Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors
All families have characteristics that manifest repetitively in generations. For the Blue family, that characteristic is addiction. While each of the four sisters this novel revolves around, the addiction is obsession with their chosen field with an unhealthy dose if substances. Until one of them dies and they have to face the self-destruction that they each practice alone and realize how much they need each other.
This novel tells the four different stories of the sisters, twining them together to a finish that was not predictable. The sisters are unique and frustrating, but we cheer them on anyway. It is a love letter to family, home and New York City. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine for the review copy.

A beautiful story about sisterhood, grief, and addiction. The characterization was absolutely perfect, but a few cringey parts kept me from falling in love. 100 percent, this is literary character study at its finest.

A complicated story of sisters and grief, the Blue sisters must discover themselves before helping one another heal in this heartbreaking and tender story. Avery, Bonnie and Lucky are all dealing with grief differently, yet they refuse to admit that they are all feeling the same way. As each story unravels, the characters are equal parts likeable and unlikeable and you find yourself rooting for the family the whole way through.

Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors sold me from the cover art alone! Who were these girls and what made them tic? I was thrilled to dig into the audio version of this one and so glad for the opportunity to review it.

These sisters are entirely different from one another, yet they love each other wholly and completely. They are the yin to each other’s yang. When one of the sister’s dies, the siblings are broken. Rather than leaning into each other, they fall apart and use destructive behaviors as coping mechanisms. Addiction is a huge theme throughout the novel, including addiction to drugs and alcohol, to pain, to stealing and to lying.

Watching these girls come to terms with their childhood trauma, the loss of their sister and finding a way to come back together was messy and raw. This story was crafted in a way that made you feel the sibling’s angst and pain. Their personal growth was described with sensitivity and tenderness.

I own the author’s previous book Cleopatra and Frankenstein and look forward to reading it soon.

“Being one of four sisters always felt like being part of something magic.”
“Their family had always been good at hellos and goodbyes, moments ending even as they began. It was easy to love someone in the beginnings and endings; it was all the time in between that was so hard.
“She was home, the only one she knew, not because she always lived in it, but because it always lived in her.”
"A sister is not a friend. Who can explain the urge to take a relationship as primal and complex as a sibling and reduce it to something as replaceable, as banal as a friend?"


Blue sisters is a book written for the girls who GET IT. This book is not for everyone, but it was for me. I devoured this in one sitting. Bring your sticky notes, tabs and highlighters because you are going to want to annotate and discuss with friends. Her writing made this book a delight to read and given the subject matter. This is a book about addiction and the default roles people take in their families. It ties in grief, responsibility and longing. By showing a moment in time from three points of view, the reader is given insight into the pain and longing of modern women.

This was a very interesting look into family dynamics and how grief & addiction change everything. Following the lives of the three remaining sisters made you root for them while simultaneously questioning everything they were doing. It was a realistic look though at how these negative events impact every aspect of your life and how you then choose to handle it. While they arent always likeable, it was still an interesting story overall and a contemplative look into another type of life.

This was a fantastic book. I was not expecting to love this book so much. The relationship between the sisters is so raw and emotional, and I felt every emotion while reading it. This book is great if you like character driven books, and the characters were done so well. I felt myself resonating with each sister so much. They were extremely relatable, and the Blue Sisters will stay with me for a very long time. Thank you NetGalley, Random House and Ballantine Books for this eArc.

One of my favorite reads of this year!!! I absolutely felt like I was in this story with the emotions the sisters were feeling. Coco Mellors is an auto buy author for me now

family drama? check. bad decisions? check. yearning?! check. one year after their sister's death, three sisters are still running from their emotions and feelings by utilizing the worst coping mechanisms. despite how frustrating their choices may be, Coco Mellors created compelling and unique characters to love.

but we have to talk about Mellors' writing - it is beautiful and full of empathy while infusing humor at the right moments. although the plot of the book meandered at times, and I wasn't always sucked into the story, it was easy to pick up and keep reading. I appreciated the real resolutions (or lack of) instead of focusing on a 'happy ending.'

4.5 stars - and thank you to the publisher for this eARC and the opportunity to review.

Blue Sisters
By Coco Mellors

This is the story of four sisters: Avery, the oldest, a recovered addict, now a practicing attorney living in London with her wife Chiti; Bonnie, once a competitive boxer, now working as a bouncer in a California bar; Nickey, the only "normal" one, a high school teacher who has died due to a drug overdose while dealing with endometriosis; and Lucky, beautiful, a model, who left home at 15 to travel the world and spend every cent she makes and booze, drugs and partying.

