This was a really good book, and I really enjoyed reading it! It was a mixture of grief and sadness of these sisters dealing with the passing of their mother, but also had a ton of funny bits throughout the book which helped make it feel lighthearted. I think it was a great premise and was entertaining for sure!!
Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complementary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

A gem of a story. Daughters is an interesting look at the lives of sisters after their mom passes. What happens between them as they continue on without her? It's a great glimpse into complex relationships and I think Capes did a good job making this an authentic book. It reads easily and I didn't want to put it down! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

DAUGHTERS reminded me why I love reading. This book is a brilliantly and beautifully written novel full of heartbreak, tragedy, and suffering but as of result of that also comes strength, resilience, forgiveness, love and healing. This book effortlessly touched deep inside me and I felt and cared for every character, even the ones who causing turmoil as deep down they are also struggling. This story is a real, raw and honest portrayal of the complexity of dysfunctional upbringing, trauma and mental illness.

It's been two years since Matilda has spoken to her younger sister Nora, which was when their mother passed. What brings them back into each other's live is Nora's mental breakdown and suicide attempt which happens to be her seventh time very close to death. Even though they had a complicated history with their disturbed mother Ingrid Olssen, who was known as one of the greatest modern artists in Europe, they decide to honor their mother's last wish: to protect her art from being sold or displayed. Matilda and Nora (and Matilda's daughter Beanie) are on a quest to crash the gallery opening that their own aunt is organizing. Most of the adventure includes roadtripping from Grand Canyon to up along the shore on the West Coast.

They both were abandoned and unwanted by both of their parents very young, Their absent mother was either off painting, having a manic episode or on a fender for days even months (and the slim chance she was home, mentally she wasn't present), while their father was across the world, not concerned about his kids' wellbeing. Matilda and Nora have issues of their own. Matilda is afraid of the intensity of love, and the power it can have over someone which is what kept her from fully taking the leap with Beanie's father, Gus. Convinced she ruined it with Gus by breaking his heart (which also broke hers), she believes Gus deserves so much more and the best (for that's how much she loves him). Nora, also an artist, is consumed by dark thoughts and fearful of becoming like her mother.

So many tender and heartfelt moments throughout out the book...literally every page is filled with several. And one of my favorites was the lines "I should have been there for you" and "you shouldn't have needed to." I admired and appreciated the reminder that only we can fully save ourselves. And that as much as we can hate the bad things that happen to us, those along with the good and everything between is what molds us into the people we are living as now. And that love is expansive, forever growing, forever evolving. I have so much love and admiration for Matilda and Nora for what they went through and how they persevered and was so moved by how Matilda and Nora help set each other free in their own way. *MAY BE CONSIDERED A SPOILER ALERT* I also took away that even though Matilda having Beanie is what separated her from her sister when Nora was kid - Beanie, is also the bridge to helped bring them back to each other, stronger than ever.

Readers are taken on this family's journey from the present to back in the past to recorded interviews in their late mother's newly written biography that will have them crying, smiling, and just feeling so, so much. I feel so thankful and privileged to have been able to experience this story and writing.

Much gratitude to Abrams/The Overlook Press and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.