Title: Rainy Day Sisters
Author: Kate Hewitt
Copyright: August 4, 2015
Genre: fiction, series
Format: ebook  ARC Pages: 368

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Welcome to Hartley-by-the-Sea in England’s beautiful Lake District, where two sisters who meet as strangers find small miracles tucked into the corners of every day….

When Lucy Bagshaw’s life in Boston falls apart, thanks to a scathing editorial written by her famous artist mother, she accepts her half sister Juliet’s invitation to stay with her in a charming seaside village in northern England. Lucy is expecting quaint cottages and cream teas, but instead finds that her sister is an aloof host, the weather is wet, windy, and cold, and her new boss, Alex Kincaid, is a disapproving widower who only hired her as a favor to Juliet.

Despite the invitation she offered, Juliet is startled by the way Lucy catapults into her orderly life. As Juliet faces her own struggles with both her distant mother and her desire for a child, her sister’s irrepressible optimism begins to take hold. With the help of quirky villagers, these hesitant rainy day sisters begin to forge a new understanding…and find in each other the love of family that makes all the difference.

My thoughts:

This is another ARC that I read for review for the publisher. I read the description and knew this would make a great summer read. From the beginning, I was pulled into the story and wanted to know what had happened to Lucy to make her flee Boston.

The setting: I felt drawn to the rich details of this quaint town and landscape. I could almost smell the dampness in the air from the mist and seawater. It added brilliantly to the story build.

The characters: I enjoyed all of the characters in this book from the two main characters, Lucy and Juliet right on to the postmaster. The author created such a great community. It reminded me of Debbie Macomber Blossom Street books. The story is nothing like each other but I feel that Kate Hewitt created and developed a great cast of characters. Each having their own interesting quirks. I found Lucy, a very lovable character and found myself routing for her and her sister Juliette throughout the book. Now when I picked this book I didn’t realize it was the first book in a series. I only actually realized this when I began writing this review and when to pull the summary for this book. So I am actually pleased that it will not be a farewell to the characters I have come to like.

The story:  I found the story interesting. I love stories set in little villages or small towns and I like the idea of the close-knit community. I grew up with 4 sisters and also found I was drawn to a book about sisters. Although I would consider this a light read, the family dynamics explored in this book provided more depth to the story while pushing forward the mystery of the cause for the broken relationship the girls have with their mother.

I also really enjoyed the pacing of the story. Right from the start I wanted to know exactly what caused Lucy to flee Boston. The pacing always allowed for nice story development prior to the reveal of both her and her sister’s complete story. My only criticism is that the pacing towards the end might have been a bit rushed. Not to say that I wasn’t anxious to see how things turned out, but I think when she returned to Boston, the story got a bit rushed in terms of the pacing throughout the story. I quite enjoyed how the author switched back and forth between the main characters to give you a more complete picture of what was going on in the story.

Overall, I truly enjoyed this book and look forward to visiting Hartley-by-the-Sea in the near future once she releases book 2!

For all of my reasons above I gave this book 4 butterflies.

Happy reading!

Belinda