I'll Be Your Blue Sky by Marissa de los Santos

I’ll Be Your Blue Sky is the third installment from Marissa de los Santos about a large blended family. I haven’t read the first two, and while this book does still work as a standalone novel, it might be better to read the other two first if only to know who everyone is. (There is one dizzying paragraph that tries to explain how everyone is connected to each other, but it probably serves better as a reminder than a primer.) This installment features Claire, a young woman who’s about to marry an overly-possessive and easily-angered man, but is having seriously cold feet the day before her wedding. A chance meeting with an elderly woman, Edith, makes her call it off, only to find out a few weeks later that not only has Edith died, but she’s left Claire her beach house on the Delaware coast. This sets Claire off on an adventure, both to figure out what she wants out of love, and also what Edith was up to by leaving her the house. There are flashbacks to the 1950’s from Edith’s point of view, and we slowly learn that the two of them are more connected than just a chance meeting. While some might complain that the ending was too pat, I thought she tied it up nicely, and the whole book was quite beautifully written.