This book was SO GOOD. The writing was excellent, the characters were so deep and complex, and sisterhood was beautifully portrayed in all of its troublesome glory. I will be reading other books by Coco.

The book was alright, the chapters were very long. There were times I was just wishing for it to be over and other times I enjoyed it.

Sisters Avery,. Bonnie and Lucky Blue return to NYC to deal with the impending sale of their deceased sisters, Nicole's apartment. Each sister, with their dysfunctional and addictive behaviors, has unresolved grief that has kept them apart and brought each a mountain of self-distructive and sabotaged relationships. Their time together in NY opens a tsunami of emotions that drive them further apart. I like that Coco Mellors articulated their emotional processing of grief in a believable way. I found this multilayered novel both heartfelt and thought-provoking. Her writing vividly captures the dynamics of the Blue family and of each sister. The book reads fast and elevates to a satisfying and authentic ending.

This was my first book by coco. I was drawn to this book due to the complicated sibling relationships and navigating grief. There were moments where I felt it was hard to understand motivations of characters but it didn’t impact my experience

this book was so out of my comfort yet i really enjoyed it. the writing is so beautiful and from the first paragraph i knew it would be a great book

Blue Sisters is the story of 4 very different, very needy and very dysfunctional women. After being estranged for a while, they come together to mourn.
Avery, the oldest, appears to have her head in the right place. Being the oldest, she was entailed to raise the younger three girls. She was addicted to drugs but has since somewhat turned her life around and became a lawyer.
Bonnie, the second oldest, is addicted with boxing. She lives and breathes it, until she isn’t.
Nicky, the smart one, becomes a teacher. She is the friendly, outgoing sister. Unfortunately, she suffers from endometriosis and is in anguishing pain.
Lucky, the baby, is beautiful. She becomes a model as a young teenager. This is a good out for her as she is not a good student. She travels all over the world with her modeling career.
Each of the sisters are broken and need to come back together and depend on each other again to heal.

All four sisters have addictions of some type- whether it is chemical or emotional pain. Their parents are not involved in their lives at all. The father is an alcoholic and the mother has no motherly instincts.
The chapters in the book are set up by each of the sisters. The writing is absolutely beautiful- “a peach sun smeared across the sky, scattering violet and blue clouds”. Such a vivid picture appearing in my mind.
This book is an emotional, heavy read with lots of trigger warnings. Drug use, alcohol, sexual encounters, lesbians and grief of a family member.Many thanks to Penguin Random House Group and NetGalley for allowing me to read the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. Published on September 23, 2024.

Much better than Mellors' first book! I enjoyed the writing, especially in the latter half of the book.

BLUE SISTERS by Coco Mellors

I have a secret … I have Cleopatra and Frankenstein on my shelf, but I keep delaying reading it because the subject matter (a toxic relationship) isn’t something I’m in the mood for right now.

In some ways, I’m glad I read Blue Sisters first. This is a stunning novel. Mellors develops the characters so thoroughly I was reading slower by the last 50 pages just to stay with them a bit longer. I’ll miss the Blue sisters.

Blue Sisters is about 4 sisters — Avery, Bonnie, Nicky, and Lucky. At the open of the novel, it’s been one year since Nicky died at 27. Now, a year later, the sisters find themselves returning to the New York City apartment where they grew up and where Nicky died. Much of beginning of the novel is spent getting to know the sisters individually — who they are, where they’ve been, how they’re struggling to metabolize their grief, and their place in the foursome of sisterhood. We know them well by the time all three are in the apartment and we know why, upon reunion, they each act the way they do.

I moved slowly through this, underlining the beautiful writing, and absorbing the anxious feelings it induces it at times. If you have a sister, this novel is a deep cut. It’s relatable and honest about the ways in which a “sister is not a friend” because a sister is entirely too much to be reduced to that moniker.

I really loved this. It’s character-driven and focuses on generational trauma, substance abuse, and the ways in which we lose ourselves in grief but also find our way back through love. Highly highly recommend!

