Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner, 2009, * *

Addie Downs and Valerie Adler will be best friends forever. That's what Addie believes after Valerie moves across the street when they're both nine years old. However,  in the wake of betrayal during their teenage years, Val is swept into the popular crowd, while mousy, sullen Addie becomes her school's scapegoat. Flash-forward fifteen years where Valerie has found a measure of fame and fortune working as the weathergirl at the local TV station and Addie lives alone in the house she grew up in. She is caring for a troubled brother, trying to meet Prince Charming on the Internet, and has just returned from Bad Date #6 when she opens her door to find her long-gone best friend standing there, a terrified look on her face and blood on the sleeve of her coat. Best Friends Forever is a story about betrayal and loyalty, family history and small-town secrets, living through tragedy, finding love where you least expect it, and the ties that keep best friends together. Jennifer Weiner is known for being the doyenne of  “chick- lit" and this book has been referred to as a sad and sweet turn on Thelma and Louise. Although I loved the movie, I did not love this book as I found the characters shallow and the plot predictable.