Jeannie Zusy has written a novel inspired by her personal experience of caring for a developmentally disabled sibling. When Ginny is found unconscious in her Maryland home, Maggie realizes its time to move her sister closer to her home in NY. Ginny progresses through a rehab/nursing home to a home of her own with aides. Maggie also is dealing with a teenage son, a college-aged son, an ex-husband and a demanding job. Zusy does a great job of describing the negative aspects of caregiving with the positive rewards of the same. She fully develops relationships between the characters. There is pathos coupled with humor. As someone who works in Special Olympics, I especially appreciated her ability to show the many facets of caring for handicapped adults. I found this book engaging and enjoyable. I thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

This was promising but it fell apart as it went on. I just didn’t care for Maggie and having the whole book be only from her perspective wore me down.

Zusy definitely catches the plight of the caregiver, showing just how difficult it can be to take care of family. Unfortunately for me the story took a bit too long to come together and while the characters are complex, there was too much emphasis on Maggie overshadowing Ginny and Betsy. There were some great moments, but I wished they’d happened sooner! Thank you to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

Every family has its has is issues, and when Ginny (who is an individual with an intellectual disability) is sent to the ER for a sugar overdose, amoung other issues, Maggie knows it's time to intervene. She packs Ginny up and moves her from Maryland to New York. And that is where the story begins, as Maggie, turing herself into a caretaker, while going through a separation with her husband and trying to help her two boys stay on the right path.

This book has a two sisters who push each other's buttons, a family that is falling apart, and the makings of a great book. The writing was good and the tone of the book has points of inspiration. I was expecting more humor, but didn't find that in here. The book was slow moving with 4 parts, instead of your "typical" chapters, making it harder for me to get into. The book did a great job of showing the challenges that famines face and how different people handle this stress or life changes.

I rate this book as 2 🌟!

I'd like to say a huge thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

The Frederick Sisters Are Living the Dream by Jeannie Zusy was a novel with so many emotions. Following the three Frederick Sisters we find that the oldest is our living her dream life while the middle sister is forced to leave her home and be cared for by her younger sister because of some health problems. This book will pull at your heartstrings but there are definitely some lighter and funnier parts. I love stories about sisters and really enjoyed this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

A moving story about a sister caring for her disabled sister and all the challenges that come with it. Moving story about balancing life with caring for a loved one, with some fun elements weaved it. Worth reading to see how the relationship between the sisters develops and the lessons learned in between.

A moving and emotional story dealing with many family issues. Maggie’s is the youngest of three sisters. Her older sister, Bets, moved away from home and never looked back. The middle sister is Ginny, a woman who is intellectually disabled but was able to be independent until a diabetic coma put her in the hospital. Maggie decides to bring her sister closer, where she can take care of her after she leaves rehab. There is much to unpack here, as Maggie is dealing with a separation from her husband, her sons leaving home, and the stress of caring for Ginny. The book also serves as an ode to caretakers, as the work of Ginny’s two caretakers enables her to live in her own home. Its an interesting book but not easy to read. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I really really wanted to like this one, especially since it's a debut, AND a story about sisters. Unfortunately it fell very flat and I gave up about 100 pages in. It might have ended up being a 3-star read, but I couldn't push through it to find out. I'm not against revisiting this at another time, but I'm shelving it for now.

Heartwarming and cheerful. A good antidote to reading the news.
Thank you to netgalley for the e-review copy of this book.

When I started this book, I was skeptical and wondering what I had gotten myself into. But oh man, it quickly stole my heart! This was unique and emotional. I found the writing style to be quirky but fitting for the sisters and their shenanigans. There were some sections that skipped ahead in the timeline, and I feel the reader missed out on certain events when we just got a recap. But overall, this was an incredible story and I’m glad I stuck with it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book started out strong but then there was so much going on in it that it felt a little overwhelming. I guess the same can be true with life. It was really good and I liked the sister dynamics. Especially, when one sister is caring for another with special needs. This book showed how messy life is and the complications of trying to be there for everyone. I like that it showed the struggles of family obligation and expectations.

Overall, a great story that will make you laugh and cry and I would recommend this book to anyone.

The summary of this book says it all and I found it to be spot on accurate. It truly was funny yet moving, and I love the focus on family dynamics and relationships. I adore Ginny. I love how she is straightforward and frank, and combined with her quirky likes and addictions, she is just so compelling to read about. She made me chuckle and I got such a kick out of her. The novel was not all humor, the frustrations that Maggie experienced was also a key focus, and it was easy to feel her emotions while reading about her new demands on top of everything else she had going on. I can see how being a caretaker for Ginny was frustrating at times, but the true bond between the sisters was evident, especially as the book progressed. I really enjoyed reading this one. It had a little bit of everything in it and was a very easy and quick read for me.

