Lisa Reviews: Melissa Kantor's - "The Darlings" series

Lisa here! Welcome to another one of my reviews, but as you can probably tell from the title, this isn’t just any stinkin’ review, no! But instead, I’m reviewing two books in one… that’s a lot of “reviews” in one sentence, but any-who, the books are…

The Darlings Are Forever (Book #1), by Melissa Kantor.

“Jane. Victoria. Natalya. Together, they are the Darlings. Best friends forever. They have matching necklaces, their own table at Ga Ga Noodle, and even a shared motto: “May you always do what you’re afraid of doing.”

When the friends begin freshman year at three different high schools in distant corners of New York City, they promise to live by their motto and stay as close as ever. The Darlings know they can get through anything as long as they have each other. But doing scary new things is a lot easier with your friends beside you. And now that the girls aren’t spending all their time together, everything they took for granted about their friendship starts to feel less certain. They can’t help but wonder, will they really be the Darlings forever?

Now in paperback, this exciting new series by bestselling author Melissa Kantor, The Darlings Are Forever will speak to any girl who has ever had a best friend.”

Jane, Natalya, and Victoria are three best friends, also known as The Darlings, with a motto they each share, “May you do what you are afraid of doing.” Spending almost all of their time together, usually at their own table, at their favorite restaurant Ga Ga Noodles, the girls are worried about starting high school, each at a different school. They promise to make time for one another and never to forget their friendship.

Natalya is accepted into a private school (which her sister also went to), and becomes friends with the most popular girl’s in school, but for all the wrong reasons.

Jane attends a performing arts school, and wants to pursue acting. Until she starts crushing on her director!

And Victoria, who is innocent and perfect in her parents eyes, starts doing things she would never have imagined doing before.

Sticking together through good, and many bads (such as sneaking out to a party, pictures exposed online, and a few other things that could put Victoria’s Dad’s chances of becoming Senator in danger) the girls come out at the end of the tunnel, as best friends, and as the Darlings.

And Darlings In Love (Book #2), also by Melissa Kantor.

“The Darlings have just begun their second semester of ninth grade, and love is in the air.

Victoria: The sweetheart Jack: The irresistible songwriter…but is he writing off Victoria?

Natalya: The overachiever Colin: The perfect match, if only the game were less complicated

Jane: The drama queen Simon: The Greek god… of mixed signals

In the face of both joy and heartbreak, the Darlings know that they’ll always have each other. Boys come and go, but the Darlings are still forever.”

This second book continues with the three best friends. This time, each learns how to love.

Victoria has a boyfriend named Jack (who we meet in the first book) and loves spending every minute with him; things just keep getting better and better. Natalya is starting to crush on her ex-boyfriend Colin (who we also meet in the other book!) when he challenges Natalya to a online chess game. And Jane is dealing with loneliness but meets a cute boy named Simon in the theater.

Things seem to be going great for the Darlings, that is until Valentine’s Day goes wrong for Victoria. Natalya finds out that Colin is hiding something from her, and things may be to good to be true for Jane.

In Darlings in Love, the three girls, learn that boys come and go, but friends last forever.

(*Thanks you Goodreads, and Barnes and Noble, for the book summaries!)