Tuesday, February 13, 2018

SISTERS LIKE US by Susan Mallery



A Mischief Bay Novel, Book 4
Mira
January 23rd, 2018
978-0-7783-3090-5
Contemporary Romance, Women’s Fiction
Paperback
Reviewed by Dawn (love2read28@gmail.com)
Obtained by Self-Purchase
4 Hearts

Harper Szymanski is struggling to make ends meet after her divorce, raising her teenage daughter and meddling mother who thinks a woman should be a domestic goddess in all ways. But for Harper, trying to make ends meet is catching up to her and if it wasn’t for her loyal clients in her virtual-assistant business, she would be in curled up ball of goo.

Dr. Stacey Bloom is a renowned scientist who can tell you all about the brain’s makeup and more but when it comes to motherhood, Stacey is utterly out of her league. With time running out, Stacey has to figure out how to tell her mother she is having a baby and figure out this whole nurturing thing.

As these two sisters figure out life and all its messiness, both women will find the strength to move forward, together, and that they can survive anything.

SISTERS LIKE US is a fun and poignant look into the lives of two sisters and family. Told with Susan Mallery’s trademark style of humor and warmth, the author delivers a wonderful story filled with great moments of life lessons learned, humor and a romance you don’t see coming. I love this author’s Mischief Bay series and was thrilled to see a few familiar faces pop up and the surprise of Lucas, who readers met in book 3, A Million Little Pieces. The writing is tight, that flows smoothly from one scene after another. With each page I turned, I got more and more invested within Harper and Stacey.

 I loved these two sisters and found them to be as unique apart as they are together. Stacey is the brain and loves science, taking after her grandfather who was an astronaut back in the day. Harper took to her mother’s Susie Homemaker lessons to heart and has more of a nurturing gene than Stacey does but its getting hard for Harper to keep up with all the rules her mother installed in her about her home and everything. Sometimes, as Harper finds out, life won’t blow up if you get a take-out pizza or don’t make meals from scratch. Susan Mallery has a way of creating some amazing characters that I can relate to and with all the characters in the series, I loved each and everyone of them immensely. They are life-like and it doesn’t take me long to wonder if I could meet them in real life one day and go for coffee. Add in some amazing secondary characters such as the sister’s mom, Bunny, the sleazy ex of Harper’s and Harper’s daughter, Becca, adding teenage angst even as life tosses lessons to her in the form of Lucas. With each introduction of characters, the story doesn’t feel overfilled with competing characters but a close-knit family that you can’t help but fall in love with.

SISTERS LIKE US is a wonderful story about family dynamics, even as the sisters try to meet their mother’s high expectations about how they are to live their lives, even as life has shown them, sometimes you just have to wing it and hold on for the ride. I loved SISTERS LIKE US and can not wait to see where the author goes in this series. If you enjoy a story filled with family drama, romance that turns into something much more than expected then you will enjoy reading about Mischief Bay and all its quirky residents there. I highly recommend reading from the beginning of the series to get all the back characters stories who show up here in SISTERS LIKE US. A wonderful addition to the series and one I plan to read again soon.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement

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