The Sullivan Sisters is this wonderfully complex character driven mystery. There's something I love about each one of them: Murphy's optimism and energy, Claire's planning and vulnerability, and Eileen's fear and courage. At the same time, I couldn't stop myself from reading because there's not only this distance - this question of how did their relationship fracture - but also the mystery of their family secrets. You can feel the space between their memories and their present. Claire, one of the sisters, is also gay!

This book was a bit underwhelming to me. I just felt like not a whole lot happened in this book. The main mystery in this book was something I figured out in like the first quarter. For the rest I felt like the sister relationship and the character's developement of this book and honeslty normally I wouldn't be mad about that but there just wasn't a plot and I also didn't care about 2/3 sisters. Eileen was just dumb and not really that interesting. Claire was super annoying, a know-it-all and just had a whole holier-than-thou attitude. I kept eyerolling at every other line she said. Murphy absolutely broke my heart though. I really felt for her. However, I felt like the story threw her very much into the background in favor of the other two, which just proved the whole way Murphy felt about herself. Either way, I do think this had some great sister dynamics and loved seeing them figure things out between them. I also liked that their relationship with their mother was also a part of this. I don't know. I guess I was just expecting a little bit more from this book.

I will never look at chocolate morsels the same...

First, this cover is absolutely stunning—so intricate and delicate, kind of like the Sullivan family. This family is hanging on by a thread and it all comes to a head on a road trip over Christmas. Eldest sister Eileen's life is in shambles after finding a disturbing family secret two years ago. Uptight middle sister Claire believes her entire life is over after a major college rejection. Baby sister Murphy feels like the "spare tire" in her family, completely invisible. The three sisters reluctantly find themselves stuck in the abandoned home of a long lost relative where they are forced to learn things about their family they wish they never knew.  

This was really good. The story's perspective moved between the sisters while still being told in third person. The summary is a little misleading; while this was a mystery, I didn't find this to be very thrilling. I wish I wouldn't have guessed the twist so quickly, but I still really enjoyed this. Kathryn Ormsbee is a lovely writer and captured the Oregon Coast really well. 

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

My feelings about this book are so impossibly mixed.

When it came to the majority of the book, I really enjoyed it. I loved the dynamics of the Sullivan sisters and how their relationships changed over the course of the book. I love how they were written.

I also loved the spooky vibes. Normally I don't just reach for scary books, but I was addicted to the spooky vibes in this. It gave me goose bumps and kept me on the edge of my seat for the most part. The descriptions were written perfectly and made the entire story come to life.

However, the main reason that this book didn't get a high rating from me is that I felt like the story built up to a lot of nothing. In the beginning it felt like it was going to grow into an amazing story (with lots of shocks and surprises) and yet I was rather let down by how it ended. It left a sour taste in my mouth that has left me bitter. It was very underwhelming in the end and missed so much of it's potential to be great.

So, all in all, it isn't a terrible story but I was kinda sad about how it ended. The ending was just unsatisfying to me and the entire story built up to a lot of nothing. I'm very disappointed to say the least.

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with an E-Arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are all my own.

Kathryn Ormsbee’s new YA novel touches on the relationships that the Sullivan sisters once had. After discovering that they’re about to inherit a dead uncle’s house, the sisters must come together to figure out their mysterious uncle’s past. This cosy mystery explores the bond between siblings, self-discovery, and finding your worth.

Told in third person from each sister’s narrative, Ormsbee pull readers into the lives of Eileen, Claire, and Murphy Sullivan. What once was a tradition on December 21st that brought the girls together, tore them apart years later into their teen years. Growing up with a mother who’s always working and a father who passed on before Murphy was born, it often leaves the sisters to themselves.

Ormsbee is a perfect storyteller of the independent lives of the sisters. We discover that they’ve all changed since their tradition. Eileen, an eighteen-year-old alcoholic and her drinking has a way of dealing with the secrets she’s found out. Claire, Miss Perfect (compared to her older sister), has her entire life planned out whilst being gay and she becomes influenced by a YouTuber and forces it on her own lifestyle. Then there’s Murphy. Her sisters see her as a child even though she’s fourteen. The youngest Sullivan is in her own world of magic and trying to bring her sisters back together.

Two years ago, the sisters were inseparable, but arguments broke out and Eileen moved out of the room she shared with Claire. That’s when everything changed. Readers assume it’s Eileen’s fault since she found out stuff and didn’t know how to deal with it. She took her frustration out on her sisters. She felt out of place based on the assumptions she made. She didn’t have anyone to go to with what she found out. She used to love art, but all motivation was thrown out of the window once she came to find out the secrets her mother hid of their family.

Eileen drew her own conclusions from what she knew, and part of me wanted it to go down the way she predicted. It was overall, a lovely book, but the amount of suspense built wasn’t enough. It would’ve been juicier if it was Eileen’s version. However, if you takeaway the mystery, there’s still a glorious sense of relationships built, character development, and the powerful message of always having a family by your side in this book.

