This book had promise but for a full 50% I did not remotely like either of the sisters. The moms weren't really relevant until pretty late, and even though the sisters' romances were different situations they still had pretty much the same arcs which was annoying. The last 25% was cute and had good closure, but I would have like an epilogue chapter.

This is the perfect summer read with the charming lakeside setting in Maine.

Vivian and Lucy have never met but are half-sisters. They both find themselves at their father’s lakeside cabin after his death. The sisters decide to stay together for the rest of the summer to make a decision on what to do with the house. During the summer they are forced to confront their father’s secrets and bond with each other.

I loved the Maine setting and the characters. Told via the perspectives of Vivian and Lucy, not only are they dealing with the death of their father, they are also dealing with the struggles of their own lives. It was a slow burn book of the bonding of sisters and the evolution of their relationship. Despite the subject matter I didn’t find it an emotional book; it was a delightful summer read.

This was a cute book. Exactly as described. Two sisters who have no clue about each other end up meeting after the death of their father. Through a summer of typical sibling spats, the girls get to know each other and try to figure out what to do with their late father’s house.

I read this book in a day. It was fast-paced and an easy summer read. I throughly enjoyed it!

This ended up being a great book and one I can see myself rereading by the beach, lake, or pool in the future. Parent Trap meets Beach Read by Emily Henry. I was hesitant about cheating entering the storyline about 40% in, but it ended up being something you could relate to from the perspective of someone with divorced parents or someone who was cheated on or saw someone they loved cheated on, so it was kind of a way to see some of the “what ifs” the mothers experienced, but through their daughters all these years later. You really see the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence and that family can sometimes be messy and complex and not so pretty, but it’s something special and worth it.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC! I really enjoyed this one. Kind of an adult Parent Trap vibe, set in beautiful Maine - what’s not to love?

Vivian arrives at her father’s beloved Maine lake house, focused on selling it so she can open her own wine bar in NYC with her partner. The problem is that when she gets to the house, a stranger named Lucy is there who claims to be her half sister. Vivian grew up with no knowledge of Lucy while Lucy knew all about Vivian. Yet Lucy had a good relationship with their father while Vivian’s was fraught. Lucy cannot believe Vivian wants to sell the precious house and the two are at odds, stuck together in the house fighting.

I cared about both sisters and thought they were both fleshed out well. The trauma they both have dealt with from their father and their upbringings formed them into such different people. This had a bit more heaviness and heart to it than the cover led me to believe (which I loved!) Highly recommend this for fans of summer books with depth.

✨Content Warnings: Death of a Parent, Infidelity, Classism, Pregnancy, Cancer

✨Themes: Sisterhood, Grief, Family Secrets

✨You May Like This If You Enjoyed:
-Hello Beautiful (Ann Napolitano)
-Every Summer After (Carley Fortune)

Lucy and Vivien are half-sisters that never knew each other when their father dies. Vivien travels to Maine to sell the lakeside cabin that her father loved and finds the sister that she never knew. The sisters are very different, as was the way that their father treated each of them. As the days go by in their shared cottage, the sisters learn to set aside resentments and find new pathways. Great story with in depth character development and interesting family secrets being revealed.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my honest albeit very late review.

As someone who's lost their father and only saw him during seasonal visits, I really resonated with Lucy's experience. The author, Hannah, did a fantastic job capturing two deeply complex, emotional perspectives - both sides of the same coin.
I found myself empathizing with Lucy early on, but once Vivian's POV came into play, I unexpectedly started to feel for her too. That shift was powerful. However, as the plot progressed, I did struggle to root for Vivian. Her choices were ones I personally found morally difficult to support - but that also reflects the reality of what people actually do and experience, which made the story feel honest, even when uncomfortable.
Pacing-wise, the book dragged a bit for me in some parts. Certain scenes felt overly descriptive and slow, but at the same time, the writing had a cinematic, Netflix-like feel that kept me engaged.
The ending was satisfying, if a bit familiar - it leaned into themes of sisterhood, girlhood, and ultimately recognized that the fault lay with their father, Hank, not the women he left in his wake. It may have been a little cliché, but it was delivered with heart and intention.
Overall, this was a thoughtful, character-driven story about grief, betrayal, and the complicated bonds between women.
Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this book. Although my review did not make it in time before the release day, I am beyond grateful to have been given this opportunity in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Thank you Penguin Group and NetGalley for the ARC. I enjoyed Maine Characters, mostly because how awesome to have the summer off and be at a lakehouse? This is like an adult Parent Trap but the sisters don't connect until they are 30 and their dad died. Lots of summer feels, sprinkle of romance, and family drama.

This book is very slow. I found the characters to be unlikable. The saving grace is that I love Maine and it pays homage to this beautiful state. I really wanted to like this book more than I did.

