*Maine Characters* made me want to pack up and move to a lakeside home in Maine! This heartfelt story follows Vivian and Lucy—two sisters who never knew each other existed until their father’s passing.

Vivian had long suspected she might have a secret sibling, but it wasn’t until she arrived at her father’s summer house on the lake that she finally met Lucy. For Lucy, the discovery was life-changing—but her excitement turned to heartbreak when she learned that Vivian planned to sell the beloved family retreat.

Hannah Orenstein beautifully develops the complex relationship between these two women, capturing their emotional journeys and personal growth. I loved how deeply I could connect with both characters, understanding their struggles and perspectives. This novel is a touching exploration of family, identity, and the meaning of home.

I loved this book, the characters, the setting, the relationships. If us a wonderful book about how preconceptions about people, are what we see in them. What you are expecting in a person is what you see, and this book does an amazing job of letting the characters show themselves. It is a wonderful book about family and forgiveness, and friendships that are built when people actually listen!!!

I will have to come back to this book. The cover and title really pulled me in.

At the moment however, the third person narrative and jumping between the two characters in an extremely long chapter just isn’t for me at the moment.

First thing that grabbed my attention about this one was obviously the cover! The colors! The loons! And THEN I find out the cover was inspired from Hannah's own Maine lake house? I need a trophy of this one just to stare at it all the time
Second thing that grabbed my attention was the sister storyline. Vivian and Lucy could not be more different, and considering one wasn't *exactly* sure that the other existed and one has "cyber stalked" the other for years, their clash was just as bad as you'd expect it to be. But there's this underlying current, even when Vivien and Lucy are at their worst with each other, that's keeping the sister's from truly falling apart. It's that smallest foundation that we see get built upon over the summer, balancing the complex family dynamic with grief and loss and uncertainty.
The sisters aren't likeable at all times and I think that's what made them even more relatable. They're not perfect, they've both made mistakes, they're both struggling, and yet they're handed this opportunity to turn loss into something better and stronger together. (Vivian's mom however.... ahem...)

This is going to be a fantastic summer read and I'm jealous of everyone who will be reading it lakeside.

Thank you, Dutton Books and NetGalley for the ARC! All thoughts are my own.

Beautiful cover, just gorgeous. Very emotional read. I didn’t expect it to hit me in the feels so much. In a good way though. I was drawn in from the beginning. Good characters, heartwarming and just cute. Loved every minute of it.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. The cover is what drew me to this book, but this book was just okay. The characters weren't overly interesting and the storyline was just okay.

2.5 ⭐️ rounded up!

This book had so much potential and I’m so sad that it fell flat for me. I was immediately interested after reading the synopsis and beautiful cover, but the overall story didn’t match. There were a lot of love triangles and storylines, and I felt like a lot of the time the characters just complained and the timeline of things felt rushed. The most interesting part of the book was the last 20%.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I don't think this is a bad book, but I also don't think it's the book for me.

The premise of the book is fascinating (and the cover is gorgeous too)! Orenstein is a great writer, and she does a fabulous job describing the town - I feel at home there. Also, I can really tell how much thought and planning went into the characters and their backstories.
While I always love a flawed character, I found it kind of hard to like either of our main characters. They're both supposed to be thirty, but I thought they were acting rather childish. It was hard to support Vivian's relationship even though I can also see how she was manipulated. Lucy I wanted to like deeply, but I wish she had more self confidence and belief in herself. She also flipped emotions so quickly, especially with Vivian.
Finally, there were so many threads going on that I couldn't quite keep up. Lucy and her almost-ex-husband, losing her job, her father, her mother, Harrison...it became rather too much. It felt like everything that possibly could have been thrown at her was, and thus it felt inauthentic. I found Vivian's sommelier history/knowledge fascinating, but she's a girl who takes her life for granted and holds onto a grudge easily. I both resent and respect her ability to put herself first.
I thought this would be about exploring the grief of losing a parent while discovering a sisterhood between two unlikely characters. Instead, it felt like every life problem was thrown at the two of them, and they couldn't even discover their own relationship because everything was happening to them separately. It felt more focused on drama rather than a reflection on sisterhood and grief.
With all that being said, I don't think this is a bad book. There is much to learn and take from it, and I know several friends who enjoyed the book themselves! However, I would have appreciated something more focused on the sisters and depth to their characters compared to them having separate storylines in the same location.

Thank you to the author and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

ARC Review:

I requested an ARC of this book because of the cover. Thank you for not putting faceless characters on this cover, genuinely one of the most gorgeous book covers ever and encapsulated the book perfectly.

The synopsis also intrigued me—the parent trap in book form.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book! It’s very different from the books I normally read, but I really appreciated that. This book really captured what it’s like to be a sister, and I loved that the main(e) characters fought like sister even though this was their first summer together. I didn’t expect for this book to be as long as it was when I first started reading it but by the end I was glad it was. Nothing was rushed and both characters’ stories were fleshed out fully, which I really enjoyed.

This will be a great summer read!

3 ☆
The cover of this book is gorgeous!

This book felt like summer. I really appreciated how flawed the characters were. I can see how Vivian/Celeste might come across as unlikable at times, but honestly, that just makes them feel more realistic—who hasn’t been an unlikable character at some point in life? Oddly enough, Celeste ended up being my favorite. That said, I didn’t really connect with the characters. Vivian, for example, is supposed to be this sophisticated New Yorker and sommelier, but I couldn’t quite picture her for some reason.

One thing I did love? The descriptions of food and wine. They made me crave a good Maine lobster and a crisp Sancerre while overlooking a lake after a sun-soaked day.

