As someone who absolutely loved the parent trap, I HAD to read this! I loved this book! Two half sisters that don’t really know about each other and are polar opposites, spend the summer at their father’s cabin after his passing. I really enjoyed the story leading up and the ending. This would be the perfect summer read!

I ended up DNFing this one at 56%. I found the main characters SO WHINEY and unlikeable, I just couldn't continue.

So sad because I love this author!

This book…. I don’t know what I was expecting? But it wasn’t what got. I feel like it was the storyline of the show Happy’s Place but set in Maine and more adult. I didn’t really care for either of the characters and I wish that there had been more of a development of the relationship between the sisters and leave the romance pieces out.

This book was not for me. By a third of the way through the book, it was still just Vivian and Lucy fighting over whether to sell the cabin, and Lucy feeling sad about the breakup of her marriage. I didn’t like Vivian at all, given the way she dismissed Lucy’s concerns. DNF.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

I absolutely adored this book. The growth that both characters go through throughout the story is heartwarming and touching especially in the wake of the grief of their father. I like that this story added some complex issues and growth for the characters as it really helps the audience to relate to them as people.

I decided to not finish this book after getting through 10%. This story seemed to rely heavily on typical tropes and stereotypes, and I felt like I could guess the entire plot and ending of the book after the first chapter.

This book feels like a love letter to Maine summers.
Thank you to Dutton and Hannah Orenstein for the opportunity to review this book!
Maine Characters is about two half sisters who have never met. Vivian was raised by mother and father, Celeste and Hank, in New York City. Lucy was raised in Fox Hill, Maine by her single mother Dawn. Hank would come to Maine and spend the summer his family's cabin with Lucy. Upon Hank's unexpected death, Lucy and Vivian both finally meet in Maine, at their dad's cabin.
I requested this book because I was born and raised in Maine so I wanted to review it from that perspective. In that regard, the author did a fantastic job creating the fictional town of Fox Hill and including details that spoke to me as a life long Mainer. Some of the local characters I could even envision as people I have met in my life. I found myself relating a lot to Lucy, the sister who grew up in Maine.
Without getting into spoiler territory I will add that the pacing felt a little off to me. There is conflict between the sisters that is dragged out for far too long, and then I didn't really feel the resolution made sense, or it just kind of happened too quickly. It's not until about 50% into the book that aa conversation happens that would have made more sense and helped with the pacing and relationship development a bit more if it happened a bit earlier. This wasn't enough to pull me out of the story or not like it, I just found some of the conflict to be unnecessary and some decisions to be questionable.
Also, the first genre tagged on goodreads is romance and this is not a romance heavy book.

3.5 stars
I'll admit the cover artwork drew me in just as much as the premise. Maine Characters is a story about two women who are forced to reckon with all of the secrets their father left behind after his unexpected passing. They are half sisters, but only one of them was aware of the other's existence. It took me a while to care about them, as they are kind of unlikable at the start. By the end I'd warmed up to them and their character flaws. I will say, I really did enjoy the ending.
*Thanks to NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.*

If you love The Parent Trap, this book is for you! It has similar heartwarming, chaotic vibes that kept me turning the pages. The Maine setting was beautiful, and the story came together in a really touching way.
That said, Vivian and Lucy could be a bit insufferable especially for women in their 30s, their behavior felt a little childish. There were also a few loose ends that left me wanting more closure.
Still, it was an emotional, funny, and engaging read. I think if I could have loved the two main characters a little more this could've easily been a 5 star read for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Hannah for this early copy of Maine Characters.

I was drawn to this book by the cover and title. When there's the location of Maine in any book I am drawn to it. We have family history there and love to read about others and bring myself back and boy did I get that.

This was a super cute book relating to the parent trap. I love good family drama and we got that here. Along with drama come the emotional rollercoaster. Get on and buckle up bc you're in for the duration.

I enjoyed this read and can't wait to see what more comes from Hannah. Maybe an epilogue down the road to tie this book up?

Maine characters by @hannahorens 🍷🫐🥧

“Not every family was that close, she knew that, but she also understood that if you got lucky, a sibling could feel like another limb.”

The parent trap but with an adult spin! Vivian grew up spoiled, living in New York City. Lucy had a humble childhood in Maine. Two sisters who grew up separately are brought together in adulthood by tragedy.

So much drama, emotion and heart in this book. You get both POVs so you can really understand both sides of the story. There’s a small subplot of romance but for the most part, this story is about sisters overcoming heartbreak together.

A lovely beach read/lake side book. The imagery was beautifully described. It really brought back cozy memories of our road trip to Portland! (Swipe to see pics 😍)

So thankful to @netgalley & @hannahorens for this beautifully written eARC!! 🫶🏼

I would like to thank Netgalley, PENGUIN GROUP Dutton, and Hannah Orenstein for providing this ARC for review.

To preface this, I must say that this is not one of my usual genres. Literary/Women's fiction isn't really my style and I kept that in mind while deciding what to say about this book.

Upon the death of her father, Hank, Vivian, a sommelier from NYC, goes to the family Lake House in Maine to settle things there to sell the house. When she arrives, she meets Lucy, her half-sister she never knew about and their father's secrets begin to unravel.

I started out disliking Vivian. She is so narrow-focused and self-centered. Also she's angry at the product of an affair when she herself is someone's affair partner. Pot meet kettle. The author did a great job of showing Vivian's growth as a person. It is all too often that what they start out with, that's how they end only for some reason people forgave them along the way.

