5 stars plus. Nancy Thayer's Surfside Sisters is a wonderful work of contemporary fiction. Lara and Isabelle live in Nantucket and want to be writers when they grow up. There are obstacles to overcome and sometimes even jealousy gets in the way of their friendship and careers. Will their friendship stand the test of time? Enjoyable read just in time for summer. I would definitely recommend it.

A fun, light summer read - lucky enough to kick off some summer reading with an advanced copy of this one! Keely and Isabelle were the best of friends growing up on Nantucket, both with dreams of being writers. Keely the stereotypical poor girl, Isabelle the rich. You had to feel for Keely, dealing with Isabelle’s insecurities and demands, meanwhile letting her own wants and dreams pause. You also didn’t want Keely to give in to Isabelle and stand up for herself. In the end, the crux of the story was similar to others - jealousy among women but friendship overcomes that. Nicely done and an easy read.

I have read many of Nancy’s books and I have to say that I felt like this one was flatter and more forced than her others. I really did enjoy the contrast in setting between Nantucket and NYC and loved the descriptions of each. It’s the characters I couldn’t quite get a grip on, mostly Isabelle and the choices she made to cut Keely out of her life. This didn’t seem quite believable to me. I would rather have heard the story of their friendship told from both of their points of view, alternating. Also, a lot of the writing felt a bit stilted and there was way too much narration instead of action and dialogue. However I was intrigued enough to read all the way to the end.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

SOME SPOILERS INCLUDED I loved this book set in Nantucket. Keely is a middle class girl who is best friends with Isabelle, who is very rich and spoiled. Both dream of being writers. Keely's dreams face serious obstacles, but she doesn't blanch in the face of opposition. The girls' friendship is also facing obstacles due to boys and money and distance. I loved Keely's character but I never was 100% on board with Isabelle who always seemed blissfully unaware of how entitled she was, even at the end of the book. She was not a good friend.

A great and easy beach read that will have you drawn in. I love a book that deals with how and why relationships may change over time and the way we always crave the comfort of those we grew up with. If you are looking for something to read while you are at the beach or a book that made you wish you were at the beach, pick this one up!

Nancy Thayer does not dissapoint. I couldn't put this book down! I love the characters and how their love for Nantucket connects them all. It's definitely a full circle book about life, love, friendship and following your dreams

Nancy Thayer doesn't disappoint. This book is about two best friends. It wobbles a little and we are wondering if it's a love story because Isabelle isn't always in the picture. As readers we find Isabelle to be spoiled and not very nice. Her friend, Keely always seem to have hope because the richness of their childhood.
You'll like reading about writing and publishing books. You will love Nantucket too

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I am always such a fan of a new Thayer novel. Her newest novel always proves to find itself inside of my peach or pool bag. I was so excited to receive this novel! I really thought the topic was fun and interesting. Sadly, though, I found myself extremely bored while reading Surfside Sisters. I felt it was often too "wordy" and jumped around on topics a lot. I didn't find either main character especially likable or interesting. I found myself rather annoyed at Keely for some of the decisions she made regarding her love interests. I was annoyed at Isabelle for being too stereotypical and predictable. All in all, I love Ms. Thayer's idea. This novel, however, was just not my favorite.

Surfside Sisters is the perfect summer beach read. Keely and Isabelle are best friends that grew up on Nantucket and dreamed of being writers. Keely always envied Isabelle's perfect life with her wealthy parents, large house and gorgeous older brother Sebastian. As long as Keely can remember, she has been in love with Sebastian. As the girls grow up their lives become very different and their friendship struggles.
This is a great novel about sisterhood and friendship and the seaside village of Nantucket.
Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book for review.

NOTE: I received a free advance reader's copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Once again, Nancy Thayer takes us to Nantucket and makes you wish you lived in this magical island community. The book begins with a prologue, showing successful novelist Keely back in her NYC apartment after a monthlong book tour - happy professionally but lonely personally. Then we travel back in time and find Keely growing up with her rich girl best friend Isabelle and her secret crush Sebastian who - of course - happens to be Isabelle's older brother. Both friends harbor dreams of being published writers one day.

As a wannabe writer myself, I loved the little insights into the process that Thayer provides. Aside from that, the story takes enough twists and turns that I didn't know exactly how things would end up between the friends and between the various romantic interests of both girls. Usually I need to really like the main characters to like a book but in this case, even though I had issues with all 4 main characters, I still found myself not wanting to put the book down and I was done with it within 24 hours. I also don't think the prologue necessarily added that much to the story, or perhaps there should have been a more obvious connection/throwback to it in the main part of the book. Regardless, if you like books about childhood friendships, first loves or just easy reads for a summer day, this would be a decent choice.

After reading this novel, without putting it down for a minute, the word that comes to mind is CHARMING! I love delicious summer reads and this one is absolutely yummy. The story takes place on Nantucket, perfect setting, with Keely and Isabelle best friends, rivals and sometimes “sisters” vowing to become writers.

