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Something blue
by Emily Giffin
A light, emotionally direct novel that follows up Something Borrowed, suited to readers who want romance, friendship and a narrator wrestling with her own choices.
What It's About
Something Blue is a contemporary women's novel by Emily Giffin, published in 2005 as a follow-up to her earlier book Something Borrowed. Despite the Psychology category listed for this page, it is a novel, not a work of psychology. It is told in the first person by a character who had a secondary presence in the first book, so you can follow it without reading that one, but you will get more out of it if you know the earlier story.
Giffin writes in a conversational, fast-moving voice, with short scenes, plenty of dialogue and a steady focus on the inner lives of professional, urban twenty-somethings. Reading it feels closer to listening to a candid friend than to working through an argument. Much of the pull comes from watching a narrator make choices that are easy to judge from the outside and harder to judge from within.
If you want a clear thesis, a plot built on mystery, or the psychological depth of literary fiction, you will find this book comfortable rather than challenging. It works best as a weekend read, when you want emotional stakes, romance and friendship without much effort.
Read this if you…
- enjoy character-driven romantic fiction with a strong, chatty first-person voice
- want to continue the story world of Giffin's Something Borrowed
- want a light, absorbing novel for a quick, emotionally engaging read
Skip it if you…
- want a book with a plot twist, a mystery or a surprise reveal
- need the moral complexity or prose style of literary fiction
Key Ideas
- 1
Living with the consequences of your choices
The novel's core tension is how decisions made for personal reasons ripple out to the people around the narrator. Giffin keeps returning to the gap between what a character meant to do and what actually happened, which gives the story its weight beyond the romantic plot.
- 2
The gap between image and self-knowledge
Much of the narrator's inner life concerns how she presents herself to others and how that presentation can drift away from what she really wants. Readers who enjoy watching a protagonist slowly admit things to herself will find this the most rewarding thread.
- 3
Friendship under strain
Close friendships in the book are tested by loyalty, resentment and old history. Giffin treats these relationships as seriously as the love story, so the emotional dynamics between women carry as much of the book as the romance does.
- 4
Romance as a test of identity
Love here is less a reward than a lens that exposes who a character is and what she is willing to risk. The book asks whether a relationship is right for the person in it, not only whether it looks right to everyone else.
Limitations
Critics of books in this genre often point to predictable plotting, a narrator whose decisions can frustrate readers, and supporting characters drawn in broad strokes. The book belongs to the chick-lit tradition, with its emphasis on romance, appearance and urban professional life, which some readers find dated or narrow. It does not offer the social or psychological analysis its category label might suggest, and readers coming from the first novel may find the sequel leans on relationships they have not seen developed.
Questions Readers Ask
- Do I need to read Something Borrowed first?
- No, Something Blue is written to be read on its own, and the narrator's backstory is explained as you go. Reading the earlier novel first does add context about the characters and the events that shaped them, so it will likely feel richer. If you are short on time, you can start here without feeling lost.
- Is Something Blue a psychology book?
- No. Although this page lists it under Psychology, it is a contemporary romance and women's fiction novel. It explores emotions and self-deception through a story rather than through research or clinical analysis. If you want nonfiction on how people make decisions or handle relationships, you will need a different kind of book.
- Published
- 2005
- ISBN
- 9780312323851
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Category
- Psychology
Book details and cover from Google Books.
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