Reading a Susan Mallery book after so long was like coming home to a warm hug. The story was about three women closer than most friends, sisters bound by their hearts.

Sophie lost her factory in fire, so she moved home to Blackberry Island to be with her family Kristine, who was a stay at home mom but had her own dreams which were yet unfulfilled. Heather wanted to break free but her mum had an emotional hook into her.

Being down with fever, I needed a book which would distract me from my aches and pains. And this book was perfect for me. It was absolute fun to read about the three women and the nitty-gritty parts of their life. I loved being the voyeur peeping into their lives. It certainly was more interesting than mine on a good day.

Susan Mallery has written a tale enveloped in warmth and love. I could feel the love between some of the characters, there was a genuine bonhomie between them. The women were varied in their nature, but kind at hearts. I loved the different characteristics inbibed into them. They were colorful, clear-headed, independent, wanting to be independent, and one was a downright parasite. Emotions ran through them at the various circumstances.

Overall, the book made me happy and kept me engrossed through my entire afternoon.

Sisters by Choice by Susan Mallery
Blackberry Island #4

Mixed feelings on this book. The writing was excellent and the issues believable but I really had trouble relating to some of the characters and the issues they were facing. I think that it might have been too laden with negative issues that had to be dealt with and provided too little happiness and light to be one of my favorite books by this author.

My thoughts:
* Amber was awful – she was petty petulant and perfectly horrid in her way of treating everyone and that included her daughter
* Sophie was hard to relate to – she was driven, unable to trust, a micromanager and rather immature – wasn’t sure what Dugan saw in her
* Kristin had a dream – organized, efficient, great mom and wife but unfulfilled. Pursuing her dream had the potential of derailing all she held dear – was it worth it?
* Heather was trapped – her mother the mooch took and took and kept her tied down – would she ever get away?
Jaxsen – flawed but Kristine loved him and he loved her – if he could get his head screwed on straight and then communicate with Kristin – well – they might have a future that was better than their previous years together
* Dugan – a hunk and a half – really do not see what he saw in Sophie but liked him as a book boyrfriend
* Supporting characters were great: Maggie, Eliot, Tina, Bear, the three sons of Christine, Lily & Mrs. Bennett.
* I think I was expecting a more upbeat story...and this left me a bit unsettled.

Did I enjoy this book? Yes & No
Why no? It didn’t make me happy...left me feeling unsettled with a HFN feel at the end
Would I read more by this author? Yes

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin - Mira for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4-5 Stars

As a long-time fan of Susan Mallery's books, I was excited to receive an ARC of "Sisters by Choice." Unfortunately, I do not think this book holds up to Mallery's high standards. The main character was very unlikable, and I wasn't sure why the reader should even like her, let alone root for her to succeed. Thankfully, several of the auxiliary characters were more enjoyable to read about. Also, several of the relationships in this novel had very immature "obstacles" to overcome. Overall, this book was fine, but not as good as Mallery's previous books.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Sisters By Choice takes us back to Blackberry Island and tells the stories of control-freak business woman Sophie, her cousin Kristine and niece Heather. Each woman is at a different stage in their life and in their various ways trying to exert a bit of control (or in Sophie's case a lot of control) over their future and they don't seem to be able to see how they allow their feelings to sabotage their lives. The reader is drawn in, and I'm sure many of us think we wouldn't let that happen to us and yet we do - all the time! That's what makes Susan Mallery's books so readable - we identify with the characters in some way.
I enjoyed this book and was rooting for all the women to find their own way. An enjoyable read.

