EVENING STARS by Susan Mallery

A Blackberry Island Novel Book

Mira

January 26^th, 2016

978-0-7783-1898-9

Contemporary, Women’s Fiction, Romance

Mass Market Paperback

Reviewed by Dawn (love2read28@gmail.com)
Obtained by self-purchase

4 hearts

For Nurse Nina Wentworth, life as a caretaker began early. Her mom was never really there for her or her sister, Averil. Being a mom to Averil took all her time and when she sacrificed medical school in order for her sister to go to college to leave the life of Blackberry Island behind. So when Averil shows up unannounced, well Nina has to wonder just what the heck is going on. Especially since she now has two men trying to win her heart. Averil is stuck, not sure why she is hesitant in having a child with her husband of five years and running away to Blackberry Island seemed like the perfect place to get her head on straight before her marriage implodes. As these two sisters try to figure out their hearts and lives, life on Blackberry Island gets quite interesting when Nina and Averil’s mother finds something that can change their world forever.

I loved the first two books in the Blackberry Island series, Three Sisters (book 1) and Barefoot Season (book 2). Each book had characters that just blew me away with their personalities, vulnerabilities and more. It felt like you could walk right up to them and become fast friends. This is an author who knows how to let the story weave its spell around the reader and captivate them by the end of the first page. We met Nina Wentworth in book two, Three Sisters, and I was eager to see what her story was all about. The characters we met in the first two books pop in and made me glad to see them as I caught up on their news and lives while I lost myself in Nina and Averil’s story. The story flows fast and smoothly, the characters are a wonderful delight and very well written and I loved some of the new characters that popped up, like Nina’s mom, Bonnie and her partner, Bertie. Those scenes with these two secondary characters had me in stitches. I loved the dynamics between the characters even the secondary ones.

Nina and Averil are trying to just be sisters, instead of having Nina being the mom figure all the time. Each of these two characters has to figure out how to do that without an argument blowing up between them. The characters are what make this trilogy so enjoyable to me. They are well rounded people that I can’t help but fall in love with. From Nina’s determination to be in control over everything in her life to Averil trying to figure out why she can not get on board with having a baby. I loved the way the author shows how Nina is calm, cool and collected on the outside but really just lost and alone on the inside. Nina gave up much for her family and now as Averil runs back to the family home to think and figure out things, Nina finds her younger sister selfish and self-absorbed but over time, both characters will find that the world is determined to get things right, regardless of how these two feel about it. I really enjoyed EVENING STARS and found that Ms. Mallery delivers a story that is more about family, loss, renewals and more for the reader to get lost in. This is not a typical romance per say but more about the way a family can impact you even when you are an adult.

If you enjoy a series full of heart, with characters that fairly step off the pages and into your living room, then I highly recommend the Blackberry Island Series for you to read. I do highly suggest that you start at the beginning in order to get the backdrop on other characters that pop up in this third book from those two earlier books. I am hoping Ms. Mallery returns to this wonderful island again in the future. I am eager t o see if other residents of Blackberry Island find happiness as well.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement