This was my first Hannah Orenstein book, and I was immediately drawn in by the beautiful cover and intriguing premise. Maine Characters reminded me a bit of The Parent Trap — but for adults, and with all the raw, complex emotions that come with family secrets and grief.

Every summer, half-sisters Vivian and Lucy spent time at their father’s lake house — but never together. Vivian, a driven sommelier from New York, and Lucy, a high school English teacher in small-town Maine, have never met. Lucy has always known about Vivian, but for Vivian, Lucy’s existence is a shocking revelation that comes only after their father’s death. When both women arrive at the lake house — one to spread his ashes, the other expecting a reunion — they’re forced to confront years of hurt, silence, and secrets.

This novel is a quiet, emotional exploration of family, identity, and what it means to start over. I felt all the heartache both sisters carried — their misunderstandings, regrets, and hopes — and I appreciated the way Orenstein handled their relationship with nuance and tenderness. The coastal Maine setting is written so vividly, you can practically feel the salty breeze and hear the lapping water. It grounds the story beautifully and adds to its reflective tone.

Maine Characters is a heartfelt, quietly funny novel with deeply relatable characters. While the plot leans more introspective than action-packed, it delivers an emotionally satisfying journey. It’s perfect for fans of Carley Fortune or Elin Hilderbrand looking for a breezy but meaningful summer read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton Books for the DRC!

If you want a great family drama this one does the trick. Secrets have been kept and sometimes those secrets do long term damage.
This book was a good read. I really enjoyed it. So much drama happens and I was eating it up!!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

I can’t lie, I’m a sucker for a sister novel. An only child myself, I love the idea of sisterhood and the unconventional sisterhood in this novel is great. I will say I didn’t quite love either character. It seemed like they were antagonized for the majority of the book and when they finally hit their stride, the book was over. I thought the storyline was good and kept me reading, but I wouldn’t read it again. I actually really like Hannah Orenstein’s writing style and she kept me interested enough to finish! I would have liked a little bit more oomph to the story and less predictability! I received this ARC free from NetGalley in exchange for my review!

The two “Maine” characters are half sisters (whose names I don’t remember) but are meeting for the first time as adults. One sister knew she had a half sister, but the other had no clue.

This is a fantastic summer book for adults (will be recommending it to my book club). I loved the beautiful cover that introduces the reader to the summer setting in Maine. The two points of view were always easy to keep track of as each sister's voice and cirumstance throughout the novel are unique. I thought the pacing was on point as far as the relationship progression between the sisters, the secrets revealed as well as the side romances. I really enjoyed this one!

Thank you Penguin Group Dutton and NetGalley for the ARC!

Hannah Orenstein is one of those "automatic read" authors, where I will read anything she writes. This book hit home exactly why I feel that way. So much heart, sweetness, and love wrapped up with difficult conversations and fighting through tough times. Both main characters were solid and I loved the way you saw both of them grow over the course of the book. Loved it!

Thank you again for the ARC!

🔎 ARC Review

Maine Characters

@hannahorens
@duttonbooks
@netgalley

Publication Date: May 13th, 2025

My Rating:
🌟 4/5

👀Read if you like
Parent Trap Vibes
Family Secrets
Small Town

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?

🔎 My review
This was my first Hannah Orenstein book and I was intrigued by the beautiful cover and plot. This reminds me of parent trap but with sisters. This was a very emotional read and I felt all the heartache from both sisters. If you love heartfelt dramas then this one is for you!

Thank you @hannahorens, @duttonbooks, @netgalley for the ARC!

#books #bookreviews #bookstagrammer #bookworm #bookstagram #bookobsessed #heartfelt #parenttrap #hannahorenstein #dutton #duttonbooks #NetGalley #MaineCharacters

A quick and easy read - the gorgeous cover drew me in! From the description, I was expecting this to be more like a Parent Trap-esque story, and wish they had focused less on the romance and more on the connection between the sisters.

The cover of this book and the description were what drew me into this book.
This book was nothing like what I thought it would be. It wasn’t 2 long lost sisters meeting each other after the sudden death of their father and being excited about it and bonding.. Instead it was 2 grown women in their 30’s acting like children and constantly being assholes to each other. The sister Vivianne that grew up with both parents and a privileged life a total terrible jerk to Lucy who shows up to the lake house thinking her dad is there. Only to have Vivienne tell her he's dead and this is my house. HoweverLucy grew up spending one month in the summer here with her dad and knew about the sister but has wonderful memories there and feels like they should split the house. While one might think Lucy is the nice sister, she ends up being a sniveling and snotty brat to her sister. The way they both acted really made me not like them or the story and just wanted it over.

