Sisters by Choice

Sophie Lane built a cat-toy empire out of nothing, and when a fire burns it to the ground, she goes back to the one place she swore she had outgrown: Blackberry Island. Rebuilding the business is the easy part. Learning that she cannot grow anything — a company or a life — without loosening her grip is not.

Her cousin Kristine has spent years being defined by other people: wife, mother, the one who holds it all together. She wants one thing for herself, a small bakery near the waterfront, and asking for it turns out to be the hardest thing she has ever done. Heather, the youngest, watches college slip further away every time her mother manufactures another emergency that only Heather's savings can fix.

Susan Mallery's fourth Blackberry Island novel is a warm, sharp story about three women in one family who are related by blood but become sisters by choice — about the difference between the family you are handed and the one you decide to keep.