I loved Blue Sisters so much! I found myself sobbing, laughing, angry, and all the emotions in between. Coco Mellors is a master at writing characters that are relatable along with writing books that make you forget you’re reading. This book discusses heavy topics such as grief, substance abuse, complex relationships, and more. I highly recommend this book! One of my favorites of the year! Thank you to the publisher for this e-ARC!

"Blue Sisters" tells the story of—you guessed it—the four sisters of the Blue family still struggling to pick up the pieces a year after their youngest sister died. Avery, a self-destructive lawyer struggling to keep all loose ends within her grasp, reaches out to Lucky, a possibly more if not equally self-destructive yet carefree model trying to figure out her life, and Bonnie, a sweet and introverted former champion boxer, on the anniversary of Nicky’s death. This kickstarts the timespan of the novel as the sisters start to face their new reality, their tumultuous upbringing, and ultimately the bond and resilience of sisterhood.

This was such a unique and vivid story in the sense that we really only see these characters in this specific moment in time. Through recollections and conversations, we learn about their alcoholic father and absentee mother and the way each sister fulfilled a specific role in the family dynamic–roles that proved difficult to shed into adulthood. The focus is on the void Nicky’s death left in the sisters’ lives while seemingly intentionally not going into great detail into Nicky’s story and how she died. So often in novels like these, an unexpected death is the impetus for the main character’s actions, and while that is essentially the case here, it feels like a much more understated reason. The family already had many issues; each sister had her own internal struggle well before Nicky died and yet they still didn't face any of them until a year after her death.

I really enjoyed the pacing of the novel and the varying perspectives. I wish we had more insight into their parents and how they interacted as adults, but the stories of their upbringing reveal enough for the reader to put the pieces together. I felt as though I knew this family and was able to understand and experience their resilience as an outsider. Super compelling read that I’d recommend fully immersing yourself in!

Of course, Mellors has a beautiful writing style that I have felt is unique since I discovered her debut. She never fails to paint a scene or describe something with a flourish that allows the readers to truly be immersed in her world.

But despite that, this novel felt so flat and did not go in the direction I had hoped. It didn’t intrigue me initially because the sisters almost felt too cliche (especially lucky), but I pushed through in hopes that the story would soon revolve around their grief. When it happened, it did not feel like there was much strength to it. I know it is difficult to write about four different people and give them depth and personality, as well as write them into complicated relationships and dealing with overwhelming grief. Still, Nicky wasn’t as focused as I had expected for most of the book. It felt like it was more about their habits and relationships with side characters, which, for the most part, felt unnecessary sometimes.

I just thought it was so boring, and it didn’t have the emotional kick to it that I suppose Mellors wanted. As a sister, I really wanted to love this and relate to it. There were certain parts that I found true and relatable, especially when all three had that large argument near the end. Overall, the writing itself was wonderful, as always, but sadly, it was not good enough to carry the story.

Again, this disappoints me so much because I wanted to love it, and the fact that I didn't breaks my heart.

I was beyond excited to receive Blue Sisters as my first ever eARC, as it has not yet been released in the U.S.

I read Blue Sisters directly after reading Coco Mellors other novel, Cleopatra and Frankenstein. I love them both for different reasons.
While Blue Sisters may not have the same grit and bite that Cleo and Frank has, Mellors shows a continuous talent for writing books that feel like they’re made to be adapted into film.

Blue Sisters follows sisters Avery, Bonnie, and Lucky as they come up on the one-year anniversary of their sister Nicky’s death. We go through their childhood, the various ways in which they have been coping with their loss, and their journey of learning how to move on.

This book definitely has its slower chapters, and it is not going to be for anyone who prefers plot-heavy books. However, there is a lot of character development, and I did not struggle to like these characters through their flaws. They’re very human. Those who could not get past the unlikeable qualities of the characters in Cleo and Frank may have an easier time with this one.

As someone who grew up with a sister as their only sibling, Blue Sisters had many parts that tugged on my heartstrings and left me feeling emotional. I’m not sure if someone without siblings would feel the same connection to this book, but that is not its only major theme. It also deals with addiction (something Mellors consistently seems to excel in writing about), grief, generational mental illness, forgiveness, and recovery.

Blue Sisters is a gorgeously heartbreaking story with a hopeful ending, and I’m looking forward to seeing Coco Mellors grow as an author. I’m always happy to see more writers touching on the complexities of sibling (and especially sisterly) love.

alright kids, i finished this book at 9pm and i have a strict 9:30pm bedtime so let’s hope this review is even a little cohesive.

as someone with two older siblings, i grew up fascinated by my friends who were only children. the idea of not being tethered to somebody in that way—to not have somebody that knows your parents exactly the way you do, for better or for worse—seems so unreal. it’s difficult to describe the sibling experience to people who’ve never had it. but i think this book would be a pretty damn good piece of media if you’d like to find out.

i love books about family dynamics. i love books about siblings. i love books about how grief shifts family dynamics (as depressing as that sounds). this novel follows three sisters after their sister dies suddenly. we get to see how each sister copes (or doesn’t) with the loss. mellors spends a lot of time on each of these characters; their family history is reflected upon and we as readers can see how each of their childhoods directly tie into who they become. each sister is so well-rounded with distinct flaws and struggles.

i know one of the biggest parts of their upbringing was the awful combination of an alcoholic father and an emotionally checked-out mother, but i wish there was a little more focus on the parents. little anecdotes were sprinkled here and there but i felt like i didn’t truly understand their characters until nearing the end. and even then it was just the mother i felt was a real, tangible person.

tl;dr: a book about sisters and grief with some gay shit sprinkled in? there is no universe where i don’t love this book

(thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc!)

