I've been on a reunion kick apparently because this is another book about a group of friends that reunite after years of being apart. 

Unlike the last book I reviewed, this one does not include a disappearance. However, this group of friends still have secrets that all revolve around a terrible night that changed their lives forever.

I have to say I fell into this group of friends and I truly felt like one of their group. Immediately I realized that things had happened in their past that pushed them apart, however once upon a time they were as close as friends can be - even as close as family. I jumped through this book, needed to know what tragedy could have happened and how it happened that drove this once close group apart.

I love the different personalities of this group and how each one not just brought strength and uniqueness but each one also brought a downfall to the individual person. And as I got further into the book I couldn't help but want happiness for each woman, the happiness they all once thought they were so likely to achieve.

This book is about the past and the future, and it's about how friendship can overcome even the darkest of times.

If you're struggling right now, this may be a book you'll want to read.

Thank you Net Galley and Harlequin for an early release of East Coast Girls. What a Wonderful book, a real female relationship friendship story. I loved the characters, I felt I was in the story with them. Very fast reading. Absolutely Loved it !

“𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘐 𝘉𝘦 𝘖𝘬𝘢𝘺?” ⁣
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This book was incredible. Beautifully written, heart breaking, and at times laugh out loud funny. 5 🌟 ⁣
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Four best friends since high school, with broken families who lean on each other as their “family,” experience a traumatic event one night that changes all of them drastically when they are 18 years old. Flash forward 12 years, they are now 30.⁣
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This story is about how this one night effected each woman independently and how much stress it has put on their friendships. Dark secrets have been kept to avoid reliving that night.⁣
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You grieve with them, laugh with them, and emphasize with them during this beautiful story. They are all dealing with their own inner demons. They see right through each other even 12 years later when they’ve all sort of grown apart. Can they get through this? Will they be okay? ⁣
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#bookstagram #books #friendships

Four friends who spent every summer on Montauk. Until that one night. The night that shattered everything, fractured lives and relationships. Maya, Blue, Renee, and Hannah all had less than ideal childhoods and that's what's drew them to each other, they formed their own family. They spend one last weekend at the beach house and old wounds and truths surface. There is a lot of emotion in this novel, almost too much. I couldn't bring myself to like Maya. She was flighty, irresponsible, and selfish. All in all East Coast Girls is a decent read. I love the cover.

Four childhood best friends, who had been more family than friends, take a trip back to the summer house where many of their happiest memories took place. Each one is dealing with her own individual crisis. With this trip down memory lane, the four grown women must finally talk about the tragic event from twelve years ago to mend their fractured friendships and address the impact the tragedy has had on their lives.

This book features very complex friendships that are presented in an authentic way. If you have a group of close, longtime friends, you will recognize the dynamics and nuances that the author writes about so well. I loved how the author describes these types of friends as “life’s greatest first responders, rescuing one another time and again from life’s little atrocities.”

Besides being a book about friendship, the author skillfully addresses the concepts of fear, regret, and forgiveness. It will have you considering the impact of fear and regret in your own life as well as how you deal with forgiveness.

Overall, East Coast Girls was an enjoyable, intriguing read. I would definitely recommend it; book clubs, in particular, will enjoy this story as the group could easily spend hours discussing it.

I read an eARC generously provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

When we meet Hannah, she’s stuck. She has an okay job as an advice columnist and spends her days caring for her high school boyfriend who has been in a semi-vegetative state for the past twelve years. Sounds fun, right?
While we don’t know what happened to Hannah’s boyfriend, but it’s clear that something traumatic happened, and that Hannah blames herself. It all very Dive From Clausen’s Pier-esce. So when her old friends, who she spent her summers with on Montauk growing up, decide to reunite for a weekend, Hannah reluctantly gives in.
Things have changed and the girls have grown into very different women. They can’t really go back, but there is something that stays the same when old friends get together. Spending the weekend together, memories are dug up, some good, some bad, and secrets are shared.
East Coast Girls is a solid novel dealing with friendship and what we carry with us from our past. I normally love these types of books. Give me some female friends, a beach, some secrets, maybe a hunk or two and I’m set.
This one took a little bit of time for me to get into. And it’s not quite straight female friendship, but also a little suspense, so I wasn’t sure exactly what I was reading for maybe the first fourth of the novel.
Still, it’s a great read for anyone who loved Summer Sisters, Maine, or even Dive From Clausen’s Pier. Thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin for an advanced e-galley in exchange for my honest review. This one is out May 26, 2020. Get your copy!

Try as I might, I just cannot get into the book. It has an interesting premise, but it just is not sucking me in like a book usually does.

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
You can preorder get your copy here https://www.amazon.com/East-Coast-Girls-Kerry-Kletter/dp/0778309495 . This book will be released on May 26, 2020.

