April 1, 2017
Faded B-movie star Ronni Sunshine has spent a lifetime alienating her three daughters. Now that she's on her deathbed, she calls them home. But will they come?The sisters have drifted away not only from their mother, but also from each other. Nell, the oldest, has always avoided her mother's melodramatic, unpredictable rages. Now 33, her journey has included choosing teenage single-motherhood, and she's raised her son, River, on a farm where she has found not only meaningful work as the manager, but also a compassionate mother-figure in Theodora, the owner. Meredith, the middle daughter, who bore the brunt of Ronni's wrath, has learned to play the role of people-pleaser. Having fled to London and become an accountant, she still struggles with feelings of inadequacy, which she self-medicates with emotional eating and dysfunctional romantic relationships. The spoiled youngest, Lizzy, turned into a wild child, experimenting with boys, drugs, and alcohol, but has recently found success as a pop-up supper-club restaurateur. That success, however, may come at a price given her instant attraction to her married business partner. As Green (Falling, 2016, etc.) shifts back and forth among the sisters' and Ronni's perspectives, she sifts through the emotional wreckage of women inflicting wounds on themselves and each other. She convincingly depicts a frayed family with a keen eye for the details that snap the threads of sisterhood: Lizzy unleashes a verbal lashing when Nell denies her request to use her farm for a dinner, Meredith recoils from Nell's plea for help with her financial report, Lizzy (and Ronni) humiliate Meredith over her boring fiance. Once back home, the sisters begin to forge new bonds by sharing their different memories of Ronni, who by this time has squirreled away a lethal collection of OxyContin pills to end her pain. Have they come home too late? Another perfect beach read for sisters, estranged or not.
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April 1, 2017
The latest from Green (Jemima J; Falling) is a well-realized portrait of a dysfunctional family. Ronni Sunshine, the magnetic and distant actress mother of three daughters, came from England as a young woman to make her big break in Hollywood, but she never quite achieves superstar status. She marries and has three daughters, whose stories are told in snippets from their own viewpoints. We see young, teenage, and then adult versions of Nell, the oldest; Meredith, the classic middle child; and Lizzy, the youngest. The damage that Ronni has done to each daughter is laid bare in their stories. In the present, Ronni calls her daughters to her bedside with bad news. The Sunshine girls are each having significant problems in their own lives. Now, because of their mother, they finally are able to see and help one another instead of fighting. VERDICT Green does a wonderful job of creating realistic and lovable (despite themselves) characters. Fans of the author and readers who enjoy Elin Hilderbrand and Kristin Hannah will love this book. Highly recommended for all public library collections.--Kristen Stewart, Pearland Lib., Brazoria Cty. Lib. Syst., TX
Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
April 1, 2017
Ronni Sunshine may have achieved some success as an actress in Hollywood, but as a mother she fell short. Now her three grown daughters are estranged from each other, and Ronni, who has been diagnosed with ALS, must bring them back together before she ends her life. Her eldest daughter, Nell, lives quietly on the farm where she raised her son, River. Middle daughter Meredith fled to London to escape her mother's criticism of her weight, only to find herself stuck in an unfulfilling accounting job with a controlling fiance. And the youngest, Lizzy, has found career success as a celebrated New York chef, but she's been cheating on her husband for years with her business partner. When Ronni summons them all home to Connecticut, the three Sunshine sisters are thrust back together, not just to cope with the news that their mother is dying, but also to see if they can repair their fractured relationships. Green, whose novel The Beach House (2008) was recently optioned for film, presents readers with another warm and winning family tale. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Queen of the Beach Reads Green (with 10 million copies sold around the world) will generate new buzz with a national tour and an enormous publicity campaign.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)