3.5 stars rounded up

East Coast Girls tells the story of four childhood friends - Hannah, Maya, Blue, and Renee. The book starts off while they are 18 and vacationing in Montauk. Twelve years later, the girls all live in different states on the east coast Abdul have very separate lives. Something happened 12 years before that caused something to happen to Hannah’s boyfriend, Henry, and to cause Renee to be estranged from the others. The four ladies reunite for a weekend in Montauk to relive their carefree childhood together and to hopefully make amends.

This book was definitely a work of literary fiction with a bit of a mystery thrown in. The story is told from three perspectives - Hannah, Maya, and Blue. The characters aren’t necessarily likable, but they are written to be real with flaws and all. I’m sure readers can relate to at least one of them. The author has the reader feeling a plethora of emotions - grief, pity, anger, annoyance, love, and acceptance.

For the most part, this is a story of friendship, growing up, and becoming the person we’re meant to be. I did think it was a bit slow at times and could have used some more action. The mystery of the book was what happened to Henry and what caused Renee and Blue to stop being friends. The author built up to both of these, but I didn’t necessarily love that storyline.