What do You think about Girls In Pants: The Third Summer Of The Sisterhood (2006)?
The “Traveling Pants” books are brain candy, although I felt that the first one was more like a good Swiss chocolate bar while the subsequent ones were more like eating marshmallow fluff with a spoon. I agree with the reviewers who found Bee to be their favorite of the four girls. She’s definitely the most authentic; the other three girls felt flat and pretty much interchangeable, less so in the first book but increasingly as the series continued. I also thought Bee’s story in this book was the most interesting of the four – working as a camp soccer coach, she meets the older guy she impulsively seduced at fifteen when she was not ready for the experience. Naturally, reuniting with him as a more mature young woman evokes complicated feelings – embarrassment and shame about her earlier behavior and what it led to; confusion about how to relate to him, especially once he reveals that he now has a girlfriend; and pain at the feelings she continues to have for him knowing she can no longer pursue him since he’s taken and she’s too mature in any case to behave the way she did earlier. The other three storylines, I felt, were not only hackneyed but a bit of a stretch: Tibby’s old friend Brian admits to having feelings for her which she returns but is scared to express (oh, come on already); Carmen meets a gorgeous (of course) guy who gets the mistaken impression that she’s some kind of good Samaritan and she’s afraid to set him straight (it really shouldn’t have been that big a deal); Lena’s father decides he doesn’t want her to go to art school so now she needs to pursue a scholarship, and she basically spends the entire book drawing. Bo-ring. I was in the mood for something light to space out with, and for that, “Girls in Pants” was adequate, I guess. I’ve definitely read better space-out books, but I’ve also read ones that were too stupid and unbelievable and/or poorly written to finish despite my wish for something fluffy; this one didn’t fall into that category, for the most part. But I wouldn’t tell anyone to rush out and read it, unless they really enjoyed “The Second Summer of the Sisterhood” (which already showed signs of strain, in my opinion) and are dying to read further adventures of the girls.
—K
The third summer of the sisterhood takes place before their freshman year of college. This is an important time in their life and they are anxious for their futures. Everyone this summer is staying in Bethesda except for Bridget who attends soccer camp in Pennsylvania where she is reunited with Erik, her heartthrob from two summers ago who changed her forever. This time though after creating a friendship they pursue a relationship together. Brian and Tibby are in love, but Tibby is afraid they will lose their friendship. In the end, she lets go of her fears when she learns that sometimes you just have to take the chance when her younger sister, Katherine, is injured. She falls out of Tibby’s window, which Tibby opened, when reaching for an apple belonging to the apple tree behind their house. Against her father’s desires Lena wishes to attend the Rhode Island School of Design, so, without his financial support she works hard to win a scholarship. Later, he apologizes and gives her his permission though she doesn’t need it, but wants it. Carmen discovers that her mother is pregnant, and chooses to attend the University of Maryland to stay close to home, but after the baby is born she realizes she should follow her dreams and “re-enrolls” to Williams (she doesn’t think her parents ever took her out). Her summer job is to watch Lena’s homesick, newly widowed grandmother, Valia. Despite their disputes Carmen ends up caring for Valia and persuades the Kaligaris to let Valia return to her beautiful, Greek island. Carmen and a boy, Win, develop a strange relationship which Carmen feels guilty about because she thinks she is giving this false impression of her being some saint who volunteers all the time when really she thinks of herself as a pretty awful person. In the end, she discovers that “Good Carmen” is a part of her, too. The foursome end their summer with a trip to the beach where they each present each other with gifts for remembering their everlasting bond. tOnce again, I was engrossed in the “girls in pants’” compelling journeys. It was romantic, credible, bittersweet, and full of much change. The characters were developed to a degree where they felt like long, lost friends. The relationships were strong and the author kept my attention with her perfectly built suspense. Lovely imagery allowed me to visualize everything that occurred. I can’t wait to read the next and final book.
—Jazmine
I enjoyed the movie of the first book, so I picked up the second and third books to read. I got them in the french translation because I figured that I might as well be learning something if I'm going to read fluffy books.The second book was ok and managed to keep my attention, but this one was a total flop. I kept reading online how all the books are so much different from one another and that this one is the best one of all. They are not different! In any way! See formula:1) The girls are sad about splitting up for the summer.2) They go wherever they're supposed to go anyway and start to enjoy themselves.3) Things turn bad and we flip between Tibby being morose, Carmen's boy troubles, wishy-wasy Lena trying to make a decision, and Bee being an emotional spaz4) They get over their problems, reunite, and none of us can remember why they are friends in the first place because they have absolutely no chemistry and nothing in commonThe end.Safe to say I didn't like it. I was only glad to have a conclusion for Bee and Eric.
—Allegra Hailey Green
