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    I'll Be Your Blue Sky: A Novel
    I'll Be Your Blue Sky: A Novel
    I'll Be Your Blue Sky: A Novel
    Audiobook8 hours

    I'll Be Your Blue Sky: A Novel

    Written by Marisa de los Santos

    Narrated by Angela Dawe and Erin Bennett

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    The New York Times bestselling author revisits the characters from her beloved novels Love Walked In and Belong to Me in this captivating, beautifully written drama involving family, friendship, secrets, sacrifice, courage, and true love for fans of Jojo Moyes, Elin Hilderbrand, and Nancy Thayer.

    On the weekend of her wedding, Clare Hobbes meets an elderly woman named Edith Herron. During the course of a single conversation, Edith gives Clare the courage to do what she should have done months earlier: break off her engagement to her charming—yet overly possessive—fiancé.

    Three weeks later, Clare learns that Edith has died—and has given her another gift. Nestled in crepe myrtle and hydrangea and perched at the marshy edge of a bay in a small seaside town in Delaware, Blue Sky House now belongs to Clare. Though the former guest house has been empty for years, Clare feels a deep connection to Edith inside its walls, which are decorated with old photographs taken by Edith and her beloved husband, Joseph.

    Exploring the house, Clare finds two mysterious ledgers hidden beneath the kitchen sink. Edith, it seems, was no ordinary woman—and Blue Sky House no ordinary place. With the help of her mother, Viviana, her surrogate mother, Cornelia Brown, and her former boyfriend and best friend, Dev Tremain, Clare begins to piece together the story of Blue Sky House—a decades-old mystery more complex and tangled than she could have imagined. As she peels back the layers of Edith’s life, Clare discovers a story of dark secrets, passionate love, heartbreaking sacrifice, and incredible courage. She also makes startling discoveries about herself: where she’s come from, where she’s going, and what—and who—she loves.

    Shifting between the 1950s and the present and told in the alternating voices of Edith and Clare, I’ll Be Your Blue Sky is vintage Marisa de los Santos—an emotionally evocative novel that probes the deepest recesses of the human heart and illuminates the tender connections that bind our lives.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateMar 6, 2018
    ISBN9780062802804
    Author

    Marisa de los Santos

    Marisa de los Santos is a New York Times bestselling author and award-winning poet with a PhD in literature and creative writing. She lives in Wilmington, Delaware, with her family.

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    Reviews for I'll Be Your Blue Sky

    4/5

    203 ratings28 reviews

    What did you think?

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    • 5/5
      I haven't enjoyed an audiobook this much in a long time. Loved the characters, storyline and narrator so much.
    • 4/5
      I liked the way the story is told in two voices and two different times. Well told with strong female characters.
    • 5/5
      This mystery/romance was fascinating, not only a great story but beautiful use of language
      I would read again in a heartbeat
    • 5/5
      Such a beautiful story, very uplifting. Also enjoyed the narration.
    • 5/5
      What an enjoyable and eppic story! Couldn't wait to get to the end! Wonderfully written.
    • 5/5
      I don’t know how I missed that this book was part of a loosely bound series – although perhaps series is too formal a word. It continues along the lives of characters from other books, fills out other characters story lines and introduces others. The book starts with the love story of Edith and Joseph; two people very much in love who build a place of refuge and peace within the walls of their house on the water.The book then moves to the present as Clare is about to get married – but she is experiencing more than cold feet. She has far too many reservations about her fiance but doesn’t feel she can just stop things at this juncture. As she worries and frets she is consoled by her childhood friend and oddly enough by a stranger; a woman who happens to be at the resort where the wedding is to be held. This woman gives Clare the strength to make her decision.As Clare goes on with her life she soon receives word that the woman she met for that one weekend has died and left her a house. Clare goes to the house, Blue Sky House – Edith and Joseph’s house – to find refuge and what she finds is Edith and her story.This is the kind of book that stays with you long after you read it. The characters are so real you feel like you know them and you want to spend time with them. Neither Clare’s nor Edith’s story really dominates as each feeds the other. As Clare learns about the history of her unexpected gift she also starts to learn about the mystery woman who so altered her life. It’s a story that is full of love and loss, passion and sorrow. but most of all happiness and fulfillment. There is much to learn from a live well lived with a person you love.I thoroughly enjoyed I’ll Be Your Blue Sky even when it wasn’t always easy to read. It covers some of the worst of relationships but yet love does triumph. One has to always hold on to that.
    • 5/5
      A really good find. Made me tear up more than once. Nicely told story about true love and home, people truly belonging together.
    • 4/5
      This story encompasses many ideas. There is mystery, abuse, murder, romance, friendship, and marriage. It takes place in two time periods, but eventually the connection between the two periods is explained. Clare is about to be married, but a stranger, sensing Claire’s anxiety, counsels her, and Clare calls off the wedding. Weeks later, Clare finds out that this woman has left her a house. Thus begins Clare’s quest to unravel the mystery surrounding this benefactor. It’s a pretty complex plot, and yet, like a puzzle, it all fits together neatly. The author is descriptive in her prose, the characters are life-like, even the ones with flaws and problems, and the plot is well put together. It’s a story that is sad yet hopeful, sad for the love that was denied, thankful for what one has, and hopeful for what is to come.
    • 5/5
      Very enjoyable book. I might have guessed at some of the conclusion but it didn't stop my enjoyment of the journey. I listened to the audiobook and loved hearing the author's beautiful words brought to life.
    • 4/5
      I had no idea this was part of a series when I picked it up. It can definitely be read as a stand-alone. A chance meeting with an elderly woman named Edith sends Clare's life careening in a new direction on her wedding day. I loved the layered portrayal of the two women, one present day and the other decades earlier. The Blue Sky House had a personality of its own. The pacing was excellent, unfolding pieces of info in the long-ago mystery just a bit at a time. I was glad the ex-boyfriend didn't steal the show in the final third of the book.
    • 5/5
      Clare walks out on her fiancé just before her wedding. Somehow, it doesn't seem right, the idea of marrying him. She meets an elderly woman just at that time. And talks with her a few other times. That woman leaves her a home. After only talking with her a few times. Taking ownership of the home, Clare discovers the history of the home and in the process discovers herself. Beautifully written and full of surprises the entire time. I cried when I finished the story.
    • 4/5
      4.5 stars.

      Weaving back and forth in time, I'll Be Your Blue Sky by Marisa de los Santos is a rich tapestry of appealing characters, an inviting setting and a heartachingly poignant yet uplifting storyline.

      Clare Hobbs' wedding is imminent when doubts begin to set in about her fiancé Zach Barfield. Their whirlwind engagement barely allowed her time to breathe let alone give serious thought to her concerns about Zach's sometimes volatile behavior. As she, her mom and her honorary mom are finalizing some last decorations, Clare finds herself listing reasons why she should marry Zach. The next day, just hours before the ceremony, Clare finds herself unexpectedly confiding in Edith Herron, a total stranger, about her misgivings about going through with the wedding. A thoughtful comment from Edith resonates so deeply with Clare that she knows breaking off the engagement is the right thing to do although the last thing she wants to do is hurt Zach.

      Fast forward a few weeks and Clare is stunned to discover Edith has passed away and left her an inheritance: a beautiful house in Antioch Beach, DE. Needing some distance between her and Zach, who refuses to accept her decision, Clare happily sets off to check out her new house which Edith named Blue Sky House. During her explorations, she uncovers an intriguing mystery about Edith and Clare enlists the help of her childhood friend (and one time boyfriend), Dev Tremain to help her figure what this puzzling information means.

      Clare is an engaging protagonist who has a solid background with a loving and involved family. She is kind-hearted and compassionate which explains why she finds it so easy to give Zach the benefit of the doubt after his angry outbursts. After their break-up, she is a little naive when confronted with his vitriol and she is a little too understanding and forgiving of his lapses in judgment and inappropriate behavior.

      Clare is taken aback by Edith's generous bequeath and she is quite curious about both Blue Sky House and her benefactress. She delights in the bits and pieces of Edith's life she discovers while eagerly exploring her new house. She easily recognizes the love Edith and her husband, Joseph, shared while living there but she is confused to learn that Edith abandoned the house back in the 1950s and never returned. Clare quickly unearths fascinating but bewildering information that she and Dev work together to untangle.

