It’s one year after their sister overdoses and the Blue sisters are not coping with the loss. From London to LA, the three remaining sisters are each in a solitary self-destructive downward spiral. This is where Coco Mellors’ “The Blue Sisters” begins. As the first person narrative changes between Avery, Bonnie and Lucky, the reader gets a real and raw view in to each of their inner dialogues and motives. The sibling dynamics are complex, delivering cuts so deep - only someone that’s known you your whole life can hurt you so much - but there’s always unconditional love.
“Everyone is addicted to something.” This is a central theme of the novel - how to get clean, how to heal, how to say the things left unsaid and what should we believe in? The story moves quickly and is engrossing. I listened to half the book on audio and did not enjoy the narrators style. I thought it was a really choppy and abrupt reading and would recommend the novel to read, not listen.

I am not sure if I wasn’t in the mood for this kind of lit fic book or rather if it just isn’t for me. I can see why others have felt connected to this story, it just didn’t quite work for me. I hope to try Coco’s other works and see if it’s the story or the prose.

Blue Sisters definitely has a Little Women vibe going on since the story focuses on four sisters -- Avery, Bonnie, Nicky, and Lucky Blue. It is the year after Nicky's untimely death, and the sisters' parents are ready to sell the NYC apartment where the girls grew up and where Nicky died.

The story starts off with the year anniversary of Nicky's death and how each sister has dealt with this loss. Coco Mellors does a good job of showing the complicated bonds among sisters, but I found the amount of gratuitous sex tiring.

Sisterhood will always be a fascinating (and complicated) subject, and while Mellors hit the mark many times, there were points in the book where I felt that the characters seemed one-dimensional.

An interesting look at a Little Women" type of story -- I only wish for a more in-depth look into the lives of each sister.

Thank you to #NetGalley for an electronic ARC of #BlueSisters and to #Ballantine Books.

This novel is about three sisters in their 20s/30s, all of whom are mourning the death of the fourth sister, and each has their own problems as well. It’s both a family drama and a character novel, and it’s excellent at both.

Avery, Bonnie, and Lucky are all such original characters, all flawed but you still root for them, and they really come to life in the book (as does their deceased sister Nicky just from them talking about her). It’s really quite a sad book in a lot of ways, grappling with messed up family dynamics, addiction, self-destructive behavior, guilt, and more. And yet, it was the hopeful note it ends on that left me in tears. And I can see why Read With Jenna picked it as there is a lot to talk about it contained within - looking forward to discussing with my book club.

4.25 stars

🧶 THE SUMMARY:
The three surviving Blue sisters, scattered across the globe, reunite on the anniversary of their sister Nicky’s death. Since her accidental overdose, the family—the sisters and their mother—has struggled to stay connected, realizing too late that Nicky was the glue holding them together. As each sister battles her own personal struggles, they begin to understand that healing together may be the best way to honor Nicky’s memory.

💁🏻‍♀️ MY THOUGHTS:
🔸 I’ll be honest—this one is heavy. The author’s previous novel leaned toward dramatically represented, albeit tragic, characters and chaotic storytelling, making it easier to enjoy the dysfunction from a distance. This time, though, the characters are just as flawed, but Mellors pulls you in and makes you care about them, even as they self-destruct. Addiction plays a major role, and I appreciated how the book explores its generational impact across the family.

🔸 While literary fiction often favors character development over plot, I was pleasantly surprised by the strong narrative arc that gave this story a family-drama feel. The multi-POV approach worked beautifully, offering insight into each sister’s experience without dragging the pace. I also loved the epilogue—it tied things up without being too neat, giving the kind of closure that felt earned.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

i was so very excited to grab this one. it was my first mellors and i still think i will grab other books by her but this one didnt live up to the hype i had in my head from the synopsis. it just ended up being "okay" the story wasnt bad but it also wasnt great. i think the third person narrative didnt allow for a deep connection. this is definitely a ME problem, i am very much not a third person girlie. it has to be done juuuuust right. the build up was just too slow by the time we got to the meat of the story with the sisters together it had lost me.

overall: if you like a third person narrative with a slow build grab it i dont think you will be disappointed

Four sisters with their own struggles, but when one passes away all three are left mourning their fourth sister. The sisters are navigating grief and addiction so there are heavy subjects involved, which I recommend looking up all trigger warnings before reading.

One thing we didn't get to see is the relationship as sisters develop all together. I know siblings go through their ups and downs but there was so much friction whenever they were together. I felt like all three of the sisters barely got to truly spend time together, and if they did they always had something to argue about.

