The Sunset Sisters follows two half-sisters, Julie & Cassie, as they fulfil their grandmother's will which asks them to spend a month at her home in Monatuk together, before they are able to inherit the house. Julie & Cassie used to spend their summers together with the grandmother at her beach home, but after an incident causes Cassie to drop Julie from her life, the thought of spending a month together was difficult for both of them.

I really enjoyed the concept & writing style of this book. The chapters alternate between the two ladies, who each have their own lives, problems, issues etc. and you get to see them slowly start to open up and become sisters again. Obviously the story re-tells their childhood summers together (they share a dad but have different mums, so only spent time together at the grandmothers), and you learn what made Cassie push Julie away. The story flows seamlessly, which is refreshing. You learn about each sister's lives, and you end up rooting for them to become close again.

Both Cassie & Julie have faults, but refreshingly, I feel that you end up enjoying spending time with both of them - something that a lot of stories struggle with. Both women engage the audience and I found that I liked both women equally, rather than favouring one of the other (again, which happens with a lot of other books).

I would describe this as an easy summer read, perfect for lounging round the pool, beach or back garden (if you are still in lockdown).

Thoroughly enjoyed this book!

Sunset sisters Cassie and Julie share the same father but different mothers. Only two weeks apart in age, their lives are poles apart with privileged Cassie as her father’s official family and Julie relegated to the role of secret daughter.

Cassie is nine years old when she first learns she has a sister. She meets Julie for the first time at her Nana’s seaside home in the Hamptons, where the two girls spend their summers during their formative years. After a shaky start, the sisters share an inseparable bond, united by the secrets they keep from the rest of the world. While their home lives are very different, with Cassie enjoying the ease of an old money lifestyle and lovechild Julie bearing the hardships of living in a single parent household, the two girls have much in common. Both girls must bear responsibility well beyond their years, and act as caretakers for their needy and manipulative mothers.

Aware of her mother’s alcoholism and the sick power dynamic between her parents, Cassie develops an interest in psychology and grows up to become a marriage counsellor. Being forced into self-reliance at her early age has made her strong and resolute in her opinions. Quick to judge others, she will banish anyone from her life if she thinks they have crossed her.

Julie, on the other hand, is made of softer stuff. A dreamer and a storyteller, she has a constant fairy tale monologue running through her mind, with herself as Sky Princess and her flame haired sister as Fire Princess. The sisters are a good compliment to each other, but a sudden and tragic event causes a rift. Estranged for 14 years, their spiritually inclined Nana intervenes from beyond the grave. Heartbroken at the rift in her family, Nana manages to achieve in death what she was unable to mend in life. Nana puts a condition in her will that to inherit her idyllic home in the Hamptons, the sisters must live there together for a month.

While neither of the sisters need the money, each of them have their own reasons for agreeing to Nana’s terms. After many years apart, they spend the summer at Nana’s house, where they are forced to face each other and confront their differences.

Haunted by their troubled childhoods, each of the sisters must overcome their own issues to forge their lives as adults and create families of their own. Psychologist, Cassie, must navigate the minefield of boyfriend Daniel’s divorce and the implications it may have on her career. Trophy wife Julie must decide how much of herself she is prepared to compromise to save her marriage with self-absorbed lawyer, Patrick, while her attraction to widower, Craig, increases.

Daniel and Craig are both sensitive, responsible and committed men but the sisters need to overcome the legacy of distrust bestowed by their narcissistic father. As they repair the damage to their thwarted relationship, the sisters help each other to sort out their respective love lives.

But just as their relationships get back on track, another tragedy occurs, bringing out a secret that threatens to destroy the bond the sisters have only just repaired. As trauma from the past resurfaces, the sisters must find their way to a brighter future.

I was gifted a copy of this book from @netgalley and @Bookouture in exchange for an honest review. This book is due out on June 22, 2020 ⭐⭐ ⭐ The Sunset Sisters by Cecilia Lyra is about two half sisters with the same father. When they were young, they would spend the summer with their grandmother on Long Island. Fast forward 20 + years and the girls no longer talk to each other but have inherited grandma's house, but ony if they spend a month together in the hopes they can renew their relationship. Both girls have kept secrets from the other...will those secrets be revealed and how will they affect their relationship? The Sunset Sisters was a good family drama with a summer vibe. #TheSunsetSisters #netgalley #bookouture

A great example of family drama. The kind of story I love! Cassie and Julie are great characters. You keep wanting them to just start communicating with each other and then it hit me that the same thing is happening to me and one of my sisters right now. Family secrets, all those skeletons in the closets makes for a book I couldn’t put down!

