With Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt just dropping, I thought I would take a moment to go over my top three books from the series. I have yet to pick up and read Atlas, but I will be soon and will do a review for it. In the meantime, though, and to get me writing something Seven Sisters related, I thought I would discuss my favorite books from the series.

General Disclaimer

As always, I do have my general disclaimer on the whole finding their birth family bit. I know the concept of the sisters searching out their birth family may have a mixed reception depending on who you talk to because adopted family is just as familial as birth families. Which is a valid observation/critique.

Now, do I think Lucinda Riley was being malicious with this concept? No. Reading the series, I never really interpreted it belittling adopted family. All the sisters still saw each other as sisters. Even after finding their birth family. Some of the sisters were closer than others, which I think is relatively normal. For instance, Star and CeCe were always close and still were when they realized that they needed time apart to explore who they are. Maia and Ally were also close and were there throughout the series to help each other out. That said, they always saw each other as family.

Reading the series, I interpreted the sisters choosing to look into their birth family as them wanting to look into their roots. To learn more about their heritage and where their family came from. They weren’t forced to do so, nor were they looking to forget their adopted family by doing so. The sisters relationship with each other stayed strong, even when they found their birth family.

With that in mind, here are my top three books from the Seven Sister series.

Seven Sisters

The first book in the series is my third favorite. If you asked me last year, I might have said it was my second. As the introductory book for the series, I thought it did a great job with introducing the premise. Maia was also a good character to start off with. While readers get to see how everyone initially responds to Pa Salt’s passing and their ensuing journeys, readers get to see how Maia viewed Pa Salt as the eldest.

Her story was probably the simplest in terms of following the set of of the series. Which isn’t a bad thing. Being the first book, I don’t think it needs to be super extravagant. So long as it sets up what it needs to, that’s okay. I also just enjoyed how it tackled her finding love again after breaking up with her ex (who periodically shows up throughout the series) and how she connected with her birth family. As well as the setting and scenery of Brazil.

With this being the introductory book, it does take time to set up. Which, while not inherently a bad thing, does take up a bit of time in the book. I just wish a little more time could have been given to Maia. The other sisters feel like they got a little more time since the only thing the reference back to from the first book is their thoughts and maybe a scene or two around the time they got the letters from Pa Salt.

Pearl Sister

I was initially going to put this as my third favorite since I couldn’t decide if I liked this book, Shadow Sister, or to a lesser extent Missing Sister as my favorite. I connected with Shadow Sister based on it being about writing and books, which are things I love. I also related to one of the secondary characters who helps Star because he had seizures, which I used to have growing up. Meanwhile, Missing Sister I loved for being centered on Ireland. However, I had mixed feelings about Merry.

However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized how much I enjoyed this book and CeCe’s story. Which cascaded Pearl Sister up to second place. I really liked how CeCe got time to become her own person and realize what she wanted. In some ways I can relate to that. I am a bit of an introvert and am learning more about myself as the years go by.

I also like how CeCe and Chrissie’s relationship starts to develop. They do end up getting together. Pearl Sister takes the time to have CeCe wonder how she feels about Chrissie throughout the book and how she wants to pursue it. Them being together would officially be official in I think it was Moon Sister or Missing Sister. However, with CeCe being the more introverted sister who was looking to find out who she was, I thought it was realistic that she didn’t have all the answers right away.

The only reason that I don’t place this book at number one is because that book left more of an impression on me. And without it, I might not have picked up the series.

Moon Sister

In my previous posts I’ve mentioned that this book was the reason that I read the whole series. The premise caught my eye while I was working. However, since it was the fifth book, I decided to read the series in order. Yes, technically, each book can be read on their own. Each book focuses on a specific sister and, outside of the basic points, readers don’t need to read the previous book to understand what’s going on in the book they’re on. I, personally, thought it was just better to read the whole series. Which I don’t personally regret in the long run.

If there’s one thing that caught my interest, it was the fact that this book focused on Romani characters. Namely Tiggy and her birth family. I’m someone who enjoys learning about other cultures because I want better understand them and be as respectful as possible. And learning about other cultures is something I enjoy learning about in general.

So I thought it was pretty interesting that Moon Sister chose to approach a Romani experience. It has been a while since I’ve read the book, but from what I recall, I thought it did a fine job when approaching the Romani characters. I won’t say it’s perfect, but I thought Lucinda Riley handled it as respectfully as possible.

That said, I won’t say it’s perfect. In some of the stuff online, namely the synopses and the Q&A use a term that has been deemed offensive for Romani people. Now the blurb on the back of the book does not use it, and since it’s been a while since I’ve read the book, I don’t remember if it did there. I don’t think it did, but I’m going to be rereading it anyways. I only mention this since, while I do give her the benefit of the doubt when it comes to intent (based on what I know right now, I don’t think she had ill intent. If I’m wrong, I will mention it), it is something I do note as a heads up.

When it comes to the book itself, I was drawn to Tiggy’s story the most when I was first getting into the series. Being the empathy of the family and an animal lover were traits that interested me. I also really liked how it approached her journey. Readers get to see what she does in Scotland and how she helps out Charlie around his home. As she looks for answers, she ends up having to be rushed to the hospital for a heart condition that ends up connecting to her birth family. She learns more about herself as well as she recovering and traveling to Granada Spain, where her family, notably Lucía, who was the relative from the past segments, lived.

If I had to critique the book for anything in general, it would be how it handled aspects of Tiggy’s relationship with Charlie. I don’t mind that they got together, but I wasn’t all that into the whole cheating miscommunication plot point. I thought it was good that Tiggy at least recognized that she couldn’t act on her feelings towards Charlie due to his relationship with the mother of his daughter. If I recall correctly, Charlie was either in the process of divorcing his ex wife or. Either way, they aren’t married by the end, which is when Tiggy and Charlie get together. And there not being an affair was a good thing (I think that’s one issue I had with some of the past segments after Maia). It’s the misconception that they were having an affair was not needed in my opinion. Rather, I think it would have been better if the relationship aspect of her story was about her realizing she doesn’t need love, accepts that she can’t be with Charlie and moves on, or if Charlie was already a divorcee and Tiggy helps him see that he’s worthy of love. That and including Maia’s ex. I don’t think he was necessary for the story.

Overall though, Tiggy’s journey, Lucía’s story, and exploring a Romani perspective was pretty interesting. It may not be perfect, but it was engaging. At least for me. I also appreciate that Moon Sister at least tried to approach a Romani perspective with Lucía and her family. It’s the book that got me into the series and I knew this was going to be one that I liked. And I did.

Conclusion

These are the three books I would consider my favorite when it comes to Lucinda Riley’s Seven Sisters series. Most of the books I would say are pretty nice, though I know the concept may not be for everyone, which I respect.

I have one book left to finish in the series, Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt. I do plan on reading and reviewing it. Once I do, I’m plannig to do a general overiew on the series. So look forward to that in the near future.