Stories that mix past and present are very popular right now. I’m not complaining as I’m sure you realize by now I’m a big fan of historical fiction. Tying in the present is making me appreciate my own time. I’ll Be Your Blue Sky by Marisa de los Santos effectively brings past and present together in a story of love, loss and having a refuge. I thank TLC Book Tours for sending me a copy at no charge for my honest review.
About I’ll Be Your Blue Sky:
• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow (March 6, 2018)
The New York Times bestselling author revisits the characters from her beloved novels Love Walked In and Belong to Me in this captivating, beautifully written drama involving family, friendship, secrets, sacrifice, courage, and true love for fans of Jojo Moyes, Elin Hilderbrand, and Nancy Thayer.
On the weekend of her wedding, Clare Hobbes meets an elderly woman named Edith Herron. During the course of a single conversation, Edith gives Clare the courage to do what she should have done months earlier: break off her engagement to her charming—yet overly possessive—fiancé.
Three weeks later, Clare learns that Edith has died—and has given her another gift. Nestled in crepe myrtle and hydrangea and perched at the marshy edge of a bay in a small seaside town in Delaware, Blue Sky House now belongs to Clare. Though the former guest house has been empty for years, Clare feels a deep connection to Edith inside its walls, which are decorated with old photographs taken by Edith and her beloved husband, Joseph.
Exploring the house, Clare finds two mysterious ledgers hidden beneath the kitchen sink. Edith, it seems, was no ordinary woman—and Blue Sky House no ordinary place. With the help of her mother, Viviana, her surrogate mother, Cornelia Brown, and her former boyfriend and best friend, Dev Tremain, Clare begins to piece together the story of Blue Sky House—a decades-old mystery more complex and tangled than she could have imagined. As she peels back the layers of Edith’s life, Clare discovers a story of dark secrets, passionate love, heartbreaking sacrifice, and incredible courage. She also makes startling discoveries about herself: where she’s come from, where she’s going, and what—and who—she loves.
Shifting between the 1950s and the present and told in the alternating voices of Edith and Clare, I’ll Be Your Blue Sky is vintage Marisa de los Santos—an emotionally evocative novel that probes the deepest recesses of the human heart and illuminates the tender connections that bind our lives.
You can purchase I’ll Be Your Blue Sky at Harper Collins
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About the Author:
A New York Times bestselling author and award-winning poet with a PhD in literature and creative writing, Marisa de los Santos lives in Wilmington, Delaware, with her family.
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My Opinion:
I don’t know how I missed that this book was part of a loosely bound series – although perhaps series is too formal a word. It continues along the lives of characters from other books, fills out other characters story lines and introduces others. The book starts with the love story of Edith and Joseph; two people very much in love who build a place of refuge and peace within the walls of their house on the water.
The book then moves to the present as Clare is about to get married – but she is experiencing more than cold feet. She has far too many reservations about her fiance but doesn’t feel she can just stop things at this juncture. As she worries and frets she is consoled by her childhood friend and oddly enough by a stranger; a woman who happens to be at the resort where the wedding is to be held. This woman gives Clare the strength to make her decision.
As Clare goes on with her life she soon receives word that the woman she met for that one weekend has died and left her a house. Clare goes to the house, Blue Sky House – Edith and Joseph’s house – to find refuge and what she finds is Edith and her story.
This is the kind of book that stays with you long after you read it. The characters are so real you feel like you know them and you want to spend time with them. Neither Clare’s nor Edith’s story really dominates as each feeds the other. As Clare learns about the history of her unexpected gift she also starts to learn about the mystery woman who so altered her life. It’s a story that is full of love and loss, passion and sorrow. but most of all happiness and fulfillment. There is much to learn from a live well lived with a person you love.
I thoroughly enjoyed I’ll Be Your Blue Sky even when it wasn’t always easy to read. It covers some of the worst of relationships but yet love does triumph. One has to always hold on to that.
Rating:
4.5
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