This was a really good story that I read in one sitting. It centers around Maya, Hannah, Blue, and Renee, who were close childhood friends but have become disconnected from each other over the ensuing 12 years after finishing high school, and after an event that changed the course of their lives. They reconvene for a last weekend at Blue's family's beach house in the Hamptons before it is sold, and reveal some of the secrets that had fractured their friendship over the years.

Each character was very different but the connections between them were believable. They were alternately funny, strong, vulnerable, and frustrating in a way that felt authentic. Though flawed, I could easily empathize with them, and felt that the author did a great job of really making the reader "know" them.. They dynamics between the characters, as well as the less prominent characters in the book, felt real. The story itself was fast-paced and kept me reading as the secrets unfolded.

I have only a couple minor nits with this book. One is around how Hannah was described as having a crippling germ phobia in the beginning of the book, but as the story continued, she is at restaurants, the beach, on a train, on a boat, and at a carnival with no real symptoms of this terrible phobia other than a need to take xanax. This felt unrealistic to me based on how she behaved at the beginning of the book. I assume the author was trying to portray the gravity of Hannah's situation from the get-go, but think that it came on too strong and left me disconcerted by Hannah's actions over the rest of the book. My other (even smaller) nit was that there was never any allusion to how Blue got her name, which I think we can all agree, is a very unique name. I wanted to know what the story was behind it but the book never goes there.

I would definitely recommend this book- a fast read with just the right amount of humor and pain that endears you to these unique characters.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Harlequin and Net Galley for an e-ARC for this title in exchange for my honest review. This was a title that caught my interest from page one. Four friends, all different personalities and lives, but pulled to the place they all loved as young women. Trying to "recreate" those times, but with a shattering event that altered the course of the lives of each of them is not an easy task. Sometimes you have to face your fears, face those you are most worried about losing and turn it into something new. The characters were interesting and complex. I highly recommend East Coast Girls.

‪Oh wow. No one writes as beautifully as Kerry Kletter does. I repeatedly went back & reread many lines (& also read them to coworkers) because EAST COAST GIRLS is gorgeous. & powerful, & heartbreaking & funny & so very compelling. (less)

Four women who grew up together were as close as friends can be.Then something occurs aa trauma that tears them apart years go by now approaching thirty they had to Montauk to see if they can reconnect after all this time.Emotionally moving a story that drew me in characters that come alive.#netgalley#harlequinbooks

This story revolves around 4 childhood friends who played together in Montauk, and then grew up and apart. They all come back to Montauk for a reunion and try to work out their issues.

East Coast Girls is about 4 women connected by a trauma from their past. As they approach their thirtieth birthdays, they manage to put time, distance, and hurt to the side for one last trip to their old summer spot in Montauk. Eventually, they must face the tension between them and try to heal from the trauma leftover from so many years before.

I really enjoyed the plot of this book. It's heartwarming and makes you appreciate friendships that last a lifetime. However, I could not get past my initial annoyance with Maya's character. She was wildly immature and unrealistic for a 30 year old woman. The comments and jokes she made were unoriginal and forced. The plot was incredibly moving, but the ending was overall very sad.

I love anything that is set at the beach so this has that going for it to start. Felt like it took a little longer than I would have liked to get to the reveal of what the big horrible thing from the past was but overall a nice easy read.

Maya, Blue, Hannah and Renee found solace in each other as kids, escaping their own far from perfect family lives when they met every summer on the beach at Montauk. But one night the summer after they graduate from high school changes everything. Twelve years later, the women barely speak, but they agree to get together for one last time, on their beloved beach, hoping to close wounds left open for over a decade. This isn’t a thriller, more a novel about the bonds that women form and how they heal each other