Three very different sisters come to terms with loss and change in this novel. Although I didn't particularly click with any of the characters, I still found them and this novel entertaining and at times found myself rooting for them in light of their turbulent upbringing.

Thank you Ballantine Publishers for sending me this arc. This was a beautiful story of three sisters figuring out how to work through their struggles, and how to stay connected as they grow up into their separate lives. As the eldest sister, I felt this book on a whole other level and resonated with Avery. This was so different from anything I have ever read, and the character development in this is like no other. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to read this book and I am so excited to read EVERYTHING ELSE by Coco Mellors. I was completely submersed in this story, immediately a book that I wish I could read for the first time again.

Thank you again to Penguin Random House, Ballantine Publishers for this book.

What a beautiful and emotional story. I loved reading this book and understanding sisterhood. This book was MESSY, but having that said... it kept me entertained. Coco Mellors is brilliant and I am so excited for this to get publish and share with friends.

I love Coco Mellors’ writing. It’s beautiful without being pretentious and really taps into the human condition. I am a sister, but I do not have a sister, so I wondered if this book would still resonate. It did. I sped through the pages, savoring every part. I will always be first in line to read her work.

A lovely story about sisters finding each other and themselves. A must read for anyone with a sister (or 3). Each sister has their own storyline, as well as coming together to see their dynamics. Check trigger warnings as this book deals with the death of a sibling and drug use, amongst other things.

I enjoyed reading about the sister dynamics. I found each sisters storyline interesting. Naturally, there were sisters I would be more excited to read about than others. This book reminded me of Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I enjoyed that book and enjoyed this one as well. It was touching to read about how grief weaved into the lives and relationships of the sisters and how it shaped their futures.

This may be my favorite book of the year so far. From the intro I was all in. Each sister is a true portrait and so fully developed, I adored them all. I need to get my wits abt me on this one because it’s still settling in but I was just so enraptured by this book, when I wasn’t reading it I was thinking about it. Well done coco well done.

this book looks into the lives of the three remaining blue sisters after the loss of the 4th sibling: nicky. the author offers a poignant exploration of grief and resilience with a narrative that keenly observes how life persists after profound loss, navigating feelings of guilt, and the search for closure. what struck me most was the raw authenticity of each sister's portrayal: flawed, honest, and achingly real. as the eldest daughter of four who knows the complexities of ..less than perfect family dynamics, i found myself deeply connected to the story, and to avery in particular.

ultimately, blue sisters isn't about enjoyment; it's about feeling, reflecting, and finding solace in this life in the wake of loss.

a heartfelt thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review 🤍

Oh my goodness.... THIS BOOK! I cannot remember the last time I highlighted so many lines in a novel, or cared so deeply about the characters. This novel was everything- funny, poignant, wise, beautiful and more. I will be recommending it to everyone I speak to once it is out and in the weeks leading up to its release- it is my favorite book that I have read in YEARS!

I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the chance to read this beautiful story ahead of its publication date!

Blue Sisters follows the three remaining Blue sisters, Avery, Bonnie, and Lucky, one year following their fourth sister's sudden and tragic death. The three sisters live completely different lives, but they have one thing in common: they don't know who they are without their sister, Nicky. After the first anniversary of Nicky's death passes, the three sisters are unexpectedly reunited in their childhood NYC home at the lowest points of their lives. The relationship between the sisters is frayed and strained, complicated by grief, addiction, and loss of identity, but maybe together, in their own way, the Blue Sisters will make it through to the other side.

Listen, NO ONE characterizes like Coco Mellors. These characters are so fully fleshed-out and well-written that I often forgot that these weren't real people. While this story is not plot-heavy, this is a gorgeous character study with a lush, visceral sense of place and setting. Compared to Mellors' debut that I also adored, Cleopatra and Frankenstein, this story has a more hopeful vibe. Personally, I think I may have liked Cleo and Frank slightly more because I tend to like messier, gritty stories, but both of these will stick with me equally. I think the fact that this story ended on such a note of levity, while a little bit corny, speaks to the positive place Mellors seems to be in her own life right now, which struck me as really touching.

I loved this book, and it may be my favorite read of 2024 so far. I recommend it for anyone that enjoys character-driven stories with imperfect characters. This story will be powerful for most readers, but especially so for those with sisters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book for free in exchange for my review! All opinions are my own.

I thought this was an interesting family drama. I felt it sort of played out like an 80s or 90s movie, I thought the characters were pretty well developed, but I am not sure I could say that I had a favorite. Overall, I would consider reading another book by Coco Mellors in the future. It was an enjoyable read and the perfect book to bring to the beach!
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The Most Fun We Ever Had meets They’re Going to Love You. That’s far from a perfect comp but those are two books I love and I don’t know how better to say: I LOVED this novel. It was story about sisters, family, generational trauma, addictions of all sorts, faith of all sorts (including a lack thereof), relationships of all sorts, hurt, and healing. If you love good writing, I think you’ll find something in this book that speaks to you.

“What was it in her that loved a wildfire?” This quote was written in a chapter from Avery’s POV and stood out to me because I think it applies perfectly to all of the sisters, except maybe to Nicky; but was Nicky as perfect as she’s portrayed, or is it just all of the sisters remembering the best parts of her now that she’s dead? Each sister’s personality was masterfully crafted; each with her own unique traits, but all sharing certain characteristics with one another.

A very easy five stars. I just ordered Mellors’s first book, and will be reading it as soon as it arrives.

I loved this story so much. So many elements that are tough to talk about are normalized here. Grief, addiction, family dynamics. Loved the alternating viewpoints of the sisters. Will be reviewing soon on my bookstagram page.

This is told from the alternativing POVs of three sisters a year after the death of the fourth as they try to understand both their lives and their relationships with each other in the aftermath. I really liked the prose and character development, and I was also really impressed by the way addiction was such a big part of all of the characters but there was so much variety in its portrayal and how it affected everyone. Basically every aspect of this writing was really engrossing and also just good. I requested this bc the cover is gorg and people have been raving abt cleopatra & frankenstein for the past two years. Everyone is going to adore this also so congrats to coco mellors for cementing herself in the women’s literary fiction genre.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and RH Ballantine for the ARC! Super glad I got to read this and it’s out on September 3!

Bizarrely, so much more my speed than Cleopatra and Frankenstein, even though that book was already my speed. I have brothers, not sisters, but I found this supremely relatable, owing mostly to the prose and how every far-flung emotion these characters could possibly be feeling was covered. I found it a little too on the nose of its own premise, with a parentified eldest sister, two incredibly talented and semi-famous yet opposite sisters, and the "perfect" sister being the dead one. But either way, I really rooted for them, and the sappiest part of me really wanted Riley to come back around in the end.

Avery, Bonnie, and Lucky are mourning the loss of their sister, Nicky, in different ways. When their parents announce they are selling the apartment they grew up in, an opportunity arises for the sisters to come together and share some hard truths with one another.

This was a compelling and sad character-driven read and I loved getting to know Avery, Bonnie, Lucky, and Nicky. The writing is lovely and tenderly explores grief, addiction, and the bond of sisters. 4.5 stars.

Thank you very much to Random House Ballantine and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

It’s a modern Little Women. And I think it works really well.

It will be released on September 3rd to bookstores in the US—just in time for Virgo season (bc let’s be real, at least one of the sisters is a fellow Virgo).

Thank you to Random House via NetGalley for the ARC!

A nice little contemporary that’s really family focused but i feel as it didn’t connect to grief strongly enough. it felt like the author didn’t capture mourning in a personal moving life changing way it is. It felt very impersonal way to look at grief.

3.5 stars
I’m really having a hard time figuring out how I feel about this book. Right now I’m just feeling very neutral about this book—I didn’t really like it but I also didn’t really dislike it either. First I’ll start with what I did like. Objectively, I think Mellors is a good writer. The setting, ambiance, and characters were all very well fleshed out and allowed me to really put myself in the story. I think the concept was really interesting, and on the whole, was pretty well-done. I like how none of these characters were perfect and they all had very realistic lives and flaws. The characters who seemed more put together on the outside had issues they were hiding from others, and the characters who seemed to be struggling more were more put together or self-assured than they presented. Somehow a lot of authors that have siblings in their books seem to have never seen actual siblings interact in real life, but Mellors has written probably the most realistic portrayal of siblings I’ve seen in literature. They each have their own relationships with one another that make a lot of sense for their characters and personality. Even when they fought, sometimes brutally, it was obvious that they still loved and cared for one another. I think the portrayal of grief was also well-done. Every character handled it their own way, and whether or not they actually moved on from it, it all made sense for their characters.

Now onto what I didn’t like. The story did not deal with the sisters grief enough, in my opinion. The story was focused more on the three remaining sisters and their relationships with one another, especially after this catastrophic loss and how that changed everything. However, I really wish we saw more about how the loss of Nicky affected them. We saw so much about their relationships with her prior to her death, and they were all beautiful in their own ways, but we never really saw them grapple with her death. For a book covering such a dark topic I never really felt any of the emotion they were feeling. There were a few moments towards the end where I got a little teary eyed, but not much, and the middle just really dragged and was pretty boring at times. Their relationships with other people were also frustrating to read about. I know not every relationship is perfect, but the two sisters who had a real romantic relationship with someone, were both in a relationship with an insane power imbalance. Avery was with her therapist and SPOILER Bonnie was with her boxing trainer who knew her when she was a kid and he was an adult. It was just really weird to me that these were portrayed as good relationships when they actually really weren’t. It was also really weird that they didn’t blame their dad more for their rough childhood. They acknowledged that he was an angry drunk who did really bad things, but they almost entirely blamed their mom and never really saw her as a victim too. Obviously I know that kids in that situation can’t be that rational and the mom definitely should have done more to protect them, but it was just so weird that they didn’t seem to blame their dad at all. The ending was also a little frustrating but I can’t really talk about it without pretty big spoilers, so maybe once the book comes out, I’ll explain.

Even though I didn’t just list a bunch of things I didn’t like, I don’t really feel strong emotions either way towards this book. Overall, I think it was interesting but also pretty boring. It’s also just totally possible that I just don’t actually like literary fiction and this book just wasn’t for me.

Blue Sisters - Coco Mellors

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Thank you to netgalley for the e-arc! This one is out 5/23 in the UK & 9/3 in the US (🥲) I simply could not wait until pub day to post about this new favorite.

What I loved:
- This is multi POV & very character driven. I loved every single one of these sisters. They were so painfully & imperfectly human
- I <3 books about sisters !!!
- This was beautifully written & I had trouble putting it down
- It was very interesting to see how addiction, sexuality, and grief were explored, experienced, perceived so differently through each of the sister’s perspectives. I loved finding little similarities between the sisters despite them thinking they’re all so different from one another
- The ending was PERFECT🩵