Vivian is not like this.

This author did a great job of taking Vivian from an unlikeable character to one that is aware of her flaws and has grown as a person. I think the choice to have the setting be a summer lake house was a great opportunity to stretch out her growth over a believable amount of time.

Lucy on the other hand I don't think grew a lot, but at the same time that's okay because she is the one character that you can kind of consistently rely on. She did find her spine, which is great to see, and I love how it ends with them all in a better place because they all grew some backbone.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read of a story that focuses very much on the inner turmoil, which is a very different style of book from my usual. I won't recommend it to readers who, like me, enjoy some action, but for those who enjoy a good character story, this is a good read.

synopsis: Vivian’s dad just passed, and she’s taking a few weeks off of her job as a fine-dining sommelier in New York to get his lake house in Maine cleaned up and sold. But when she arrives, it’s already inhabited by Lucy, her half-sister she’d always suspected existed, but never met.
Lucy got the golden-hour version of their father: a few weeks each summer with very little drama. But a lifetime of not being fully claimed by him, and watching her mother suffer after his abandonment, has left Lucy with lots to work through.
As the summer heats up and their father’s secrets are exposed, Vivian and Lucy butt heads over their broken pasts and what to do with the house.

spoiler-free review: This is my second novel from Orenstein, and I love her ability to infuse so much heart into complicated issues.
Being set by a lake in Maine, and not having romance as the primary storyline, I expect this will provide a nice contrast for summer reading that still has a very appropriate sense of place and season.
Although heavy at times, this perfectly fit the bill for a comforting summer read.
I loved the foil of the two sisters' personalities. Both of them had their faults, and I felt like the author handled generational resentment, especially in Vivian’s character, very mindfully.
Another big compliment: This book will absolutely delight foodies and winos. Vivian is Serious About Food, and I loved getting to hear the rich descriptions of several of their meals from a character prime to enjoy them to their max.
All in all, this was a page-turning read that gave me all the summer feels.

I would recommend this book to readers looking for:
-The Parent Trap with wine
-two sisters working through drama left behind from their parents
-set lakeside in Maine

This was a fantastic, twisty web of feelings and relationships between half-sisters who had never met. It was interesting to see each girl unpack her very different experiences while growing up with the same man. I was hooked, watching each sister wrestle with their past and their future while trying to forge some kind of relationship from a very awkward situation. Enjoyed this very much.

I always enjoy Hannah's books and I loved that this one was a spin on the Parent Trap and had Jewish representation in it as well!

Vivian and Lucy are half sisters who have never met. While Lucy has known about Vivian, Vivian has often wondered if her father had a secret family. After he passes and Vivian goes to the family lake house in Maine to sell it, she discovers Lucy is already there and she questions everything she ever thought about her father.

While Vivian comes off a bit abrasive at first with Lucy, it was understandable as she was kept in the dark her entire life by her father's secret. I liked her growth throughout the story as she let her walls down around Lucy, stood up for herself with her boss and what she wanted the future of her career to look like, and had a long overdue conversation with her mother. I went back and forth on my feelings for Lucy. While I did feel bad for her having to live her life in secret when it came to her dad, she also could've stood up for herself more. While she did start to grow more towards the end of the book, she still did feel a bit immature throughout her storyline. There is some romance mixed in, but my favorite parts was the family drama between Vivian and Lucy.

This was not it for me. I loved the Maine small town vibe. However, I didn't get the parent trap vibes at all. There is cheating and it gave me the ick. Very immature FMC's. Ugh.

What a fun read! The book follows the meeting of two half-sisters, Lucy and Vivian, and unfolds their complicated family history, while also giving each character room to breathe and grow as individuals. A celebration of summers in Maine, sisterhood, love, and friendship, this book pairs nicely with a glass of wine and a sunset view.

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A review by you!
Maine Characters by Hannah Orenstein
emotional reflective medium-paced
Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5

Thank you to Netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is one of my favorite Netgalley books in awhile! The synopsis is slightly similar to The Parent Trap which is what drew me in. Two half sisters meet at their dad's lake house in Maine for the first time after he passes. One might have known about the other, but the other had no idea and only saw her father for one month every summer.

I love a good lake house/vacation home story and I found it really endearing. I liked the alternating perspectives and complicated emotions of all the family secrets unraveling and how one of the girl's mother was an author and Goodreads being mentioned. Great summery book.

** spoiler alert ** Beautiful cover and intriguing premise, but ultimately settled with 3 stars. I liked the character Lucy, but wasn't a fan of Vivian. It's impossible for me to root for a character who is participating in an affair with a married man. Then she's pissed off when his wife gets pregnant?!

The book picked up in the latter half and I was more engaged. Love that the setting was in Maine but I didn't get "Parent Trap" vibes as the description implies.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the advanced copy. Maine Characters hits shelves on May 13, 2025.

3.75/5 Stars

I enjoyed this! It's a summer read, for sure, with all the vibes and a little bit heavier than your typical take-to-the-beach vibe. We follow two sisters, basically whom have only just met each other because their father passed, and now not only do they have to navigate his death, but everything that comes with it.

I liked parts of both sisters, while Vivian kind of bothered me at times. Lily, the "underprivileged, left in the dark" sister was easier to connect to, but Vivian was very crass at points where it made it more difficult for me to connect with her. But, if you're into family drama and like the vibe of Carley Fortune's novels--maybe mixed with a bit of Taylor Jenkins Reid--then this book might be for you!