A melodramatic tale in an idyllic setting. Parent Trap? Not quite, but a good read despite the messiness and drama.

Maine Characters by Hannah Orenstein
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When her dad dies suddenly, Vivian shows up at his vacation house on the lake to get it ready to sell. When she arrives to a half sister she’s never met before, Vivian is forced to come to terms with secrets her dad refused to relinquish.
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I think that this could be a good book for people who love messy family drama books.

However, I didn’t really like it. Vivian was a flawed character who made some bad choices but grew from there. Vivian’s mom was garbage.
Lucy’s mom was the sweetheart who was a bit of a doormat. But my real problem with this book was the character or Lucy.
So my problem with Lucy is she is a hypocrite. She knows her dad has another family. Her dad dies and everything goes to that family because he was legally married to that woman. And yet when Vivian says she has been tasked with selling the lake house because her mom doesn’t want it, Lucy pitches a fit that “you can’t sell it, my dad loved this place, I need it, and you don’t even need the money you’re rich.” She’s mad at Vivian for something that is one hundred percent not her fault. She is mean to her and berates her until Vivian agrees to let LUCY decide whether to keep the house or sell it (even though her dad hid that Lucy was even his daughter and left her nothing) AND if they sell it she will split the money with her. NOW all of a sudden Lucy is all “I don’t need this house, I have my memories, but I do need a whole lot of money to cushion me and set me on the same level as Vivian who got everything I never had.” What a whiney little baby and I really do not like her. Also she treats Vivian like everything about this situation is HER fault and her dad was the best dad ever and crapped rainbows, when actually everything about this situation was her dad’s fault and he was an awful dad. So Lucy also has major daddy issues.
In my opinion Lucy did not show growth in this book. She cannot seem to truly admit that her dad was a jerk and keeps him on a pedestal and keeps implying that Vivian was the one who needed to become the better person. 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
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2⭐️⭐️ I just cannot get past how much I dislike Lucy’s character to decide if the story was good or not.

Very cute and sentimental, a perfect summer reading. As someone who frequently visits Maine, the attention to detail was great.

Thank you so much to the publisher and to netgalley! I requested this book based on the gorgeous cover and the setting. Our two MCs have the same father and are meeting up after their father has passed away. It gave me parent trap vibes but I found it difficult to connect to the characters :(

The cover of this book is stunning! However, that's about all I could enjoy with this book sadly. I really wanted to like it, but the characters were just so unlikable..

I absolutely adored this book!!! Having lost a parent myself, I instantly felt connected to Vivian and Lucy. My heart broke from them in two completely different ways. There was so much emotion packed in to this book! I loved hearing about how wonderful Lucy's father was to then hear about how lackluster he was with Vivian. I didn't know that it was possible to both love and hate someone in the same breath. I also loved hearing about both girls and their love interests. Both girls deserved better than what they had, and I'm so glad they both got their happy ever after! There was so much emotion, depth, and love in this book that it made it a five star read for me!

Thank you to Penguin Group, Dutton and NetGalley for the opportunity read this eARC in return for my honest feedback!

I have traveled to Maine a few times and it has really stolen my heart so any books set there peak my interest. I went into this expecting it to be a romance, but instead it turned out to be a book about growth, relationships and love, romantic and familial. I loved the idyllic setting and the ways in which Vivian and Lucy struggled and grew. This was an easy-to-read book, perfect to lift you out of any reading slump or when you're craving a feel good read.

Maine Characters is a fantastic family drama set on a lake in Maine. Vivian and Lucy are half sisters who meet for the first time after their father's death. They reluctantly live together in his beloved lake house, where each daughter spent a month with him (separately) each summer.

Each woman arrives at the lake house at a personal crossroad and now has to figure out her future while also confronting past secrets, memories, and navigating grief. Over one last summer, they have to figure out how a sibling relationship will look and what is next in their personal and professional lives.

The heavy topics are balanced by humor, heart, and a spectacular summer setting. I could totally picture Fox Hill as the quintessential Maine lake house set into the woods. I even bookmarked the Japanese restaurant mentioned for our next trip to Portland.

Thank you to PENGUIN GROUP Dutton and NetGalley for the advance reader copy.
#MaineCharacters #NetGalley

I got almost halfway through this book, and it's not bad at all, it just wasn't for me. This deals with the loss of a father and meeting an estranged half-sibling. Given the losses in my own family that follows closely to this, it hurt to read more than it healed.

Thank you Dutton and NetGalley for this eARC!

This was my first book by Hannah Orenstein, and I really enjoyed it. This was such a good summer read with complex characters and family dynamics. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good book for the summer, this is the one!

This was a really good read and I think it had a decent writing style and story! Would recommend to anyone looking for next read