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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
I received this book in exchange for my honest review.
California Girls was a great read. It immediately grabbed my attention and I could not put it down! As a girl who always wondered what it would be like to have multiple siblings (it’s just my sister and I and she is 8 years older than me) it was so great to see the dynamic between these three sisters and how they all handled similar circumstances and heartbreak. A great read on your own or as a book club selection. Highly recommend.
California Girls was a great read. It immediately grabbed my attention and I could not put it down! As a girl who always wondered what it would be like to have multiple siblings (it’s just my sister and I and she is 8 years older than me) it was so great to see the dynamic between these three sisters and how they all handled similar circumstances and heartbreak. A great read on your own or as a book club selection. Highly recommend.
The characters were one dimensional and not believable.
I went into this book thinking it was a traditional romance story and while it does have a romance element, it’s more of a sisterhood/girl power/finding yourself type of story. I loved the humorous parts of this book, especially how the author mixed them so skillfully with the heartbreaking parts. The three sisters find themselves in really crappy situations, relationship wise, and it was really interesting and enjoyable to see how the author matured them through the story and grew their relationships with each other into something strong and beautiful.
lighthearted
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Three sisters: the youngest, Ali, who is about to get married, those oldest, Finola, who has the perfect marriage, and the middle, Zennie, who is not really interested in dating. All of them are dealing with personal crises and milestone. Ali's fiancé's brother shows up. The fiancé doesn't especially want to get married but he's not going to tell her himself. Finola's, who is a TV personality, husband shows up half an hour before she's going on air to tell her that he's been having an affair. Zennie has a best friend who can't get pregnant, would she mind being the surrogate?
I generally like Ms. Mallery's non-series books. This had some really big themes that I thought were handled sensitively and well. But there were a couple of things that brought the book down for me. One was the views on Finola's marriage. We were just told that she accepted blame for it going south but we never really saw how she played into it. A big part of her ending was that she realized what part she played but... it felt forced; more tell than show. And I wish we had seen more of Zennie's romance. It was just tacked on at the end.
I generally like Ms. Mallery's non-series books. This had some really big themes that I thought were handled sensitively and well. But there were a couple of things that brought the book down for me. One was the views on Finola's marriage. We were just told that she accepted blame for it going south but we never really saw how she played into it. A big part of her ending was that she realized what part she played but... it felt forced; more tell than show. And I wish we had seen more of Zennie's romance. It was just tacked on at the end.
One of the greatest joys of reading is the ability to escape to a different locale. In the midst of a cold Minnesota winter, escaping to California with sisters Finola, Zennie, and Ali was an absolute delight!
☀️ ☀️☀️
Three sisters, all dealing with various dramas in their life. Morning show host Finola is blindsided on national TV when she finds out her husband has been having an affair. Zennie is content with her small life so her breakup is no big deal...until she’s presented with the opportunity to be a surrogate for her best friend. And then there’s poor Ali...her fiancée calls off her wedding a month before but refuses to do it himself and sends his brother to break up with her instead. These sisters deal with life changing events, leaning on each other and finding that maybe these endings are just new beginnings. I loved this story and was completely invested in the characters. This was wonderfully written and a fabulous representation of a sisterly bond. For me, California Girls was ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars. Thank you @harlequinbooks for this advance reader in exchange for my honest review.
☀️ ☀️☀️
Three sisters, all dealing with various dramas in their life. Morning show host Finola is blindsided on national TV when she finds out her husband has been having an affair. Zennie is content with her small life so her breakup is no big deal...until she’s presented with the opportunity to be a surrogate for her best friend. And then there’s poor Ali...her fiancée calls off her wedding a month before but refuses to do it himself and sends his brother to break up with her instead. These sisters deal with life changing events, leaning on each other and finding that maybe these endings are just new beginnings. I loved this story and was completely invested in the characters. This was wonderfully written and a fabulous representation of a sisterly bond. For me, California Girls was ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars. Thank you @harlequinbooks for this advance reader in exchange for my honest review.
Honestly, it was everything I thought it would be! Drama, tears, happiness. I fully recommend reading it!
I skimmed the last half of this more than I really read it because I honestly wasn’t that interested. It was hard to care about the characters for me because there was so much going on with all three of them. I did genuinely like the ending though and I liked that all three sisters finally figured themselves out.
Did not finish. For whatever reason, I just couldn't get into this book.
Susan Mallery. I was timid. Until this book, I had never heard of her. I was hoping it wasn't some overly gushy romance book. And it wasn't. It was the perfect amount of humor, heartache, handclapping (for the romance part), and overall great story.
Three sisters. Three broken hearts. Three wonderfully different stories of finding love, losing love, and gaining love again. Finnie, Finola, and Ali are completely opposite in every regard. Finola is the older sister who has it all. Finnie is the tomboy middle sister who just wants to be left alone. And last but not least is Ali the baby of the family who doesn't think much of herself at all. But they all have something in common, their parents suck. Yep I said it. They do. The mother is horrible and the father isn't much better.
Finola is a up and coming television star who finds out thirty minutes before show time that her husband is cheating on her with the person she is about to interview on live television. Finola's story takes you through her finding her own self worth and realizing that she was in fact a stuck up snob.
Finnie is an OR nurse who really isn't into the whole dating scene and gets dumped on the same night as her older sister, but is absolutely thrilled about it. Finnie is the tomboy who wears her hair short, loves to exercise, climb rocks, run and do yoga. She also has a best friend who can't have a baby because she has cancer. So Finnie selflessly agrees to have the baby for her. In the midst of pregnancy she find a man she can't live without.
Ali works for a parts warehouse where she is virtually invisible. But on the plus side, she's getting married! Until she gets home on the same night that her sisters both got dumped, to her soon to be brother in law standing at her door to break off her engagement. Yes, her fiancé sent his brother to break off the engagement. Daniel and Ali become friends...and the rest is history.
This is really one of the best story-lines I have read in a while. The editing could have been better. But overall I would give this book 5 stars. The character build-up is perfect.
Three sisters. Three broken hearts. Three wonderfully different stories of finding love, losing love, and gaining love again. Finnie, Finola, and Ali are completely opposite in every regard. Finola is the older sister who has it all. Finnie is the tomboy middle sister who just wants to be left alone. And last but not least is Ali the baby of the family who doesn't think much of herself at all. But they all have something in common, their parents suck. Yep I said it. They do. The mother is horrible and the father isn't much better.
Finola is a up and coming television star who finds out thirty minutes before show time that her husband is cheating on her with the person she is about to interview on live television. Finola's story takes you through her finding her own self worth and realizing that she was in fact a stuck up snob.
Finnie is an OR nurse who really isn't into the whole dating scene and gets dumped on the same night as her older sister, but is absolutely thrilled about it. Finnie is the tomboy who wears her hair short, loves to exercise, climb rocks, run and do yoga. She also has a best friend who can't have a baby because she has cancer. So Finnie selflessly agrees to have the baby for her. In the midst of pregnancy she find a man she can't live without.
Ali works for a parts warehouse where she is virtually invisible. But on the plus side, she's getting married! Until she gets home on the same night that her sisters both got dumped, to her soon to be brother in law standing at her door to break off her engagement. Yes, her fiancé sent his brother to break off the engagement. Daniel and Ali become friends...and the rest is history.
This is really one of the best story-lines I have read in a while. The editing could have been better. But overall I would give this book 5 stars. The character build-up is perfect.