The chapters are very long. The sex scenes are too graphic. The characters are stereotypical and not very likeable. The best part of the book is when the 3 sisters are all together interacting in NYC, especially their fights. I don't feel comfortable recommending this book. Not even to my own sister.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an e-arc. This book made me wish both of my sisters read books. Because this book was genius, I never read Coco Mellors other book but after finishing this book I immediately ordered it. This story was so good. This book is a perfect example of multi-pov done right. It was so lovely getting to know each of the sisters individually.

Anything by Coco Mellors is a 5 star for me, but this one is definitely my favorite. I absolutely love her writing. Her characters always feel so real and flawed and interesting to read about. I loved this story, it was both heartbreaking and heartwarming. Another 5 star book!

Blue Sisters was the book I didn't know I needed in my life. This story tells about the aftermath when losing a loved one. The grief it causes families when trying to live their new normal and the people around them trying to help them. I could not put this book down and will be recommending it to all that will listen. I cant wait for more Coco Mellors books in the future.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for this ARC. I absolutely loved Blue Sisters and it’s one of the best books I have read this year. The raw emotions evoked by this book were so gripping and palpable, I was hooked from the moment I started. Despite the heartbreaking circumstances, it was a delight to step into the worlds of each Blue sister. The pacing of the novel felt perfect, and I liked that it wasn’t predictable. I appreciated the depth we got of each sister’s inner battle, and how eventually they were able to come together in a way that felt genuine. I am sad to part with this book and excited for more of Coco Mellor’s work.

This book follows the Blue Sisters who are all at very different stages of their life but all have this one thing in common: they have been spiraling since the death of one of their sisters the previous year. Lucky, the youngest, is a model living in Paris who can't see to give up the party life with its drinking and drugs. Bonnie, the second eldest, runs away from the life she's built for herself, forsaking her status as a world-class boxer and moving across the U.S. where she finds herself as a bouncer at a nightclub. Avery, the oldest, is a successful lawyer living in her dream house in England with her wife, Chita, but finds herself living this almost double life as she tries to cope with her grief. A year later, when their mother says it's time to sell Nicky's apartment, the three sisters are forced back together where they must confront their grief, past choices, and mistakes, and decide who they want to be moving forward.

The novel explores the themes of grief, addiction, and identity, but in a way that feels cliché and lacks depth in certain cases. Mellors is a decent writer, but her disregard for "show don't tell" took me out of the story at times. I failed to connect with these characters in the way that I wanted to. The pacing was also off and the story felt like a repetitive cycle of self-destruction, and honestly did not feel raw and real though it had such potential. Overall, this book sits somewhere in the middle for me; I didn't love it but didn't hate it.

Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors was an emotional and hopeful family drama about sisters navigating life through grief and trauma. I love Coco Mellors’ writing style – I was hooked into the lives of the Blue sisters from the very first chapter. I thoroughly enjoyed Mellors’ debut novel, Cleopatra and Frankenstein, but I loved Blue Sisters even more. I highly recommend everyone picks up this story!

When I got approved for this on NetGalley, I immediately went to read the prologue just to get a taste of the writing. I fully intended on waiting to read and review it closer to its release date, but I couldn’t put it down. I loved this SO much.

This is one of those books where, when I was done, I missed the characters and wished I could spend more time with them. The sisters are so full of life and feel incredibly real. They’re flawed but interesting people with vastly different lives from one another. I loved that while this is a story about these three sisters grieving the recent loss of their fourth, and we see how that has shaped their relationships to one another, we also spend a lot of time with them individually and learn their deepest, darkest secrets. Things that they try as hard as they can to keep from one another.

Their grief felt so real and raw and I cried a number of times throughout this. It’s not all sad, though. The sisters’ find ways to heal, both together and alone, and I admired their strength. I think a major part of this story is learning how to let others in and understand that you don’t have to suffer through everything alone, that leaning on someone else doesn’t make you weak.

The writing is absolutely gorgeous. I don’t think I’ve annotated a book as much as I did this one. I swear I was highlighting sentences (sometimes entire sections) every few pages. Mellors’ descriptions of even the most mundane things left me in awe at times. I wish I could see the world the way she seems to and turn the ordinary into something beautiful. There were many moments where I would pause to fully absorb a particularly well written line or detail and then go back to reread it again.

I cannot wait to buy a hard copy of this, add my annotations, and add it to my shelves. I might even buy multiple editions for the different covers because I love both the UK and US covers. When I’m buying multiple copies of the same book (that I read for free!), that’s how you know I really, truly loved a book.

