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okayletsread's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is a quiet little book about four sisters and the impacts of their grief after their sister dies from an overdose. It explores grief on all levels—relational, familial, and relational—and how it fundamentally changes you and those around you.
The sisters make questionable throughout the book which many readers will not like or resonate with, but we get an honest view into their flawed sisterhood. Since this is written in multiple POVs, I connected with some characters more than others, but there's no doubt Coco Mellors can write. A wonderfully written sophomore novel that makes me more excited to pick up her debut which is currently sitting on my shelf.
Thank you NetGalley for an early advanced copy!
The sisters make questionable throughout the book which many readers will not like or resonate with, but we get an honest view into their flawed sisterhood. Since this is written in multiple POVs, I connected with some characters more than others, but there's no doubt Coco Mellors can write. A wonderfully written sophomore novel that makes me more excited to pick up her debut which is currently sitting on my shelf.
Thank you NetGalley for an early advanced copy!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Addiction, Death, and Drug use
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Rape
lailajm's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I thought cleopatra and Frankenstein was amazing- this book is on another level. Coco Mellors manages to capture the good and bad of sisterhood in the most emotional, tear-inducing way with the most beautiful writing and style. I love her ability to switch between the three sisters giving you insight into how they all work together while showing you them as individuals. It’s a book every sister with a sister should read in their lives.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Grief, Infidelity, Drug abuse, Addiction, Death, and Drug use
Minor: Miscarriage
readwithnicki's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I read Coco Mellors previous book Cleopatra and Frankenstein earlier this year and did not particularly enjoy it, but I was impressed with her writing style so wanted to give her new novel a go. And thank goodness I did!!
I really loved this book. I’m endlessly impressed by the way in which Mellors slips between character POVs in such a realistic way, with every character feeling distinctive and the book still flowing beautifully.
This book looks at grief, addiction and family in such a raw, honest way and I adored it. The characters are often times dislikable but not to the extent where I did not care about them. I am thoroughly impressed and definitely will be giving Coco Mellors future work a read!
Thank you to Harper Collins and Netgalley for providing me an ARC of this book. I am under no obligation to post this review and all thoughts are my own.
I really loved this book. I’m endlessly impressed by the way in which Mellors slips between character POVs in such a realistic way, with every character feeling distinctive and the book still flowing beautifully.
This book looks at grief, addiction and family in such a raw, honest way and I adored it. The characters are often times dislikable but not to the extent where I did not care about them. I am thoroughly impressed and definitely will be giving Coco Mellors future work a read!
Thank you to Harper Collins and Netgalley for providing me an ARC of this book. I am under no obligation to post this review and all thoughts are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Death, and Drug use
Minor: Domestic abuse
sunandmoon's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.0
Wanted to like it more, to feel more interested in the relationships of the sisters but it's difficult to empathise with rich women who don't get how privileged they are :)
There are some very good scenes and moments though, but some were also repetitive (why talk about the same memories from the different pov if it's not to tell anything new?
Also :a lesbian cheating on her wife by sleeping with a MAN ?? please ???
There are some very good scenes and moments though, but some were also repetitive (why talk about the same memories from the different pov if it's not to tell anything new?
Also :
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, Addiction, and Grief
Moderate: Sexual assault
beate251's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Thank you to NetGalley and 4th estate for this ARC.
This is the story of the four Blue sisters: Avery (the gay one) who is a lawyer living in London, Bonnie (the scary one) who is a boxer turned bouncer living in LA, Lucky (the hot one) who is a model living in Paris and Nicky (the dead one) who was a teacher living in New York. They have awful parents (alcoholic father, cold mother) and display a lot of self-destructive behaviour, including but not limited to alcoholism, drug abuse and infidelity. They also constantly fight with each other. Honestly, if you needed a guide book on how to fuck up your life, these people could write it no problem. Lucky's posh drug-fuelled party is so distasteful I skipped a few pages.
I get it, the death of their sister Nicky at 27 from an overdose of pain medication (she suffered from debilitating endometriosis), leaves a hole in their lives they struggle to come to terms with but I simply couldn't connect with these well-to-do women who willingly burn down their lives at every turn while using words like "lycanthropic" and "prurience". Just go have therapy already!
It is well-written literature, but it's not for me. Too much misery and unhappiness in a book, combined with chapters that are ten miles long, makes me lose the will to live.
“Lucky,” said Lucky. “That’s a funny name,” said Flopsy. Lucky gave her a sideways look."
This is the story of the four Blue sisters: Avery (the gay one) who is a lawyer living in London, Bonnie (the scary one) who is a boxer turned bouncer living in LA, Lucky (the hot one) who is a model living in Paris and Nicky (the dead one) who was a teacher living in New York. They have awful parents (alcoholic father, cold mother) and display a lot of self-destructive behaviour, including but not limited to alcoholism, drug abuse and infidelity. They also constantly fight with each other. Honestly, if you needed a guide book on how to fuck up your life, these people could write it no problem. Lucky's posh drug-fuelled party is so distasteful I skipped a few pages.
I get it, the death of their sister Nicky at 27 from an overdose of pain medication (she suffered from debilitating endometriosis), leaves a hole in their lives they struggle to come to terms with but I simply couldn't connect with these well-to-do women who willingly burn down their lives at every turn while using words like "lycanthropic" and "prurience". Just go have therapy already!
It is well-written literature, but it's not for me. Too much misery and unhappiness in a book, combined with chapters that are ten miles long, makes me lose the will to live.
“Lucky,” said Lucky. “That’s a funny name,” said Flopsy. Lucky gave her a sideways look."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Addiction, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Grief, Alcoholism, and Drug use
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Infidelity, Vomit, Death, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Rape
kenbuggy's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
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, and Death
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
icedfrapp's review
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
5.0
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, Infidelity, Drug abuse, and Death
bloomed's review against another edition
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
4.0
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: Death, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Grief
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Lesbophobia and Sexual harassment
shealen's review against another edition
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
4.0
(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: Death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Chronic illness, Addiction, Drug use, Grief, and Alcoholism
alwayskeara's review against another edition
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
2.75
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: Drug use, Alcoholism, Death, Chronic illness, Addiction, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment