The Fiction Old And New reading group meets the first Friday of each month.
On Friday, April 3 , 2026 at 8 PM Eastern we will discuss The book, The sunshine sisters DB88188 by Jane Green.
This book gets a 4.35 rating on “Good Reads” with more than eighty five thousand reviews.
The facilitator for this meeting will be LeDon: ledonb@outlook.com.
The Bookshare link to this title and the Zoom Meeting link can be found below.
My review
Jane Green is a “New York Times” bestselling author with more than twenty-three titles to her name. She writes in a warm and welcoming voice that explores the lives of contemporary women and the complicated bonds of family. In her novel “The Sunshine Sister” DB88188, she weaves a vivid story about three sisters growing up in the shadow of a famous mother. She creates characters who are imperfect yet vividly alive, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Through these characters she draws the reader into a story that gently explores forgiveness, family ties, and the enduring power of love.
At the center of the novel stands Ronni Sunshine, who as a young girl dreamed of becoming a movie star. She always believed that she had the talent to become successful, and she swore that when her chance for stardom came along, she would take it no matter how distasteful the step might be.
After reaching stardom Ronni found that remaining a star was demanding and she had to work tirelessly to stay on top. Every day she had to push herself to be noticed in a world that required flawlessness.
She had to be ambitious, disciplined, and always aware that her fame could evaporate overnight. Life in the limelight needed twenty-four hours a day effort, leaving Ronni exhausted with little time or energy for providing her children with the love and attention that they deserve.
While growing up, the girls always knew they were the daughters of a famous actress, yet their lives were far from the fairy tale people imagined. Because their mother was always working, the girls often lacked the love and stability children normally get at home. The sisters often found themselves competing for the smallest scraps of her attention, and sometimes even competing. This competition shaped their relationships through all their lives and added tension between them. As the girls grew into women, each sister struggled in her own way to define herself outside of her mother’s fame.
Nell, the oldest, grows into a quiet and lonely woman who finds it difficult to trust others with her heart. She escapes the turbulence of her childhood by building a simple life on a farm, where she raises her young son on her own.
Meredith The Middle Sister has spent much of her life feeling inadequate because of her mother’s criticism. She now lives in London and works as an accountant but struggles with self-confidence. Wanting so badly to feel valued and secure, she becomes engaged to an English aristocrat even though deep down she knows she does not truly love him.
Lizzy is the baby of the family. She is ambitious, and impulsive, just like her mother. She has built a career as a celebrity chef, a cookbook author, and a social media influencer. Yet behind the shining image lies a tangle of secrets, betrayals, and growing troubles in her marriage.
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When Ronni calls her daughters home for a week together, she hopes it might open the door to forgiveness and healing. Perhaps the time together will allow the sisters to rediscover one another and begin to mend the fragile strands of their family. But as they return home, old hurts, memories, and grudges surface. Into this already fragile moment Ronni drops a piece of explosive news that shakes them all.
The question at the heart of the novel is simple but powerful. After everything that has happened, will these sisters drift apart for good, or will they discover that they are still tied together by the invisible threads of love.
Bookshare
This book can be found on Bookshare at the following link:
