I’m a huge fan of Maisey Yates and her romance books. This is the first time I tried one of her women’s fiction stories, this being her second such story. Her first, Secrets from a Happy Marriage, I have acquired but not yet read. I’ll admit, I was hesitant to try her in a different genre. When I was invited to participate in the blog tour for Confessions from the Quilting Circle I figured it was time to give her other side a shot. (CW: physical and sexual abuse, women’s health issues)

I wouldn’t say I’m disappointed, because I’m not. Yet I also wouldn’t say I’m all in on this genre for this author. One of the things Ms. Yates does beautifully in the many romance genre books I’ve read by her is fill her stories with emotions. She really knows how to get to the heart of the matter and have me feeling pain, anger, love, lust, happiness, joy right along with her characters. She knows how to show and not just tell a story. I didn’t feel that was something that was consistent in this story.

As much as I love a great romance, I also love a story about women holding each other up. Friends, sisters, coworkers, etc. Reading about women knocking down their walls and being real with each other always helps me to feel empowered. That was something I enjoyed with this story. Not only did the three sisters rebuild their relationship with each other, but they also came to understand their mom in a much deeper way. Lark, Hannah, Avery, and their mom Mary all had a journey to take in order to embrace their true selves, and they all did that. That’s exactly why I think many people will love this story and I will still be recommending it to those I think will really feel this story in the way it was intended.

While I’d love to leave it at that, I feel that there are some issues I should address. I know you may be sick of hearing me say it, but I’m a timeline stickler. Because this story follows many characters, more than the sisters and their mom because of old diaries found, there is a lot to keep track of. It’s not a chore, I never felt lost. But because I notice the passage of time in books, I did realize that the stories didn’t always mesh correctly to the passage of time and it annoyed me. As I always say, this may not be an issue for anyone but me. But it happened often enough for it to rankle.

When it came to the part of the story that dealt with physical abuse, I felt the author did a great job of laying out the thoughts the abused party would be having as to why she stayed, how things would be if she left, etc. I know more than not having a place to go or not having the means or support to go are not the only issues that keep people in abusive relationships. And I would assume there are people who were able to leave such relationships with no repercussions. Yet, I felt the character got out of the relationship a bit too easily. Not emotionally, of course it was difficult emotionally for all involved. It just seems like so many steps were missing in between. And maybe I shouldn’t even be speaking on this matter since I’ve not been in those shoes. I just felt it was such an important story to tell, yet seemed to be overshadowed by so many other things. Not quite tied up with a pretty bow, but almost.

This was still a wonderful read, it just wasn’t a story in which I felt I was fully immersed. I’ll still eventually try this author’s previous women’s fiction book. And I’ll definitely continue reading about her sexy cowboys and strong-willed cowgirls. Plus, as I mentioned earlier, I know some people who will find this book to be right up their alley. So I’ll be recommending this book even if it fell a bit off the mark for me.

**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**

You can find an excerpt from this story on my blog, All In Good Time.