I really should know better than to start one of Susan Mallery's books before bedtime. I'll just read a chapter I say because it's 11:30 at night and I need to sleep. Then I get sucked in and I end up going to bed at 4:30 a.m. because I have to finish the book. These are the types of stories that draw you in and make you want to find out what happens to everybody.
These intermingled lives that she creates for her characters are so well thought out that it's like you opened up a little peek into the small town life and taking the roof off and watching someone's family. Sophie is dealing with the unexpected and moving back to Blackberry Island was not on her agenda. Starting over is hard especially for a control freak. And she takes control to a whole new level. but we get to watch her grow and learn from her mistakes while she finally comes to terms with who she is and what she's willing to accept.
Heather is so focused on getting off Blackberry Island, she has trouble getting out of her own way. Having to deal with the horrid mother, I'm sure you'll be fully irritated with Amber by the third time you hear her talk. Yet Heather want so much more for her life and she's a genuinely good person despite her parentage. Hopefully in the future we'll get a more full story on her as she grows up.
Kristine is the quintessential stay at home mom she seems to have everything together and runs her house like a tight ship. Hid under the surface there are cracks. And she's finally taking a stand to become the person she wants to be. Because it's okay to want be more then a wife and mother. Be the role model that shows your children how to be a better person.
These three very different yet equally strong women deal with the pulls of gender roles, being an independent woman and dealing with the fallout that can come from focusing on what you want and making it happen.

Typically I adore Susan Mallery's novels and look forward to each new release. Sadly, I am not a fan of this book. The characters are self-absorbed, flat and difficult to root for. I really like a sense of community and a tight-knit group of characters who pull together but I'm just not feeling it in this book. The cat empire subplot is boring and Amber is hideous, even if she is fictional. Marital stress is never fun to read about, especially in a romance novel, and the subplot involving Jaxsen and Kristine just makes me sad. Thanks for the opportunity to read this ARC. I will not be posting my review.

Susan Mallery has written a wonderful concept with this book! I have cousins that I could totally put in this with me and relate to so much of the story lines! Sisters By Choice was another wonderful book in the Blackberry Island series.

I really loved the depth of this story and the different life lessons and things that make you think…
“The flight attendants always tell you if there’s a drop in cabin pressure, to put on your mask first, then help others. You can’t save others if you’re dead.”
“That’s blunt.”
He shrugged “Maybe, but it’s also true. Save yourself….”

I loved the characters in this book, especially Kristine! I loved her strength and courage to go after what she wanted and (trying not to spoil…) her storyline soooo much! The whole dynamic of the characters were the great blend! The humor, banter, relationships, and setting were perfect! I could never imagine working for Sophie (HAHA) and I loved Dugan! I would totally recommend reading this! 4.5 Stars

Sisters By Choice is the newest book of Susan Mallery. I love Susan Mallery books because she is always able to write female characters. She allows you to see the characters whole with their flaws, foibles, and goodnesses. The care that she puts into each character shows you how much she wants you to love her stories. This is the fourth book in the Blackberry Island series.

Sophie, Heather, and Kristina are sisters by choice. They are cousins that grew up mostly together and have come to rely on each other for help. Sophie's cat supply company caught fire and she has come home to Blackberry Island to start again. Kristine has always wanted to run her own bakery. Right now, she runs it out of her house in between doing everything for her family. It's time for her to expand, she can only hope her family will understand. Heather's mother Amber is a bloodsucker. She has managed to suck Heather's savings out of her more than once. Heather has taken care of her mother since she was 16 years old. It is time for her to leave, but how will she leave her mother knowing her mother can't take care of herself. These three women help each other to find solutions to their questions. Each has the opportunity for growth and tries to take it with both hands.

I'd loved the story. I loved Sophie's “friend” that found her. I thought Sophie was a great character. She obviously is on the autism spectrum but that made her even more endearing. I felt bad for Heather being saddled with her mother and always having to take care of her. What a burden for young adult! Kristine was another favorite character with her three boys and her husband (who is perhaps with a little caveman-ish). As far as I'm concerned, Susan Mallery has written another hit. Sisters By Choice by Susan Mallery is a wonderful read.

My first time reading Susan Mallory, though this is the 4th book in this series ( I didn’t even know), it can be read as a standalone.
A fire takes Sophie’s successful business. She returns to her hometown to rebuild. Cousin Kristen is a happily married mom to 3 boys. Amber the oldest of the 3 cousins and mother to twenty year old Heather. They all have flaws and issues to deal with. Goals are looked to be met but success is so much better with help from friends and family. Though there are some frustrations as advantages are taken. Sometimes you just have to let it go and go forward, to avoid the standstill.

