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Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors

Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors Roelia Reads About this book (blurb from Jonathan Ball Publishers)

The Blue sisters have always been exceptional – and exceptionally different.

Avery, a strait-laced lawyer living in London, is the typical eldest daughter, though she’s hiding a secret that could undo her perfect life forever.

Bonnie was a boxer but, following a devastating defeat, she’s been working as a bouncer in LA, until one reckless night threatens to drive her out of the city.

And Lucky, the rebellious youngest, is a model in Paris whose hard-partying ways are finally catching up with her.

Then there was Nicky, the beloved fourth sister, whose unexpected death left Avery, Bonnie and Lucky reeling. When, a year later, the three of them must reunite in New York to stop the sale of their childhood home, they find that it’s only by returning to each other that they can navigate their grief, addiction and heartbreak—and learn to fall in love with life again.

 

Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors Roelia Reads My thoughts 

The cover art of the final published Fourth Estate of “Blue Sisters” sets the tone of this book perfectly — gorgeous, sad, and heartbreaking.

“But what they don’t know is this: As long as you are alive, it is never too late to be found.”

The novel employs multiple points of view (POV), including flashbacks, which can be hit or miss for me. However, in this case, I thoroughly enjoyed each sister’s perspective. The characters are distinct, with their own personalities shining through. Their emotions are raw and gut-wrenching, especially when dealing with addiction, self-sabotage, and the destructive power of these forces.

“He was the only man in the house, but he also was the house. They lived inside his moods.”

The book delves into forgiveness, healing, and grief. The sisters return to New York City to clear Nicky’s apartment, and along the way, the narrative also touches on women’s health issues. The complex relationships between the sisters and their parents add depth to the story, and the flawed characters felt painfully familiar—like people you might know in real life.

“Avery had previously thought love was built on large, visible gestures, but a marriage turned out to be the accrual of ordinary, almost inconsequential, acts of daily devotion—washing the mugs left in the sink before bed, taking the time to run up or downstairs to kiss each other quickly before one left the house, cutting up an extra piece of fruit to share—acts easy to miss, but if ever gone, deeply missed.”

Coco Mellors’ writing is beautiful and immersive. She captures the bond of family—the love, loss, and redemption—with skill and sensitivity. However, I must admit that the epilogue left me feeling a bit cringy. Perhaps it was a tad too sentimental for my taste.

“Blue Sisters” is an emotional journey that explores the complexities of sisterhood, addiction, and the human spirit.

“A sister is not a friend. Who can explain the urge to take a relationship as primal and complex as a sibling and reduce it to something as replaceable, as banal as a friend? Yet this status is used again and again to connote the highest intimacy. My mother is my best friend. My husband is my best friend. No. True sisterhood, the kind where you grew fingernails in the same womb, were pushed screaming through identical birth canals, is not the same as friendship. You don’t choose each other, and there’s no furtive period of getting to know the other. You’re part of each other, right from the start. Look at an umbilical cord—tough, sinuous, unlovely, yet essential—and compare it to a friendship bracelet of brightly woven thread. That is the difference between a sister and a friend.”

Thank you to Jonathan Ball Publishers for this ARC copy.

About the author: “Coco Mellors was raised in London and New York City. She completed her MFA in Fiction at New York University, where she was a Goldwater Fellow. Her debut novel, Cleopatra and Frankenstein, has been translated into over ten languages and is being developed for television by Warner Bros. She lives in New York with her husband.” (from Jonathan Ball Publishers)