Bookends, a novel by Jane Green

Catherine Warner and Simon Nelson are best friends: total opposites, always together, and both unlucky in love. Cath is scatterbrained, messy, and -- since she had her heart broken a few years back -- emotionally closed off. Si is impossibly tidy, bitchy, and desperate for a man of his own. They live in London's West Hampstead along with their lifelong friends, Josh and Lucy, who are happily married with a devil-spawn child and a terrifying Swedish nanny, Ingrid.

All's well (sort of) until the sudden arrival of a college friend -- the stunningly beautiful Portia, who's known for breaking hearts. Though they've grown up and grown apart from Portia, the four friends welcome her back into the fold. But does Portia have a hidden agenda or is she merely looking to reconnect with old friends? Her reappearance soon unleashes a rollicking series of events that tests the foursome's friendships to the limit and leaves them wondering if a happy ending is in store.

Fortunately, Cath has plenty to take her mind off Portia's schemes -- like her gutsy decision to leave her job in advertising to fulfill her dream of opening a bookstore. And then there's James, the sexy real-estate agent who keeps dropping by even after the bookstore deal is done. With his irresistible smile and boyish charm could he be the one to melt Cath's heart?

Friendship. That’s the main point in the book.

I’m touched reading the relations of the characters. They are bound to each other even after ten years and one of them is married. Green draws this beautifully. As if nothing can compare to their relations, even family.

Through this book, I know HIV/AIDS more than before. The therapy, the communities, the difference betwee HIV and AIDS (most people think they’re same). They are bound to each other too.

One thing made me annoyed is too much tv series I don’t know. Cath and her friends compare themselves to the characters in tv series. I can’t catch the irony or the insulting in the dialogs because I don’t get it. I can’t smile or laugh.

I like Josh (from the middle of the book; not in the beginning when he was 20’s). He reminds me of Luke Brandon (from Shopaholic series). He didn’t know anything his friends think he did. Cath and Si think Josh has affair, not one but two affairs! First with Portia, then with Ingrid. And guess what! Portia and Ingrid are lesbian couple. I’m shocked because Green wrote it in the end of the book before Si’s confession. Weuw!