      The chapters alternate between Clare's quest in the present and Edith's life while she lived at Blue Sky House in the 1950s. Her marriage to Joseph was magical and filled with love but ended somewhat tragically. Needing an income, Edith turns Blue Sky House into a boardinghouse for vacationing families and individuals. A chance meeting with a wealthy visitor forever alters her life and sets her on a path that eventually intertwines with Clare in the present.

      I'll Be Your Blue Sky is a beautifully written novel that features a heartwarming and meaningful storyline. Clare is sometimes a little too good to be true but this does not lessen her appeal. Dev is incredibly charming and so wonderful that it is impossible not to like him. Edith is absolutely marvelous and her chapters add a depth and substance to the plot. Although several characters have been featured in previous novels by Marisa de los Santos, it is not necessary to read them to enjoy this latest release.
    • 5/5
      I read this book and loved it back in November of 2018 but somehow MISSED writing a review and now.....I need to find it and read it again because for the life of me I cannot remember what happened -- what secrets about Edith did Clare discover when she inherited her house out-of-the-blue and began investigating the history of Edith---an old woman she really did not know.
    • 2/5
      Light and predictable
    • 5/5
      Thanks to edelweiss and the publisher for this DRC. This was a sweet, touching story of love and family...those we choose and those we are born with...and how those relationships shape our choices in life.
      I loved how easily I feel in step with this story.
    • 4/5
      This is the first Marisa de los Santos book I have read, and I found out that the characters have appeared in previous books. You do not have to read the books in order, but some of the characters and their stories might be more fleshed out if you do.
      This story is about Clare and Edith. Edith is a woman that Clare meets just prior to Clare's wedding. Clare is very nervous and unsure about her wedding to Zach, and Edith gives her courage to do the right thing. Clare calls off the engagement. Zach is abusive to Clare, in his words, but not physically. Clare inherits Edith's house, The Blue Sky House, in Antioch, DE. Clare goes there to rest after calling off the wedding. Finding things at Edith's house, Clare turns to her ex-boyfriend, and still best friend, Dev, to help her on an adventure to find out about Edith and her history of helping abused women.
      Many things fall into place too easily in this story, but I still love a romantic story with a bit of mystery. I look forward to reading some of her earlier novels.
      #IllBeYourBlueSky #MarisadelosSantos
    • 5/5
      Clare was 11 years old when we first met her in "Love Walked In", which was followed by "Belong to Me", one of the very best novels I've ever read. As a young girl, Clare had been taken in by Cornelia and Teo after her father died and her mother abandoned her during a manic episode. This story takes place more than 10 years later, just as Clare is preparing to marry a controlling and very possessive boyfriend named Zach. Although her entire family had reservations about Zach, Clare had been unable to admit to herself that marrying Zach might be a mistake. When an elderly stranger, Edith, reminds Clare that she should not marry someone who makes her feel afraid, Clare finally calls off the wedding and soon after, inherits a mansion from this mysterious stranger. Intrigued and confused why Edith would leave her home to her, Clare sets her mind to learn more about the "Blue Sky House", and in doing so, finds her way back to love and herself.As with each of Marisa de los Santos' books, this novel is full of lovely language and banter, but at the heart is a wonderful, historical story about the worst and best of humanity, infused with equal parts optimism, warmth, family, and forgiveness. I never wanted this one to end and I'm sure you won't either.
    • 4/5
      Clare Hobbs, on the brink of her wedding day, meets an old woman named Edith. Though she's only just met her, Edith somehow gives Clare the courage to cancel her wedding plans to Zach, her seemingly loving yet very possessive fiance. Shortly afterward, Edith passes away and leaves Clare her Delaware house, named Blue Sky House. Surprised yet appreciative of the turn fate has taken, Clare takes the opportunity to get away from Zach and the discomfort of a cancelled wedding to explore Blue Sky House. Once there, she begins to uncover hidden ledgers and photos that pique her curiosity and she begins a quest to find more about Edith and her life. This is actually book 3 of the Love Walked In series (Love Walked In and Belong to Me being the first two in the series). I'd read both of the previous books and remember enjoying them, but it's been so long ago that I really don't remember much at all about the story lines or characters in those books. This book's main character, Clare, made her debut in book one, at the age of 11. Regardless, this could easily be a standalone book. The story alternates between present-day Clare's story and Edith's backstory, dating back to the 1950's. While I was more or less enjoying the plot line, it didn't really come together and engage me until about halfway through. From that point, it was easy to get caught up in Edith's mysterious past and Clare's attempts at piecing together this mysterious past. While I do wish my memory better served me to recall events of the first two books, just as some added family back history, it really didn't affect my enjoyment of this book.