Kerry Kletter, the author has also written The First Time She Drowned, published in 2017.
We begin this book in mid-July in Montauk at Blue’s nana’s beach house, an annual trip for the girls. The girls stop in a photobooth to take a picture. Maya, Blue, Renee and Hannah had drunk peach wine coolers that were purchased with their fake IDs. Hannah called her boyfriend, Henry, as she hung up, she daydreams about plans for the future with him. We are then fast-forwarded twelve years into the future with Hannah and Henry. Hannah receives a call from Maya and conferences Blue into the call. The girls hadn’t seen each other since Blue’s father’s funeral a few years ago. The three girls had gotten drunk in Brooklyn and almost missed the service. The last time the four girls were together was twelve years earlier when they all were in Montauk. The four girls had all gone their separate ways; Blue off to Vermont, Maya to New Jersey, Renee off to Duke and Hannah went to Community College, as she was unable to leave Henry behind and head to UCLA, like she really had wanted. Maya proposes a trip before they all turn 30, except Hannah has already turned the magical number. Blue mentions that they need to go sooner than later, as they are putting the house on the market. Hannah was hesitant, but she missed FUN, missed her old self, and missed her friends. Henry was in a long-term care facility in a wheelchair. Hannah tells Henry that she is headed to the beach without him to be with the girls for the weekend, despite her guilt. Blue is realizing that she really only has people around her because of her money, without it, she thinks she would be nothing and have no one. She then remembers back to when her own mom let her down, but her three friends were there to fill the void. Framily was what they referred to it as; Friends that filled in as family or were even better. The girls reminisce how they taught each other things that seemed basic to most, but complex to them.

This is a great, heartfelt novel about the friends reconnecting. We are taken on quite the roller coaster as we find out the events that lead to the wheelchair and the fight. I was happy with the ending and fully enjoyed this novel! I will be not only recommending this book to my friends, but I will be following this author to find out what is next!

Terrific book. Absolutely loved it. Compelling characters and story line. Kept me interested the entire time.

East Coast Girls is such a beautiful book. The writing is lyrical and the prose is poetic. It's a story of trauma, grief, and above all it's a love letter to friendship, the family that you choose.

East Coast Girls by author Kerry Kletter kept me turning the pages to discover what had happened to Henry! Hannah has been best friends with Maya, Blue, and Renee since school days. There was an event in their lives twelve years earlier which changed everything! After 'that night', Blue has not spoken to Renee. Hannah and Maya do not understand what happened between Blue and Renee. Maya decides it is time for a reunion and they should go back to Nana's cottage on the beach to rekindle their friendships. I won't post spoilers, but things do not go as Maya has imagined. Maya's personality is over-the-top and I wanted to shake her at times. Hannah is beset with uncertainties and fear of life. He worry for Henry and hope for his recovery has consumed her life. Blue has channeled her disappointments into her work life. She is successful, but lonely. Renee appears at the beach house and Blue can not accept her being there. The tension among the friends increases and the reunion is not what they had hoped it would become. East Coast Girls is is a story of friendships, lost dreams, and grasping for a new start, but it is overall very sad.
Publication Date: May 26, 2020
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

WOW. 5/5 Stars. I am so so happy i got sent this arc it was the book i was most excited to read in 2020 and it lived up to my hype for it. The author is such an amazing woman and such an amazing personality on twitter i was so excited to read her work for the first time and it was great.
It was about friends reuniting after along time on a short vacation and alot happened that i dont want to spoil but one part in the book made me emotional and i dont really ever get emotional with books but this book def brought that out in one of the chapters. The ending WOW was not expecting that at all. If you love books about friends reuniting and kindling old flames then this book is def up your alley. I cant wait to read more from this author in the future

The perfect beach read! This book centers around a group of women who went to high school together and reunite at the beach 12 yeas later. So fun!

Many thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

A great summer beach read following a group of girlfriends who reconnect twelve years after high school graduation to re live memories. Though as the story progresses you learn that each girl has their own secret that eventually comes out and bonds them even stronger. While at the beach house new memories arise regarding a tragic night that they all experienced and most had pushed aside.

Thank you #Netgalley for the advanced copy!

I didn't particularly like any of the characters. There was something about the first few chapters that just didn't work for me. To add to it, the format was not very convenient to scroll through and I ended up not finishing this book.

East Coast Girls is one of the most beautiful stories I have read in a long time.

It's the story of a lifelong friendship between Maya and Hannah and Blue and Renee. Four flawed friends whose common denominator is dysfunctional family life. They create a family to replace what they don't have in real life, but adulthood finds them drifting apart.

Can their friendship endure a night so horrific yet so well-written I found myself racing through it and then re-reading it again and again?

I highly recommend this book. Thanks to both Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me an early read.

A story of friendship and how one extraordinary event can change absolutely everything. Heart wrenching and beautifully written.

Heart touching story about 4 friends who have grown apart after a tragic event that happened 12 years ago. Thank you NetGalley for my copy!

I loved the concept of this book-4 friends, Montauk, a secret. It intrigued me just from he description. However, it was a really slow read for me. I kept with it because I wanted to know the secret. However, that didn't come until 60% and was kinda glazed over. I know they have to keep you guessing as to what the secret was, but it fell short for me. I did like the alternating points of view. It just fell flat for me.

Four young girls during an annual trip to Montauk face a future filled with brightness and dreams. Shortly after, when they return home, an horrific act changes their lives and no one involved will achieve her dream or feel the brightness again. Twelve years later the beach house is up for sale and they are offered one last reunion. Despite initial protest, the four accept the opportunity to re-live innocent, less challenging times. Kerry Kletter invites her readers on this weekend to witness the successes and failures of their relationships as we learn why they had grown so close when they were young and how they had shut down in the years after. Slowly, teasingly they each reveal what happened during that horrific event, what they experienced and how they reacted. At times irresponsible Maya, anxiety-ridden Hannah, over-achiever Blue and elusive Renee feel frustrated at the failure of this attempt to heal, but, drawing on their past loyalties, forge toward a resolution.