I completely enjoyed this book. I laughed and cried. I feel like they are my friends now. Relating to the book's stories was fantastic as I too have 6 girlfriends(we call ourselves the Sensational Seven we even created a logo!!) We are so similar in fact, we came from AMESbury, Massachusetts and we graduated just one year after the girls from Ames in 1983 and people in high school were not always found of our unique bond. We gather once a quarter for dinner or drinks and have a girls annual weekend. We clebrated our 40th in Las Vegas! I am recommending that it is a mandatory read for the Sensational Seven!

I completely enjoyed this book. I laughed and cried. I feel like they are my friends now. Relating to the book's stories was fantastic as I too have 6 girlfriends(we call ourselves the Sensational Seven we even created a logo!!) We are so similar in fact, we came from AMESbury, Massachusetts and we graduated just one year after the girls from Ames in 1983 and people in high school were not always found of our unique bond. We gather once a quarter for dinner or drinks and have a girls annual weekend. We clebrated our 40th in Las Vegas! I am recommending that it is a mandatory read for the Sensational Seven!

As I have just finished reading The Girls from Ames, I spent some time reflecting upon my own childhood and relationships with friends/women in my life that helped shape me into the person I am today. I, too, grew up in a small, rural, upstate NY lake town. The cornfields and the description of Billy's death resonated with me because I was always fearful of such County Road intersections, and for that very reason.

It pleases me to read about a group of women who have bonded so well that they truly are part of one another and the essence of their being. Wonderful that they still share this connection today. However, I also have many painful memories growing up caused by the very same types of "girl groups". They were a force to be reckoned with in elementary, junior high, and again in high school. As a middle school educator, I make it my duty to be aware of such a "group mentality" that can quite easily crush those young girls just trying to get through adolescence. So often a flippant remark from or exchange with those perceived as the "popular group" ends up social suicide for those on the outside. Unfortunately, they leave lasting scars.

From the moment this book was released, I thought to myself, this book is just like the friendship I share with 9 other girls. We, too, grew up in a small, no name town called Hamilton, Ohio, which is just north of Cincinnati. We are just a few years older, graduating in 1983. A few of us have known each other since Kindergarten. As we got older and moved onto Junior High and High School, are friendships sort of "merged". We still keep in touch, mostly by email. It's not easy for all of us to get together but we all know that we will always be there for each other. We celebrated our 30th birthdays at Jodi's home in Louisville, Kentucky. We had our picture taken on the steps of her front porch. It is almost a carbon copy of the picture which appears on the back cover of the book. I loved this book and thought of my girlfriends throughout the entire story. I am so grateful for what we call our "High School" friends. From all of the friends that I have met AFTER High school, cannot believe that 10 of us still keep in touch. It truly is special. Thank you so much for sharing your story.

I met my 6 college roommates at University of Northern Iowa in 1973. 7/11/09 I am having my retirement party....all 6 girls are coming to Ohio for the party - and they have rented this book on tape for the trip from Ames/Cedar Rapids! I LOVED this book (and The Last Lecture) because I totally saw us 7 girls in every page & story. We too have taken pictures at our 30th birthday year and then reinacted the exact picture at our 40th and our 50th years! It's just an almost indescribable special special bond to have girlfriends like this. (My heart & prayers go to Kelly & Angela to BEAT their breast cancer!!)

I have just finished reading the book--loved it!! Cried a LOT. I live in AZ, but spent my childhood summers in Milford, IA on my grandmother's farm. I also graduated from high school in '80, so could relate to virtually everything "The Girls" talked about. Spent many lazy days at Lake Okoboji. I am still in touch with a childhood friend from those days who lives in Spirit Lake. I also have some close friendships with girls from my childhood and treasure them immensely.

I heard about the book from my own group of "Girls From Ames" -- sorority sisters in the early 1970's at ISU. We got together for the first time at the sorority last summer (2008), after being apart for 33 years. The laughter that weekend was explosive.

I grew up in Iowa and moved to Colorado. In the early 1980's, I joined a Book Club of 10 -- all with young children and needing an excuse to get together once a month. Sometimes, we even read the selected book. We soon evolved into close friends. Monthly meetings expanded to include twice yearly "bookclub weekends" where rafting, skiing, boating and "other adventures" brought us even closer. We've shared marriages, childbirth, divorces, unusual diets and exercise routines, illnesses, grandchildren, hip-replacements through the years. Now some of us (like me) have scattered throughout the country. Our monthly meetings have ended. But through the magic of emails and social networking sites, we still "see" each other and share our lives. We'll always be close friends -- the Woodland Hills Bookclub.