Claire had to be the least likeable character to me. She became bossy and always made presumptions. She thought better of herself compared to Eileen and treated Murphy like a child. Yet that’s a typical sister bond. They’re all different. Claire kept her life structured by following an influencer’s guidelines, applied to colleges, started her own business, and confidently came out to Eileen all those years ago. She was, in fact, the most independent character in the book. However, she used it to her advantage sometimes, like stating that she had more money than Eileen or even a phone.

As the girls find out, they could inherit their dead uncle’s mansion. They wonder how on earth that they never knew they had an uncle in the first place. Their mother was on holiday in the Bahamas, so Eileen took the opportunity to drive to the mansion. Claire and Murphy jump on board at their own expense and it’s the first time in a while the sisters were spending time together. A road trip meant talking and trying to figure out who their uncle was.

Once they arrived in town, things only get weirder since they figured out it’s their dad’s brother. Yet their father has lived an unconventional life told by the locals. The Enrights had murders in their mansion. It’s up to the girls to find out who did it and whether they want to get dragged into history’s events taking place again.

Apart from the mystery, the Sullivan girls find their feet again. They’re left alone in the mansion with only the reminiscence of the Enright brothers. Gradually they find peace again. It brings old times up and Murphy couldn’t be happier knowing that they’re bonding again. Yet all it took was one argument for things to escalate.

A family drama mixed with murder is bound to capture the eyes of many readers. It’s a fast-paced novel that will cause readers to be hooked from the first few chapters. With many hidden messages and things to take away from, The Sullivan Sisters was a book I’d recommend to anyone in the future!

4 STARS


A dead turtle right before Christmas doesn't seem like it belongs in an inheritance story, but here we are.


It sounds a little outlandish for a contemporary mystery, but yes, a pet turtle does die only days before Christmas, and yes, his death is a catalyst. You see, the Sullivan sisters used to be close. These days, though, they're lucky if they look at one another without fighting.

But when Siegfried kicks the bucket, an inheritance lands in the sisters' laps, and a midnight road trip goes off the rails, everything is bound to change. Everything.


The charm of The Sullivan Sisters lies in absurdity meeting the mundane.


At first, the idea of all these major events colliding around Christmas, capped with the sisters' mom winning a sweepstakes cruise and leaving for the holiday, struck me as far too much. But then again, I don't often dive into contemporaries. Why not stick around and see how it shakes out? Maybe this is normal as far as contemporaries go.

And to tell the truth? I still don't know if all this qualifies as normal. That said, it absolutely counts as engaging! From the start, I found myself hooked on the sisters' POVs. Each one has a unique, forceful voice that leaves no doubt as to who's behind the wheel for each scene, and despite their flaws, I came to love them all.

Murphy, I think, is the most endearing. The youngest sister, she can be a little annoying, but that's what youngest siblings do. What's more important is that she's the catalyst behind the change the Sullivan sisters have to face. Sure, outside factors kickstarted their journey, but it's Murphy that lies at the heart of it, keeping the wheels spinning.

Claire, the second sister, was actually my least favorite, but I suspect that's an intentional choice on Kathryn Ormsbee's part. After a rejection from her dream college, she spirals a little, desperate to regain control over the direction of her life. Regaining control, though, involves her pushing her sisters to the side, and looking down her nose at them. It makes for a great starting point in terms of her overall character arc, but also makes her the hardest sister to love.

And Eileen takes the cake for the most dramatic turnaround, in my eyes. Initially, she seems uncaring, even cold, and she's an alcoholic in denial. Something she discovered two years ago turned her world upside down, and she withdrew as a result, cutting everyone off. But her growth over the course of the book struck me as truly heartfelt, and even if Murphy was the most endearing, Eileen was the most complicated.


The list of where The Sullivan Sisters falls short is, well, short.


Really, there were two major areas where I felt something was lacking. The first was the way Claire's queerness was handled. She's gay, self-professed, and while I love seeing more queer characters in books, that fact felt like a surface fact. On the one hand, queer characters don't require romances to be queer. I feel so, so strongly about that. It's part of the reason I'm looking forward to Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power this year. But on the other, it feels like a shallow declaration sometimes. I can't tell if I need another reread, more time to think on it, or if this gut feeling is right.

The other issue I had, which was truly the larger one, was the reliance on miscommunication. On years of miscommunication. I can see on one hand how that's the core of the story. Whose family doesn't miscommunicate? In the case of the Sullivan sisters, it's pretty extreme, but hey, that's fiction, the nature of the beast. On the other hand, though, if the sisters and their mother just communicated, so very much of the plot wouldn't have happened. Hell, the sisters would have never gone on their road trip investigation if they'd simply waited to talk to their mother.

Then again, this is in a lot of ways a book about learning to reconnect when you have failed to communicate in the past. That's not a lesson learned when you communicate well in the first place. As a thematic element, it works quite well. It's just that I'm personally never fond of miscommunication in such a critical role in a book.


