3.5 stars

I’m designating this book as Chick Lit as well as contemporary romance. This story is about the women, and to a certain extent their relationship with one another, as much as it’s a romance for any one of them.

Stella raised her nieces Daisy and Bea when their mother died although she wasn’t much more than a child herself. The three of them always support each other and have had many ups and downs. Since the first few years after Stella got them out of foster care and took them in, most of their times have been up. It seems these three women have it all together and are all happy and content with their lives. As we all know, things aren’t always as they seem.

I don’t mean that in any ominous way. This is truly three stories in one so I’m going to try to break it down here for you…

After the girls grew up, Stella realized she could help so many more children and started taking in foster children. She’s also a middle school teacher. But Stella has always yearned for a baby so decided to take that upon herself to do with the help of her doctor. After all, she’s still only 40 and has a lot of love to give. Imagine her surprise when her college boyfriend, the love of her life she walked away from to raise her nieces, shows up in town. The story of Stella and Ed, as well as Ed’s young daughter, is very sweet. I don’t feel their relationship gets a very deep dive, but it’s enough for me to be rooting for them. Stella goes through a lot in this story and the author handles it well.

Daisy is the oldest and has always viewed herself as the protector of her little sister, even now as adults. She likes order and rules and has always kept herself a little removed from those around her. Even those she loves the most. Daisy and Bea ended up in separate foster situations until their aunt found out and got custody and the experience really changed Daisy. While her sister had a good experience, Daisy did not. Due to her protective nature, there’s a lot of hidden secrets that Daisy holds. Because of her nature, she feels these secrets are important so as not to burden anyone else. Above all other things, Daisy is a caretaker. When Daisy accidentally ends up fostering a little dog and meeting a kind and gorgeous man, her regulated and orderly life takes a turn. I feel Daisy’s story is the deepest one told in this book. I love her and Gabe separately and together. They help each other to grow as adults and to see the world through a wider lens. Most of my butterflies while reading this story were due to this couple.

To be honest, I wasn’t usually thrilled with Bea. She is pretty oblivious and doesn’t make the greatest of decisions. She seems to be a wonderful mom and a caring person. Yet, for all of the thoughts of others of her being vibrant and fun-loving, she seemed a bit suggestible. In her mind she had a lot of set ideas and thoughts, but somewhere between her brain and her mouth those ideas would get muddled. Then she’d wonder why nobody was “listening” to her. They actually WERE listening to her…she wasn’t clearly or concisely saying what she meant. I had high hopes for the romance that was obvious brewing between Bea and Shane, but we didn’t get as much of them as I had hoped. (I’m a sucker for friends to lovers!) I’m happy with the outcome, but wish there would have been more of these two together.

All in all, an extremely enjoyable story that I would certainly recommend to fans of stories about family and women and love.

This review can also be found at All In Good Time.