#11 Welcome Home Mary Anne!

[maddieruns]

Wow, so I just read this one for the first time...

I felt bad for Mary Anne when the family started moving into their barn. That was pretty sad.

Also, Sunny and Jeff really irritated me in this book. Jeff complained too much, but it was cool how the triplets helped Jeff remodel his room. I think I liked Bryon's idea with the Space Station the best.

Sunny was annoying, but at the same time she was dealing with her mother's death... I'm still surprised she convinced Mary Anne and Dawn to sneak off to New York by themselves!

I like how they included a baby-sitting chapter in this book, unlike some Friends Forever ;D The Pike family seemed more, realistic in this book too somehow.

Oooh! And finally, someone who has acne in Stoneybrook! Alex... one of the guys Sunny sets them up with! ...Plus, Wizard of Oz references pop up all over in this book, so that's a bonus. ;D

[Amalia]

I liked this one too. It was one of the few of the FFs that I've read.

[bscfan24]

The only thing I really remember about this book was their trip to NYC and talking about seeing a guy in a pink (or was it purple) prom dress in one of the stores. That must have been priceless.

[greer]

I think i like this book mostly because i'm into architecture and interior design.

[tiff85]

I never knew that Mary Anne and her family moved into the barn. I thought they rebuilt the house but a little closer to the barn?

[starrynight]

^ Nope...one of their original ideas was to build a new house where the old one had been, but in the end, they just renovated the barn.

I absolutely LOVED the trip to New York in this one. If I had read this when I was younger, I would have been all over the idea of doing something like that!

[otempora541]

I liked the moving into the barn scene. Although I thought that this and Claudia's Disaster Date should've been flipped- Mary Anne moving into a new home would've been a nicer transition.

Sunny seemed to be all over the map though- in CDa she is depressed, but in three months she suddenly does a 180? Reading it along with CD Suny is confusing.

The whole sneaking off to New York was very realistic (even the part where Sharon and Richard don't find out). I'd bet my hair that if this was a more adult series Dawn and MA would come back home with ink and piercings all over them.

I thought it was odd that Stacey and Claudia don't get a lot of speaking roles in this book (which is why I think the book's too short).

[greer]

It's also weird because in CD, the summer after her mom's death is Amalia Diary Three and Ducky Diary Three, but neither of them ever mention Sunny going to CT with Dawn, even though Dawn is mentioned as going to/being in Connecticut.

Dawn and MA could only come back with piercings/ink if they were over 18 or were accompanied by a parent, because it would be against the law otherwise.

[tiff85]

Yeah Starrynight, me too! I didn't know that Mary Anne could be so bold.

[Kylie90210]

I still can't believe the old house is gone... Is it weird that I'm sad a fictional peice of history is gone? Lol. But the 'new house/barn' sounds great!

Poor Sunny... glad she finally started facing things. I'm surprised the girls didn't get caught though.

[anzuhana]

I loved reading about the descriptions of the house. I like how Mary Anne, Dawn and Sunny sunk off to New York and didn't tell Sharon and Richard about it.

[aclark81]

This is the only FF book that I haven't read. How does it compare to the others? Is it worth the read?

[anzuhana]

^ I think Welcome Home, Mary Anne is one of the best FF books. It might be the best Mary Anne Friends Forever book and it's definitely worth the read.

[starrynight]

Nov 3, 2010 13:54:15 GMT -5 aclark81 said:

This is the only FF book that I haven't read. How does it compare to the others? Is it worth the read?

It's one of my favorite FF books.

[virgoscorpio]

I loved this book! I actually stayed up until 2 a.m. last night reading it!

I also noticed a lot of references to gay people in this book -- I think there were one or two. Which, obviously, is a lot coming from BSC-land!

Someone mentioned how the book seemed so short because there weren't many Stacey and Claudia moments. But I think this is one of the longest FF books, and is comparable to a BSC book (think: it's 142 pages and doesn't include the notorious "Chapter 2" moments -- which maybe would have made it 152-160 pages in the regular BSC series. Pretty long to me!)