Barefoot Season

Barefoot Season is the newest release from author Susan Mallery. From the back cover.~

Product Description

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.

I’m a big fan of Susan Mallery’s books, and was excited to get a chance to read Barefoot Season early. I have to say, I liked Carly much more than Michelle at the beginning of the book. However, as I read more and more about each of their lives, I came to respect and like them both. Both Michelle and Carly have been put through so much in their lives.

I’ve come to expect lots of emotion when reading books from Susan Mallery, and she totally delivers with Barefoot Season. The initial turbulence between Michelle and Carly gets better the more the two women are around one another. The betrayals that occurred in their past seem to become much less important as they work together to save the Inn and the only real home either woman has had for years.

Not that it is all sunshine and daisies. Both women had hurt the other in the past and Michelle is dealing with some serious PTSD issues. Add in trust issues for both women, and you have drama all over the place. I did like watching Michelle and Carly become not only friends again, but even allies against those people who didn’t have their best interest at heart. I also fell pretty fast for the men who came into both Michelle and Carly’s lives. Jared and Sam were both so strong and patient when it came to the women they wanted to have in their lives. While I think the relationship of Michelle and Carly was the one that grew and was really the most important one to this story, I loved watching each woman find the right man.

I was lucky enough to get an early copy of Barefoot Season from NetGalley. The actual release date is set for March 27, 2012.