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emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An exploration of grief, sisterhood, and addiction.
The blue sisters were once 4, but the recent loss of their sister Nicky has brought them down to 3. They’ve been off balance ever since. 3 isn’t right, it isn’t even or symmetrical.
Avery is the eldest sister, a recovering addict turned married lawyer who feels as though her sisters are her own children to care for. Their mother wasn’t there for them how she should’ve been and their father was an angry drunk.
Next is Bonnie, a professional boxer working as a bouncer after a defeat that felt like betrayal.
Nicky was a teacher, whose unexpected death sent her sisters fleeing to battle their grief. She was the glue holding them all together.
The youngest is Lucky, a model and hard core party girl. She has been traveling the world since she was a teenager.
The sisters must come together again in NYC to try to and stop the sale of the apartment they grew up in. Their reunion is messy, there are arguments and insults and forgiveness. They share secrets, desires, uncomfortable truths, and each go through journeys of self discovery.
This story is raw and real. I really enjoyed reading this book, and getting the perspective of each sister. They’re all struggling with grief, and dealing with it in different ways. It does not shy away from the messiness of families, addiction, and loss. I felt for each of them, and that included anger at some of their choices. These characters feel like real people. If you’re looking for literary fiction with a focus on sisterhood this is for you. I think it’d be enjoyable even for those who don’t normally read literary fiction.
Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I read this as an ARC given to me through Barnes & Noble — this book is peak literary fiction. My preferred genre is “women with problems” and these women are all so complex and nuanced. It’s messy, it’s angry, it’s volatile in the ways that grief is. Mellors’ writing style was highly addictive, and I couldn’t put it down. Little Women for the modern day.
Brutal but ultimately very hopeful and kind in a way that I want more stories to be.
Brutal but ultimately very hopeful and kind in a way that I want more stories to be.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Infidelity
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
a really gorgeous slow-burn exploring grief, sisterhood, motherhood, and addiction.
blue sisters didn’t land for me quite as hard as cleopatra and frankenstein did, but i think that’s just a personal thing—for people who have sisters, i feel like this could be the book, given how vividly the familial dynamic is written! each sister individually is also lovely; they’re all extremely flawed people, grappling with their own secrets, but the way they’re written makes them feel unbelievably human.
the only con this book really has, at least for me, is that it’s a pretty slow burn; with the synopsis of the book being what it is, i kind of expected that the sisters would be together sooner and spend a little bit more time together. as-written, it did still work, but something about the mismatch between what i thought the structure of the book would be vs the reality did make the first half or so feel a tiny bit stretched out.
regardless, coco mellors’ writing is stunning, and if she writes it, i’ll read it and love it. 4/5 stars!!
and, as always, thank you to netgalley and the publisher both giving me the opportunity to read this ARC!
blue sisters didn’t land for me quite as hard as cleopatra and frankenstein did, but i think that’s just a personal thing—for people who have sisters, i feel like this could be the book, given how vividly the familial dynamic is written! each sister individually is also lovely; they’re all extremely flawed people, grappling with their own secrets, but the way they’re written makes them feel unbelievably human.
the only con this book really has, at least for me, is that it’s a pretty slow burn; with the synopsis of the book being what it is, i kind of expected that the sisters would be together sooner and spend a little bit more time together. as-written, it did still work, but something about the mismatch between what i thought the structure of the book would be vs the reality did make the first half or so feel a tiny bit stretched out.
regardless, coco mellors’ writing is stunning, and if she writes it, i’ll read it and love it. 4/5 stars!!
and, as always, thank you to netgalley and the publisher both giving me the opportunity to read this ARC!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship
Minor: Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
(Got this as an ARC on NetGalley.) Coco Mellors does it again with creating complicated and flawed characters that you can’t help but love and root for. This explores the complicated feelings of grief, familial love and romantic love, childhood trauma, addiction, and more. I found myself hurting for the sisters and hoping for their journeys to lead to a happy ending even through it all. I enjoyed getting the different internal looks at the sisters and the similarities of each other despite their differences. Beautifully written.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Grief
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The prose was amazing, but the story fell flat. Instead of focusing on 4 sisters this book would have been stronger with only 3. There simply wasn’t enough time to explore Nicky or Bonnie when 85% of the story focused on Avery and Lucky. A story on the complexity of addiction is hard to achieve and I don’t think this book does well enough of a job. Removing the character of Bonnie and instead focusing on the relationship between Avery and Lucky after the death of Nicky and how their similarities and self destructive tendencies clash would have made this a 4 or 5 star read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I consumed this book with rapt attention. Going into a book about four sisters, I expected to find myself and my own three sisters in the characters, able to assign a 1:1 comparison to each of us like we might with the Bennet’s or the March’s. And while I found beautiful portrayals of the complex dynamics of sisterhood, Mellors made each sister totally their own. I found bits of myself in all of them, spread across years and careers and aspirations and attitudes. I found bits of my sisters, too. But I mostly saw these characters for who they were, not who I might try and impose upon them, because Mellors writes her characters with the confidence of knowing them deeply.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Violence, Grief
Moderate: Sexual violence, Vomit
Minor: Rape
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Coco has such a beautiful way of writing and that wasn't missing at all from this book. Having loved Cleo and Frank, I knew this was going to be exceptional but I wasn't expecting to come away having loved it even more. I could see fragments of my self in each of the Blue sisters and that made me ache all the more for them. A stunning, beautifully reflective book. Hats off to you, Coco.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Classism
Minor: Pregnancy