An exploration of grief, sisterhood, and addiction.

The blue sisters were once 4, but the recent loss of their sister Nicky has brought them down to 3. They’ve been off balance ever since. 3 isn’t right, it isn’t even or symmetrical.

Avery is the eldest sister, a recovering addict turned married lawyer who feels as though her sisters are her own children to care for. Their mother wasn’t there for them how she should’ve been and their father was an angry drunk.

Next is Bonnie, a professional boxer working as a bouncer after a defeat that felt like betrayal.

Nicky was a teacher, whose unexpected death sent her sisters fleeing to battle their grief. She was the glue holding them all together.

The youngest is Lucky, a model and hard core party girl. She has been traveling the world since she was a teenager.

The sisters must come together again in NYC to try to and stop the sale of the apartment they grew up in. Their reunion is messy, there are arguments and insults and forgiveness. They share secrets, desires, uncomfortable truths, and each go through journeys of self discovery.

This story is raw and real. I really enjoyed reading this book, and getting the perspective of each sister. They’re all struggling with grief, and dealing with it in different ways. It does not shy away from the messiness of families, addiction, and loss. I felt for each of them, and that included anger at some of their choices. These characters feel like real people. If you’re looking for literary fiction with a focus on sisterhood this is for you. I think it’d be enjoyable even for those who don’t normally read literary fiction.

4.5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I will be posting my review on Goodreads Sunday, May 12th, and on instagram @readswkendall on Tuesday, May 14th.

Blue Sisters is a beautiful ode to sisterhood that felt so easy to get lost in.
The story centers on the three Blue sisters (Avery, Bonnie, & Lucky), following the tragic passing of their fourth sister, Nicky. The sisters are each processing their grief in different ways - at the same time, they’re each harboring their own secrets, until it all becomes too much to bear & they begin to unravel. This was such a tender exploration of navigating loss, addiction, complex family dynamics, and healing. The way Mellors uses each of the alternating sisters’ perspectives for each chapter made it feel deeply personal & easy to connect to the characters. I saw parts of myself reflected in some of the sisters’ characteristics, and I think that anyone who decides to pick this up will find pieces of themselves in it too.
Thank you so much NetGalley for the ARC!

"Blue Sister" by Coco Mellors is a novel that attempts to explore themes of sisterhood and redemption, but falls short in its execution. As someone who isn't typically a fan of Mellors' work, I found this book to be lacking in depth and originality. While the premise of two estranged sisters reconnecting in a coastal town holds promise, the story feels clichéd and predictable. The characters are underdeveloped, making it difficult for readers to fully invest in their journey. Additionally, the pacing is uneven, with certain plot points feeling rushed while others drag on unnecessarily. Overall, "Blue Sister" may appeal to fans of light, formulaic reads, but those seeking more nuanced storytelling may be left disappointed.

Blue Sisters and her previous novel Cleopatra and Frankenstein have made Coco Mellors an absolute favorite for me. I didn’t want either to end. I miss the characters of Blue Sisters and I’m already thinking about a reread soon.
There were 4 Blue Sisters. Avery, Bonnie, Nicky, and Lucky. Growing up wasn’t easy for them because of the turmoil that was their family life but they always had each other.
They’ve lost Nicky and now there are only 3 Blue sisters and they’re quite fractured. Their mom is now selling the family home and they must come together to save what they can not only of Nicky’s belongings but also of themselves and their relationships.

Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors was such a surprise. I was hoping I would enjoy but ended up loving it.
A beautiful story of sisters and all the complexities that come with.
I highly recommend this beautiful book.

3.75 ⭐️ rounded up! A huge thank you to Netgalley for this ARC! I feel so lucky to have read this so early, I know it’s on a lot of people’s list! This is a heartfelt story about sisterhood and grief, and a lot of times it felt like a warm hug. As a sister myself, I was touched by a lot of the moments in this story. Somehow this was not a total 4 star for me, something was missing in the writing that allowed me to feel like I really knew some of the characters (Bonnie and Lucky) in a specific way. I think I would’ve rated this higher if it was told in first person, but I still enjoyed this. I can’t wait for the release!

I am once again astounded by what Mellors can do with so little plot progression, scenery changes, and so few characters.

Like Cleopatra and Frankenstein, Mellors builds this novel's narrative around the complexities of intertwining familial relationships, forced to navigate grief after the devastating loss of one of their own. With multiple perspectives, the novel expands one definition of grief into a multi-layered exploration of true sisterhood amidst loss, secrets, and addiction.

Mellors does something truly beautiful and unique with this novel, which is how deeply she dives into the intricate and raw relationship among the Blue sisters. Each perspective offers a new way of viewing the grief of each sister, while also presenting the sister in a new light that is both blinding and difficult to swallow. I felt myself identifying with each sister intimately, while simultaneously hating the self-destructive choices they made that brought them further away from true vulnerability or enlightenment. And though I had moments where I loathed each character, I can understand why their pain brought them to each decision they made, and how they chose to change themselves because of it. And this was only possible because Mellors' finger was placed directly on the pulse of every sentence of this novel, making every descriptive image a delight to set eyes on and a wonder to behold. Mellors truly has a gift for writing, because she makes every simile and metaphor so easy to visualize and instantly appreciate.