Maybe you won't inherit a rich uncle's estate, but you might as well join the Sullivan sisters when they inherit theirs!


Originally scheduled for a May release, The Sullivan Sisters is now due June 23rd. That leaves plenty of time to place a pre-order, if you're so inclined, or request it from your local library. I place it solidly in the enjoyable category, worth a read at least once, and I hope you come to feel the same way. It may not be a book to rave about until the end of time, but it's still one to watch, one to take time to think about.


CW: loss of a loved one, alcoholism, animal death, gun violence mention, implied domestic abuse, suicide

[This review will go live on Hail & Well Read at 10am EST on 5/23/20.]

A pretty fast read, but a nice take on both the relationship between sisters and the aching way that growing up can take away the things that made your childhood so magical. I also appreciated the portrayal of an exhausted sort of neglect on the part of a parent - a somewhat nuanced portrayal of poor parenting which might be relatable to readers. Each sister's narrative was well-defined and the characters sympathetic and well-rounded, but between the three of them I'm not sure that there was a ton of depth to the problems or solutions. I'm also so-so on how engaging the background "mystery" was, but overall a sweet and well-written family story.

(Baffled, btw, that this is coming out in July rather than around Christmas based on both the temporal setting of the story and the theme/tone, but publishers gonna publish I guess?)

The relationship between the sisters in this novel is one that is just explained in so much detail, the secrets, the love, the trust. This is so good! I highly recommend this one!

Once upon a time, the Sullivan sisters were a close-knit trio, but as the years passed, they've fractured into three distinct units. Eileen once dreamed of being an artist, but now she's given up on art, works a dead end job, and nurses a growing drinking problem. Claire is determined to leave her small Oregon town behind. She's got straight As and a successful small business, but her dream school has just turned her down. Murphy is the youngest, and she's scared of being left behind. It's Christmas, the girls are alone because their mother has won a cruise, and Eileen learns that they have an inheritance from an uncle they've never heard of. This leads to the sisters going on a Christmas road trip to visit the old Victorian house they've inherited, and they learn about a murder mystery that involves their family.

I'm a sucker for dysfunctional family stories, and this one is the sort of thing I love. The Sullivan family is a mess. Their father died before Murphy was born, and her mother was left with huge medical bills that she's still trying to pay off, 14 years later. She works constantly at a drug store, and the girls have been raising themselves for the last few years. The narration moves among the three sisters, and we see inside their heads.

Claire was the most interesting character to me. As a queer teen in a small town, she's just waiting to finish high school and start life over in a new place. She's a devotee of a social media influencer, and her path to success follows the influencer's teaching, which are both depressing and funny. She's built her dream of escape around getting into Yale on early decision admission, and when she's rejected, she's devastated because she didn't apply anywhere else and she feels like her whole future is on the line (I did wonder why she couldn't just apply somewhere else. It's only December, and most regular admissions deadlines are in January as far as I know.).

Eileen's narrative was a little hard to read at times. She's had a really rough time, and she's turned to alcohol to ease the pain. She's a mess and much of it has to do with a secret she discovered two years before, which is related to the mystery inheritance. Murphy is a sweetheart. She's 14, and she's taken the fractured relationship the hardest. She just wants her family to go back the way we were (and to become a famous magician).

The three voices are very distinctive and the triple narrative structure works really well for the story. The family mystery is an interesting one and it works well as a device to force the sisters to deal with each other. I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to anyone who likes broken family stories.

This book was received as an ARC from Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing - Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I heart basically stopped and raced back up again when reading this book. I could not stop. I love the backgrounds of each of the sisters Murphy, Claire and Eileen and how they used to be a close bunch but when each of them experience a "major" crisis, they drift apart and go their separate ways until a letter addressed to the family on the death of their uncle and how he left a major fortune to them, they have to grow closer and be stronger than ever especially when the death is a suspected murder. Every page was a surprise and their was a new twist each chapter. I know our teen book club will absolutely love this book and I can't wait to hear the discussions that arise from it.

We will consider adding this title to our YA collection at the library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

If you are looking for a YA mystery/thriller well don't pick this one up because the labeling of this book is very misleading.

There are family secrets laced within the pages and although there is death involve it isn't shocking and it doesn't even play a major role. From the premise I thought that this book would be completely different than what I actually read. I couldn't find myself connecting to any of the sisters and sometimes their voices mumbled together. They were at least diverse in their weaknesses, sexuality, and what they planned to do as they got older.

The one thing I did like about this book was the theme of sisterhood and family. Although family wasn't as big as sisterhood. Sister relationships are very important to me since I have three sisters. I did like that the girls got everything off their chest and worked to better their bond through the experiences they faced with the family mystery. It brought them and even their mom together which was nice to see.

The plot, as stated above, was not what I was expecting. There are elements that could make it a mystery but definitely not a thriller. I liked the stories that were told by the townsfolk surrounding the family but other than that there wasn't much going on. The book seemed to drag on at times and the plot twists that were presented just didn't surprise me.

Overall, it was just okay. I was expecting a lot more.