I’ve sat with this review for a few days. I was very conflicted about this book.

This was a good idea for a book and full of complicated sibling dynamics, and throwbacks to early 2000s pop fame. The sisters feel messy in a relatable way, the plot moves at a good pace, and there are some genuinely touching moments about identity, family, and the struggle to reclaim your story. With that said, I was disappointed by the fatphobic comments throughout the story. It’s frustrating when a book has so much potential, only to undercut itself with harmful stereotypes.

I did enjoy the storyline, but I wish the narrative had evolved as much as the characters were supposed to. For a book about comebacks, it missed an opportunity to come back stronger in the body-positive department. I literally started to cringe every time the word fat was used.

“The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits” by Jennifer Weiner is about two sisters, Cassie and Zoe, who become pop stars in the early 2000s. Decades later, Zoe’s daughter is trying to figure out the reason behind the band’s breakup. The writing is fantastic, the POVs add to the narrative and offer unique perspectives into the life of each character. Dakota Fanning is an intriguing narrator and was well suited for the part. As a millennial who grew up listening to Brittany, Christina, BSB, and NSync, I thought Weiner did an amazing job capturing the complex media dynamic of that time.
Thank you to NetGallery and HarperAudio Adult for an advanced copy of this ebook in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits by Jennifer Weiner and would easily recommend it to fans of family dramas and music nostalgia. The audiobook brought Cassie, Zoe, and Cherry to life, weaving their voices and perspectives into a compelling story about sisterhood, fame, secrets, and second chances. I loved how Weiner captured the glitz of early 2000s pop stardom while also delving into the characters’ vulnerabilities and the complicated bonds between them. The dual timelines and multiple points of view kept me engaged, and I found the emotional moments—especially around forgiveness and ambition—both moving and authentic. While a few plot threads felt a bit unresolved, overall, this was a heartfelt, entertaining listen that hit all the right notes for me. 4/5 stars!

In the early 2000s a band came out of nowhere, the Griffin sisters. This is their story, the story of two sisters, but also of the daughter of one of the sisters. The band broke up when a member, the husband of one of the sisters died. Told in alternating viewpoints and timelines, this is a story of fame, fortune, talent, deceit, communication, grief, and life.

This book is masterfully written. The way it is structured leaves the reader unsure about so much of the prior timeline. I enjoyed it! I found that I was sucked in and wanted to listen to the Griffin Sisters. I really wanted to be able to hear Cassie's voice, as I struggled to imagine it. It was really interesting to think of someone being so isolated they didn't know of Adele.

Overall, I think this will be enjoyed by those that have enjoyed Weiner's previous works but will also attract new readers. I wonder if I would have enjoyed it more if I were musically inclined (I am NOT).

The narration was excellent with different tones for each of the characters.

Thank you to Net Galley and Harper Audio for the DLC. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this audiobook so very much!! Dakoda Fanney did a wonderful job keeping the sisters' voices unique and their emotions felt raw and real to me.

The novel is told in both past and present timelines.

Zoe Grossberg has wanted to be a rock star for as long as she can remember. She has always been pretty and popular. She has a good voice but knows that it doesn’t have “star power”. She is determined to make her wish come true at any cost.

Cassie, Zoe’s younger sister, is her polar opposite. She is shy and quiet, has endured bullying because she isn’t what was considered thin enough, pretty enough or charming enough.
At a young age she is already a musical prodigy, climbing onto a piano bench and teaching herself how to play. However her greatest gift is her voice - she lifts the song’s lyrics to another level.

Cassie never wanted to sing in front of an audience but Zoe begs her to perform. After one year of touring they have a hit album that is constantly being played on the radio - they are on MTV and Saturday Night Live. They have achieved “Stardom” !!

In the present timeline - Zoe’s teenage daughter Cherry has just learned that her mother was in a band - The Griffin Sisters! She doesn’t understand why her mother refuses to talk about that time. Cherry is a singer and guitar player. She has a lot of natural talent but her mother has continually pushed aside her desires for a career in music.

It is Cherry who will bring the sisters together but there are two decades between them now along with some long buried secrets that change everything!

Easily one of my top audiobooks this year and I can highly recommend this to everyone!

I received an audiobook from Harper Audio through NetGalley. It was my pleasure to listen to and review this great novel.

Title: The Griffin Sister’s Greatest Hits
Author: Jennifer Weiner
Format: 🎧
Narrator: Dakoda Fanney
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Publisher: HarperAudio Audio/Harper Audio
Pub Date: April 8, 2025
My Rating: 4.3 Stars!
Pages: 384


Sisters Zoe and Cassie are a year apart but years apart in personality.
Zoe, is the sister who was popular blessed with charm and beauty with a desire to be famous,
Cassie the musical prodigy started to play the piano since she was eight years-old never had a lesson! Has the beautiful voice but not attractive like Zoe plus is shy and not comfortable performing in front of anyone.
Yet! They were both once rock stars!
They have not seen each other for twenty years ~ Zoe lives in New Jersey and Cassie went off to and disappeared in Alaska.

