This book tells the stories of three sisters; Maritzia, Claudia + Dulcina. Each of the sisters has a unique personality and faces relationship + personal challenges throughout. I would say it's a bit of a slow burn because most of the big secrets come out towards the end of the book, and in my opinion, they weren't given enough time to fully develop.

A decent book overall; good but not great.

I will be honest to admit I skimmed this one. There was nothing interesting for me to be interested in reading about in his book. The premise was great, the story of three sisters, first-generation Mexican-American women growing up in California. However I didn't like any of the characters; the lack of nuance, intersectionality, thought? was crazy. And don't get me started on the fatphobia. Theres nothing more I want to say concerning the book.

Thank you (?) Netgalley and Alcove Press for the review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was really disappointed with this book. I wasnt expecting the heavy topics in it. Dysfunctional family/sisters that have reunited for Maritza's wedding. Sadly, this book for me, was a struggle to get through.

Please check the trigger warnings before reading.

-Fat phobia, Abortion, sexual abuse and more.


Thank you NetGalley and publishers for this ebook for an honest review.

I thought this was going to be a fun read based off how colourful the cover is but I was completely off in this one. The story dealt with a lot of heavy topics but there was a big part of the story that turned me off!

This story follows three sisters who could not be more different from one another. There is Dulcina who is a recovering addict and trying to put her life back together. Claudia, whose family heavily depends on her but she is emotionally unavailable and has her own demons to tackle. Then there is Maritza, who is preparing to get married for the second time and is having second thoughts about it all. As the sisters reunite for Maritza’s upcoming wedding, they can’t ignore their family ties despite their differences.

Despite each sister having a colourful backstory, I feel the sisters’ character were a little flat for me to be invested in them. There were a lot of underlying issues that each sister go through but it was just skimmed through the surface? If it was covered a bit more, it would have given each character more depth.

Maritza was the most unlikeable sister out of all three. She is almost thirty but yet she behaves like a child and constantly expecting her sisters to pick up after her mess. I also hated the fact that she is always fat-shaming people around her like it’s a normal thing to do and no one even stood up to her for that? That is not okay!

The sisters feel emotionally distanced from each other which makes it hard to empathize with them but there is a reason for this. Their mom was never around and that affected their growth emotionally and I can understand why they are so detached. There was also an unspoken trauma that happened to the sisters which kind of showed me how much they are still struggling with it. Despite that, I wished there were more depth and conversations around these events.

I enjoyed this but the story can definitely be developed more. Thank you Netgalley and Alcove Press for the arc.

one too many cliches in this book...like other readers i struggled with the mcs who strayed too close to being harmful stereotypes.

🌟🌟💫

So the author seems to be 'fat' obsessed / anorexic.. the number of times she goes on and on. It was driving me loco.

I also felt that sadly the characters were like carbon copies of the Kardashians but Latina version.

I did not care for any of them most of the time, then when I did, they started becoming all self-entitled and quite bratty/spoilt really.

Tad disappointed as I really wanted to give this culture drama type book a chance.

This one was not for me and I almost DNFed because I was so frustrated by one particular perspective.

What this book is about: Three adult sisters are brought together for the youngest's wedding. We see their lives and roles as sisters, daughters, and just who they are on their own through alternating POVs.

Why this book did not work for me:
wow I have a lot more to say than I realized lol but to summarize, I think the characters were too flat for me to be invested in what was going on and there were a lot of things that happened to the characters but were never discussed, it felt super passive?

- Maritza, the youngest sister and the bride-to-be, was a very difficult person to read from. She was almost 30 years old and was so immature in the way she treated her fiance (constantly trying to "teach him a lesson" when she didn't like that he was late to reply). She was also so fatphobic (constantly talking about how fat and ugly her mother and sister in laws are) and her fatphobia was never checked so we just had to deal with and read from her bratty and fatphobic perspective... I actually had the most emotion when reading from her perspective because of how much I actively HATED reading from her POV. Her character trait was literally just being an almost 30-year-old brat.
- The other two sisters were a little bit more rounded but still, felt pretty flat.
- At the very end of the book, it is alluded that something super terrible happened to the girls when they were kids (I don't want to say in case it's considered a spoiler but I will include it at the bottom). I am totally ok with these types of topics in the books I am reading and I think there are very important conversations to be had about these experiences and how they affect people for the rest of their lives. However, because it was mentioned in the last 90% of the book, there was no discussion. This is not an experience I had so I don't want to police whether there is a right or wrong way to bring it up but it also felt like... what was the point of bringing it up at the very end of the book? I don't think it is something that needs to be the main focus of the story or that it needs to be discussed extensively but something about how it was brought up at the very end did not sit right with me. Was this supposed to explain why the sisters act the way they do? Was it just there to say: oh by the way this was something from their past and then the end?
- The daughters also talked about how their mom was a bad mom because she was not there how she should have been. From my understanding, the mom had chronic migraines, which I 100% understand can affect how a child understands their mother and that having a chronic condition affects relationships, but there has to be more nuance especially if they are all adults??? This was another thing that just annoyed me and goes with the flatness I felt in general like there was no discussion on how difficult it could be for a mother to have a chronic condition and how difficult it is as a child, it was just "mom was never there :( "
- There are so many other events that should be "major events" but they just passively happen and there is no depth to it. Was the point of this book to just show that these things happen? But like, even in real life, there are emotional responses, and I felt nothing.



