3 Willows by Ann Brashares

From the publisher's website:

summer is a time to grow

seeds
Polly has an idea that she can't stop thinking about, one that involves changing a few things about herself. She's setting her sights on a more glamorous life, but it's going to take all of her focus. At least that way she won't have to watch her friends moving so far ahead.

roots
Jo is spending the summer at her family's beach house, working as a busgirl and bonding with the older, cooler girls she'll see at high school come September. She didn't count on a brief fling with a cute boy changing her entire summer. Or feeling embarrassed by her middle school friends. And she didn't count on her family at all. . .

leaves
Ama is not an outdoorsy girl. She wanted to be at an academic camp, doing research in an air-conditioned library, earning A's. Instead her summer scholarship lands her on a wilderness trip full of flirting teenagers, blisters, impossible hiking trails, and a sad lack of hair products.
It is a new summer. And a new sisterhood. Come grow with them.

3 Willows continues the tradition of friendship that The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants started and it does not disappoint. While comparable, 3 Willows explores a whole new side of friendship, friends that have grown apart and found new friends, do they still need each other? Following the three friends over a summer, the perspective rotates between the three characters with much less communication for awhile between the three characters, than in the original books.

Each of the three characters stories were interesting. Most exciting for me was Jo's summer at the beach, with trouble going on at home, Jo enjoys her job as a bus girl and an exciting relationship. Most relatable for me was Ama's story, a studious indoors girl goes to an outdoors camp, totally out of her element. And most heartbreaking, was Polly's summer, trying to find herself and what she's meant to be while her mother is always away at her studio leaving her home alone.

All of the stories were engaging, like with the original series, I didn't want to put down this book. It was interesting to see these friends who had grown apart, realize that maybe they wanted to actually still be a part of each other's lives and that maybe they still needed each other. There are mentions of most of the original characters from the Sisterhood series and even a few guest appearances, which was just great! Though they didn't share an article of clothing (not for lack of trying) like the original Sisterhood, the magic is still there and will please fans of the original series!

3 Willows is released on January 13th!

4/5 Stars
ARC received from publisher

Who is an author you enjoy so much that every time you hear of a new book by them you get really excited and have to read it right away?