Thank you @netgalley and @duttonbooks for my e-arc.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️My review: Vivian and Lucy were raised very differently. They shared a father but Vivian didn't know she had a half sister, and Lucy lived in quiet jealously of her half sister who got to live with Dad. Two people living their lives based on choices their father made 30 years ago are thrown together. Will they meet in the middle, will they have anything in common?
Vivian is not very likable in the beginning and she seemingly has a longer way to go to find her true self. Lucy has the benefit of the higher moral ground, but I also wanted to see her branch out. As both women realize they were victims of parental choices I started to hope for their relationship. The book is told alternating from both of their viewpoints and this definitely helped me see that they were both trying, they both had feelings of regret, hope, and concern. They worked to make better choices for themselves than the ones their father made for them. Plus, Caleb seemed like such a fun friend for both women. Small town doesn't have to mean closed off...and finding family sometimes happens when you don't expect it. Good read, slow to start but worth the time.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Publishing for an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for my review.

I had mixed feelings about this book. The start was incredibly slow, and it took a while for me to get into it. In fact, I didn’t begin to enjoy the story until I was halfway through.

While I really liked the premise and the setting—both were intriguing and had a lot of potential—it just took a while for the story to fully capture my attention.

However, as I continued reading, the plot started to pick up, and I could see why the book has its appeal. By the end, I felt a bit more connected to the characters and the story. That being said, there was still a lingering feeling that something was missing.

Overall, this book was heartwarming and had a great ending. If you’re someone who enjoys slower-paced books this might be worth a try.

Let me start off by saying that the plot in this book can be really stressful to some but the location in which this book takes place.. takes all of that away! Hannah does a great job of explaining Maine, the tranquility at the lake, the build up of how the cabin supports the family through a hard time.. the loons on the lake/John Denver references etc.

I appreciated how the story line came together in the end with the entire family putting all of their differences aside and starting anew. I could picture Vivian starting her new wine bar in Portland and Lucy teaching.

All in all, this book was a 5/5. The plot was something new to me and not a romance rewritten 500 ways.. and it is sort of an ode to The Parent Trap. It’s welcoming to every reader, calming to most and puts you in a slower frame of mind in life as you picture yourself on a Maine lake. Excellent story that I will read over and over again!

You know the saying, “never judge a book by the cover”? Break it for this one! The story itself is as beautiful as the colors that grace the outside.

💦 Vivian and Lucy just lost their father and found out that they’re sisters. They also have different opinions on what to do with the lake house their dad left to Vivian. She can’t sell the house and get away from her sister fast enough. Can Lucy convince her to change her mind? Or will Vivian sell the cherished house and go back to her life in New York leaving everything and everyone behind?

🤝🏽 As a 90’s child, the Parent Trap vibes in this one are strong, but add so much to the book. I went in thinking it was going to follow the stereotypical plot points of similar books I’ve read, and it really doesn’t. The sister relationship is at the center of this novel, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it wound up being a book of the month choice for a major book club!

💦 In the end, this book is about women choosing themselves, and I hope you’ll choose to read this book when it publishes in May. I’d pair it with the Cabernet Franc from Longoria 🍷by a lake with the waves rolling in and the ☀️ shining. Cheers!

It was like an adult version of an older movie I watched when I was younger. Loved the plot and the easy read. Look forward to more from this author.

Maine Characters gave lots of love to my favorite place and the lake houses I grew up in. I loved the descriptions of small towns, back roads, and life on the lake. I also really enjoyed the character development overall. However, I felt like Vivian's change in opinions and actions happened so quickly and I didn't really identify that change in her POV. I really enjoyed the generational aspect of this book as well.

FIRSTLY can we take the time to appreciate the gorgeous cover?! This has been described as an adult parent trap. The way Hannah writes makes you feel like you’re right there at the cabin on the lake. After their dad passes away, two sisters that were raised completely apart end up meeting at his lake house in Maine. One sister grew up with her dad and the other was hidden her whole life. As the story goes along we meet their mothers and learn the full story. I would recommend to people who like family drama, messy relationships, and a beautiful setting. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

A really sweet book about half sisters who only meet when their father dies suddenly. But there’s a twist: one of them didn’t know the other existed. And now they’re stuck together at the family lake house for the summer. It’s clear that the author really loves Maine, and she paints an evocative setting. There are two complicated mother-daughter relationships, in addition to the sisters. Four women who were brought together by the same man have to figure out how to navigate a new life without him.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review. All opinions are my own.

As a New England native, I was excited to dive into Maine Characters—the setting was easily my favorite part of the book. Hannah Orenstein does a great job capturing the charm of a Maine summer, from the peaceful lake house to the small-town dynamics. Unfortunately, the characters didn’t resonate with me as much as the backdrop did.

Vivian and Lucy’s complicated relationship had potential, but I struggled to connect with either of them. Their emotions felt surface-level, and their hostility toward each other often felt repetitive rather than compelling. While their separate struggles—Vivian’s career turmoil and Lucy’s crumbling marriage—were interesting in theory, I never fully invested in their stories. The tension between them felt forced at times, making their eventual moments of understanding less satisfying.

I wanted more depth, more raw emotion, and more reasons to root for them beyond their shared grief. The premise was strong, and the setting was immersive, but the execution left me feeling detached. If you love Maine-based stories, it’s worth checking out for the atmosphere, but if you’re looking for deep, emotionally gripping characters, this one might fall short.

Thanks netgalley for the e ARC of this! If you love stories about found family, second chances and small coastal towns, this book will absolutely win you over. Captures the charm of Maine perfectly :)