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Published 16:48 23 Jul 2025 BST

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Many books are overhyped online, but there is one that is worth the waves of praise it is receiving online.
With the rise of BookTok, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed by choice, but we've found a sweet novel that is perfect for fans of Gilmore Girls.
Gilmore Girls is one of those shows that never fails to make us feel better. It's charming, witty, heartwarming, and full of just enough drama.
Once I picked up Maine Characters by Hannah Orenstein, I instantly knew it was going to be one of my favourite books of the year.
There's something about this novel that feels like an episode of Gilmore Girls because it is so heartwarming, with sharp, witty writing, and the most likable characters.
The novel follows half-sisters Vivian Levy and Lucy Webster, who meet for the first time after their father's death. The sisters may have never met, but both spent a month of the summer at their father's family lakehouse in Maine.
They meet for the first time at the lakehouse after his untimely passing and learn to lean on one another as they tackle their grief.
'Every summer, Vivian Levy and Lucy Webster spend a month each with their father, Hank, at his family cabin on a lake in Maine - Lucy in July, Vivian in August. Vivian is a successful sommelier working in NYC's fine dining scene, and Lucy teaches high school English in the nearby town.
'But these two sisters have never met. While Lucy always knew Vivian was out there, Vivian didn't know Lucy existed. For thirty years, they've lived completely separate lives, Vivian growing up in New York City with Hank and her romance novelist mother, and Lucy being raised by her single mom in small-town Maine.'
'When Hank tragically dies of a heart attack just before the Fourth of July, Vivian brings his ashes up to the cabin to scatter them in Fox Hill Lake, only to find Lucy at the house, expecting her father for their annual visit.
'What begins in shock, suspicion, and hostility gradually thaws into a deep and unexpected connection between the sisters as they discover the true stories of their parents' past, help each other grieve for the father they thought they knew, find a bit of summer romance, and determine the new course of each of their lives.'
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