Hi,
I found this book very powerful. My high school girlfriends (6 of us) mean the world to me and that is why I thought I would really appreciate this book. We just celebrated our 40th birthday in the Dominican Republic for 4 days and have been friends most of our lives. We are very fortunate to live close enough so we can get together monthly. I do plan on growing old with these women because they are my life lines in many ways. Thanks for sharing!

Five years ago 5 girls I had grown up with got together after not seeing some for 30 years. Some had moved away, but we all had Seneca Lake in common as we spent most summers there. We have reconnected and picked up where we left off. We now get together during the summer at Seneca Lake, usually have a 'Theme' such as the Prom last year. Our moms even got in the act. It was great! Last summer one mom had cancer and has since passed. One friend lost a son in a car accident, and 3 of the 6 have divorced and remarried.One is a famous quilt maker and fabric designer. We all say we had an enchanted childhood.

A close friend couldn't wait to provide me with a copy of The Girls from Ames. She knew I'd love reading this beautiful story because I speak so fondly of the years I spent in Ames attending Iowa State University.

While my "sisters" and I came to Ames in 1980 from several Iowa towns, the bonds we formed while there are as strong as those described in the book. (Must be something in the Ames water.) We have remained close and have shared the joys and sorrows of adulthood in ways similar to those of the Girls from Ames.

I remember meeting up in Ames for a reunion of our own and surprising everyone with my pregnancy. They understood my relunctance to spread the news too early, after suffering several miscarriages before bring three healthy children into the world. My kids know they're loved deeply by Mom's ISU friends.

Greg and I met at Iowa State and married in 1985. Our oldest son now attends Iowa State. We talk often about the life-bonds he'll make with his college friends. Although, I am convinced they will never be as deep and celebrated as those I found with my girls from Ames.

Deeply moved by this book, I have always valued my women friends, unfortunately not always been able to keep up as the girls from Ames have. Thank you to the girls sharing their stories, thoughts and honesty. I felt like I got to be part of their sisterhood as I read their stories. This book has reminded me to put my life in order of importance, all the daily annoyances of work, family, life are just part of life and the important, valuable experiences involve those you love friends and family. Thank you for such a wonderful story, it has touched my life forever

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your book. I am one of 6 friends that goes back to junior high (two from elementary). In high school we were called the Green Pinto Gang as we would all cram into the Green Pinto our one friend who had a car drove (you could do that back then - and there were actually 7 of us at that time - one member defected). To this day, our husbands, families and friends still refer to us as the Green Pinto Gang 35 years later. Most of us still live in Southern California with one in Central California. We get together twice a year for a long weekend and nothing but nothing gets in the way of those weekends. The thing that resonated throughout the book for me is that there is no friend like an old friend. I have many other friends but none can compare to my GPG friends. I so enjoyed this book and related to so many things in it. Thanks for sharing your story.

Hello - I am enjoying The Girls from Ames. I have a group of friends that have been together over 35 years and we were all flight attendants (stewardesses was still appropriate in 1973). The strong core group is 8 of us and we have been through TWA flight attendant training to wild flights and wild places. We still meet every Christmas for dinner and sometimes at one of the girls winery in St. Helena, CA. Half of them have been my roomates somewhere along the way. We have had marraiges, deaths and divorces along with children and many fun dinners and always go down memory lane.
Sandy Dahlgren

I have just finished the book and loved it. I am always happy to read and hear about groups of girls/women whose friendships are so binding and lasting- through thick and thin! I am also very fortunate to be a member of a group of women just like that-The Illinois Street Gang. Most of us have lived next door or near each other for anywhere from 25-30 years. We all met very young, before children and careers, etc. So the book and the experiences of the Ames girls really struck a chord. Thank You for writing it . And Ames girls THANKS for sharing your wonderful, wonderful lives with us. Good Luck to you in all of your futures.

I was preparing to come back to the midwest for my daughter's 6th birthday. I like Jenny had children much later in life. I saw this book in Borders and thought it would be a fun read for the trip home. Well, I got much more than I planned. I graduated from a small farming community in Indiana in 1979. There were three distinctive groups in our high school. The Girls from Ames could have been any one of those groups all with their own quirks, issues and problems. As I look back now, it is interesting to see how all of those groups navigated the trials of puberty. We had one incidence in the 8th grade like the "confrontation" they had. There must have been 15 of us in the guidance couselors office "goining" at it breaking each other down. To this day I have never forgotten that experience.

I have to say I cried hard throughout this book. My 3 year old and 6 year old couldn't figure out why mommy was crying. I guess it just hit home with me and I felt I was back in high school again....I have decided to stay another week and a half so I can attend my 30th high school reunion. I will look at this experience with a different attitude and appreciation for the various twists and turns that all of our live must have taken.

Thank you this.....I have to believe that my life will now take an interesting if not more reflective turn because of reading this book.