I enjoy a good beach read book. Three sister-friends are spending their annual two week vacation at Blue Mountain Beach.
Each is dealing with major changes in their lives, their stories revealed in alternating chapters for a two week period lending with to a hurricane. The book is hard to read as it does not flow well, it is more like a a narrator telling a story at a high level. I could not get invested into the characters or the story because of how choppy the book is written. I understand this is an advanced reader copy and I am hoping these type of situations are cleared up and smoothed out prior to publishing. I do thank Netgallley, the author and the publisher for the opportunity.

I did not like any of this. The writing style was not for me, and the formatting was like nothing I've ever read. The combination of the two made this very hard to get through, let alone enjoy. I just couldn't do it. This wouldn't be something I would necessarily recommend, but I do think it would be a good read for the right reader. That reader just wasn't me, unfortunately.
Thank you, NetGalley and Rebelle Press, for the opportunity to read and review this advanced copy.

I picked The Sisters of Blue Mountain Beach to read because I love books about the fun at the beach. I read the description about book and thought it would be different than it was. I expected a good beach read up until something went awry when the hurricane arrived.

While I realize this is an advanced copy, the first thing I found jarring was there weren’t chapters, it just all blended together. That is distracting because you don’t know where you are and if the point of view and person talking has changed. In addition to that it felt like the story just kept repeating over and over and over. There’s a part where we are learning about Mary Fran at the beginning and it says 4 times that “The important thing to know about Mary Frank is…” Then it’s repeated again a few pages after as if the reader won’t be able to remember. It was like this throughout the book.

I forced myself to finish this book because it was an advanced reader copy, but it did not get any better.

I appreciate being given the opportunity to read this book by NetGalley and the Publisher.

A great read that is well written, thought provoking and beautifully set. The characters are 3 dimensional and believable; topped off with a twist!

Thanks to NetGalley and Rebelle Press for access to this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is the story of three women - Arden, Cilla, and Mary Fran. They are not sisters by blood but by choice. As they navigate the ups and downs of their lives, a hurricane approaches, and they must face it together.

Frankly, I wouldn't say I liked anything about this book. It was repetitive. The omniscient narrator might have known all the thoughts and feelings of the character but I felt unmoved. I always keep in mind that I am not reading a finished copy. That being said, I would have appreciated better spacing surrounding the first-person accounts of the people after the hurricane.

I don't give one-star ratings often, but this book and I cannot coexist.



Expected Publication Date 21/05/24
Goodreads Review 20/04/24

#30Abookclub #NetGalley.

I thought this would be like a fun beach read (queue in Emily Henry or Elin Hilderbrand), but this was kind of a bit not like that?

It felt predictable (okay sure say what you want about my other beach read authors, but their stories are always something I gush over, and cannot get enough of).

This was a 'nothing happens' then 'everything happens' then just honestly, weird. There was a hurricane at some point, maybe? But I never got to it there was so much fluff, and just blah.

Some of my top take aways:

-There weren't any chapters either (which I know it's an ARC, but still, I felt there should have been some separation?).

-Nothing was resolved, you didn't get that feel good ending...

-They are actually not as young as you think they are... they are older women, but it is written like they are 30ish.

-It drug on so much about this fluff stuff.

I had a hard time really getting into this, so it became a DNF around 53%. I couldn't get into it, and honestly, when I struggle to get into a book, I stop. The world is wide, there are millions of books, this wasn't the one for me.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for my E-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Having 4 sisters of my own, I absolutely love a book about sisters. Three sister are once again at the beach and they start having to deal with family relationships good and back romance, disappointments, love, friendship. Does growing up close change as you get older. Will you slowly grow apart or will you grow close. Life gets in the way of our familial relationships and this has happened to these sisters. Will they be able to get back what they use to have or just stay as family aquaintnences. This book was great and it made really think about my relationships with my sisters.

