed everyone's life and brought out the good and the bad in every character. In addition, Barbara showed how mostly everyone has a skeleton in their closet. I absolutely loved the relationship Sam and Annie had - and, of course, routed for Teke and Grady to get together. JD, of course, was such an immature jerk. It angered me that although he defended Teke to his father, he so blatently, consistently, disrespected her to her face in front of the children. I thought "Coast Road" and "Together Alone" were excellent, but Barbara Delinsky outdid herself in "More Than Friends." I'll probably read it again in a few months. Barbara, please keep writing.