All I know is reading this made me really miss my brother because we had something way bigger than "sisterhood". We were permanently attached at the hip, best friends that never ever even fought like these sisters did. Maybe it was just frustrating to read about the fighting between these sisters, because the relationship I had with my brother had all the ups and never had any downs like the sisters did in this book.

I do love Coco Mellors' writing and she automatically became an auto-buy author for me after reading Cleo+Frank, which is still my favorite of hers. Overall, I still enjoyed this one and I think an adaptation would be even better!

I loved everything about this book -- it was not an easy read due to the subject matter but I enjoyed every bit of it.

It has been a year since the fourth of the Blue sisters died, and the remaining three sisters are trying to figure out what their lives look like without their fourth.

I loved each of the sisters so much, and was rooting for each of them as we see them make crucial life changing decisions.

This made me so curious to know what Coco Mellors's relationship to addiction and alcoholism is -- she writes it so well from every angle.

This is my first book by her and I am eager to read her debut novel and excited to read what she writes next!

I would recommend this to anyone who likes family dramas, really strong characters and doesn't shy away from hard topics.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

I really thought that I was going to like this book, but it turns out that wasn’t the case. I just got tired of reading about addiction and more addiction, and it seemed to really drag at times. I didn’t like any of the sisters, and what happened to them really didn’t matter to me.

I gave 3 stars instead of 2 because I liked the title, I liked the cover, and the last fourth of the book was a little more interesting.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I thought that this was an very well written and beautiful story of these sisters. Being someone who only has a brother, the dynamic of sisters is always interesting to me and I thought that this is one that was heart wrenching yet stunning.

I adored this book. It was so beautifully written & I could relate to the characters even though I had none of the same life experiences of them. Though I could predict the ending, it was still heartwarming & left me giddy after the final page.

5 stars.
No notes.

This was perfect, in all ways. Absolutely gorgeous writing, the characters are so incredibly real that they truly just walk off the page. The dialogue is as real as a conversation that you are actually engaged with, and its just incredible.

An absolutely gorgeous and devastating novel about the life of four sisters after one of them passes away. The grief processes and strong family dynamics was tender and I loved it.

Blue Sisters follows 3 of the 4 Blue sisters following the death of their fourth sister, Nicky, from an overdose. The book tackles how each of them individually and collectibility as a family deals with their grief and personal addictions.

As the eldest child in my family, I absolutely loved how the author portrays sibling, specifically sister dynamics. Each sister's voice as their own and their personalities shined through. The writing style kept me engaged and makes my interested in reading Mellors other work.

tw: addition, drug & alcohol use/abuse, grief, chronic pain, endometriosis, fertility issues

4.5 ⭐️
Blue Sisters is a story of sisters, secrets, and addiction. It follows Avery, Bonnie, and Lucky as they encounter the changing effects of grief in the year following the death of their beloved other sister, Nikki.

The varying perspectives, movement through stages of grief, and themes of addiction, patterns of destruction, and sisterly bond brought a lot of layers in just over 300 pages.

I was glad to see there was moments of hope, self realization, and awareness amongst so much pain and destruction.

This book was well written and Coco Mellors’ world building, imagery, call backs, and characters were top tier.

This book started off very strong, but as it went on I found myself not really caring about what happened. It follows 3 sisters grieving the death of their sister who passed 1 year ago. I’m not sure what I didn’t love about it, just didn’t really care about any of the characters, found it really depressing, bleh

blue sisters was a decent read. I appreciated the sisters' relationships and approach to grief. I did not like the simplistic job choices for them though.

I am always a sucker for a story about a group of sisters. I enjoyed Mellors writing and I definitely understand the hype surrounding this book.

The heart of Mellors' "Blue Sisters" beats in the complicated rhythms of sisterhood, grief, and self-discovery. In this compelling debut, three distinctly drawn sisters - Avery, Bonnie, and Lucky Blue - orbit around the gravitational pull of their childhood home and the ghost of their fourth sister, Nicky, whose death has left an unfillable void.
Mellors excels at character differentiation, crafting three vivid personalities whose paths have diverged dramatically: a reformed addict turned lawyer, a former boxer nursing her wounds as a bouncer, and a model trying to outrun her demons. The geographic spread - London, Los Angeles, and Paris - serves as more than mere setting, reflecting the emotional distance the sisters have placed between themselves and their shared past.
The novel's strength lies in its exploration of how grief can both fracture and forge family bonds. The impending sale of their childhood apartment serves as a clever device to force confrontation - with each other and with themselves. Mellors handles addiction and recovery with particular nuance, avoiding both glamorization and judgment.
While the plot sometimes relies too heavily on convenient timing to bring the sisters together, the emotional authenticity of their interactions more than compensates. The revelation that their biggest secrets are those they keep from themselves rather than each other offers a fresh take on the familiar theme of family secrets.
"Blue Sisters" is ultimately a poignant exploration of how we carry our losses and how sometimes coming home means finally facing yourself.