Does this sound like a dysfunctional family? Heck yes. I read about half of this book before getting so bogged down in all the drama that I gave up. Nothing here rang true or was close to believable. I found that I really didn’t like or care about any of the sisters. I'm not sure what the author was going for here, but for me it didn't work.

This was a heartbreaking portrait of a family drowning in grief and addiction with each remaining sister spiraling in different ways after the death of the fourth Blue sister. This is beautiful character driven novel that I ended up loving.

What a book! In Blue Sisters, Coco Mellors takes us on a journey that captures grief and sisterhood in a moving way that somehow reminded me of Little Women. The book begins with an introduction to the sisters and during the first half, focuses on each of the sisters and their lives. The novel (and tension) is building up to when they all get together to clean out their family apartment on the one year anniversary of their fourth sister, Nicky. As we learn, the three sisters all lived lives with extremes and I wondered at first why/how they had all survived (Nicky's life was relatively tame by comparison).
Blue Sisters is beautifully written with such realistic dialogue combined with an interesting story that leads to the reader becoming deeply invested in the sisters and their lives. There are graphic descriptions of substance abuse and addiction and the chronic pain details were especially poignant.
I found myself becoming deeply invested in their lives and my questions were all answered at the end! The one missing piece for me revolves around their parents. Clearly they were deeply flawed, but they didn't have much of a presence in the novel and I thought it would have been helpful if they had.
Aspects of the book were drawn from the author's own life: she's been sober for eight years and studied/practiced boxing for 1.5 years while writing the book.
Thanks to Netgalley and Ballantine Books/Random House for the opportunity to read Blue Sisters!

I loved this! And interestingly enough, I didn't love Cleopatra and Frankenstein. The characters in this book were well written and developed. The storyline was perfect, and the intricate details of the sisters lives was so well done.

This fell short for me! I absolutely loved Cleopatra and Frankenstein and expected the same intensity with this novel. I enjoyed it overall but I felt like there was a certain depth lacking.

OH MY WORD! This one deserves ALL the STARS!

I need to see this turned into a limited series being written, produced, directed, and performed by an all female cast!

Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors, focuses on three sisters—Avery, Bonnie, and Lucky— who return to their childhood home in New York one year after the tragic death of their fourth sister, Nicky.

Each sister has been living vastly different lives: Avery is a recovering addict working as a lawyer in London, Bonnie is a bouncer in Los Angeles after her boxing career ended, and Lucky is modeling in Paris while struggling with her wild lifestyle.

Coming together again to stop the sale of their family apartment, they face memories, unresolved issues, and the secrets they've kept from each other and themselves. As they navigate through their grief, they each try to heal and move forward in life.

This was definitely a five star read and easily made it to my Top 5 of 2024 list!

A year after their sister Nick died, Avery, Bonnie, and Lucky are still reeling from her death in different ways. I really loved this book. As with her previous work, the author is able to create incredibly real people with each sister having their own voice. Even for characters that I thought I wouldn't like that much (Lucky), I found myself rooting for them and wanting to see them find their happiness and healing. There is a lot of hurt and grief in the narrative but there is also fun and joy, just like life.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the eARC.

This was my first Coco Mellors book and I wasn't sure what to expect going into it, but I definitely enjoyed it. This was a deep dive into family dynamics and relationships. Such a great character study! I have already purchased Cleopatra and Frankenstein and can't wait to dig in!

Thank you SO much to NetGalley and Ballantine books for this advance copy of Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors. I was anxiously awaiting this one to come out, and I am grateful for it in exchange for this review.

Some of my favorite reads in the recent years have been focused on families and the intricate relationships woven between members of those families, and Blue Sisters was no different. You’re introduced to Avery, Bonnie and Lucky, as they navigate life without their sister Nikki who has passed away. I absolutely ate this one up - a very small critique (which isn’t enough for me to dock a star) is that the chapters are long, but that just made me want to keep going. I have Mellors’ previous book on my shelf staring at me, and I want to move it up because of how much I enjoyed this. It kind of reminded me a little bit of Pineapple Street or We are the Brennans, both of which I also gave 5-stars.

Thank you again to the publishers and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for this review - Blue Sisters is available today!

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of Blue Sisters.

Rarely do you come across a book that has so much gravitas as this one, keeping imperfect human beings at the center of the novel. The sisterhood, the challenges, the family trauma all came through in this prose.

This took me… quite a while to read and ultimately I didn’t end up connecting with the characters. For this reason, I contemplated not finishing the book multiple times but eventually pushed through until the end. Ultimate it wasn’t for me.