I did find Avery's concluding chapter a little rushed, and I wish she had more development, as I found myself wishing for Lucky and Bonnie's POVs over hers.

Thanks to the publisher for the e-arc; Mellors is truly a delight to read.

Reminiscent of Little Women in it’s representation of the warring forces of sisterhood; the heartwarming priceless familial moments, memories, and incomparable companionship of sisterhood that is constantly at war with the tumultuous dynamics found between different sisters due to age, roles, and unique impacts of their charged familial environment. Each sister boldly envelops their own idiosyncratic role in their family’s dynamic, struggles, and traumas, and we slowly come to identify the ways in which their conscious and unconscious adopting of these roles have positively but more often negatively affected them and their relationships with each other. Stories of sisterhood, especially those reminiscent of Little Women, one of my all time favorite books, will always reach me in unexplainable ways, as a woman who has two sisters of her own, with which I harbor incredibly strong and unique relationships with. Blue Sisters successfully fleshes out 4 unique women, each complicated in their own ways despite their mutual upbringings, all struggling with hereditary illnesses they want to help the others deal with while not completely knowing themselves,
and the ways in which they have come to love each other endlessly while also harboring deep resentments with how things have developed due to their developed differences yet eerie similarities.

Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors is a true must-read! This novel is about three sisters and the dynamics of their relationship after the death of their fourth sister. I highly recommend this book for your next Book Club selection as there is so much to discuss. The book is told through humor and brutal honesty, which made me feel invested in the sisters' journey. Each sister's perspective is shared, giving us a full view of their struggles, hopes, and fears. The characters are relatable and realistic, and the intricate sister relationship is portrayed beautifully. Overall, I think Blue Sisters is a solid 5-star novel and one of my favorites of 2024.

Oh my!!! This Author turns out 5 star reads, this being no exception. Run....don't walk....to get this amazing book!!!
Thank you to Netgalley for providing this digital copy in exchange for a review.

Blue Sisters follows Avery, Bonnie, and Lucky a year after the loss of their fourth sister. It’s a beautifully written story dealing with the complexities of sisterhood, addiction, grief and healing. It’s raw and relatable and left me wanting more, all while being completely satisfied with how Coco Mellors chose to close the novel. I can’t wait to recommend Blue Sisters to all my friends once it’s released!

Blue Sisters is a story about siblings who were once four but are now three. The story bends back and forth through time and shifts perspectives from chapter to chapter so that we get to experience the lives of each of the women as they navigate the unexpected and heartbreaking loss of one of their own. It's about death and loss and sisterhood, but then it's also about love and growth and seasons of life as we pass through them.

I didn't grow up with a sister, but this book makes me wish I had.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. Thank you to Coco Mellors for writing a really good book.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the ARC. I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into this one!

If you've ever witnessed or admired the bonds of truly close-knit sisters–the inside jokes, the shorthand jargon, the steadfast loyalty, the depraved cruelty, the sometimes fierce, sometimes subtle acts of love that they willingly display for the full view of the world, then you'll appreciate the complicated siblings at the heart of Blue Sisters.

Avery, Bonnie, and Lucky are a year out from the unexpected death of their sister, Nicky. Scattered across the globe, they are further from one another than ever before. To say that they aren't coping well is an understatement. They've been hiding from the world and one another, growing secrets large and small. Implosions and explosions have been set in motion. Then, in an effort to outrun their problems and maybe reconnect, they find themselves back at their childhood home in New York City. 

Blue Sisters is such a lovely, moving character study that explores grief, addiction, and generational trauma. With such heavy themes, it could have 6 a melodramatic slog. Instead, Mellors sentimental prose, keen pacing, and all those hyper-realistic fights, disagreements, and conversations form a page-turner where plot takes a backseat to motivation and psychology. You can't help but be invested in these women, their relationships, and their futures.

It ended exactly as I thought it would. I closed the book completely satisfied with how and where they end up. I just love a book that leans into sentimentality and nostalgia without becoming overly saccharine. It’s triumphantly sweet, but it's not a fairy tale. I can’t praise Mellors’ prose enough. The language is elegant and elevated while also managing to be simple and accessible. 

The only complaint I can manage is that, occasionally, the chapters seemed long (do not read that as boring, though). I think that I would just start missing the other sisters, sometimes. 

The highest compliment I can say is that even with the gratifying closure that we're given, I'm so attached to these women that I wouldn't mind more…but, not a sequel, exactly. It would just be fun to revisit and catch up with one or all three of them in their post-epilogue lives.

Coco Mellors, you have broken down the complexities of sisterhood in a mere 400 pages. I commend you!