Blue sisters follows sisters Avery, Bonnie, and Lucky a year after the death of their sister, Nicky. They’re all struggling, both because of Nicky’s death and for their own individual reasons, and they’re scattered across the globe. But although they’ve been distant from each other in the year since Nicky died they are all forced to come together when it’s time to sell the apartment they were raised in and sort through Nicky’s things.

I gave it a second star because the writing wasn’t bad and I did want to know where every sister would end up by the end of the book. So I have to give Coco Mellors credit for making me always care about the ending no matter how much I was hating the book at the moment.

This is the kind of book that’s guaranteed to be a hit. The writing isn’t bad. The author’s previous book was a hit. The publisher(s) threw a lot of money behind promoting it. But the reason I want to focus on is that it includes heavy topics that connect with everyone emotionally. Off the top of my head it touches on: the complications of sisterhood, addiction, childhood trauma, marriage/marital issues, facing up to your future not going the way you planned, endometriosis, parents who suck, and the internal turmoil many women experience when deciding whether or not they wants children. And I’m sure there are some things I’m forgetting. But if you look at this list I’m positive you’ll find at least two topics that matter to you deeply and you’d love to read about because they’re a huge part of your life. Of course that will make a lot of people like this book. It feels good to look down at the pages of a book you’re reading and see your deepest struggles looking back at you. But I have a problem with books that talk about tons of difficult topics: I’ve never read one that was able to truly dig deep into the vast majority of the topics it tries to address. In fact they often mishandle or spread incorrect information about the topics they attempt to address because the author simply wasn’t able to juggle appropriately handling so many complicated issues. And once again I found that problem in the pages of Blue Sisters. I especially didn’t like how badly the queer characters (mostly Avery) and endometriosis were handled.

While I do have experience with a whole lot of the big topics addressed in Blue Sisters I can’t say that I have knowledge about addiction from close personal experiences. So I want to make it clear that I might be wrong about this. But from what I can tell that was the topic that was addressed most in depth and most accurately. I think it might’ve been the only topic that got the attention it deserved. This is a VERY unpopular opinion based on the reviews I’ve read (and I’ve read many) but I don’t even think the relationship with the sisters was addressed with enough depth even though that’s what should be at the heart of the book sitting right next to addiction.

So in short my biggest complaint is that although it touches on many many important subjects that matter to so many of us, I don’t think it gave those topics the attention they deserved. And because of that, and don’t kill me for saying this please, but because of that the book felt shallow (except, like I said, in regard to addiction). And it deeply frustrates me when a book contains heavy topics but feels shallow, especially because without fail those books will be widely loved.

I also didn’t care about the sisters. They never felt real. They just felt like caricatures of what sisters are supposed to be based on their birth order: “Here’s Avery, the intense overachieving oldest child.” “Here’s Lucky, the wild youngest child.” “Here’s Bonnie… the other one.” Yes, I did care where they’d end up, but I didn’t care about their journeys to get there or about their lives or feelings. They also didn’t feel like sisters to me. I have two sisters. And of course I’ve seen lots of different sisterly dynamics irl. This didn’t strike me as a real dynamic between sisters. It got to a point where I had to google if the author has any sisters (she has one). Sure, we’re TOLD that although they’re super different and they frustrate the hell out of each other that they love each other. I’ve seen lots of people say that they were deeply emotionally struck by the first paragraph (or maybe sentence? I don’t remember and I don’t have the book anymore so I can’t check) of the book and what it says about sisters. Ok. Sure. We’re told all of that. But I don’t think we were shown it. These did not feel like three people who grew up living and loving and fighting in the same traumatizing house. Also let me nitpick for a second here: there is a real life famous model named Lucky Blue. And Coco Mellors decided to make one of the main characters of this book a famous model named Lucky Blue. Um… why… did she do that? This isn’t a MASSIVE deal but wouldn’t most authors choose… not to do that?

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year. I thought it would destroy me but that it would be perfect for me. So I requested advance copies at every opportunity I could find. When I finally got it on NetGalley I was DELIGHTED… but here we are.