Back to reviewing this series by Lucinda Riley. Took a little break from reviewing the series since I had a few other projects in the works and I didn’t have the motivation to pick it back up. But now that I do, I’m here to discuss Shadow Sister, one of two books I would consider somewhere in the middle in terms of enjoyment, but one that I did enjoy aspects of.

General Disclaimer

While this series does involve each character finding their birth family, I do not believe that it was the author’s intent to diminish adopted families. Having read the series, I interpreted it as each daughter being given the choice to find their birth families if they so choose. With each daughter choosing to investigate their history.

Synopsis

The Shadow Sister is book three of the series and focuses on Asterope “Star” D’Aplièse, the third sister of Pa Salts (adopted) children. After the death of Pa Salt, Star and CeCe end up in England. As she investigates Flora and meets new people who will have a connection to her and her birth family, she opens herself to love and distances herself from CeCe.

Meanwhile, Flora MacNichol’s story of independence, schemes, and finding out what it means to love. Things take an unusual turn when Flora starts working as a hostess for Alice Keppel and she finds herself pulled into more than she bargained for in regards to love and her family. Including meeting a man she finds herself intrigued by.

Positives

What I enjoyed about it was it’s focus on more book and writer themes/backdrops. I am a bit of a reader and writer myself, so that was a nice touch of personality. The setting was nice too since it felt quaint and comfortable. I also liked Orlando and how he owned a book shop. Though I might not have liked certain reactions later on in the book, I did like Orlando’s character. And on a personal note, as someone who has a history of seizures, I related to him in that regard. Mouse was also an interesting character once readers got to know his story.

Flora’s story was pretty nice to. While maybe a little formulaic, I did like her character and story. I also enjoyed how she looked up to Beatrice Potter (well known children’s author and illustrator) and I believe the two did end up meeting.

Critiques

I think my biggest critique with this book was with how Star and CeCe’s personal connection becomes distant. While I was fine with them growing apart, with both characters needing to grow into their own people, I felt like there wasn’t as much communication before that point.

For me, it felt like Star wasn’t as attentive to CeCe’s feelings at times. She left CeCe to do her own thing, which was understandable in some ways, but I did feel like there wasn’t much communication between the two once Star got going with her investigating. And while CeCe was looking into some art related schooling, from what I recall, we dodn’t get to see much of her perspective on the situation. At least not until she leaves the letter for Star explaining why she left.

While I would want their relationship not to evolve and grow, it just felt like there wasn’t much communication between the two to the point where I felt bad when CeCe left Star the way she did.

Conclusion

Overall, I would give this story a six and a half out of ten. I enjoyed the setting, Flora’s story, and the side characters introduced. However, I wasn’t the biggest fan of how Star and CeCe had a falling out, and that hindered that for me a little bit.