The Shadow Sister by Lucinda Riley

I think I have to add Lucinda Riley to my favorite author list. This is the third book of The Seven Sister series and I absolutely loved it. Every book I read in the series I seem to love even more than the last one - and I am certainly reading them faster, even though they each have nearly 500 pages. This one I could not put it down until 3:30am, and then I got up and finished it that same morning. What a great storyteller! And I love the blend of historical figures and fictional characters.

The Shadow Sister is about the third sister, Asterope, also known as Star. She is extremely close to the fourth sister, CeCe. Too close. Star has lived her life in CeCe's shadow, thus the name. ;) CeCe and Star have always traveled together. Money appears to be tight for them since at the beginning of the book they are both 27 years old and living in a cracker box apartment, sharing the same bedroom. CeCe realizes that Star is getting tired of traveling the world and would like to settle someone. So CeCe buys a very nice apartment in London for them to live in, but still sharing the same bedroom. Star is being smothered and tries to figure out how to extricate herself from her co-dependent relationship with CeCe.

An extremely reluctant Star finally reads the letter her adoptive father (Pa Salt) left her at his death, which gives her clues about her birth family. The letter leads her to a book store that sells old, rare and expensive books. She becomes friends with the owner, Orlando, who is a kind but very unique individual. He offers her a job, which she accepts, and then she quickly gets involved with his family members (cousin Marguerite, nephew Rory, brother Mouse). 

Star's ancestral connection is Flora MacNichol, a strong and independent woman who lived in England 100 years earlier. Flora becomes friends with Beatrix Potter (author of children's books) and actually lives with socialite Alice Keppel and her family for awhile in London. (Alice was the mistress of King Edward VII.) Flora and Star both make sacrifices for their sisters' happiness over their own. They both uncover secrets about their parentage, which sends their lives in a different direction than they expected. Both women fall in love, but love is complicated and sometimes messy.

Again, Lucinda Riley is a superb storyteller. She is detailed in her historical facts and her fictional characters are well developed. I am happy that I still get to read four more books in this series. I know there is an underlying storyline throughout all the books, which intrigues me, but I also enjoy learning about each of the sisters, their personal lives and their heritage.

Wendy's Rating: *****