The Space Between Sisters

Mary McNear has just the slightest bit of edge to her women's fiction that keeps it from veering into Lifetime Movie territory. It's admirable (and almost heretical) that one of the book's heroes is a divorced dad whose marriage broke up because basically love just wasn't enough when he and his ex wanted different things out of life. Nobody is demonized or judged for their choices - how refreshing!

The over-achieving, organized neatnik sister and the Holly-G0-Lightly sister who flits from man to man and job to job is a combination that has been done before, but McNear clearly shows both the love and the frustration, and the difficult childhood that led to their diverse paths.

The book loses one star for an unrealistic (IMO) recovery from childhood traumatic experience that Poppy experiences just from telling her story to the hero. It's not that easy, people.

But overall, The Space Between Sisters is enjoyable women's fiction with interesting secondary characters and a distinctive setting.