Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood
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| Author | Ann Brashares |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Young adult novel |
| Publisher | Delacorte Books |
| Released | 2007 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback and Paperback) |
| Preceded by | Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood |
Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood is the fourth novel in Ann Brashares's aclaimed "Sisterhood" series. The story concludes the adventures of four girls who share a pair of "magical" pants that fit each one of them perfectly, despite their vastly different shapes and sizes. This is the fourth book in the series of four, which includes The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood, and Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood. It was released on January 9, 2007.
[edit] Plot Summary
The book begins at the beginning of the summer after the Sisterhood's first year of college. Unlike the past three books, the traveling pants were not confined to travel in the summer but instead were passed around to all four of them to their respective colleges, Lena at RISD, Carmen at Williams, Tibby at NYU, and Bridget at Brown, as a means to keep them connected from their far-apart locations. The tradition initiation ceremony to launch both the pants and the summer for the Sisterhood is dissolved early on in the meeting because of Carmen's absense and their collective inability to find a suitable day to meet due to the incompatiable schedules of the four girls.
Bridget feels slightly at odds with the idea of being "taken," and because of her somewhat brash and spontaneous decision-making attitude, she decides to take a trip to Turkey to help with an archaeological dig along with several classmates from Brown because of Eric's, her boyfriend, decision to visit his family in Mexico and her unwillingness to sit around and wait for him. In Turkey she meets a handsome professor who she is wildly attracted to, and him to her. However, he is definitively unattainable as he is married with children. Despite his marital status, the two develope a brief, whirlwind romance until the visit of the professor's family to celebrate his thirtieth birthday.
Carmen, after a year of social transparency at her new college and a self-proclaimed loss of identity, has maintained only one new friendship and because of her is pulled into attending a summer drama program at College. Her new friend is Julia, the resident Drama Diva of the freshman year at Williams, one of the few freshman widely known in the social standings. Julia is glamorous, sophisticated, exuberant, and popular -- the very antithesis of the new Carmen, and because of that Carmen is pulled along behind her new companion as she forges the road ahead. Julia is in the spotlight and Carmen builds sets. However, after having been talked into auditioning for a part in the plays performed, Carmen outshines all the other camp attendants and lands the coveted role in the largest of the performed plays and Julia becomes immensely jealous while Carmen gains back her identity.
Lena is taking an extra painting class in the summer at RISD and becomes exceedingly interested in the anonymous painter who comes in late on the first day. After stalling outside of the doorway once the class ended, Lena sees that it is Leo, one of the most acclaimed artists at the college, and is tempted to look at his progress on his painting. After sneaking in early on a different day Lena spies his art and is overcome by his skill level. Leo sees her examining his work and they cultivate a relationship. One day Lena is invited to eat with him and his mother in their loft, and his mother proposes to them that they pose for each other's figure paintings, leaving Lena flustered. However, she agrees and Leo and Lena pose for each other. Lena's painting turns out horribly, but Leo's is fantastic and he's asks her to pose for another one. However, shortly following the incident, Kostos makes another appearance, leaving Lena flustered and confused. She poses again, and the two of them (Lena and Leo) become intimate.
Tibby returns back to her dorm at NYU after the dissolved meeting with two of the other members of the sisterhood to find that Brian, her long-term boyfriend from around nine months prior, waiting in her room for her. Several days pass and Brian reveals to her that he has successfully transfered to her college and will begin the new semester with her, at which point he produces a bottle of wine. After an evening of drinking, Tibby, drunk and content, and Brian then proceed to have sex after which Tibby panics, considering that she might be pregnant. After the arrival of her period, Tibby is still discontent with her relationship with Brian and breaks up with him. A while later, Effie, Lena's younger sister, confronts her and questions if a relationship between Effie and Brian would be alright with Tibby, to which she agrees, but soon feels exceedingly uncomfortable with it, and Brian and Tibby soon resume their slightly modified relationship.
At the end of the summer Effie, lovelorn and depressed at the loss of Brian to his original love, runs off to spend a week in Santorini with their grandmother, and takes the traveling pants with her. However, she loses them which then sends the four "sisters" off to Santorini to recapture their prized pants. At the end, though, they realize that the loss of the traveling pants was necessary to the continuation of their collective relationship.
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