CW: CSA. It is not written but very much hinted that the store owner did something (idk what exactly) to the oldest daughter and possibly the younger two as well.
abortion
cheating
substance abuse

DNF - This wasn't for me. I think the way the subject matter was presented alongside the tropes lessened my ability/desire/to want to proceed & so I stopped because life is too short.

This is another one of those books that even after I finished it, I just didn’t really get. Three sisters convene for The youngest’s wedding and the entire book is alternating chapters with each of their stories. I just didn’t really get any of their motives or agendas. I didn’t understand why Claudia perpetually pushed Ethan away. I didn’t understand The bride’s deception as revenge when there were so many other ways to get back at her fiancé. I got what happened to Dooley but considered her very murky.

Three sisters in a very dysfunctional family reunite in this story told by all of them for the wedding of Maritza, who is perhaps the most unlikeable of the bunch. She's not really that committed to her fiance but she's bound and determined to have the perfect wedding. Her sister Dooley is newly sober and Claudia is meant to be perfect but she's not. All of them live with the aftermath of their alcoholic father. Their mother doesn't cope with things well, suffering migraines and arthritis. It's about sisterhood and homecoming and trying to love yourself. It's not a light story but there are some scenes that might make you smile. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. An interesting read.

⚜️My Summary

A cool, hometown feel read, about a sister dynamic and how they cope with being so different while trying to support each other. For some reason I found the whatever Energy from their mom hilarious. An easy book to connect to. If you have multiple sisters or siblings you will definitley be able to relate.

This is a story of three sisters--Claudia, Dulcia and Maritza who they all have different personalities to each other. Claudia has a successful career with a hot and famous boyfriend named Ethan, Dulcia is being sover and Maritza is preparing for the wedding to Augustino.

Let's just start with the cover--the cover in this book is really pretty which actually made me want to read this book! But the story is also good. The story is told from the three sister's points of view so we know what each of these three sisters are going through in their lives. Behind each of these sisters' story is their mother who seemed to be the matriarch. The author does a good job of describing the complex relationship between the children and the parents and this story as a whole is very realistic. I actually enjoyed reading this story as it was interesting to read about the relationship between the three sisters and how their characters vary with each other. Overall this story worth four stars.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

A huge trigger warning: fatphobia

This book wasn't what I expected. I wanted more from this author and more from these characters. The fact that one of them is extremely fatphobic put me on my nerves. I couldn't take it.

If you are looking for a story with likable characters, this one isn't it. Maritzia is openly and blatantly fatphobic, but I took that as a character trait which makes her unlikable more than anything else.

I enjoyed the surprise ending, it did not really come out of the blue so it fit nicely with the rest of the book.

I was hesitant to read this when I saw the reviews but I thought I would give it a chance since, based on the description, this is the type of novel I would enjoy.
I was able to finish it and it had a good pace, however I didn't like that chapters would cut off scenes early. I understood that the author was leaving the rest to our imagination but the repetitiveness of this format was annoying when I was interested in what would happen next in a scene.
None of the sisters were particularly likeable, especially not Maritza, and I didn't think there was much character development or evidence that the characters would develop or change in the novel.

I struggled to get into this book. There was no hook early on, and then I didn't connect with any of the characters.

i don't know what to think about this book. at times, i was thinking of giving this book 3 stars but then i realised that it didn't live up to my expectations (don't want to spoil anything) so i decided to give it 2 stars. overall it might be a good read, it just wasn't a book for me.

"I have my sisters and my sisters have me as proof of this." The Neapolitan Sisters by Margo Candela

📚REVIEW📚

This story follows 3 very dysfunctional sisters from Los Angeles. Dulcina, Claudia and Mauritza. Dulcina the drifter, Claudia the put together control freak and my least favorite Mauritza the prima Donna I-get-what-I-want, stuck up princess. Dooley is back home for her sisters' wedding but also to find closure or is it revenge, Claudia needs to learn that she can't control everything especially her life and Mauritza is in for a shock as she won't always get what she wants.

I'm at a solid 3.5 rating as the ending seemed rushed, Mauritza's character just annoyed the hell out of me as well. Trump card is when Claudia tells their Mama exactly what she doesn't want to hear ( I bet she got one of her migraines again). I loved Claudia's character especially her snarky remarks. I partially enjoyed this book as it touched on the fact that no one and no family is ever perfect.

Trigger warning: Sex, violence/abuse, sexual abuse, vulgar language

⭐Rating⭐
3.5/5

Huge thanks to @alcovepress, @margocandela and @netgalley for this ARC. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Dealing with family is never easy, there are too many personalities and egos to take into account. For the three Neapolitan sisters their lives could not be more different, and their lives have all gone separate ways until they have to come back to their East L.A home and be together. As they struggle with old roles and expectations pushing against new lives and personal growth they are forced to develop new relationships with each other and find a way to be sisters. As an only child I’m always really fascinated in the dynamics of sibling relationships and how despite maybe just liking each other, you’re ultimately family and have to like each other. This book does a great job of exploring that.

I really enjoyed this book. I appreciated the dual POVs and I love coming of age stories and stories about sisters. This is a very enjoyable book, I'm looking forward to more books by this author.