The sisters are written as people with stories that contribute to a family structure so we can see who these women are for themselves as well as through the eyes of their sisters (the most honest way to see someone). None of these characters are perfect. I noticed how the way you feel for Lucky throughout (rooting
for her, thinking Avery is too overbearing, etc) is how it feels having a younger sister. You stay gentle with them, even when it’s hard and they’re doing poorly. And you feel like a villian for caring about their wellbeing. You are constantly rooting for them, but never blaming them for their wrong doings. Excellent writing of this!

This story was a glimpse into the ways that grief manifests itself into our lives, whether direct feelers of grief, distant feelers, or even the lover of someone experiencing grief. This was so well done. Some might say it’s overstretched, but truly grief is so life altering in a way that you can only understand after experiencing it, but also wildly personal.

Other things done well in this novel are the glimpses of how our parents shape us in ways we don’t realize, parents using your successes as a way of deflecting their treatment of you (even if they were only trying their best), the uncomfortable realization that there is not always someone to blame and some things just are, the depiction of raw sisterhood (saying the meanest thing you could ever say to someone and then getting food together), the ways that motherhood feel so suffocating in society and how you should want kids even if you maybe don’t want kids, older daughter pain and sacrifice of giving it all up to be able to be there for your siblings and doing a million little things to keep everyone else a float while treading water yourself, and so much more.

I also want to commend Mellors for the dialogue between Avery and her mom. It is so raw and real. “I knew you would have one another. And the younger ones would have you.” This made me feel something I hadn’t felt before, truly such a heartbreaking and real reality of the ways that our mothers have had to think and the reality of what being an older sibling is. The older sister reflection of ‘what am I if not the one to take care of everything for my younger siblings? Who am I if not a resource and beacon to them?’

This is the best book I have read this year, and potentially my favorite of all time. This made me go re rate books i’ve read perviously bc no piece of writing has ever made me feel the way this has.

I am always going to be drawn to a sister story. I’m the third of four sisters so I knew going into this that this was going to be an emotional read… and Coco delivered that for sure. This story felt unbelievably real and raw and beautiful.

BRB gonna go text my sisters to make sure they know how much I love them.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC!

Blue Sisters is a remarkably well-crafted piece of literature. I found myself completely engrossed in the lives of Avery, Bonnie, and Lucky, as they grappled with the challenges following the tragic loss of their sister, Nicky. The narrative unfolds through the perspectives of these three characters, offering a multi-dimensional exploration of grief, familial struggles with addiction, and the pursuit of breaking detrimental cycles. The novel is infused with an abundance of authentic emotions, making it a must-read for enthusiasts of compelling family dramas.

Thank you Net Galley and Ballantine Books for the ARC to read and review.

Blue Sisters is one of those books where you read the last few words, put the book down and immediately want to scour the internet for the Author's other works so you can devour anything else they've put out into the world. I loved each of the sisters so much, each in their own way. Coco's ability to write about sisterhood is absolutely unmatched, I've never read anything so accurate when it comes to depicting relationships between sisters (speaking as a sister myself). Reading the book, I felt joy, grief, anger, remorse. So many familial layers were woven throughout this book, and I loved every second I spent reading it. I could keep on keeping on waxing poetic about this book, but I won't; just know this book is worth it.

Exceptionally average. That being said, I do look forward to some streaming service making this into a movie that I can watch on a lazy Sunday while cleaning house.

<i>Thanks NetGalley for sending the arc in exchange for honest review</i> 🫶🏻

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?

on the death anniversary of their youngest sister, the three blue sisters are reunited; but they struggle to connect in the absence of the centripetal baby of the family.

from the surface, it appears that each sister has managed to stay alive without living. tensions arise as they come together, the worst and best of one another being reflected, projected, and absorbed. while they all collectively struggle to find their way out of their own grief and shame, they're blinded by the harsh truths and destruction they've been hiding not only from one another, as well as themselves.

this book really surprised me. given the premise i was prepared for grief, love, and resentment, but caught off guard by the exploration of shame, addiction, and guilt. the relationships in the book are incredibly complex and layered and i found myself fluctuating between states of judgement and sympathy. i think all of the characters had strong development arcs and were lovable at their best and understandable at their worsts, but unfortunately suffered from some inconsistencies throughout. there were also moment that i feel deserved more time and interesting pacing, but overall the book flows well and nothing felt too rushed, partially thanks to the shifting perspectives of each chapter that worked very well in this book.

an affecting look at sisterhood, motherhood, and womanhood overall. thank you to netgalley and random house publishing for providing me with the digital review copy in exchange for my honest thoughts and opinions!

Four sisters, each possessing their own unique qualities, each descended from a fraught family environment compounded by addiction issues. As the book opens, it's been a year since their number was whittled down to three.

The Blue sisters, who were raised by eldest sister Avery since their mother was too wrapped up in their father's alcoholism to parent them, descend on New York City to go through their late sister's belongings before their former family home is sold. The sisters deeply love each other and fight dirty in a way only siblings can. This book beautifully illustrates how both addiction and grief manifest itself in different forms.