Don’t be fooled by the cover.

Maine Characters is a heartfelt, quietly funny story about heartbreak, identity, and starting over. Hannah Orenstein brings the coastal Maine setting to life so vividly, you can almost taste the salt air. The characters feel real and relatable, and while the plot is more introspective than dramatic, it makes for a thoughtful, feel-good read. Perfect for fans of Carley Fortune or Elin Hilderbrand looking for something breezy but meaningful.

Ohh no. This was a big swing & a miss for me. I've enjoyed Hannah's previous novels and the premise (a Parent Trap-esque story of two half-sisters meeting at the family's lake cabin after their dad passes) instantly appealed to me.

Unfortunately it was just so off the mark -- it takes until 70% of the way through the book before the sisters have a civil conversation that doesn't amount to insults or shouting. I couldn't root for either of them here, but Lucy only just edges out over Vivian's multi-year affair with her married boss and just as she swears this time it's over for real no take backs...she jumps into bed with him after his wife shared their pregnancy announcement. No thanks.

all the characters in this book are so unlikable. The supposed “nice” sister, Lucy, is just plain rude & childish. The “mean” one, Vivian, is the nice one? Like???? Huh??

Also, the character development in this book sucks. All of them are supposed to be 30+ years old, but they all act like they’re 10... I know of 10 years old that are more mature than these people 🫠

They’re all greedy & so one-dimensional. I wanted some nice sister bonding time, but all I got was one complaint about how much money the other one had.

Also, Lucy whines too much. Not to mention all the cheating that went on in this book 🙃🙃

yuck

I adored this book so much!! Was completely invested in the story and really connected & felt for the characters. It gave me The Parent Trap vibes (only an adult version). So of course I had to go & watch the movie since it had been a while! Hannah is a wonderful storyteller—I really want to read more of her books now! Thank you so much for the digital ARC of this book.

thank you to @duttonbooks and netgalley for the free advanced copy.

read if …
🦞parent trap is a must watch
🦞you love (to hate) your sister
🦞are in desperate need of a lake vacation
🦞love messy family drama

this was not something i’d classify as a romance. it is much more (the terribly named) women’s fiction. it’s about sisters and family and relationships.

i was worried i wouldn’t like this because the premise, but i really couldn’t put it down. i wanted to keep reading and learning more about all four women.

Head Over Heels is forever my favorite by this author, but i enjoyed this one much more than i thought i would!

The premise of this book is interesting and the plot was relatively engaging once I got about 1/3 of the way in. However, I just didn’t really connect with the characters so I didn’t love the book overall. The idea of two half sisters being forced together, where only one knew about the existence of the other is pretty complex. The author worked through a lot with both these characters, and didn’t shy away from their faults, but I didn’t feel as engaged as I wished. I loved how they both had somewhat independent storylines (apart from their obvious connection) and that those developed on their own to shape each sister. It was really frustrating to see both of them directing the blame towards each other when clearly neither of them were at fault. I did love the complexity of the sisters and the story itself and thought it was well written. Overall, a good story, just not for me. 3.25⭐️, 0🌶

This cover deserves 5 stars. It is gorgeous. On to the story... I love this author and I had high expectations for this. Another reviewer compared it to an Elin Hilderbrand book and I can see that a bit since the bulk was a family drama over the summer, however I did think it had a bit more romance than an Elin book. I thought it was great and I enjoyed both POV. Each character had unique voice/circumstances I was never confused about whose POV I was reading. I thought it was a great summer read for a family drama fan!

This was a little more emotionally taxing than I expected. Love the cover. Love the setting. Just wasn’t expecting so much heaviness.

The pacing was terrible, the marketing this as a “parent trap” retelling is not accurate. Hard to find any plot.

One sister showed some grace, the other was a turd. Also third person shifting povs was sometimes confusing especially when it wasn’t blatantly obvious

Long lost half sisters come together after their father’s death. One wants to save the lake house the other sell it. They’ve been kept apart their whole lives, can they be a family now?

I liked the relationship and the believable tension the sisters had. I thought this was a thoughtful book.

Thank you PENGUIN GROUP Dutton for the ARC.