My Bookshelf: Twilight at Blueberry Barrens by Colleen Coble

“I need you to keep these girls safe…”

Kate Mason has devoted herself to caring for her family’s blueberry barrens. But after her fields stop producing fruit, she’s forced to come up with alternative ways to make a living.

Renting out the small cottage on her property seems and obvious choice, but it won’t be enough. When entrepreneur Drake Newham shows up looking not only for a place to rent but also for a nanny for his two nieces, it’s almost too good to be true. And maybe it is—because Drake brings with him dangerous questions about who might be out to kill his family.

The more time Kate spends with Drake and the girls, the more difficult it becomes to hide her attraction to him. But a family crisis isn’t exactly the ideal time to pursue a romance.

Meanwhile, Kate learns that her uncle—in prison for murder—has escaped. Add to that a local stalker who won’t leave her alone, and Kate is looking over her shoulder at every turn. With threats swirling from multiple directions, she wonders if her blueberry fields will ever flourish again…or if this twilight is her last.

Twilight at Blueberry Barrens is the third book in Colleen Coble’s Sunset Cove series, coming after The Inn at Ocean’s Edge and Mermaid Moon. I really enjoyed both the previous books in this series, although Mermaid Moon was my favorite, so I was pretty excited for this novel. I have to say, the mystery aspect of this story was fantastic. I had no idea what in the world was going on the whole time! I had my suspicions, and was right on one of them, but there were so many aspects to this story I was so confused about who was behind it all and therefore had to read it as quickly as possible so that I could figure it out.

Kate Mason is a character I didn’t have to figure out how to love, and I was so glad for that. In fact, I already knew I loved her because I got to know her a little bit from the first novel, and I was already so sorry for her and all that she had gone through, but I loved her because she was able to rise from the ashes and be a happy, full of life, and passionate woman! Of course she had her flaws, and couldn’t even realize her own worth to others, but she was still a super sweet character who made the perfect heroine for this story, and the perfect match for Drake Newham.

Drake Newham was also an easy character to love, especially because he was super sweet with the way he took his orphaned nieces in and cared for them. His determination to find out the truth of his brother and sister-in-law’s deaths was also something that endeared me to him, and what really put me over the edge was the way he truly loved Kate and worried for her well-being toward the latter half of this novel.

Unfortunately, there were a few things about this novel that I actually didn’t really love all that much. It was a little slow going for me at the beginning, and wasn’t as well-written as I would have liked, and it really bothered me how the—or one of the—“bad guys” in this book fit into the story. I would have enjoyed it more if he had a bigger part leading up to the big reveal at the end, but I still did like the fact that there were so many different threads to this story. Kate had trouble stalking her at every corner, and Drake was inviting trouble as well with his work on the mystery of his brother’s death, so there was lots going on to keep me happy. I just wish I could have known more about Drake’s situation and his brother’s death.

All in all, however, I did really enjoy this novel, and I can happily give it four out of five bookshelves. I will say that Mermaid Moon is still my favorite of the series, but I did love the fact that I got to reacquaint myself through this story with both Claire and Luke from the first book, and Kevin and Mallory from the second. They were all featured at least once apiece in this novel, and that made me really happy. So did the mention of a character from one of my favorite author’s novels! Colleen is apparently close friends with Denise Hunter, and one of her characters is mentioned in this book and I absolutely loved that! Fortunately I can say I definitely enjoyed this novel and I highly recommend it, and I can’t wait to see what Colleen has coming next!

Happy reading!

To see where I’m linking up, check out my Where I Party page.

All credit for the italicized synopsis goes to Colleen Coble and Thomas Nelson Publishing.