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.

The story follows three sisters who return to their childhood home in NYC after losing their sister. Each is grieving in her own way, and as they sort through their memories, they begin uncovering family secrets and truths about themselves. It’s highly character-focused, exploring their perspectives and complex emotions around grief, addiction, and loss.

The characters feel so real; they leap right off the page. This story is emotional, beautifully written, and had me in tears by the end. I’m already missing Lucky, Avery, and Bonnie.

If you’re in the mood for a powerful, moving read, add this to your fall TBR. You won’t regret it!

Blue Sisters is the story of 3 sisters arriving at the one year anniversary of the fourth sister’s death. While the characters were developed as well as the plot, this book was a big miss for me.

Every character was harshly distinct from one another with fantastic jobs and unique traits that felt tremendously cliche to me. A family of four sisters all so wildly different from one another felt so forced and like a box was ticked. It wasn’t just with their careers but their sexuality, fashion, living situation, and everything in between. All the side characters were forced into this distinction as well, with their unique identifiers being pushed to the forefront. This completely took me out of the story and felt like a checked off list more than a naturally diverse fictional world. I took multiple notes throughout when a new bauble of a character would appear because it just baffled me.

While the hodge podge variety of characters took me out of the story, what turned me against it was the treatment of addiction and the power within an age gap relationship. Addiction was clearly a struggle within this family yet it doesn’t tie together demonstrably. The best way I can say it is, icky. Although I’m not looking for a fiction book to promote a healthy way of handling a disease like addiction, this one read too flippant and discombobulated to appreciate it.

The last quarter was so much stronger than the first half or so but the epilogue was such a disappointment.

What Mellors did masterfully though was make each of the characters clearly alive on the page, even if they were weighed down by cliches. I’d like to read from her again in a story where the characters aren’t forced to fill out every possibly diverse aspect of a human being.

I keep being fascinated by the book covers of books by Coco Mellors books but then never actually picking them up.

I’m an outlier here but at 60% I did something out of character for me and DNF. I received this book as a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. I will also note that I mostly listened to this on audio book and needed to increase the listening speed beyond my normal 1.5 because the narrator’s pacing was sooo slow.

Blue sisters is about 4 sisters and the challenges of their lives and the dynamics of their relationships with each other. The book takes place primarily a year after the death of one sister, Nikki, and gives you a multi-character perspective on how the sisters cope with her loss.

Considering I actually DNF, you can tell I really hated this. The content was sad/depressing which as a whole is fine and sometimes those books can be amazing but in this case my dislike of the characters made it unbearable. I have a really hard time connecting to characters who repeatedly self sabotage and then seem surprised when their life blows up around them. As someone whose sibling struggled with addiction I have first hand knowledge of what a strain it puts on family/sibling dynamics but the depiction here just felt ingenious. There were also many problems with racial depictions, and stereotyped personas but I don’t have the energy to touch on all that. Some reviews said the epilogue tied the book together so I did read that and it actually made me more mad. Somehow after all this tragedy and self destructive choices all 3 sisters end up happy and thriving? No, just no.

A friend read a very early copy of this and raved about it. So happy she told me to request it! I loved this family drama. The chapters were longer than I like but I loved how the story of their family and each sister unfolded. I wish the end of their story didn’t wrap up so quickly.

Thankfully, I enjoyed this novel much more than her first (Frank made me see red). I wasn’t necessarily riveted from the get-go, but it slowly grew on me. These sisters are raw and real, as is their storyline. I most enjoyed Bonnie’s POV, but I most related to Avery. In fact, I related to her to an eerie amount. And her conversations with her mother were all too familiar. It’s a melancholy tale, but it didn’t bring me down, and the ending is realistic in the most blissful way. My review doesn’t do justice to the insight and beauty of Mellors’ words, but I will end with this: I truly recommend this book.

A stellar read about the complexities of family and sister relationships. Academic, emotional and thrilling. Deeply flawed characters come to life on the page. Not to be missed.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing me with an advance e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review. Look for it in your local and online bookstores and libraries on September 3, 2024.

Thank you Netgalley & Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for an Arc in exchange for an honest review!


"Blue Sisters" by Coco Mellors is a beautifully crafted novel that delves into the complexities of sibling relationships and personal identity. The author’s lyrical prose captures the emotional depth of the sisters' bond, weaving together their shared memories and individual struggles with finesse.

While the character development is strong, some pacing issues arise in the middle of the story, which can momentarily disrupt the flow. However, the rich settings and poignant moments of connection more than compensate for this.

Overall, "Blue Sisters" is a compelling read that resonates with anyone who has navigated the intricacies of family ties. It’s an engaging exploration of love, loss, and the journey of self-discovery. Highly recommended for those who appreciate character-driven narratives.