An enjoyable, fast paced read that brings together half-sisters after a long time separation. There are lies, hidden secrets and deception but ultimately there is love and forgiveness.

Inseparable half-sisters Cassie and Julie spent idyllic summers as children at their beloved grandmother’s house on the coast. When they were seventeen Cassie’s mother committed suicide, something she blamed Julie’s mother Sophie for. From that moment their relationship was shattered and they have never spoken since.
Their grandmother has recently died and under the provision of her will, in order to jointly inherit the house, they have to spend a month there together. Both are aware this is part of their grandmother’s plan to hopefully get them back together again. And for different reasons they feel it is doomed to fail.
Cassie and Julie have entirely different views of their father. For Cassie he was a cruel and selfish man, only remaining with her mother because of the status her wealth brought him. For Julie he was a kind, loving father, one who she longed for a proper family life with.
As the story progresses and both girls’ history is revealed, I really hoped they would eventually overcome their difficulties. Great plot with twists and turns. Love, lies and betrayal at its best.
This is a compulsive read, one I had difficulty putting down and a definite addition to anyone’s TBR pile.

A sweet story of sisters reconnecting. Well plotted, neatly executed, sufficient twists and turns for those who crave them. The characterisation could be more subtle, but this didn’t really detract from what was - or would have been, quarantine allowing - essentially beach reading.

Cassie and Julie were sisters born to different mothers and every summer.they were close, and inseparable when they stayed grandmother’s Hamptons beach house However they hadn't spoken to one another for 15 years since the death of Cassie's mother. Upon the death of their grandmother, they inherit the beach house in the Hamptons, but only under one condition. They have to live there together for 30 days or they will not inherit the house. Each sister has their own emotional baggage to contend with, can they handle being together for a month? Will their grandmother succeed in getting them together with the inheritance she dangled in front of them? An emotional story and the value of family,and secrets that can destroy relationships. My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Love this wonderful story of two sisters from a more than a dysfunctional family who are drawn back together by the wishes in their grandmother's will to the one place where they were happy as children. After years of estrangement, forced together in the same home both carrying their own secrets. Cassie and Julie will draw you in from the start. You will want to be their friend. With hidden secrets to draw the reader in you will be unable to put this down. This is not your typical dysfunctional family in the Hamptons novel. Cecilia Lyra grabs the reader at the first page and keeps them guessing until the very end. I"m already holding out for a sequel.

A perfect beach read.
Two sisters who spend summers together, they share a dad.
They have fond memories of spending summers with their nana. However theft fall out of touch, That is until their nana passes leaving her will with stipulations

There are different ways people can be bound together: love, friendship, family... and money.

When you rather fell in love with someone's bank account then with the person who owns it, heartbreak will be on the menu. You stay with that person but you will look for love elsewhere. Not many people choose poverty over money even if it means being with the one you truely love.

How many people do you hurt in the process especially when also kids are involved? And when you look into your heart, are you really happy living a double life, being loved by some and hated by others, loving some and hating others? Maybe in the beginning yes, but when everything starts crumbling down, you are left with nothing but some material things. Was it worth all this hassle, these fights, this pain? Clocks are made to move forward. There is no turning back.

An emotional story about love, betrayal and secrets and where the cheater gets what he deserves. 4 stars

Thank you, Cecilia Lyra and Bookouture.

The Sunset Sisters is an emotional, heartwarming summer read that is perfect to lay back and relax with on lazy, summer afternoons. Whether you’re at home, poolside, on the beach, etc, this book will envelope you and not let you out of its grasp until you have read each and every word of this bittersweet, emotional tale. This book is also perfect for anyone currently stuck in quarantine and on the lookout for a dramatic, page turning story that will pull you in and tune out the current events of the world happening around you.

This book is a beautiful story of sisterhood, family, love, and the importance of all of the above. As someone who has a sister, with whom I am very close, this story pulled at my heart strings and took me on an emotional, heartwarming ride the entire way through.

This book weaves together the tale of two half-sisters, Cassie and Julie, who are currently estranged, despite the fact that they were close when they were kids. Something tragic happened in their past at some point during their childhood to cause their estrangement, and we learn what that event was as the story delves deeper.

Upon their grandmother’s passing, they attend a meeting with her lawyer for the reading of her will, and learn that they are both equally to inherit her house, on the condition that they live there together for a month. This may sound easy to some people, but due to their estrangement, and the complications already going on in each of their lives, they tentatively agree to the conditions of the will and move into the house together. Each of them has their own emotional baggage, and are unsure of what they will be feeling and facing over the month ahead.