"Blue Sisters" is a beautifully written story about three estranged sisters who return to their family home in New York after their beloved sister’s death. As they grapple with their grief and personal addictions, they also face the challenge of their parents wanting to sell their childhood home.

Character driven stories are hands down one of my favorite types of stories to read so I was instantly drawn to this book. I just loved being able to see all three sisters point of view, and how they chose to deal with their grief. As the oldest of 4 this definitely hit close to home, I felt like I saw parts of myself in this book. This book depicted grief and sisterhood so well. I definitely recommend reading if you enjoy literary fiction and family relationships in books!

Shout out to NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

I must admit I approached this novel with a bit of hesitation … I have one brother and no sisters. How much can I appreciate and understand a novel about four sisters? Quite a bit, it seems.

Avery is a recovering addict and high-powered lawyer in London. Bonnie was a boxer, now working as a bouncer in LA. Lucky is a model in Paris who parties herself into quite depraved oblivion on a regular basis. And Nicky … the sister who has died.

It is a most excellent novel that deals with the complexities of families, relationships, and addiction. There is joy and sadness; there are struggles and, if few outright victories, at least some openings that show promise.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. 4.5 stars rounding up to 5 for GoodReads. After reading Cleopatra and Frankenstein, I knew I had to get my hands on whatever Mellors wrote next. And it did not disappoint. My favorite type of story is a character-driven one and that is what this is. There is a plot but mainly it follows the personal struggles of the sisters after navigating a loss. Each sister had their own way of grieving and each sister also came with their own baggage and I loved the switching of the perspectives to follow each of them. I don't have any sisters but I do think Mellors wrote the interpersonal dynamics of a sister relationship extremely well having seen it in my friends. This is contemporary literary fiction at its finest and I am grateful for the opportunity to have read it early. Definitely pick this one (and Cleopatra and Frankenstein) up if you like literary fiction and familial relationships in your stories.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy.

Okay, first off I may be in the majority when I say, it was a lovely depiction of three sisters dealing with their grief over losing their sister. It was heartbreaking and real. Grief is not easy to handle sometimes and you often find yourself lost and gasping for air. This is what this story was…them gasping for air. It was beautifully written and very detailed, if not TOO detailed. I do think the book could have been half its size and not lost all the intricacies of the story. I didn’t need to read a half page description about of the characters toes. In these minute descriptions is where the book tended to lose me and I’d start skimming until something else happened. I do appreciate it for its deep dive into the ways that grief can affect an entire family. And if it’s redemption for the characters you are wanting by the end, you will be happy and surprised.

I'm calling it now, Blue Sisters is my top book of the year. I'm about to be SO annoying about this book. I will be getting everyone this book for Christmas.

This book centers around the three Blue sisters who, a year after the death of their fourth sister, return to their childhood New York City apartment to stop it from being sold. The characters are all so messy, and as the eldest sister I saw parts of myself and my sisters in them (not that any of us are heroin addicts or professional boxers). Even though I was sent a digital ARC, there's a HIGH chance I purchase a physical copy of this book once it's released.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for sending me this book!

Sometimes you stumble across a book that just sits in the forefront of your mind long after you’ve read it, and for me that’s what Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors has done. I read the book about a month ago and I constantly find myself thinking about the story and characters, and going back to reread certain parts that left me awestruck. I got approved for the ARC, so thank you to Random House, Net Galley, and Coco Mellors! This had been probably my most anticipated book this year and I’m so happy to have gotten this opportunity because every element of this book I absolutely loved!

It’s taken me a long while to come around to writing and figuring out how I even wanted to address the book, because quite frankly, I was left speechless after finishing and didn’t know where to begin. With a novel that is so deeply poignant that has an ungodly depth and realness infused into every crevice within the book, my brain couldn’t even configure words on how to rightly showcase what I consumed. But here I am trying.

We are introduced to Avery, Bonnie, and Lucky who are three sisters all at various stages in life that couldn’t be more unalike. Yet the one thing that’s binding them together is the death of their sister, Nicky, one year prior.

When the sisters get an email from their mother that she’s selling their childhood home, it forces the sisters to return home to New York having to address things they’ve buried deep, and refuse to admit.

Each chapter switches POVs between the three sisters. Between Avery, Bonnie, and Lucky we are tossed into three different worlds depicting grief, and sisterhood, in all its complexities. The characters are flawed. They will do things you’ll hate or disagree with. They will frustrate you. But amidst it all, once learning and discovering the traits and behaviors that shape them to be who they are, you learn to love, empathize, and root for them.

Between Cleopatra and Frankenstein and now Blue Sister, Coco Mellors is an auto buy author!

Blue Sisters became a favorite of mine this year. The story follows three sisters in different cities, each dealing with shared grief and the impact of past traumas in unique ways. Addiction is a prominent theme, highlighting their struggles and resilience. Despite the heavy topics, the book balances these with light-hearted moments, making me laugh and smile, relating to my own relationship with my sisters. The author’s detailed and seamless storytelling made me feel connected to the sisters and their bond, capturing the essence of sisterhood perfectly. I would recommend and will definitely be reading her other books this summer.