Thank you NetGalley for my advanced copy!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Blue Sisters has a lot of heart and emotional tenderness, and will relate to anyone who has sisters. It's about letting go, moving on, and learning how to live again.
This book is about three sisters that return back to their childhood house for sale in NYC. they're all dealing with the unexpected loss of their sister very differently. alongside their grief and the move, they start to uncover the truth about themselves and the secrets they're all keeping from each other-and themselves
Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine Books for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I enjoyed this so much! This is the story of four sisters, though when the story begins we learn one of them died almost exactly a year ago. They’re living in New York, LA, London, and Paris, but the girls’ parents just announced that, since it’s been a full year, they’re ready to sell the New York apartment where their daughter had been living and died, and that kicks the story into gear.

Thank you NetGalley, Coco Mellors, and Ballantine Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Sadly, this one wasn’t really for me… I tried to read this author’s debut as well and also DNF’d that one. This story seems really interesting and I love complex stories about families, but the execution wasn’t for me. I still recommend picking it up though because it seems like an objectively good book! I’m glad I got the chance to try it.

This was as a poignant story on navigating grief as it comes and waves. It was hard to connect with two of the sisters as I felt their plot completely unrelated to the novel at times. There's still good writing there.

“Blue Sisters” started off strong and deep and I was very hopeful I would get an interesting, but layered novel. While I thought this book was okay, it became a bit boring and monotonous in the second half. It led me to just wanting to finish this thick novel, rather than enjoying the conclusion of the story. It seems like I’m in the minority because all the other reviews were outstanding, but I just thought this one was an okay read. I do think this would make a pretty good limited TV series though. 3 stars ⭐️. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy for review.

This book follows the lives of three sisters after one of them dies from an overdose of painkillers that she was taking for endometriosis. They all return to NYC to the apartment where they grew up (and where their sister lived) to dispense with her belongings.
Avery, the oldest, a recovering heroin addict, is a successful lawyer in London where she and her wife live in a huge house. She is the sensible leader of the sisters..
Bonnie, the stoic, soft spoken and strong willed, who never gives into pain, is a former boxer now working as a bouncer for a bar, but wants to get back into competitive boxing.
The youngest sister is Lucky, a model who lives in Paris, parties hard, and is an alcoholic. She is sharp witted and secretly shy.
The girls grew up in a household where neglect, violence and addiction were a major part of their everyday life. Their father was an alcoholic, and their mother was cold and distant.
The main themes of the book were grief, addiction, and sibling conflict and bonding. I thought that the first 3/4 of the book was difficult to get through with the repetitive descriptions of each woman's self-destructive behavior, and addictions making them one dimensional characters. The author described the many ways that addiction can manifest, and how addiction can completely destroy lives. The chapters were quite long, telling everything about the characters without really giving them a voice.
It did have a poignant ending, so I added a half star. There were several quotes which seemed to come out of an AA guidebook although one did stand out for me- the ism in alcoholism stood for I separate myself - and the book showed how each woman did exactly that with their addiction.
I received a free ARC of The Blue Sisters from NetGalley and the publisher and the opinions expressed here are my own.

4 sisters. Each very different, and each with a specific role in their dysfunctional family. They are estranged, yet need to return to the family home to sort out Nicky's stuff so the apartment may be sold. Nicky was beloved by all, and was the bridge to each. Avery is the eldest, and is in a marriage, has a successful career as a lawyer, and plays the role of "mom" to all sisters. Bonnie is quiet, caring and encouraging. She is a former championship boxer. Nicky was the third daughter. Lucky is the baby, a beautiful, independent soul who is a model. However, each has significant struggles and demons in their lives that the others know nothing about. As Lucky says, they are "good at hellos and goodbyes"- but it is the in-between that haunts and challenges them.

This was a fantastic story. It is very character driven and told between the POV's of Avery, Bonnie, and Lucky. We see through the very intimate and detailed thoughts of the characters the past and what made them like they are. Each is facing a challenge, and it is on the one year anniversary of Nicky's death that they all come together in an explosion of emotion, anger, guilt, despair. Their family life was not that good- a distant mother, and an alcoholic father. This forced them to go out into the world not knowing how to handle pressures, communicate healthily- and this leads to addictions for them all in one form or another. Nicky was the one that brought them together, but with her death, their lives seem to be unraveling.

I love the honesty in this story, the process each of the sisters go through in their own heads; denial, guilt, yearning, questioning their purpose, figuring out who they are. At times I wanted to shake them, but because the author writes a very realistic depiction, I understood why each was struggling, and I was rooting for every single one. I also loved how we really got to know Nicky through the story. She is central to everything, and I thought it was brilliant that even though the reader knew she had already passed, by seeing her through her sisters eyes, I kept hoping that this was a mistake and she would walk back in! Silly me!

