I previously read and loved Barefoot Season (Blackberry Island) and Three Sisters (Blackberry Island) which are books one and two in the Blackberry Island series. I have tried to get into the Fool's Gold series but like this one better since it seems to have more depth than that series.

With this latest installment Ms. Mallery focuses on two sisters, Nina and Averill. Nina was introduced in the prior novel, "Three Sisters" as a nurse who was about to go to work with Andi (the pediatrician).

In this novel we find Nina frustrated with her current life since her mother and her partner are constantly needing her to step in and be the adult to keep them from being taken advantage of while they run their antique shop on Blackberry Island. Averil who is younger and lives in CA feels like something is missing from her life and though she loves her husband returns home to see if she can get a handle on why she is not happy. Though both sisters love each other they tend to end up fighting constantly. With Nina having to deal with her ex boyfriend coming back to town and a younger man who used to have a crush on her years ago resurfaces at the same time she finds herself fighting to stay in control.

Overall I really loved this novel. We get some welcome appearances by Andi, Boston, and Deanna from the last book but we don't really get much time to catch up with that trio. We do get several steamy sex scenes throughout the novel. Also Nina's voice was written very strong and I had nothing but sympathy for her throughout this entire novel.

Probably the weakest link in this story is the character of Averil. I honestly felt like she still at the end did not get what her behavior and actions to date were part of the problem with her and her sister and also her husband. And I didn't care for their mother at all. Some of her behavior in this story was just unthinkable and I have no idea how either daughter even managed to put up with her through the years. Though I liked the ending I didn't think that the mother "deserved" such a happy ending.

I think to make this a stronger novel it should have just stayed focused on Nina instead of switching the third person narrative between her and Averil. Also one thing that Susan Mallery always seems to put in her novels that is starting to make me laugh (probably not the reaction she wants) is that every time the hero and heroine make love she talks about the heroine seeing into the hero's "soul" when he reaches his peak so to speak. Now I don't know everything but I do know that is not possible. It's a minor thing but every time she puts that in her novels I do crack up.

I would still recommend to long-time fans who want to catch up with the characters on Blackberry Island.