This is a story about BFFs and what can happen to their lives after one tragic night shatters their friendship. Maya, Hannah, Blue, and Renee were close childhood friends but after highschool, they became disconnected. For twelve years they have talked on the phone, met up in pairs once or twice, helped each other at times, but have not gotten together as the four friends promised years ago. This is the weekend. They get together for one last weekend at Blue's family's beach house in the Hamptons before it is sold. During this weekend, they will reveal secrets that they have held close for all those years, the secrets of that tragic night that fractured this once close friendship.

This story had me experiencing a myriad of emotions. I was not prepared for some of them and found myself sobbing at one point. This is not a story of angst, this is a realistic story of events that were realistic and at times relatable. Kerry Kletter writes with heart and emotion. These women are all dealing with the fallout of an event that changed all their lives forever. They were all flawed, hiding true feelings and stumbling through life. This is a story about women, their friendships, how they can hurt one another and how they can heal them as well. It is a well-written story with wonderfully developed characters that I grew to care about. I recommend this story, but it is one that I wished I had read in the summer with the sun shining to offset the tragic event and fallout that these women had to deal with.

I really struggled with this book for two main reasons: I could not accept that these women used to be best friends and the entire story line dealing with Henry. Oh how I wish it had been left out. The women don't seem to really know each other. How could they be so close if they were so oblivious to each other? Ms. Kletter does attempt to set up the foundation of the relationships but it doesn't seem to stick. Maya is incredibly dense and self-centered. Hannah is so focused on Henry that she has no life to the point of feeling guilty for going away for a weekend. Is the book seriously saying that in twelve years she has not had a vacation or get away or anything? And that no one, including these three supposed best friends stepped in to do anything about that? I enjoy a good flawed character, but these made me grind my teeth. I also didn't like how the historical timeline was disclosed. Between bouncing back and forth in time and between people, it felt incredibly dragged out.

East Coast Girls by Kerry Kletter is a light summer read that wants very badly to be deep.

I found myself rolling my eyes at the long, overly descriptive sentences and metaphors/symbolism laid out and then unnecessarily awkwardly explained in the next sentence. As well, the sense of time in the book was completely off with every single character (even minor love interests to the main characters) focused on who they were 12 years before to an unrealistic extent.

There were some sweet moments related to the complexities of female friendship, but overall it was a painful, albeit easy read. I most likely would have not finished if not for an ultimately overhyped plot reveal that I held out for and that didn’t arrive until way too late in the book.

Kerry Kletter is an obvious powerhouse voice and EAST COAST GIRLS was a fantastic book about lies and friendship, especially the complexities of female friendship among women with vastly different personalities. This was a page turner!

|#partner|Thank you to @_mira_books_ @harlequinbooks @netgalley & @kkletter for the free book! This book is available now.
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🌟BOOK REVIEW🌟
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▪️MY THOUGHTS
✔️This book takes you on a journey between friends through their secrets and lies. It’s everything I enjoy in books! Right from the beginning you realize there’s an event that happened that changes all these ladies lives. That left me curious throughout the book. I had a few guesses and although I wasn’t far off I still was surprised how it played out. The book also had me in tears! Which if you know me I love!! It was also told from each characters perspective which is just what you want when reading a book with this type of storyline. The book also touched upon many serious things like death, absent families, adultery and violence. Overall this was a well written story about friendships and how one decision can change everything.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This book wasn’t really my kind of book. It was ok, a bit slow moving and I have different feelings about each of the main characters. Just wasn’t for me.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

I'll preface this by saying I read and LOVED Kerry Kletter's first book a few years ago, and still think about it all the time 2+ years later. So as soon as I saw her name pop up on Netgalley, I immediately requested this one. I didn't enjoy this one as much-  it had such a different tone than her first book , so I think I was just expecting something completely  different than what it was, based on that.  East Coast Girls read more like Women's Fiction, which is so opposite of her previous book. I had a tough time connecting with these characters (and found one particularly unlikable), but the writing itself was beautiful and the story emotional.

A story about friendships and the need to move on and forgive.  The one aspect I disliked most was that the characters had not moved on past the one traumatic incident…though they cared and supported each other.  I enjoyed that the secrets were revealed as you read through the pages.

There are some heavy issues covered in the book.  As part of a group of college girlfriends that remain close 36 years after graduation, I could identify that each character came into the relationship with their own baggage.  So this book reminded me of the precious relationship I share with my girlfriends.

I do think the ending came about too quickly and should have been developed better to make it a more pleasurable read.
 
Thank you to NetGalley and MIRA for my advanced review copy.  All opinions and thoughts are my own.

Ladies and gentleman, I like to announce that Kerry Kletter is my new favourite author for contemporary fiction. I just loved and enjoyed my first book, "East Coast Girls", by her.

"East Coast Girls" is about four close friends - Hannah, Renee, Blue and Maya. Each of them had a sort of abused family relationships in the past but they share a strong bond of friendship which is their strength. Their friendship becomes complicated after a traumatic accident and they decide to renew it with their reunion after 12 years at the same place where they used to hike since they were 18 years of age.