There is also healing and forgiveness that is predominant throughout the story. Although there are dark issues, in the end Ms. Mellors portrays each characters journey in a way that is brutally honest and illuminating. There were times I found myself smiling, then I had to get the tissues out!

And I felt the ending was perfect- realistic, honest and hopeful!

If you want a love story about a family fighting for each other, loving each other regardless of the issues, and hope weaved throughout- this is the story for you! Actually- just everyone read this!!!! Good for the soul!

Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books for this beautiful ARC. This is my honest and voluntary review.

BLUE SISTERS is a moving and intimate tale that impeccably captures what it means to be a sister in all its glory and all its complications.

The story follows Bonnie, Avery, and Lucky, three sisters who are navigating their lives and relationships one year after the unexpected loss of their sister Nicky.

Coco Mellors nails the character development in this multi-POV story. Each perspective and character is uniquely formed; their voices and perspectives standout in their own ways. Though I often related more strongly to certain perspectives (Avery, the poster child for eldest sister), I grew to love and connect to each sister throughout the story.

The exploration of grief is beautiful and poignant and yes, heartbreaking. I expected to feel emotional, but I so rarely cry when reading. The end of this one made me weep to the point that my husband quietly brought me a box (the *entire* box) of tissues. There are a million things I could say about my connection to this story and the feelings it brought up for me, but the point I most want to make is that Coco Mellors pulls at the heartstrings in a thoughtful and unforgettable way.

Last but certainly not least, the line-level writing of BLUE SISTERS made me want to run to the library to pick up a copy of CLEOPATRA & FRANKENSTEIN. It is beautiful and I loved it.

This is a heavy but beautiful story, one that made me feel deeply for the characters. It has etched itself onto my heart and I cannot wait to read more from Mellors, both backlist and whatever she is working on next.

This book was a gorgeous look into sisterhood, familia ties, and the way grief affects this all. I absolutely loved every second of this book and fell in love with the characters, all of whom are lovable but at times unlikable. The sisters were all so different in characterization yet the relation shone through. As someone with a sister myself, I think this book did a really good job at showing the sibling dynamics between sisters.

I also found this book to paint their problems really well — at times, everything each character was going through was a bit overwhelming, but that felt like the point.

I don’t cry while reading books often, but I did shed a tear reading this one. Recommended for anyone interested in stories about family and doesn’t mind a slower burn.

This book was just so-so for me. The writing was ok but I didn’t really like any of the characters. I appreciate the review copy, though.

"Three estranged siblings return to their family home in New York after their beloved sister's death in this unforgettable story of grief, identity, and the complexities of family."

This book has everything that I love in a novel.
- Beautiful Writing
- Family Dynamics
- Sister Relationships
- Flawed and Imperfect Characters Dealing with Relevant Issues
- VERY Character Driven
- An Ending That Touched Me Emotionally

I have not read Mellors previous work - Cleopatra and Frankenstein - even though I have had it on my shelves forever. After reading this one, I absolutely want to pick that one up! Mellors is amazing at bringing these flawed, beautiful, complicated, and damaged characters to life. I was fully invested in this story and these sisters. Each one had her own personality and issues she was dealing with - they each had their own unique relationships with the other sisters, and I found myself really rooting for them and having hope that their circumstances would change and that by the end of the novel, they would learn and grow together and as individuals.

This wasn't 5 stars for me like I have seen it be for others - and I can't put my finger on exactly what is keeping me from rating it that highly.

Overall, I loved it, these characters will stay with me for a long time and I definitely look forward to what this author will do next (plus her book covers are just GORGEOUS!)

Thank you to Netgalley & Random House/Ballantine for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. Another great book club pick by Read with Jenna!

I really enjoyed this sisters story! This was the first book I have read from this author, but I'm ready to pick up her debut now. I really liked her writing style, and I felt like I knew these sisters. I was rooting for them throughout, even though they made some terrible decisions. They recently lost one of their sisters, and it has really impacted their lives. They are slowly blowing up their lives, and not even aware, I liked the ending, too, but I know if you don't like epilogues or wrapped up stories, you probably won't like it. I do, though!