Three sister-friends are spending their annual two week vacation at Blue Mountain Beach.
Each is dealing with major changes in their lives, their stories revealed in alternating chapters for a
two week period lending with to a hurricane. Will the sisterhood bond hold as secrets are revealed?
#TheSistersofBlueMountainBeach #NetGalley

A story of three sisters, who each have their own lives, but need to reach each out for another.

Although the woman aren’t really sisters, they rely on each other as they go through life with all the things that life throws at them, like a hurricane.

The lead up to the hurricane, makes each woman look,at their lives and what is happening in it.

The Sisters of Blue Mountain Beach takes place at none other than - the beach!. We follow three “sisters” , all dealing with the complexities of life, as they share a house at the beach in anticipation of an impending hurricane. While this storyline felt very predictable, it is probably exactly what someone else is looking for. Wouldn’t recommend it to everyone, but certainly wouldn’t discourage it either.


Thank you NetGalley & Rebelle Press for this ARC!

Kalan Chapman Lloyd's "The Sisters of Blue Mountain Beach" narrates the complex journey of three close friends facing life's trials, including infidelity, cancer, divorce within a Ponzi scheme, and the death of a deceitful husband, all set against the backdrop of an impending hurricane. The novel's unique storytelling style, with chapters alternating between the perspectives of each friend and their acquaintances, initially draws interest but soon proves disjointed and challenging to follow. The narrative, filled with jealousy, lies, and health struggles, strains believability and makes it difficult to connect with the characters. Despite an appealing beach setting, the execution—marked by a fragmented style and uneven pacing—makes for a demanding read that struggles to engage fully. The attempt to weave the characters' experiences through shared meals and mutual disdain falls short, lacking the cohesion and depth needed for a compelling beach read.

This book overall really bored me and felt very predictable. I wasn’t really enjoying this book so it took me a while to finish.

Loved this one! I think we will be seeing it as a highly-sought after pick for a lot of book clubs. I highly recommend this unique story.

It took me awhile to get into the book. I was having a difficult time getting into the plot. Overall a decent read, but I would not put this on the top of my list.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC of this book! This book follows three "sisters" as they stay at the beach together once again. It's about family relationships, a dash of romance, and what happens as you grow up, grow closer together and further apart, and how life gets in the way.
I would classify it as a women's fiction; however, I don't normally pick those up, and I'm so glad I chose this one. The beach setting lured me in, but I stayed for the sisters and their dynamics. I really enjoyed this book, and think those who enjoy books exploring family relationships would too (Celeste Ng comes to mind). I'll definitely be recommending this! A very easy read that moved at a good pace and kept me coming back for more!

The writing of this book initially put me off, I did not understand the settings, the family dynamics nor did I know which character were which, I didn’t even know their name I kept describing them in my head as the tall one the fat one and the short one. I loved the interconnectedness of the story but that’s about it unfortunately I just felt like this wan ant a book for me however I can see how other people would enjoy this and tbf I would recommend it to people it just wasn’t my cup of tea

Novel Concept: 5/5
Execution of Novel Concept: 1/5

Title: 2/5
Characterization: 5/5
Dialogue: 5/5
Plot: 2/5
Atmosphere: 5/5
Theme: 1/5
Prose: 3/5

Does this pass the Bechdel Test: Yes

I tried so hard not to DNF this book at 63% because I feel lucky enough to be given an ARC that the least I could do is finish it. It got to a point where I was only trying to finish it because it was an ARC, and managed to get 10% more done before I finally called it. If I hadn't of trudged on, the DNF would be at 49%

I thought this was going to be part slice of life and introspective about the lives of these three women, sort of like Beautiful World Where Are You or Light Woman, as well as a intense, emotionally distraught search for these women. I was right on the first part, and completely wrong about the second and I think that's where we lost the plot.

1. Nothing happens and everything repeats

This feels like a nothing novel in the most unentertaining way. The things that happen occur very slowly and are bogged down by the repetition of the same laments and same miseries that it genuinely feels like nothing is happening. It feels like the author doesn't trust us to recall important information about characters, thus causing the need to keep repeating that x character is sad about this and y character is sad about that.

