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 … 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.
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Just loved this book! The two male love interests were well-conceived and delivered, and the inciteful way the author built their profiles was excellent; the way they interacted with the female lead was realistic, as she began to understand them as well as herself on many levels. Most of all, I enjoyed the unveiling of the mysterious benefactor. A really wonderful book.
It was a bit confusing in the beginning, but I loved it.
A good read
The characters are well developed and make readers ponder how the decisions we make effect not only us but our personal relationships when loving and caring for others.
I enjoyed the characters and the journeys they took. I thought the end wrapped things up a little too quickly but it was still satisfying
Ill’ be Your Blue Sky, Loved this book, hooked by the first chapter and it just kept getting better and better. Will definitely be reading more by this author. Highly recommend.
Not expecting any of it. Excellent book.
This book has a lot of plots in the book right up to the end. I had no expectation of the ending. I am glad someone wrote about a person helping other women.
This book by Marisa de los Santos was true to today’s culture. She’s and exceptional writer for getting and keeping your interest. I have read the first two books of this series and loved all three. May she write many more to delight me.
The best book book I have read this summer!
Might be one of the best books I have ever read. I loved the characters so much I didn’t want the book to end.
I loved the book! You should read it!
This is a great book. It continues the story of Clare Grace, now a young woman about to be married, and also takes the reader back in time to another couple who are just married and very much in love. Anyone who loves a good romance will love this book.
Couldn’t put it down! LOVE everything by this author! Her characters are quirky, well developed and totally believable. Stories, always compelling, thought provoking and realistic. The only thing about her writing that I hate is that the stories have to end. She writes the kind of stuff that you just want to go on and on………GREAT READ.
It was the title which caught my imagination. I had no idea where I was going when I picked up this book, but I went along for the ride and am very glad I did. A women meets an older woman on her wedding day. A few weeks later, the older woman dies leaving a house to the younger woman. Why would someone do that for someone she just met? Read the book and find out.
Choices are something we make every day and sometimes a voice compels us to make a choice that will literally change our lives. Such is the choice bride-to be Clare Hobbes makes when she decides on her wedding day to call off her wedding. Clare realizes that the person she is set to marry is not the right person for her as her family, friends, and her best friend Dev Tremain rally to support her decision. Little does Clare know but a guest at the hotel is going to change her life once again when she leaves Calre a special gift. As each page turns you will learn more about Clare, Devin and the wonderful older woman Clare meets and speaks to at her wedding hotel. A warm and enchanting book where everything ends happily ever after.
Enjoyed this feel good novel! The author’s prose & use of language is so descriptive & satisfying. Believable characters. Didn’t want it to end!
The weekend of her wedding, Clare Hobbes meets an elderly woman, Edith Herron, at the venue. While they only have a few brief conversations, they provide Clare with the insight and courage she so badly needs. So much that she finds the strength to call off her wedding and return home alone. A few weeks later, Clare receives some sad and surprising news: Edith has passed away and left Clare a seaside home in Delaware. Desperately seeking a place to reevaluate her life, Clare decamps to the “Blue Sky House” and there begins to learn more about Edith and the remarkable life she led. This includes the discovery of two ledgers–one depicting a list of the guests who stayed at Edith’s home when it was a beach guesthouse and another, “shadow” ledger, with mysterious notations. With the help of her former boyfriend, now best friend Dev Tremain, Clare starts to unravel Edith’s brave and fascinating past. Along the way, she starts to get closer to working out more about herself as well.
I absolutely adore Marisa de los Santos and was really excited to see she had written another book picking up on the characters first introduced in Love Walked In andBelong to Me. Both still hold a place of honor on the bookshelves of my home. Still, Goodreads told me it was nearly ten years since I’d read those gems. Considering I can forget a lot of what I’ve read a few months ago, it took a little remembering and time to get back into the characters. There’s a lot to keep track of in the beginning. Still, once I got into the groove, it was like being back with old friends.
Getting to know more about Clare–all grown up now–is lovely. You find yourself drawn to her immediately. Her finance, Zach, made me nervous from the start, and in many ways, the novel can be a little stressful, between Clare navigating Zach, learning about what Edith was up to, and just some of the general topics of the novel. I always know a book is well-written when I find myself getting nervous on the characters’ behalf.
The book generally alternates chapters between Clare and the story of Edith, the woman she meets at her wedding venue. Edith’s story mainly takes place in the 1940s and 1950s, and I found myself always wishing for more and more of her tale, as she’s a fascinating character in her own right. As Clare moves into Edith’s old home and starts to investigate the woman’s past, we learn a little more about her through Clare and Dev’s sleuthing. It’s a very effective format, and I found the book surprisingly suspenseful, with several unexpected twists and turns thrown in along the way.
Indeed, I was never really sure where this one was going. It meanders a bit and kept surprising me as it did. There are points where the sadness can be really hard and heartbreaking (in a wow, this novel is incredibly well-written and I feel as if these characters are real way). All the characters fit together so well and come to life before you–no surprise to anyone who has read a Marisa de los Santos novel before. It’s so easy to get lost in the world she creates for us. At other times, I just found myself laughing, as Clare and Dev, for instance, could just be so funny and real.
In the end, I just wound up really loving this one. I was along for the ride wherever Clare and her gang were going to take me. I loved her, I loved Edith, and now I’d wait ten years for another book without any issue whatsoever. It’s a lovely book about connections and about the family we have and the family we make. It’s about love (very appropriate that I finished it on Valentine’s Day). Thanks for revisiting these characters, Ms. de los Santos. I didn’t know I needed them again, but I’m glad you did.
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Edelweiss in return for a honest review; more at justacatandabookatherside.blogspot.com/.