    • 5/5
      This book will make you believe in love and its power.
    • 3/5
      Still too many characters for me to comfortably keep straight (at least in the modern day family configuration) but I hung onto the ones that seemed most important and followed them through the story. Liked the juxtaposition of the two stories, past and present, and where they intertwined, and really liked Edith's story, the house, and the concept of being someone's blue sky. As for Clare, it just goes to show how manipulators and abusers can take over the lives of even smart women.
    • 4/5
      I liked this book. However, it felt like there had been 2 or 3 books featuring these same people.
    • 4/5
      Clare Hobbs is engaged to be married, but for some reasons things don’t feel quite right. She unexpectedly meets a woman named Edith Herron on the morning of her wedding day. Somehow this stranger helps Clare find her way and follow her heart. I had a hard time finishing this book, it just did not grab me. I usually enjoy books by De Los Santos, but for me, this wasn’t a favorite.
    • 5/5
      I don’t know how I missed that this book was part of a loosely bound series – although perhaps series is too formal a word. It continues along the lives of characters from other books, fills out other characters story lines and introduces others. The book starts with the love story of Edith and Joseph; two people very much in love who build a place of refuge and peace within the walls of their house on the water.The book then moves to the present as Clare is about to get married – but she is experiencing more than cold feet. She has far too many reservations about her fiance but doesn’t feel she can just stop things at this juncture. As she worries and frets she is consoled by her childhood friend and oddly enough by a stranger; a woman who happens to be at the resort where the wedding is to be held. This woman gives Clare the strength to make her decision.As Clare goes on with her life she soon receives word that the woman she met for that one weekend has died and left her a house. Clare goes to the house, Blue Sky House – Edith and Joseph’s house – to find refuge and what she finds is Edith and her story.This is the kind of book that stays with you long after you read it. The characters are so real you feel like you know them and you want to spend time with them. Neither Clare’s nor Edith’s story really dominates as each feeds the other. As Clare learns about the history of her unexpected gift she also starts to learn about the mystery woman who so altered her life. It’s a story that is full of love and loss, passion and sorrow. but most of all happiness and fulfillment. There is much to learn from a live well lived with a person you love.I thoroughly enjoyed I’ll Be Your Blue Sky even when it wasn’t always easy to read. It covers some of the worst of relationships but yet love does triumph. One has to always hold on to that.
    • 4/5
      There are many ways to describe the person you love. Love of your life. Soul mate. True love. The peanut butter to your jelly. Your home and your heart. Or you could call them, like Marisa de los Santos does in her newest novel, your blue sky. This third novel in a trilogy, albeit one that stands alone just fine, is an examination of love and family, sanctuary and doing right.Opening in 1950 on Edith and Joseph Herron's wedding day, Edith remembers walking into the warmth and comfort of the beautiful home that her new husband has bought for the two of them in a small Delaware beach town. Joseph is Edith's soul mate, her comfort, and her anchor. He is her blue sky and their home is appropriately called Blue Sky House. In the present day, Clare Hobbes is preparing for her wedding to fiance Zach when she confides her unease about their future to her mother and dear family friend. But it isn't until the actual day of her wedding when she meets and talks to Edith, now an elderly woman, that she finds the courage to call off the wedding. Several weeks later, she discovers that Edith has passed away and left Clare a lovely home in Delaware. Why Edith left a perfect stranger her home and the mystery that Clare, helped by her best friend and old boyfriend Dev, starts to uncover