This story opens with three friends, Cassie, Jenn and Maggie planning a getaway vacation for their fiftieth birthdays. We get glimpses of where they are in their lives today and then are transported back in time to their highschool years when they first met. They weathered the good and bad events many teens endure while discovering their own sexual identities. Time jumps ahead a decade and relationships have come and gone. A woman named Deana has joined the Pantheon girls causing some rifts between friends. More time passes and we return to the present to see what has become of these three best friends.

I admit I struggled at times to keep reading this saga of love and loss, jealousy and forgiveness. We see most events through Cassie’s eyes with Jenn and Maggie taking secondary roles. The conflict Deana brings into their midst gets frustrating as much because we don’t really get to know Jenn as much as we understand Cassie. We don’t understand Cassie a lot of the time either, or at least I didn’t. My biggest challenge was the feeling that the book got stuck too long in the earlier eras when I wanted to find out what was happening in the present. Too slow paced for me. I lost interest in the characters and their dramas.

A copy of this book was received with thanks from Bold Strokes Books via NetGalley for review.

2.5 stars

Solid, enjoyable read! There's a bit of humour, happiness, sadness and anger mixed into the relationships like most lifelong friendships.
It's a nice read, and my first read by this author.

3.4 out of 5

A good story. I loved the bond between all the friends that remained strong for years. It made me laugh at times. I enjoyed it very much and would recommend.

Thank You Bold Strokes Books and NetGalley,

This is more women’s fiction as it follows Cassie Burke through different time periods of her life. Cassie meets Jean and Maggie who become life long best friends during the final months of high school. Twenty-five percent of the book is spent on high school, forty percent ten years later in 1999 and finishes with them as they turn fifty. I appreciate these are the type of friends that can get together without skipping a step after spending months and longer apart, but I honestly didn’t connect to any of them. There is some humor and sadness they all share together. I think I would have preferred less time on high school, maybe only a couple of chapters. The time jumps are big. One is married for 15 years and it is only mentioned after the relationship falls apart. I felt like I was being told a story but it didn’t connect with me emotionally. I knew nothing about their families or other relationships they’ve had. Honestly, I was getting bored but continued reading every word (not skimming) till it got to its satisfactory conclusion. I’ve only read one other book from the author and it was a different genre so it is hard to compare. I like women’s fiction and long friendship stories and I am not sure why I didn’t enjoy this more. Thank you to NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for the ARC and I am leaving a voluntary review.

Really good book. I loved the relationship between the three school friends. I laughed constantly throughout this book and the relationships each woman had was equal parts hilarious and sometimes very sad. I liked that the violence and drama was kept at a minimum and that the author included a warning about the trauma that happens to one character in this story. I loved that these women knew each other for a long time and remained friends for that long. I would definitely recommend this book to my friends and family and I look forward to what's next from this author

Things to like, particularly the relationship between the school friends, which has the right amount of affection and exasperation of knowing each other for years as friends and in some cases ex lovers. The movement between time mainly works, but can at times be a bit clunky. I liked the inclusion of an ace relationship. The violent scene wasn’t graphic (which I was happy about), but I wasn’t convinced it was necessary or indeed convincing in the way it was written for the characters. It felt kind of thrown in to add drama. Political aspirations or child custody fears would have been a more realistic reason for the separation.

‘Pantheon Girls’ centres around three best friends, Cassie, Jen and Maggie and the way that they have supported one another through the good and bad times in their lives since high school.
I really liked the way that Copeland spans thirty years without the pacing ever feeling too slow or dragged down by too many unnecessary details. The warmth that you feel almost instantly towards these friends means that during the time gaps you can pick right up with their lives as no time has passed. I really enjoyed the relationship that grows between Cassie and Jen from first loves to something far more permanent and meaningful but also the way they help Maggie to push her comfort zone like true friends do.
I appreciated the way Maggie is written as ace and also showing the frustration that comes with constantly having to explain your choices when all your friends are in the midst of dating and various relationships. She is probably my favourite character in terms of how refreshing and individual she has been written.
The complications that Deana brings into the group challenges their friendships and feels authentic to the reality of how dynamics can be altered as friends follow their own paths. I really liked the strength and confidence that Deana carries within herself which is used to help Cassie find herself again after a terrible breakup. The one aspect that I felt could have been expanded on, although an extremely awful subject, was the homophobic attack. It could have been used to force greater change within the way the women went forward because for a friend to have been targeted like that would have massive ripples throughout the group.
Overall ‘Pantheon Girls’ is a lighthearted read with a true to life take on female friendships that ultimately become the family you will always come back to.

"It was beautiful and magical while it had lasted, but like with all good stories, when it was over, one had to lay the book down and reconcile with life in the real world."

This quote from the book could very well be said about this book.

Picture, though, a love triangle with squiggly and intersecting lines, and you'll get a bit of an idea how this story goes. It's such a good story with characters that connect with the reader.

Cassie owns a bar with her ex-lover, which is a plot line you have to read to understand.

Jenn is an artist, sort of struggling, sort of not struggling.

Maggie is asexual and she's fine with that.

These three women have been friends for 30 plus years. And then, enter...

... Deana the wealthy wife of a state politician, and is completely dissatisfied with her marriage and her love life. You might think you can see where this is going, but you might be mistaken.

This is a well-written book, which is what one always expects and always gets from Jean Copeland. I'm glad I read it and you will be, too!

Pantheon Girls is a pleasantly unique book about initially three high school students, Cassie, Jenn, and Maggie who come together during a high school cafeteria fight. The book spans over thirty years and adds another Pantheon Girl, Deana, to the story when the women are in their later twenties. The book details their lives, their relationships, their struggles, and their victories.

It was an enjoyable read for its uniqueness, understanding more about the challenges that women face at various points in their lives, and the happily ever after ending. 4 stars

I received an ARC from Bold Strokes Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love the LGBT+ representation in this book.
Cassie is a great character. She learned in high school to surround herself with great people; Jenn and Maggie are great people.
I enjoyed the back-and-forth between Cassie and Deana, and Cassie's restraint and internal struggle were realistically written.
Because it's named Pantheon Girls, I would have liked more from Jenn and Maggie. Especially Maggie because she seemed like the outside friend and they didn't take her asexuality seriously, which made me sad for Maggie. And felt similar to the way kids would bully her in school.
Between these pages is an authentic view of the dynamics of friendship over a few decades. This really touched my heart in beautiful and unexpected ways.
I received a copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

4 stars
I enjoyed the time I spent with the Pantheon Girls. It was a pleasant change to read a story about middle aged women. Believe it or not, they have all the same feelings the 20 somethings have, just in a more mature manner.
I loved experiencing their lives from high school through to 50.
All 4 of the characters are different, interesting and very supportive of each other. Very warm friendships and a very warm romance. Dialog is rich, natural and clever.
There was a surprise violent scene but it resolves quickly and sets the scene for the second half of the story.
I was given this ARC in exchange for an honest review.