Keely finds success in her career, while Isabelle seems to be the one who had always had everything else. Their relationship is not without bumps, but they never lose their bond.

The characters are not only interesting, but Thayer has provided a wide range of roles for the characters, including sharing different kinds of love, as well as responsibility for aging parents. I suspect many readers will relate to the changing roles from child, to adult to caregiver

There’s lots to discuss, great for women’s book groups! Thanks Netgalley for such a lovely read!

Nancy does it once again! I read her books every summer as a royal treat to myself. She always fascinated me The the setting of Nantucket and it’s pristine beaches. I read this quite fast and it left me wanting more and more.

Keeley was real in finding her voice both in her writing and herself. However, she struggled with significant loss but chose to not let that deter her from her goals. Therefore, she grew in her realization what is real and what is perceived and in doing so, found true love.

Enjoyed this book and would recommend to readers who want a good love story, set on romantic Nantucket Island and New York City, filled with contentious female friendships, betrayal, family drama and a good dose of sweetness.

This was so different then other Nancy Thayer books. I liked it but it was not what I expected. This is a little heavier than her normal summer reads. I would recommend this to a friend but not for the typical summer reading.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing me an ARC of "Surfside Sisters" by Nancy Thayer in exchange for an honest review.

First things first, this was such an easy, delightful read. I really appreciated the fact that Thayer delved into the friendship between Keely and Isabelle and really took the time to give the readers a look into what their lives were like as kids and young adults instead of just throwing us into their worlds as adults. I found Keely to be strong, yet vulnerable. I rooted alongside her, but also could see the flaws and insecurities in her.

I was also interested in Isabelle. What made this girl/woman click? I think Thayer could easily write a book from her point of view as well that I would be equally excited to read.

While this book led both women (Keely and Isabelle) to find love, the real story for me was their friendship. I think that while love trumps all, a true meaningful friendship is also like none other.

This was my first book by Nancy Thayer and I loved it. I could not put the book down and I finished it in a day. I loved how the book started out in not quite present day, but then went into past and introduced us to Keely and the Maxwell family and her relationship with all the Maxwell's. I rooted for Keely and Isabelle's friendship in rocky times and wished that they could just see past minor selfish things not to ruin the friendship. This book had such relatable elements to it and I am so glad that I was able to read this ARC. I can not wait to read more books by Nancy

I will also be reviewing this book on Amazon when it is released.

I'm a big Nancy Thayer fan and Surfside Sisters was a great summer read and perfect for the beach vacation or just wishing you were spending the summer on Nantucket!

The beginning took me a little to get drawn into the character's and I didn't love the high school Keeley & Isabella at times and time seemed to quickly jump ahead at points, but overall a great book about how friendships change as we get older, the power of your childhood dreams and the idea of home.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

A great beach read featuring Nantucket, a place I love. But also more than just another typical beach read- with more plot lines, characters and locations which added interest.
I loved several of the characters and found it hard to put the book down at times! Some of the characters were more developed or believable than others, but part of the author's skill is in developing multiple significant characters, not just one.
Because the story takes place over many years, there were some sections where it didn't go into a lot of detail or wrapped up a story line rather quickly. Understandable given the time span, but some areas left me wanting more.
This was my first Nancy Thayer book, and I'm excited to read more of her work. Fans of Elin Hilderbrand will love this one.

Thank you to netgalley for an advanced copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this book and really wanted to "love" it but there were a couple of aspects of the structure of the story that prevented me from giving this a rave review. The book focuses on the friendship between Keely and Isabelle, two young woman who grew up together and also grew apart together. Both have dreamed about becoming writers when they grew up. Where Keely grew up in a middle class home, Isabelle grew up in an affluent family who traveled often. Keely has been infatuated with Isabelle's brother Sebastian for as long as she can remember. I understood the puppy love that Keely felt for Sebastian but had a difficult time understanding her continued attraction to him as an adult. Sebastian's character was never truly fleshed out and he seemed to pop in and out of the story without us ever getting a clear picture of his thoughts and intentions. There was very little development of Keely and Sebastian's relationship at an adult level so I wasn't very vested in whether they eventually would get together. I think that the story would have been much stronger romantically if Keely and Sebastian had some basis for an adult relationship beyond unrequited childhood emotions. As the story progresses, Isabelle seems to grow more selfish and vengeful. Some of her actions are unforgivable. I feel that the story was meant to show how these two women could find places in each-other's lives as adults as well as mutual forgiveness. However, the character of Isabelle never seemed to grow as a person and even at the end seemed rather selfish. I couldn't root for their friendship because I didn't feel that Isabelle was a person I would want to be friends with. Although the book was enjoyable, it could have been much deeper with some additional character development.