I loved this book!! Great story!! Wasn't confused by not reading the other book in the series!! Will read the other books in the series!! Love this author's books!! Received this book from harlequin- Mira ( u.s. and canda) from netgally!!

Sophie, Kristine, and Heather are three women with goals- different goals but goals they are working hard to meet. Sophie owns her own company but she's destroying all the best of it because she's a control freak-until she meets Bear, who is willing to stand up to her and Dugan, who is more than a tai chi instructor. Kristine wants her own bakery but her husband Jaxson is a dinosaur. Heather has to deal with her hateful mother Amber and feels she can't escape to go to college. If there's a flaw here, it's Amber who appears to have serious mental health issues (it goes beyond an unwarranted sense of entitlement). My other quibble is with the ease with which Kristine dealt with Sophie over a secret between Sophie and Jaxson. Regardless, this is a good read, I cared about the characters, and best of all I learned something about the market for cat stuff, marketing in general, and setting up a business. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. I'd not read Mallery's other books but I'm going to look for her again.

If you're looking for a good read, you can't go wrong with a book by Susan Mallery. Three cousins, Heather, Kristine, and Sophie, are at a crossroads in their lives and how they meet challenges and grow is the main focus of this story. I loved how their lives and stories are interwoven and how they triumph in the end. Sisterhood at its finest. Highly recommended.

Sisters by Choice by Susan Mallery is a great escape. Each of the women has their own struggles and you feel like they are women you would be friends with. And it is also so easy to see what they should do from the outside looking in.
Sophie was the workaholic that had built her own empire, watched it go up in flames and then is trying to rebuild it. There were sooo many great supporting characters for her story; from the warehouse manager, the marketing director and her yogo instructer non boyfriend. I thoroughly enjoyed his character and how he had the confidence to go head to head with her and no when to pull back.
Kristine was that perfect stay at home mom that felt guilty for wanting more. I could not help but cheer for her and want her to get her dream. There were some great scenes between her and her boys that were beautifully written to show how special their bond was.
Heather, bless her heart. You just wanted to shake her and tell her to pack her bags and leave.
I don’t consider myself a fan of women’s fiction; but if this is women’s fiction, I am in.
Sexual content – 2.5 physical scenes with no feelings,
Drinking – some casual drinking
Language – I dont recall language

I received this book from Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review.
You can see my full review at More Than a Review dot com where I rate the level of sex, violence, language and drug/alcohol use in books.

When I started I was enjoying it. Then, it became so boring and repetitive. It could have been a short story and would have been enjoyable. I became very tired of reading, I can't open a bakery, I can't love Dugan, I can't leave my mom. Then in the end, of course, they could and did.

In Susan Mallery's Sisters by Choice, the 4th installment in the Blackberry Island woman's fiction series, this beautiful novel deals with three women who grew up together in California and live on Blackberry Island. They all have to do with difficult choices in their lives and becomes closer as sisters in the same family. For Sophie Lane, when her business went up in flames, she moved to the island and became closer to her cousins Kristine and her second cousin Heather. From there, she had to start from scratch to rebuild her business and learned how to let go of being too controlling of her business and let people help become a success. She also helps Kristine and Heather with her own issues, while she deals with her relationship with Dugan Phillips, a Tai Chi instructor who has a secret past. But while she loves to make love to him, she has to let him into her heart and learns to love him if they want a relationship. Her cousin Kristine Fielding, who's been married for sixteen years to Jaxsen, has always wanted a business of her own. For once, besides being doting wife and mother to three boys, she wants something more. And her husband Jaxsen had put his foot down by standing in the ways for her dreams. Will their marriage survive or fall apart at the seams? As for Heather, she's been always taking care of her mother who's been injured in a car accident. She had done everything she wanted and paid for everything while her mother complained, did nothing, and would never change. And when her grandmother wishes to sell her mother, Heather needs to make a touch decision. Stay trapped on the island or go to college to set her free? The choice is hers.