There are so many delightful layers to this story. Maggie is going through a separation, trying to parent her two sons, manage her freelance business and starting to date. Then she gets a call that her older sister is in the ER from a sugar overdose. Her sister is a little slow, diabetic, addicted to sugar and porn ( a girl needs some fun, I about fell off my chair laughing!!!) Their oldest sister lives on the West Coast and is not much help. Maggie moves Ginny closer to her and thus begins the tale. There were so many things I could relate to and the biggest is I think many of us women feel like we need to save our little corner of our world. When most of our families would probably like us to lighten up and have some fun. Take some time and have fun with this one!

This started off strong for me but kind of fell off about a third of the way through. I wanted to love, but my interest just wasn’t piqued enough to continue. DNF for me!

I have not done any research into Jeannie Zusy's persona life, but this book tells me that she has sisters. And within the dynamics of the Frederick Sisters, she has very capably described the unique dynamic that can only exist between sisters, the squabbling, the unconditional love and frustration, and the knowledge that you will always have someone in your corner who simply understands. Her depiction of the added gifts of having a sibling with intellectual disabilities is handled deftly and with compassion and left me feeling gratified and comforted. A well-written story that will hold many truths for those who proceed with an open heart.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was a marvelously written ode to sisterhood. It also showed remarkable empathy and perception of persons with special needs. I highly recommend!!

This was a fun novel about the bond between sisters Maggie and Ginny. I think it did a good job of showing the chaos of middle age: caring for grown children, an ex-husband and an intellectually challenged sister. While I didn’t love all the choices that Maggie made I appreciated the care and compassion that was behind it all.

A solid, easy read about a mother / ex-wife/ lonely single lady / caregiver to a mentally disabled sister / working artist who is juggling a number of important roles. Her juggling at times is raw, awkward, and rewarding. The book goes through her ups and downs over the course of several years as she adapts to her changing family needs. The plot is simple and at times slow coming to a gentle ending.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria for this ARC.

You know when you need a little cheerful book to balance out thrillers or serious drama books? This little story is just the ticket. The sisters are fun and it's the kinda of heartwarming story that you need to read every once and awhile!

Zusy's Frederick sisters navigate a complicated, stressful situation and drastic changes with plenty of mistakes, forgiveness, and persistent love that sees them through.

When Maggie gets a call that her older sister Ginny--diabetic but a sugar lover, with intellectual disabilities--needs more help than she's getting living on her own, she brings Ginny and her occasionally vicious dog to live nearby in upstate New York.

But Maggie already has a maxed-out life: she's separated from her husband, she has two boys, she's getting by on a freelancer's pay, and she's just starting to date again. Meanwhile, Ginny is bull-headed, hooked on sugar and porn, and not inclined to cooperate with Maggie's requests--or those of her caregivers.

Zusy notes that the character of Ginny was inspired by Zusy's own brother, and the fictional interactions of Maggie and Ginny feel informed by Zusy's real-life exchanges with her sibling, who also had intellectual disabilities.

I had a tough time pinning down the tone in this roller-coaster story--I wasn't always sure whether Zusy was aiming for what felt like moment-to-moment shifts from playful to alarming to quirky, but it left me a little disoriented.

The difficult dynamic of Maggie's feeling responsible for--yet not parenting--a special-needs, grown sibling is conveyed with all of the awkward, upsetting, challenging elements one might expect.

Maggie is navigating a fraught, tough situation. She provides a safe framework for Ginny with caregivers and an accessible home for her wheelchair, but Ginny has her own money and credit card, and she is obsessed with Hawaiian Punch and Jell-O, and refuses to test her blood sugar. The push and pull of Ginny's strong preferences and opinions and how she is unswayed by consequences was stressful to live through along with Maggie on the page.

Ginny is a fully realized character; Maggie is navigating a messy, complicated life with grace; and their relationship was absolutely the highlight of the book for me.

In The Frederick Sisters Are Living the Dream, Jeannie Zusy offers a messy, heartwarming family story with dark humor--and a sense that the matter of who's taking care of who is not as cut-and-dried as it may first seem.

The Frederick Sisters Are Living the Dream is Jeannie Zusy's first novel.

I received an electronic prepublication edition of this book courtesy of Atria Books and NetGalley.