thanks to a both a ledger of guests of the former guesthouse and to a cryptic shadow ledger for the same time period drive the narrative.The narrative moves back and forth between Clare's and Edith's stories. The reader discovers things before Clare does so there's some repetition in the telling as Clare and Dev slowly uncover Edith's life. De los Santos does hold back a few details from the 1950s story line so that not everything is revealed twice. Edith is definitely an intriguing character, presented as warm and understanding, and even before she meets Clare in the twilight of her life, she is drawn with a strong moral compass. Clare is very forgiving and compassionate but almost to the point of being infuriating. She not only allows Zach to isolate and suffocate her because she knows how hard he is trying to rise above his family, but she continues to try and placate him even as she occasionally fears his ability to keep his tightly controlled emotions and anger in a healthy place. Dev is magical and the reader wonders how Clare has ever forgotten this. The mystery is not terribly difficult to unravel but Edith's life is fascinating enough that this doesn't matter much. Despite the darkness of abuse captured in this story, ultimately it is one of courage and warmth, uplift and love, always and forever real love. Women's fiction fans, especially those who like a thread of historical fiction running through their stories, will appreciate this warmhearted and satisfying novel.
    • 4/5
      This novel includes characters from the author’s previous books, both of which I adored: Love Walked In and Belong to Me. I read them quite some time ago, however, and wish the author had included more background about who the characters were to refresh my memory. The family relationships are complicated, and I could have used additional reminders about how they all came into each other’s lives.In this book, the narration shifts between Clare Hobbes (in the present) and Edith Herron (in the 1950’s). Both of their stories are quite compelling. Clare is about to get married to Zach, with whom she has been for a year. When we first encounter Clare she is reciting a list of the reasons to her mom and her mom’s BFF Cornelia as to why she should marry Zach, even though it is the weekend of her wedding - clearly an ominous sign. Back in 1950, Edith has just gotten married to Joseph, a seemingly perfect man, who provides her “blue sky” even on cloudy days.As the chapters progress, we discover (not much to our surprise) that Zach is a mentally unstable jerk, and that Clare feels compelled to marry him because he wants to marry her so much, leading her to ignore her own misgivings. She keeps insisting “No one, not one person, has ever needed me like he does.” The very day of her wedding to Zach, Clare meets Edith, now much older. She and Edith have a long conversation, and what Edith says to her convinces Clare to call of the ceremony. Specifically, Edith asserts, “No one should live with someone who scares her.” This sentence was a “revelation” to Clare, because in fact, Zach does scare her, both because of his anger, and because of how obsessive he is about Clare.Edith argues, "Zach needs you. [But] what do you need?” She confides to Clare: “I know the pull of a dark, complicated man, the kind who has trouble loving anyone but you. But let me tell you this: the ones who look like home are home.”Edith also meets Dev Tremain - Clare’s former boyfriend for five years. He happens to be Cornelia’s stepson, and Clare and Dev have remained friends even after breaking up. Edith asks her why she isn’t with Dev anymore, and Clare explains: “He was my first love, from the time we were thirteen until I graduated from high school. I don’t even know if it was love the way other people mean love. We imprinted on each other more than anything else.” Edith opines: “Sounds to me like as good a description of love as any.” As to why it ended with Dev, Clare recounts that Dev went to Africa for a gap year before college. Dev didn’t see that it mattered, because, as he said to Clare: “We’re us, remember? Even when we’re apart, we’re together. Quantum locality? Electron entanglement? Remember? We’re outside the space-time continuum, Clare, where distance just isn’t. Wherever I am, I’m yours. We’ll be okay. I’d never leave it I weren’t sure about that.” But Clare fell apart. She hated that she felt so lost without Dev; that she didn’t know who she was without him and couldn’t function. So when he came back, she broke up with him so she could find herself. But “because we couldn’t stand not to be, we became best friends….” Now it is four years later and “look where it got me. Four years later, and here I am: cold feet on my wedding day, like some idiot cliche.”