I never even made it to the hurricane. The intense storm that's supposed to be dire? I never got there.

2. No Chapters and No Formatting

The most unreadable part of this book is that there are no chapters. Without them there's no reward loop or feeling of competition with a chapter, causing the book to feel like it's rambling on and on and on. Chapters aren't ugly. They help make books approachable because it sections them out.

Additionally, there is the 3rd Person Pov of the three women, Cilla, Arden, and Mary Fran, as well as first person accounts of people being interviewed after they go missing. There is nothing in the formatting to differentiate between these. You'll just be reading and the next paragraph switches and you're just expected to be okay with that. It's jarring and it makes the book aesthetically ugly because there's no organization.

3. Tension is high, but nothing is being resolved

We spend pages and pages going over every little detail about these women and nothing ever gets resolved. Even little things. And because nothing is getting resolved, more things are just being added to make everyone more upset and no one communicates so it's all just Feels Bad Vibes and nothing interesting is happening except characters getting progressively madder at each other. Which sure, for a few "chapters" is fine, but 63% of the book is like that.

4. No one from the interviews are important
5. The three women are grandmothers but are written like women in their 30s

I wish I could have loved this book, but I just can't read another page. I don't care about any of these characters and why they're mad at each other. I want something to actually happen.

I made it about 26% of the way through and had to stop. Maybe I’ll try again when the edited version is published but there were too many typos and easy grammatical errors that were irritating. The sentence structure was stiff and lacked dialogue between characters.

Kalan Chapman Lloyd’s, The Sisters of Blue Mountain Beach is the tale of three sister-friends (none are blood sisters) who spend one final two-week adventure in a beach house riding out infidelity between one sister-friend and the other’s spouse, a cancer diagnosis, a disastrous divorce disguised inside a Ponzi scheme and the death of a cheating husband. Although the hurricane was mentioned throughout the book, the unrelatable event didn’t take place until the climax. Although I kept reading because my interest was initially piqued by the author’s unique choice of writing style, the individual chapter tales were disjointed and hard to follow. Each chapter was dedicated to a particular sister-friend, and/or an island acquaintance that had opinions about these three women. At one point I liked it because I could relate to sister-friends as sisters, when the first family of siblings in our lives fails us. But the sister-friends were hard to relate to, as jealousies, lies, shame and health issues pervaded the novel, giving the story an almost unbelievable feel which kept forcing me backwards to make sure I got each chapter right. The book was time-consuming to read, patchy and ill-paced, and I almost gave up in the mushy middle. Honestly the book read like numerous peoples’ diaries and only connected over the incessive meals they shared or places they shopped and ate, or the dislikes they seemed to have for one another. The style was just too fragmented for an easy, breezy beach read. The setting intrigued me right away because I love a good beach read, but the storyline, plot and style seemed crammed together like lobsters in a tank. Some of the details such as the hurricane needed more research and reality to ring true. It was hard to embrace any single one of the sister-friends or feel any empathy for them. I have lived through a few hurricanes and the way these sisters stuck to their guns and remained after the evacuation in the final chapters of the book, didn’t jive with any of my experiences. Although I would try another novel by Lloyd, the delivery style, and authorial voice simply didn’t resonate with me. But three stars because it kept me reading, hoping to find a cohesive story I could relate to that represented the intriguing cover art. I want to thank Net Galley for the copy, and I will read another book by this author out of sheer curiosity.

Thank you to Rebelle Press and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of 'The Sisters of Blue Mountain Beach' in exchange for my honest review.

The novel delves into the lives of three women whose friendship is likened to that of close-knit sisters. Each chapter explores their struggles while vacationing in one of their beach homes, intertwined with a mystery element. Although the premise held promise, I found myself grappling to connect with the story and struggled to immerse myself in the characters' experiences.

While this particular book may not have aligned with my personal preferences, I am thankful for the opportunity to explore the author's work. I appreciate the nuanced storytelling and would remain open to reading more from this author in the future. Thanks again for allowing me to read and review 'The Sisters of Blue Mountain Beach.'"