Nancy Thayer doesn't disappoint. This book is about two best friends. It wobbles a little and we are wondering if it's a love story because Isabelle isn't always in the picture. As readers we find Isabelle to be spoiled and not very nice. Her friend, Keely always seem to have hope because the richness of their childhood.
You'll like reading about writing and publishing books. You will love Nantucket too

Surfside Sisters is the perfect summer beach read. Keely and Isabelle are best friends that grew up on Nantucket and dreamed of being writers. Keely always envied Isabelle's perfect life with her wealthy parents, large house and gorgeous older brother Sebastian. As long as Keely can remember, she has been in love with Sebastian. As the girls grow up their lives become very different and their friendship struggles.
This is a great novel about sisterhood and friendship and the seaside village of Nantucket.
Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book for review.

NOTE: I received a free advance reader's copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Once again, Nancy Thayer takes us to Nantucket and makes you wish you lived in this magical island community. The book begins with a prologue, showing successful novelist Keely back in her NYC apartment after a monthlong book tour - happy professionally but lonely personally. Then we travel back in time and find Keely growing up with her rich girl best friend Isabelle and her secret crush Sebastian who - of course - happens to be Isabelle's older brother. Both friends harbor dreams of being published writers one day.

As a wannabe writer myself, I loved the little insights into the process that Thayer provides. Aside from that, the story takes enough twists and turns that I didn't know exactly how things would end up between the friends and between the various romantic interests of both girls. Usually I need to really like the main characters to like a book but in this case, even though I had issues with all 4 main characters, I still found myself not wanting to put the book down and I was done with it within 24 hours. I also don't think the prologue necessarily added that much to the story, or perhaps there should have been a more obvious connection/throwback to it in the main part of the book. Regardless, if you like books about childhood friendships, first loves or just easy reads for a summer day, this would be a decent choice.

After reading this novel, without putting it down for a minute, the word that comes to mind is CHARMING! I love delicious summer reads and this one is absolutely yummy. The story takes place on Nantucket, perfect setting, with Keely and Isabelle best friends, rivals and sometimes “sisters” vowing to become writers.

Keely finds success in her career, while Isabelle seems to be the one who had always had everything else. Their relationship is not without bumps, but they never lose their bond.

The characters are not only interesting, but Thayer has provided a wide range of roles for the characters, including sharing different kinds of love, as well as responsibility for aging parents. I suspect many readers will relate to the changing roles from child, to adult to caregiver

There’s lots to discuss, great for women’s book groups! Thanks Netgalley for such a lovely read!

Keeley was real in finding her voice both in her writing and herself. However, she struggled with significant loss but chose to not let that deter her from her goals. Therefore, she grew in her realization what is real and what is perceived and in doing so, found true love.

Enjoyed this book and would recommend to readers who want a good love story, set on romantic Nantucket Island and New York City, filled with contentious female friendships, betrayal, family drama and a good dose of sweetness.

This was so different then other Nancy Thayer books. I liked it but it was not what I expected. This is a little heavier than her normal summer reads. I would recommend this to a friend but not for the typical summer reading.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing me an ARC of "Surfside Sisters" by Nancy Thayer in exchange for an honest review.

First things first, this was such an easy, delightful read. I really appreciated the fact that Thayer delved into the friendship between Keely and Isabelle and really took the time to give the readers a look into what their lives were like as kids and young adults instead of just throwing us into their worlds as adults. I found Keely to be strong, yet vulnerable. I rooted alongside her, but also could see the flaws and insecurities in her.

I was also interested in Isabelle. What made this girl/woman click? I think Thayer could easily write a book from her point of view as well that I would be equally excited to read.

While this book led both women (Keely and Isabelle) to find love, the real story for me was their friendship. I think that while love trumps all, a true meaningful friendship is also like none other.

This was my first book by Nancy Thayer and I loved it. I could not put the book down and I finished it in a day. I loved how the book started out in not quite present day, but then went into past and introduced us to Keely and the Maxwell family and her relationship with all the Maxwell's. I rooted for Keely and Isabelle's friendship in rocky times and wished that they could just see past minor selfish things not to ruin the friendship. This book had such relatable elements to it and I am so glad that I was able to read this ARC. I can not wait to read more books by Nancy

I will also be reviewing this book on Amazon when it is released.

I'm a big Nancy Thayer fan and Surfside Sisters was a great summer read and perfect for the beach vacation or just wishing you were spending the summer on Nantucket!

The beginning took me a little to get drawn into the character's and I didn't love the high school Keeley & Isabella at times and time seemed to quickly jump ahead at points, but overall a great book about how friendships change as we get older, the power of your childhood dreams and the idea of home.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

A great beach read featuring Nantucket, a place I love. But also more than just another typical beach read- with more plot lines, characters and locations which added interest.
I loved several of the characters and found it hard to put the book down at times! Some of the characters were more developed or believable than others, but part of the author's skill is in developing multiple significant characters, not just one.
Because the story takes place over many years, there were some sections where it didn't go into a lot of detail or wrapped up a story line rather quickly. Understandable given the time span, but some areas left me wanting more.
This was my first Nancy Thayer book, and I'm excited to read more of her work. Fans of Elin Hilderbrand will love this one.

