Thanks to NETGALLEY and the publisher for the ARC. I absolutely adored this book and I especially loved “The Parent Trap” references.
Mara Wilson shines as the audiobook narrator, and even though at first, I was wondering why she was a single narrator. I thought she did a great job narrating both sisters, voices, and point of view. Thanks to PRH audio for the ALC. I am very much looking forward to Hannah Orenstein’s next book. Pick this book up for a delightful summer read!

3.5 ⭐️
This was a story about two sisters who didn’t know about each other until their father dies and they go to his lake house at the same time. They spend the summer together and end up living through many big life moments during that summer.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Books Dutton for this ARC.

Maine has always intrigued me. I have always wanted to travel there and see what it’s like. With this story I got an idea of how it would be. (Does the author live there..?)

At first Lucy was so annoying with the not so privileged sister role. But she did grow on me. Vivian grew up in NYC with money and had some not so amazing qualities but I connected with her because of her passions.

Everything came together in the end—new friendships and love.

I’m definitely keeping an eye out for more from this author.

The premise of two half-sisters meeting after their father’s death and building a relationship at his lake house had a lot of potential, unfortunately I was unable to finish this book at only 26% because both POVs were hard to read with both 30ish year old women acting more like immature teenagers who just learned that their dad had an affair when in actuality they both were aware since adolescence. I’m okay with my characters being flawed, but when their internal dialogue is such a drag it makes the book hard to enjoy. Also the few romances introduced showed more red flags for the sisters than it did for their partners. I hope these two half-sisters grow through the story, but I won’t be reading to find out.

Thank you to NetGalley for my eARC.

Maine Characters is the story of two half sisters who were raised apart, and the summer they spend picking up the pieces after their father's unexpected death. I didn't particularly like either main character initially , but I understood them and found their dynamic fascinating. The setting was what really won me over, I loved reading about the small lake town in Maine and each of the girls' special ties to the home. The complicated family dynamics were well executed and left me struggling to figure out who to root for. I liked that the found family aspects were. the main focus of the book, and the romantic relationships were a secondary storyline. There was some wonderful character development over the course of the story, and by the end I found myself coming around to both the main characters. I really enjoyed this book and think it is a great summer read!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the e-arc.

Every summer, Vivian Levy and Lucy Webster spend a month with their father at his lake house — separately. Raised in New York City, Vivian is an ambitious sommelier with a secret that could derail her future. Lucy grew up in a tiny Maine town, where she now teaches high school English while watching her marriage unravel. They’ve never met. While Lucy envied her half-sister from afar, their father kept Vivian in the dark.

When Vivian arrives at the lake to spread his ashes and sell his cabin, she's shocked to find Lucy there, awaiting his return. In an ideal world, they’d help each other through their grief. Instead, forced to spend the summer together, they fight through a storm of suspicion and hostility to untangle the messy truth about their parents’ pasts. While Lucy is desperate to hold onto the house, Vivian is scrambling after a betrayal. After thirty years apart, is it too late for them to be a family?

For fans of Carley Fortune and Elin Hilderbrand, this sister story set on a lush lake brims with the undeniable heart, depth, charm, and humor that have endeared Hannah Orenstein to legions of readers.

I've never read anything like this, and I ended up thoroughly enjoying it! I might pick up something by Orenstein in the future :)

The Parent Trap is one of my all-time favorite movies, so I was immediately intrigued by the blurb calling this “the Parent Trap for adults”… plus that cover!! It’s not a Parent Trap retelling by any means, but it does give a bit of those vibes with the lake setting and the surprise of encountering a half-sister there.

- sister enemies to friends
- nostalgic lake vibes
- female bonding and growth
- gaslighting galore

Vivian is the big-city sommelier who was her wealthy dad’s acknowledged daughter, and Lucy is the small-town teacher who was her dad’s hidden daughter from a dalliance just before he married Vivian’s mom. Lucy has grown up getting to spend only one month a year and the occasional weekend with her dad, but she knew all about his other family and had been following Vivian’s life from afar. When their father dies suddenly, they encounter each other at his Fox Lake house, which Vivian wants to sell immediately. The story is told in alternating POVs between the sisters as they navigate the fallout from his death and their feelings about it and each other. Each of them is also of course dealing with romantic drama, Lucy is newly separated from the only man she’d ever kissed and Vivian is in a toxic hidden relationship with an older man.