Susan Mallery brings all the feels with Sisters by Choice. I'm in love with this book. I love how each of the ladies go through so much change and get stronger from it. Sophie you just feel for her as she is starting all over back in her home town. She has her family around her but it's both for the good and well not exactly bad but close too it. You will see what I mean as you read this one because I'm not going to say more on it. I love how she changes from the control freak workaholic to an almost more relaxed and balanced person. She has a lot of help along the way with this one and you will just love Dugan for her. Then there is Kristine. She is this fabulous mom who is just trying to add more to her life. The struggle she goes through you feel in your heart. You want to yell and scream at her husband Jaxsen at times too. You get the whole picture as you read on and I love how Susan Mallery gives you the full picture slowly. You will just love how everything comes together. Lets not forget. Heather and her mother Amber. You just want to take Heather in your arms and tell her it is okay to go. I love the changes in Heather and with the support from Kristine and Sophie she grows so much. Amber you just want to say grow up already. But I think most of us can relate to knowing someone like Amber from somewhere. This book is all family and the trials of the ups and downs. The support and the bond these ladies have is truly amazing. I loved this book so much and couldn't put it down. I love everything Susan Mallery throws at us.

Favorite Quotes:

“I’ll be fine. You have eight kids to deal with. They would die without you.” Kristine laughed. “It’s three kids.” “When I visit, it feels like more.”

He sure was pretty, she thought absently. He must work out a lot to get shoulders and arms like that. Given the fact that the Lord gaveth and tooketh away in equal measure, she could only assume he had the IQ of a tree stump but that was okay. Sometimes pretty was plenty.

“You’ll be fine,” the woman added. Sophie nodded because curling up in a ball and keening didn’t look good on anyone.

It’s hard to be smug when you figure out the rest of the world is just as smart as you.

“From what you’ve told me, your mother took a difficult situation and made it worse.” “It’s a gift,” she said lightly…

“I hate it when you’re right.” “Then you hate it a lot.”


My Review:

I waffled a bit in how to rate this clever women's fiction story of friendship and family drama as a lot was going on and there were elements and characters I adored, and others – well, not so much, and still others… not at all. But every family has at least a few of those not so much and not at alls, although, unfortunately, the majority of those within my DNA grouping seem to fill those last two categories. So the feelings toward those exasperating characters were all too familiar and annoying, but that is where the similarities end as this story was vastly more amusing, intelligent, cleverly staged, and attractively populated than those trying travesties of familial gatherings of my laboriously suppressed memories. Sigh, if only…

The engaging storylines were perceptively written and highly entertaining and were peppered with sassy banter, clever quips, witty wordplay, and humorous observations. I was completely enamored, besotted, and intrigued by the sexy Dugan who was so wise and insightful he was practically mystical.

I have enjoyed every Susan Mallery book I’ve ever picked up and truly revel in her wit and levity. I always seem to learn something interesting and useful from her books. This time she taught me quite a bit about marketing, and business plans, and unlike my deadly dull Econ course during college, it wasn’t painful at all ;)

Susan Mallery is one of my favorite authors. She is such an amazing writer weaving some of the best tales of romance and family tjat I have read. This one shows how important family is.

**thank you so much for thr opportunity to revire this book**

Cousins by chance. Sisters by choice. Heather, Kristine, and Sophie's relationships with one another are more than their familial ties. Told from the perspective of the three women, we learn about each one's struggles and how they support each other. Each one is searching for something and struggling with inner demons to overcome.

I have been a Susan Mallery fan since I was in high school many moons ago and I like the way she intertwines the lives of several women to give us different perspectives of well-developed characters and storylines. While this book is listed as "Blackberry Island Book 4," the location is all that ties this book to the others in the series.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Susan Mallery returns to Blackberry Island. Sophie returns to her roots when her business burns down in California only to find her sisters by choice an important part of her life. ARC from NetGalley.