Diehard fans will remember "In Her Shoes". One of my first JW reads and I loved it!
I remember that story as being humorous. This one is serious!

Present Day ~ Zoe's daughter Cherry, is trying to make it in the music business, despite her mom forbidding her to do so.
Story goes back to 2000 and their musical stardom, sibling rivalry, and of course secrets!
Finally it is time for the full story of their breakup to be revealed.

As the story develops- there is a rough road ahead.


News Flash~ “The Gift” is really a song that is now out. Trailer link below.
Jennifer Weiner wrote the words that were used in this real song.
I was hoping the real song would be in this audiobook. It is not but narrator Dakota Fanney did do a wonderful job in performing the characters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eLVBSARJaA
Perhaps this is a spoiler but I had a smile on face at the end!

This is my twenty-first JW novel Yep I am a fan!!
In fact, got to attend an Author’s Program here in Tustin last evening Monday April 14- featuring Jennifer Weiner. It was a great event and was well attended .

Want to thank NetGalley and HarperAdult Audio/Harper Audio for this audiobook.
Publishing Release Date was April 8, 2025.

Sisters Cassie and Zoe Grossberg couldn't be more different. Cassie is loud and attention-seeking while Zoe just wants to be left alone. But they do have one thing in common: music. When Zoe helps Cassie out at a live show, their lives change forever. Bring in Cherry, 20-years-later Zoe's daughter, and the story goes even deeper. Cherry also has this love for music, but Zoe has left the spotlight altogether and Cherry has never even met her Aunt Cassie. But will Cherry be the puzzle piece that brings the family back together when she runs off to California to seek fame herself?

I have been reading Jennifer Weiner for over 20 years, though it's been quite a while since I've read something of hers. I'm kicking myself for leaving so much of her bibliography unread after reading this. She is an absolutely fantastic writer. She conveys a real human experience complete with emotions and bad decisions alike. You often times wanted to wrap the characters in a hug but also slap them across the page at the same time. And only a good storyteller can make a reader feel that way. Narrator Dakota Fanning brought Weiner's story to life with her spot-0n narration. 5-star read!

Loved this book partly for the music aspect. It doesn't dive too deeply into the music industry, but enough to hold your interest. One sister is not very likeable and as the story unfolds and healing eventually occurs, you grow to love the sisters and the understand their decisions in life. Will there be more??

Happy pub week to The Griffin Sister’s Greatest Hits by Jennifer Weiner! I’m so grateful to @williammorrowbooks for an advanced copy and to HarperAudio for an ALC.

This book is perfect for lovers of family drama and books about the music industry. Sisters Cassie and Zoe Grossberg were the front duo of one of the biggest bands in history—The Griffin Sisters—for about a year in the early 2000s. Pretty, older sister Zoe dreamed of fame but didn’t necessarily have the talent, and awkward, overweight Casey might not be able to have a conversation with another person, but was a musical prodigy who only sings with her sister. After achieving fame—an appearance on SNL, the cover of The Rolling Stones, a hit record—the band broke up and no one has heard from them since. The story, told in dual timelines, recounts what happened to the band, and where the sisters are now including how Zoe’s 18-year-old, emotionally estranged daughter Cherry is trying to make it as a musician in her own right.

This book brought up a lot of emotions. As a kid who was also overweight and teased growing up, I really felt for Cassie. She was contending with other issues (from the beginning it seemed that she might be on the spectrum), and for me her story was just heartbreaking. I had to try much harder to find empathy for Zoe. I’m impressed with the nuance Weiner brought to her character, but there were definitely plot threads where she felt like 100 percent villain to me. And I had trouble sorting out how much of that were my own issues with pretty-girl types. And I was really conflicted about the love interest. He was so sweet, but made a lot of really, really bad decisions (as humans tend to do). Overall, I really invested in the journey, and so curious to see how it would end.

Dakota Fanning narrates this one and she does an amazing job with all the characters. Her voice has a really soothing quality that made some of the tension in the book go down a little easier. I’d definitely recommend listening, and someday I’d love to hear the lyrics in the book put to music!