The hits - the Maine setting was the best part, Fox Hill Lake had all the idyllic lake nostalgia I wanted in a summer book! The complicated relationship of surprise half sisters also hooked me in, it’s a refreshing change to read a book like this not entirely focused on the romance (although that is definitely there too). And Vivian’s sommelier occupation brought the love and appreciation of wine into the story, really enjoyed that - you could tell the author did some good research!

The misses - I didn’t really like either sister a lot of the time and I thought their personal life drama, especially Vivian’s, was well over the top and made me want to shake some sense into her many, many times. Plus all the cheating and gaslighting started to really turn me off in the middle.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton Publishing for sending this DRC for review consideration.

I was so excited to receive an advance copy of Maine Characters by Hannah Orenstein! I’ve loved Hannah’s books and Maine Characters did not disappoint!

Maine Characters was like diving into a Elin Hilderbrand novel: the characters, writing style, setting, and food descriptions. I adored it all!

I can’t wait to recommend Maine Characters to anyone looking for a beach read this summer! I can’t wait to read whatever Hannah writes next!

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton for an advanced copy of this book!

Although this book has been comped to The Parent Trap, the only thing they have in common is two women discovering they are sisters, half-sisters in this case. Though I disagree with the comp, I absolutely loved this book. In fact, it is definitely my favorite book by this author. I have read all five and it is nice to see her evolve and grow with each one. This one is not a romance, although there are small romantic subplots but it is about family, most specifically sisters. I loved how the relationship between Lucy and Vivian developed as well as the way the author doled out twists and secret reveals. The writing was beautiful descriptive, and I could practically see the sunset, smell the barbeque, and taste the wine. This book is a gem!

the cover pulled me in and it wasn't what i expected... it was okay..

the synopsis was right there for me to read it but i just didn't?? my brain just thinks pretty lakefront books are romances. this was a story of estranged sisters which i usually would love and i think i would've liked it more had i read it physically. this was okay overall, i didn't love either sister, but the setting was amazing and i need to be in maine yesterday.

A modern day Parent Trap with a twist!

When Vivian goes to her father's lake house in Maine to spread his ashes, she's greeted by her half sister, that she never knew existed. Lucy, Hank's other daughter, spent every July with him at the lake house in Maine, while Vivian was back home in New York City, thinking he was on a work trip. Vivian plans to sell the lake house, but Lucy wants it to stay in the family. With tension between the two sisters, who both have strong feelings about their father, will they be able to form a sibling bond, or will they leave the lake and go on with their lives individually?

This was a heartwarming book, with the FMCs having strong personalities. With one daughter who only saw her father once a month each year, and the other who grew up with him, they both have different views and opinions on the kind of father he was. It was interesting to see the mothers come into the picture, and learn the actual story behind the two sisters, and the reason they were kept hidden from each other all their lives. When the sisters kept learning more and more about the truth, it was interesting to see how they responded, and the way they receipted one another. This was my first Hannah Orenstein novel, but won't be my last!

What do you mean I wasn’t in Maine while I was reading this?! I truly felt so immersed in this setting and story, I couldn’t put it down.

"Maine Characters" by Hannah Orenstein is a charming book about family. The story follows Vivian and Lucy, two half-sisters who must spend the summer together at their father's lake house. The catch is, their father has passed recently away, and Vivian and Lucy didn't grow up together, so they have to get to know each other. There's plenty of banter since they couldn't be more different, but as time goes on, they start to bond.

This book is the perfect summer read. The setting is ideal: a lake house in Maine with small-town vibes. The plot is simple, and the writing flows easily. The characters are easy to get to know, and the story is emotional. However, despite everything seeming perfect, it didn't turn out to be a great reading experience for me. I couldn't quite get into Orenstein's writing style, and I found the language a bit flat and dull. So, for me, this book ended up being just average.

Overall, if you're looking for a light, heartfelt summer book with a beautiful setting and relatable characters, "Maine Characters" is worth a try. I think a lot of readers will enjoy this.

I don't know that I've ever disliked the main characters of a book so much. I was too irritated by them to actually enjoy the story and I just didn't care at all what was happening.

What a perfect summer read! I absolutely loved Vivian and Lucy’s relationship arc and cheered them on from the beginning. I found it refreshing that the focus truly was on the sisters and didn’t linger too long on any of the romance (which was great, but I wanted as many interactions between Vivian and Lucy as possible, and the author delivered!).