Thank you to netgalley for an advanced copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this book and really wanted to "love" it but there were a couple of aspects of the structure of the story that prevented me from giving this a rave review. The book focuses on the friendship between Keely and Isabelle, two young woman who grew up together and also grew apart together. Both have dreamed about becoming writers when they grew up. Where Keely grew up in a middle class home, Isabelle grew up in an affluent family who traveled often. Keely has been infatuated with Isabelle's brother Sebastian for as long as she can remember. I understood the puppy love that Keely felt for Sebastian but had a difficult time understanding her continued attraction to him as an adult. Sebastian's character was never truly fleshed out and he seemed to pop in and out of the story without us ever getting a clear picture of his thoughts and intentions. There was very little development of Keely and Sebastian's relationship at an adult level so I wasn't very vested in whether they eventually would get together. I think that the story would have been much stronger romantically if Keely and Sebastian had some basis for an adult relationship beyond unrequited childhood emotions. As the story progresses, Isabelle seems to grow more selfish and vengeful. Some of her actions are unforgivable. I feel that the story was meant to show how these two women could find places in each-other's lives as adults as well as mutual forgiveness. However, the character of Isabelle never seemed to grow as a person and even at the end seemed rather selfish. I couldn't root for their friendship because I didn't feel that Isabelle was a person I would want to be friends with. Although the book was enjoyable, it could have been much deeper with some additional character development.

Nancy Thayer is one of my top "summer read" authors and Surfside Sisters has everything (and more) from a book to tote along on your next vacation - be it to the beach or your cozy couch.

Isabelle and Keely are best friends from almost the first moment they met and grow up together on the magical island of Nantucket. They stick through thick and thin until Isabelle's high school sweetheart comes between them and Keely decides to leave the island and move to New York to pursue her burgeoning writing career.

This was a super quick read for me and I hated to put it down when I had to. While I was completely engrossed in the book, I did find that there were bits I felt that were glossed over and could have been more flushed out.

Overall this is a perfect summer read and one of Nancy Thayer's best to date. If you love Nantucket, beaches or just a good book about friendship and love, this is it!

I always enjoy Nancy Thayer's “beach read” novels that take you away to her Nantucket setting. In “Surfside Sisters”, Keely and Isabelle are childhood best friends growing up in Nantucket whose lives we follow over the years into adulthood. The novel follows the ups and downs of their relationship, but also focuses on other relationships the girls have. The story is told from Keely’s point of view, so she is really the primary main character as we also closely follow her relationships with her family and dating life, and her journey to becoming a writer. I think the books develops the characters fairly well for a book spanning over the course of many years. Overall, it was an enjoyable story. It wasn’t my favorite of Nancy Thayer’s books (it wasn’t quite as focused on the “beach life” of Nantucket) but it was a nice, light-hearted read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an advanced copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

I love a good beach read! A story of friendship, and life. Ups and downs, and a realistic story line! I loved this book.

3.75 Stars. I recieved this as an uncorrected proof from Netgalley. Thank you!
So Isabelle and Keely have been friends since they were kids. This is all about their ups and downs, growing up, boyfriends, family and their love of writing. All in all it was an enjoyable read, but I never really connected with the 2 main characters. The storyline was relatable with the growing apart as you age, and I loved hearing about her struggles as a writer.

*****Surfside Sisters is a story about the ups and downs of a friendship between two women that began in childhood. Keely and Isabella were inseparable until high school. Both had a burning desire to write. Isabella’s family was wealth; Keely’s family middle class, plus Isabella had a brother...a beautiful brother that Keely has crushed on for years. Their relationship began to change in high school when the boy Isabella likes asks Keely out. Things really change once the girls get to their respective colleges and then Keely’s father dies. Keely must give up college to help her mother keep the family home, and Isabella is selected into a writing program Keely desperately wanted. Told from Keely’s point of view, Nancy Thayer has written a wonderful book about the connection these two continue have in spite of disappointments, betrayals, jealousy, romances and life in general. The story, centered on Nantucket, is not one this reader wanted to put down. I voluntarily reviewed an advance copy of this book. Most highly recommend.

Nantucket may have been a beautiful place to grow up, but Kelly had always longed for fame and bright lights. She found them as an author in New York City, along with a picture perfect fiancée, a doctor. But life feels hollow and when Keely’s latest book is rejected by an editor, she decides to return home to try to ground herself. It won’t be an easy trip though, Keely’s best girlhood friend Isabelle, has committed the ultimate betrayal with Keely’s high school boyfriend. That, coupled with Keely’s mothers psychological problems don’t appear to make for a very relaxing trip, but everything changes when she encounters Isabelle’s brother, Sebastian

Best friends on Nantucket, Kelly and Isabelle face the perils of growing up. Both have plans to become writers but life is not always as you like it. Lots of romance, heartache and a great Nantucket ending. You will not want to put this book down. Great summer read!!

Move over Elin Hilderbrand, this is my first reading of Nancy Thayer and I do not know why I waited so long to read her novel. I flew through this book in 2 days and honestly this is one of the better books I have read so far this year. She twists an enticing tale of love, betraying friends and want. She also made me loathe one of the main charaecters, Isabelle, because she was just so frustrating. You will be cheering Kaylee on the whole story, I promise! So happy I got this book early!