Review: Barefoot Season – Susan Mallery

Barefoot Season by Susan Mallery
Series:  Blackberry Island #1
Release Date:  March 27, 2012
Publisher:  Mira
Source:  Provided by author/publisher
Buy the book at: Amazon 

Michelle Sanderson may appear to be a strong, independent woman, but on the inside, she’s still the wounded girl who fled home years ago. A young army vet, Michelle returns to the quaint Blackberry Island Inn to claim her inheritance and recover from the perils of war. Instead, she finds the owner’s suite occupied by the last person she wants to see.

Carly Williams and Michelle were once inseparable, until a shocking betrayal destroyed their friendship. And now Carly is implicated in the financial disaster lurking behind the inn’s cheerful veneer.

Single mother Carly has weathered rumors, lies and secrets for a lifetime, and is finally starting to move forward with love and life. But if the Blackberry Island Inn goes under, Carly and her daughter will go with it.

To save their livelihoods, Carly and Michelle will undertake a turbulent truce. It’ll take more than a successful season to move beyond their devastating past, but with a little luck and a beautiful summer, they may just rediscover the friendship of a lifetime.

This is the third woman’s fiction book I’ve read by Susan Mallery and it’s another book that proves that Susan Mallery has the ability to capture those little nuances in women’s relationship with each other.

Michelle Sanderson and Carly Williams were best friends from elementary school through high school.  But through no fault of their own, they were pitted against each other through the acts of their parents.  Then when they were working towards re-establishing their relationship a man and jealousy came between them causing a rift that seemed unrepairable.

Fast forward ten years and we have an injured Michelle returning home to Blackberry Island after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.  She’s broken…not just physically, but psychologically as well.  Coming home to the Inn she loves should be just what the doctor ordered.  Unfortunately, it also means dealing with the Carly (who now runs the Inn) and the ramifications of both her mother’s actions, hers and Carly’s past, and the ghost who haunt her from her tour.

If you’re hoping to find romance being front and center, like other Susan Mallery books, you won’t find it here.  The focus here is truly the relationship between Carly and Michelle.  It was interesting to see the hurt and anger that both woman had held onto for so long fall away when they soon learn that the other is not at all the evil bitch they remembered the other to be.  They both need to learn how to take responsibility for their part in what caused their rift and understand that outside forces (mainly their parents) also contributed.  Once they learned to forgive each other and realize that they can truly trust the other, they were able to re-establish their connection.

An emotional read that will have readers remembering those good friends who you have/had a rift with and taking a look at that relationship with new eyes.