The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits completely pulled me in from the very first chapter! If you grew up obsessing over pop princesses this book will hit all the nostalgic notes. Jennifer Weiner absolutely nails the early 2000’s pop star aesthetic! It’s a layered and emotional story about sisterhood and second chances. Cassie and Zoe were pop royalty, but behind the scenes they were just two sisters navigating fame. The characters felt real, and the exploration of complicated family dynamics totally hit home. Dakota Fanning was an excellent narrator for the audiobook! She brought every character to life with so much emotion. One of my favorite audiobooks of the year so far!

I never should have touched you...

That's all it took, just the very first line, for me to fall into The Griffin Sisters' Greatest Hits. I've loved Jenifer Weiner since Good in Bed, but this book...Every single sentence made me feel something. For everyone who has ever struggled with body image or confidence issues, this book is for us. For everyone who has ever lost someone, this book is for us. For everyone who has loved someone who might not love us back, this book is for us. I guess what I'm saying is this book is for everyone. It's gorgeously written, and, once you finish, it's going to be one that you pass to your friends, your sisters, your mom. If I could give it more than five stars, I would.

This just might be my favorite historical fiction of the year?? I don’t think it is quite fair to compare it to Daisy Jones because they are very different. But I do think those that loved DJ will love this one! It’s emotional, addictive and endearing. Loved it.

One of my most anticipated AND now favorite books of 2025 so far!!!

I honestly tried to slow down my listening of this book to make it last longer, but I just could not do it. All I wanted was to be immersed in the story of Cassie and Zoe - the Griffin Sisters - and be on their journey with them. I felt invested after the very first chapter. Jennifer Weiner has once again written an emotional, heartfelt story, this time of two sisters who find themselves launched into pop stardom and quickly crashing down after a major blow, estranging the sisters as they both flee to opposite ends of the country. Years later, Cassie's own teenage daughter wants to be a famous singer herself, but when she is met with her mother's discouragement, she sets off to find her mysterious estranged aunt and find out why her mother appears to be part of a former pop sensation band, and what happened to divide them.

The dual timelines were seamless and I had no trouble following in audio, which is always a factor for me in rating an audiobook. Dakota Fanning did an amazing job of narrating, but with multiple points of view, it may have been better if there were multiple narrators to make the storytelling more dynamic. That aside, Fanning's voice was clear and easy to folllow, and I love her reading audiobooks.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperAudio Adult | HarperAudio for the advanced digital audio copy of this book. I absolutely devoured it and plan to share Weiner's latest title as one of the best they'll read this year!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC audiobook. This story had great potential to be excellent and I was excited to listen to the story. I think that using one narrator didn’t help matters and the story fell flat. I don’t feel like the Griffin sisters fit in during the late 90s and early 2000s. The characters seemed to be too old for the era. I love books written about musicians, but this one lacked the depth I was expecting and was drawn out.

Such a beautiful work by Weiner! Loved this more than 5 stars! Cassie is a character I want to know, I want to help, cheer for, encourage. Zoe, a typical diva....a lesson learned, hearts broken, hearts mended.... and the glue that brings them all back together, Cherry. This is a book you don't want to miss and you won't be able to put down!

Sisters, spotlights, secrets.
‘The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits’ has it all. Sisters Zoe and Cassie are complete opposites. How far will the other go to make all their dreams come true? To rise to the top, and at what cost? All secrets have their way of coming out eventually right?

A new fav Jennifer Weiner book about Cassie and Zoe, two sisters (one fat, one thin) who find success in the music business only to become estranged after a tragedy involving one of their bandmates. The book touches on body image, the high cost of fame, the double standards for women in entertainment, sexual abuse of a minor, affairs, jealousies, lies, forgiveness and more.

Told from multiple perspectives and with flashbacks to the early 2000s when Cassie and Zoe are starting out to the present when Zoe's daughter, Cherry is trying to make it as a singer/songwriter too.

Fantastic on audio and perfect for fans of books like Daisy Jones and the Six or The lightning bottles by Marissa Stapley. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

What happened to the Griffin Sisters?

Zoe and Cassie had just been on SNL. Earned their first golden record.

Was being famous what they had expected? Would they do it all over again?

Jennifer Weiner is quite the storyteller. I have been missing out. This musical book is told by four women: Zoe, her daughter Cherry, her mother Janice, and her sister Cassie. There are two timelines -- one present day and one begins with Zoe's birth in 1982.

From the very first chapter I was hooked. There is a tragic event in their past -- an explosive event that split and splintered the sisters for decades. Now that Cherry is in a reality voice competition called "The Next Stage," some secrets may be forced out of hiding. I was all about getting more info, especially about guitar player Russell D'Angelo.

I started with the digital ARC provided by William Morrow and Edelweiss+ and then noticed HarperAudio had an audio copy read by Dakota Fanning on NetGalley. Thank you, all, for an amazing book experience.