Evening Stars. Susan Mallery

Evening Stars
Susan Mallery
Published: Harlequin Mira
Date: 25th February 2014
Format: e - ARC
Pages: 368
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source:  Publisher via NetGalley

Small-town nurse Nina Wentworth has made a career out of being a caretaker. More "Mom" than their mother ever was, she sacrificed medical school—and her first love—so her sister could break free. Which is why she isn't exactly thrilled to see Averil back on Blackberry Island, especially when Nina's life has suddenly become…complicated.

Nina unexpectedly finds self juggling two men—her high school sweetheart and a younger maverick pilot who also wants to claim her heart. But as fun as all this romance is, Nina has real life to deal with. Averil doesn't seem to want the great guy she's married to, and doesn't seem to be making headway writing her first book; their mom is living life just as recklessly as she always has; and Nina's starting to realize that the control she once had is slipping out of her fingers. Her hopes of getting off the island seem to be stretching further away…until her mother makes a discovery that could change everything forever.

Evening Stars is the third book in the Blackberry Island books by Susan Mallery. I had read the first two and had been eagerly anticipating Evening Stars.  

This is the story of Nina - nurse on the island, someone who had very little childhood, she had to be the carer for her younger sister Averil and indeed their mother, who has never really grown up.  So Nina has pretty much sacrificed herself for them, and has a somewhat martyr chip on her shoulder - in the nicest of ways.  She settled for nurse - her heart called for doctor, her heart lost out.  She loved Dylan, but with some miscommunication lost the relationship.  Averil her sister, is married but returns home to sort herself out - she senses something wrong within herself but is not sure what. Averil and Nina love each other, but they sure can bicker and have bouts of 'no speaks'.

Nina is then confronted with her lost love Dylan and a dashing young pilot who steps in and provides Nina with quite a bit of 'hot sex' and seems a decent kind of guy.  Yet Dylan keeps making appearances as well and where is that going?

Throw in a mother Bonnie who is delightful, somewhat canny - makes great buys for their antiques store and her partner who balances out her irresponsible approach to many things,  and you have a somewhat interesting household. Add  in a lucky find and some moments of epiphany and finally all things work out.

I did not feel a great deal of emotional connections to the main characters, I liked them, but really I wasn't hanging out for their next moment of angst.   Sure I was happy with the way things turned out, but for me there was something missing.  Generally I love books that have the characters' growth as the centre and the romance a little more in the background, I liked this book but didn't fall in love with it as I did with the first two books in this series.

Blackberry Island 

Barefoot Season

Three Sisters

Evening Stars