“Maybe it worked, the growing up,” said Edith, quietly. “Maybe it was all leading up to right now. . . . If your grown-up self took you by the hand right now, where would she lead you?”So Clare breaks off the wedding, but Zach doesn’t accept that their relationship is over; he thinks she just needs more time. Clare herself is riddled with guilt and misgivings. Then, two weeks after Clare had meet Edith, Clare learned Edith had died of cancer, and amazingly enough, bequeathed Clare a house in Antioch Beach, Delaware called The Blue Sky House. It had been uninhabited for nearly sixty years, but kept in good shape by a maintenance company. Clare takes off to see it and explore the mystery of who Edith was. And she asks Dev to help her.Working together, they solve the mystery of Edith, and Clare solves the mystery of Clare.Evaluation: Marisa de los Santos writes lovely stories with beautiful turns of phrase. It’s hard not to fall in love with her characters and with her concept of extended families.
    • 3/5
      I was supposed to get this book from Early Reviewers, but it never arrived. So I bought it on my Kindle, and I'll review it anyway. I usually love Marisa de los Santos's lyrical prose, but this book dragged. I found myself skimming long sections. It came together at the end in a satisfying manner. There are two threads in the narrative: Clare, who is unsure about her engagement, and Edith, a woman living in the 1950s. Eventually the two plots intersect, but parts of the book were scary and others just boring. It wasn't horrible, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it unless you are in the mood for a slow read with lots of meandering description.
    • 5/5
      What first attracts you to Marisa de los Santos's novel I'll Be Your Blue Sky is the gorgeous cover- a red butterfly against a blue sky backdrop, with a green plant on the bottom left corner; it's striking.The story opens in June of 1950 on Edith and Joseph's wedding day, as they enter their beautiful home. De los Santos reveals the home in loving detail, and you can close your eyes and picture each room as Edith describes it, and even smell "the sawdust and lemon oil and reckless salt wind."The home is in a beach town in Delaware, a busy place in the summer, but dreary and desolate in the winter. They have a happy life together, canoeing, photographing wildlife, and enjoying each other's company.Flash forward to the current day, Clare Hobbes' wedding day. Clare is marrying Zach, a man who appears to be her perfect match. But something is not quite right, and after Clare encounters an elderly Edith on a bench at the wedding venue, she realizes she cannot marry Zach, which at first confuses, then enrages, him.A few weeks later, Clare gets a letter from a lawyer- Edith has passed away and left her large home to Clare. Why did this happen? Clare only spoke to Edith briefly. Since she at odds, and getting away from her life might be good for her, Clare goes to the house, called Blue Sky House.Clare learns that Edith used to run a bed and breakfast at Blue Sky, but abruptly left in 1956 after a murder occured in the town. Did Edith have anything to do with the murder? When Clare finds two sets of ledgers hidden in a cupboard, she enlists her childhood best friend Dev to help her investigate.At first glance, I'll Be Your Blue Sky seems like a typical chick-lit book, two women in different times telling their stories, but it is so much more. De los Santos surprised me with Edith's story, and I found it engrossing and couldn't turn the pages fast enough.I loved Edith's strength and courage, and her relationship with the town's sheriff was touching. I admit to be a little lost with Clare's family story, there seemed to be so many people to keep track of that I was confused. When I discovered that they were all introduced in de los Santos' previous two books, You Belong to Me and Love Walked In, I immediately went to my Goodreads page to put them on my Want to Read list.I hope that de los Santos gives us another book with more of Edith's backstory, she is truly one of the more fascinating characters that I have encountered in awhile. If you like novels like Christina Baker Kline's The Orphan Train, give I'll Be Your Blue Sky a try. I recommend it.
    • 5/5
      A story that just when you think you know all the answers, better guess again, or maybe your right.We walk in two women’s shoes here, and span from the 1950’s to the present and back and forth. Through the author we really get to know Edith and Claire and the beautiful Blue Sky House, and we are left with putting the facts together.Love how the author melds these two strong women’s lives together and our journey to help the less fortunate, and in the end, find happiness themselves.I was actually afraid that Zack would do something to Claire, and I was rooting for Dev, and hope that our girl will keep her senses and really love what Edith does for her.I found this to be a really quick page turner of a read, and will read more by this author.I received this book through Edelweiss and the Published William Marrow, and was not required to give a positive review.