Over the course of the month, dramatic and emotional events occur, and as the story goes on, we learn about the secret to their estrangement, and see if the bond between sisters can be mended and overcome tragedy.

This was a beautiful, fantastically written story, with well written characters and a deeply rich plot that will fill your heart with a mixture of emotions as you read.

Family is complicated, and secrets can sometimes tear people apart, even people who love each other, but sometimes, despite the differences we may have with someone, life can always lead us down the same road again, united, despite paths being parted for a while.

This book was a gem, and I was sad when it came to an end. Cecilia Lyra knows how to write a story that will play with your emotions, and make you fall in love with the story more and more as it goes on.

Highly recommend! Especially for fans of authors such as Emily Giffin and Elin Hilderbrand!

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

A fun summer read about 2 estranged half sisters who find out they need to spend the summer at their grandmother's house before they can inherit it.

After going their separate ways after one of their mother's death 15 years ago, the sisters who used to spend their summer with their grandmother have gone their separate ways. Both have emotional baggage and secrets they try to keep from each other.

I thought it was a wonderful book about sisters, finding out who you are and well written, I'm looking forward to the next book!

Loved this story of two sisters reuniting and finding love, trust and family after many years apart! I enjoyed the complexity of not only their bond with one another, but also the relationships each sister shared with their father as well as their significant others.

A great, easy read! Looking forward to more from this author! Thank you NetGallery for the ARC!

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

This is a quick and easy beach read that goes down nicely. I don't know how much of it will be memorable, but it was an enjoyable read. There are serious topics discussed (tw: gaslighting, abuse, infidelity) which at times, I felt could have been addressed better, but its discussions of sisterhood and what constitutes a family were interesting. I felt like there was a lot of telling more than showing at times, but it made for an easy read. If you like stories around sisters, you'll probably enjoy this one.

Thanks to Cecilia Lyra, Bookouture and Netgalley for the ARC :)

This book was a nice escape from life today. It was easy to read. It was a nice distraction from dealing with family and work.

(Half) sisters Julie and Cassie have just lost their beloved Nana. In Nana’s Will is the stipulation that the estranged sisters live in her Montauk home for a month, together, in order to inherit. Each sister has a lot of baggage from her childhood that she needs to work through.

I liked Julie more, as she was nicer and easier to get to know. Cassie was more cynical and distrustful, although she was probably a more realistic character. There were some love interests that could have been fleshed out a little bit more. I think that would have added to the story.

Overall an enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC !!

The Sunset Sisters is a story of two sisters,Cassie and Julie, who share a father. As children they were nearly inseparable, bonded through happy, lazy summers but they haven’t spoken in nearly fifteen years—not since the funeral of Cassie’s mother—and now there is only resentment and painful memories between them.

The requirements of their nana’s will bring them together once again. They have to spend one final summer together in their Hamptons house in order to inherit it. Each sister reluctantly agrees since both of them have a lot of emotional baggage. Cassie is successful and self-contained she needs an excuse to leave Boston and give the growing rumors about her personal life a chance to die down, while Julie, who is discovering too late the cracks in her marriage, it is the chance to repair at least one damaged relationship.

It was an amazing, emotional and well written book about sisterhood. I'm definitely waiting for the next book in the series!

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the story of Julie and Cassie, sisters who were born to different mothers, one the product of a marriage that appeared to be happy, but wasn’t, and the other the product of a long running affair. Kept apart for the first few years of their lives, the sisters are brought together due to the tenacity of their paternal grandmother, until events conspire to pull them apart - until now...

Their beloved grandmother has passed away, but in order to gain their inheritance, the sisters have to spend a whole month together in the home that they loved so much, without the force that drew them together.

I enjoyed this story, I thought the characters all felt realistic - none of them were perfect, they all had flaws and shortcomings. There was a lot of background on both sisters, and neither of them had a straight line to love. The story switches between each sisters point of view, which gives both sides of this story, which I enjoyed.

I thought that this was a well-written, satisfying, enjoyable story, a good summer read! I’d definitely check out a sequel... I had a feeling that some of the stories weren’t quite tied up and finalised.

Similar to the fairytale of the two sisters who are stronger together than apart, Cassie and Julie need each other to become whole again. They were broken from relationships but also really needed to see how the world perceived them versus how they saw themselves. It took time (much longer than Nana thought) but family and love are stronger than the issue that kept them apart. That is how they were able to get the true love they deserved. They found themselves and I cannot wait for the next book in the series!