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton Books for this eARC!

Happy pub day to MAINE CHARACTERS by @hannahorens! And thank you to @duttonbooks for the advanced reader copy.

Vivian Levy grew up in New York City with her mom and dad and every summer, she would spend a month at her family’s lake house in Maine with her dad. Lucy Webster grew up with a single mom in that same town and Maine and every summer, she would spend a month at that same lake house with that same dad - her dad.

After her dad dies suddenly on Father’s Day, Vivian meets Lucy, who she has never met but long suspected existed in some form. Lucy, by contrast, has always known about Vivian from afar. They are two half sisters bonded by two things: the bad decisions of the same man and by a love for their lake house. It’s got woodsy parent trap vibes but with wine.

Hannah was actually the first person I ever met from the internet, and in the many, many years we have lived since high school, her love for her family’s lake house in Maine, with its beautiful sunsets and precious loon babies, has never wavered. This book is so clearly a love letter to that lake house and the experience of living in a small town and everything that comes with it. There’s a trained sommelier who wows a love interest with wine picks, there’s grief, there’s bad decisions relating to boys, and there’s a developing relationship between two sisters forced to grapple with the fact that their lives are not quite as they thought.

I’ve read all of Hannah’s books and this is by far her best: a love letter to the lake and to relationships of all kinds and to really excellent sunsets. I loved it.

2.5 ★

thank you to Dutton for sending me an ARC!

This story follows Vivian and Lucy, two half-sisters grieving the loss of their father, Hank. Hank held secrets about his past from both daughters, which comes to shock both of them upon uncovering his lies after his death while figuring out what to do with his beloved lake house. Of course, things are tense between Vivian and Lucy (for good reason). It’s always awkward when you request an ARC and end up not liking it, but I really just couldn’t help it. I tried to like this one I promise!

I think at first the author wants us to “pick a side” with Vivian and Lucy, but they both acted pretty unreasonable in my opinion and it caused them to be pretty unlikable. I couldn’t pick anyone’s side. I wrote this off assuming they’d grow to be likable at some point but they just … didn’t. Any character growth that happened throughout the story felt either inauthentic or rushed and time and time
again I found myself being frustrated with all of these characters; including the dad, his wife, his old girlfriend, and the two daughters….so, everyone. When a story has no other plot outside of the character’s development, it’s even more important since there’s no plot to distract from the characters. Ultimately that’s why I’m rating this so low, unfortunately. What a bummer, because I really wanted to like this one!

This was okay for me. I really liked the setting and I wanted to visit there when I finished the book. I also liked the different layers of drama which made the story engaging. There is parental drama, sibling drama, romantic drama all of which layered across the story.

The biggest problem for me were the main characters. I found both Lucy and Vivian unrelatable, petty, and childish. I understand that they were dealing with and processing a lot but it seemed like they kept having the same issues and arguments over and over. The book dragged on because there was very little growth or headway with these two until the end.

Overall this was an good story if you like family drama but it definitely could have been shorter.

Maine Characters by Hannah Orenstein released today and is the summer 2025 book you need on your shelf! 🐟🚤🫐

First of all, THIS COVER! 😮‍💨 Absolutely stunning. I was intrigued by the cover and the story just grabbed me by the heart and didn’t let go. 🌅

Readers of Annabel Monaghan and Katherine Center I think will enjoy this book! I loved the exploration of boundaries and romantic relationships of the various characters in various ages and stages of life. This wasn’t a 20-something girl trying to find love, which is a plot I have been finding it hard to get invested in. Not here! 👏🏻

There is also the pretty heavy hitting idea of finding out you have a half-sibling as an adult and watching Lucy and Vivian navigate that was really interesting.

I went into this book honestly based on the cover alone and a pretty minimal understanding of the plot and I am pleased to report that this was the five star read I needed to slide into the summer! 😎

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Dutton for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. Out today!!

I enjoyed the dual pov and the storyline. The concept was good and the plot ended up playing out well.

The characters were not likeable for the first 2/3rds of the book. The story and wanting to find out what happens is what kept me interested in reading and I'm glad the characters had such drastic changes to their personalities by the end of the book. I think the story ended well but would have loved a little more in an epilogue.