I'll admit, one of the reasons I decided to read this book is because of the specification in the title of “the sisterhood grows.” Brashares is most well known for her four part Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. I thought that since she had four books to develop her talent for writing stories of friendship amongst young women, this one would be exceptional. Truthfully, this book isn't as good as The Sisterhood, but it does act as a nice little spin-off from the series. That's right, I said spin-off. The world of 3 Willows is the same as that of the magic pants. There are mentions, almost right away, of the main characters from the other series. Polly babysits Tibby's siblings. Jo remembers going to soccer camp where Bridget coached, and even works at the same restaurant as Lena's younger sister. It's a nice glimpse into the world of those other characters.

While I liked seeing the girls of the famous pair of jeans again, I did not like all of the parallels that were so easily drawn between the two groups of characters. Jo's arc, for example, mirrors Bridget's first story very closely. Jo learns about herself by hanging with the popular girls and going for walks on the beach with a cute boy, one who is a few years older than her. Like Bridget before her, she thinks this boy can help her find what's missing in her life. Also like Bridget, she has a family marred by deep tragedy. Because of all of these easy similarities to find, Jo's was probably my least favorite of the stories to read. It very much felt like I was reading about Bridget all over again.

Of course, Polly's and Ama's stories were much more interesting. If I had to pick, Ama's would be my favorite. While Polly's back home, struggling both to move forward and hold herself back, Ama is in the middle of the wilderness, learning how to survive. Ama is the quintessential bookworm, an academic overachiever. She has plans to attend a scholastic program for the summer, one that will look good on her transcripts, but she winds up in a program designed to teach teens about the outdoors and test their limits. It's Ama, I think, who has the most growing to do, the most of her own shell to break away from, and its a nice journey to follow.

I also enjoyed the symbolism of the three willow trees. They provide a much more interesting link amongst the friends than a pair of magic pants. There are little pieces of information about willow trees sprinkled through the novel, which is a nice touch too. If you do decide to read this book, expect a decent story framed by these trees, but don't hold out hope for the same charm of Brashares's more famous book.