Guest Blog--Traveling Sisterhood Again

I just finished Forever in Blue, the fourth in the Traveling Pants series. I enjoyed the book and finished it rapidly, as with the previous three books. Of course, I can't leave it at that. I must make a few critical comments.

• Why is it suddenly okay to have sex when you're 18? Granted, some of the characters had sex in the previous novels. The difference? The sexual encounters in books one to three exhibited the negative effects of sex--feelings of depression, unwanted pregnancy. This fourth book has some of that too, but overall the book says, "It's okay to have sex, even if it's somewhat casual." What's with that?
• I was happy to FINALLY read a book where Carmen wasn't an annoying whiner. However, she was still the least interesting character to me, just as she has been in the previous three books. I'd almost prefer to have no Carmen at all as I can't wait to get past her parts of the story.
• I was disappointed to find a rehash of "The Tibby Story" from the previous novels. Why is it that Tibby goes through the same dilemma every novel? She gets scared, gets depressed, and cuts off everyone she loves. Haven't I read that story before?
  

So now that I've criticized the novel, I must say that I really did enjoy the read. I guess these teen novels give me a way to live my buried teenage dreams.