A beautiful, lovable, emotional and poignant story which reminded me of my kinship with my childhood friends. A mystery element flows in parallel with the present-day narration effortlessly keeping the guessing game on.

All the main characters seem relatable and they are likeable. Be it the anxious Hannah, the humourous Maya, shutting down at times like Blue or running away like Renee, their characteristics are beautifully and brilliantly sketched by Kerry. Henry's character made me emotional and it will stick with me for a while.

East Coast Girls is one such book with so many beautiful and full of wisdom quotes that I kept going back to and highlighting them. It is a story of friendship, forgiveness and moving on with some dark incidents of life.

I highly recommended this book by Kerry Kletter.

Thank you Netgalley and the tagged published for sending me an advanced copy of this book.

I sort of figured out the twist in this one at the beginning of the book, but that didn't stop me from enjoying it. I liked most of the characters, but just wanted to slap one of them. I think we're meant to sympathize with her, but I just couldn't. I didn't want to put this one down, and just had to know what happened!

How much can one night stay with you? As four women take different paths in their 20s, they now approach 30 years of age and reunite over a weekend at the beach house they frequented in high school. What can happen?

Touching on caretaking, sense of duty, others' preconceptions, success, and letting go, East Coast Girls takes you on a journey through how each woman experienced a traumatic evening, and how they move forward.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book exploring the many faces of female friendships.  The issues that each woman is dealing with ran a little deeper than I expected from the "beach read"-type book I was expecting.  The fast pacing and flashback storytelling made for a quick and interesting read.

East Coast Girls is a story about woman’s relationships and their issues from the past to present.  Truthfully, all 4 woman seemed very immature and shallow.  
I have to say, I had a hard time finishing the book.  I just couldn’t connect with any of the characters and the idea of losing touch with each other for 12 years yet be best friends?  Not connecting with each other for 12 years?
Overall, I did not dislike the book.  I just had a hard time connecting to the characters and their story.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read and review this book for my honest review.

I deeply enjoyed this character-driven novel about friendship and the long-term effects of trauma.

One of my favorite things is how different each of the girls is, and how each time the POV shifts you can feel that difference in the writing.

I am always excited to find platonic love in stories and this book was so full of love it practically flowed from the pages.

East Coast Girls was well written and infinitely quotable, and I recommend it to older YA fans (the 20+ crowd), anyone looking to get into the New Adult genre, and fans of Women's Lit.

Nice story and the cover of the book is beautiful! Overall, I enjoyed this book. I thought that the pacing of the novel was a little slow and kind of wanted to skip forward sometimes. Maybe it's just me though. I'm still glad that I read it and would recommend to others that are looking for a beach read.

DNF @65%

I have been pushing myself through this book in the hopes that it will somehow turn around. The pacing is very slow and the characters are very mundane and hard to relate to. I have just arrived at the point in the story where the "mystery" of what happened to Henry and the group of friends is revealed. I am very surprised that it is so unbelievably unrealistic. I have to give up on this one, unfortunately.

Wow, I was not expecting to enjoy this novel as much as I did. I am sometimes a bit skeptical going into a novel by an unknown author, and I requested this one from Netgalley purely based on the cover. It looked like it would be a great summer beach read about friendship.

This book did deliver on that expectation, but it was so much more. Its about four women, best friends since childhood, who during the summer between high school and college have a terrifying ordeal happen to them, and it breaks the friendship. Now, twelve years later they all agree to meet back again at the seaside community they called home every summer of their childhood.

This story was fantastic! I didn't want to put it down, it revealed as you go through the story what happened on that long ago night, and secrets that were kept.

I can't recommend this enough. It was both fun and tragic, a highly enjoyable read.

Is it just me or is this the year of outstanding books?? I mean SO many AMAZING books have been published this year, definitely helping make 2020 a bit more bearable.

I was instantly blown away by Kerry Kletter's writing. It is so beautiful and lyrical and totally transported me into the lives of the four main characters. Maya's bubbly personality is infectious, Blue's ambition is admirable, and Hannah... what an honest and raw portrayal of mental health and how past events can have such an impact on who we are today. Later on, we finally meet Renee and while there are things to work out, you can still feel the palpable pull of connection these girls once had.

I found the pacing to be well done, which is something that has become quite important to me. If a book is moving too slow with not enough happening or being revealed, then I tend to get bored. But, Ms. Kletter does a wonderful job of pulling you in and giving you the perfect amount of information throughout the novel, eventually making everything clear.

Finally, I adored the love story between Hannah and Henry. I won't give anything away but I seriously was enthralled by them and Hannah's devotion to her high school sweetheart. The ending will have you in tears and finding yourself grateful for everything and everyone in your life. Cherish those around you. That's what I got from this book, a timeless reminder to forgive and to love.

East Coast Girls is a bittersweet yet celebratory story of friendship and life. Maya, Hannah, Blue and Renee are four high school best friends who are experiencing their best summer in Montauk until one tragic night that changes them all. 

Twelve years later, Maya tries to bring them back together in Montauk, hoping life can be as fun and worriless as it used to be, but that is far from what happens. 

I fell head over heels for this book from the writing stole to the complex characters. The author was able to make our four main characters come to life and feel so real. I felt like I was one of them. My favorite character was Blue.