Having read Adele and Molly's stories, the culmination of the series with Lana's story was emotional. While Adele and Molly have reconciled, Lana has remained separated from her sisters. Lana has done well for herself, but with her remaining distanced from her sisters, it was difficult to connect to her character and identify why she chose to stay separated from her sisters.

As the story progresses, Ms Herron works her magic in drawing you towards Lana in order to create an understanding of her emotional detachment and return. There is a lot going on in this story, but I enjoyed every minute of the journey Lana took to reunite with Adele and Molly...and find her love in Taft.

This ARC book was complimentary, provided by the Publisher and NetGalley. I am voluntarily providing my honest review.

Well, there is no easy way to say this, my fellow romance book loving friends, so I’ll just be blunt. Book 3 of The Songbirds of Darling Bay series felt mostly out of tune to this reviewer. From the confusion over the final title (Goodreads has it listed as The Songbird’s Home, but Amazon and NetGalley list it as The Songbird’s Sisters) to the at times inconsistent quality of writing to one of the weirdest, poorly written bedroom scenes I’ve ever encountered, by 40% I realized I was forcing myself to continue reading.

At first, these supposedly talented like a songbird sisters felt more like squabbling over petty stuff sisters, especially Lana and Adele with Molly caught in the middle. Petty little past pet peeves that secretly bothered Lana to the point she was quick to pounce on every little thing she mentally construed as a slight against her got old very quickly. It didn’t take me long to suspect nothing was ever going to make this girl happy. In her mind, everyone was out to get her, including herself. You see, she loved to inwardly beat herself up, as well. Well, that seems to be a family trait, as Molly did the same thing in book 2. Lana always seemed to point the finger and blame at Adele, but I couldn’t help but feel it was the other way around. When that wasn’t enough, she treated Taft the same way. By 80% she does something so stupid, impulsively vindictive to get back at Taft for something he did not do that I found myself thinking she deserved the misery she loved to wallow in.

I’m not sure why the author choose to derail such a main character. Things were progressing slowly but surely in the beginning. The plot was putting into place the scene when we would finally see the main couple reunite. But then something strange happened. There was a weird flashback of them back at his place where they are working on the lyrics of a song that would become famous. I have no words to adequately express my “what the heck just happened” moment when Lana puts her pen down and … wait for it now...bites him hard on his wrist...what the heck? Then she asks if he liked it...and he offers his wrist up again. What in the Sam Hill tarnation was that about? If that was supposed to be sexy, well, it wasn’t. It felt to me like she had lost her ever loving mind or was playing out some kind of vampire fettish game. It was soon followed by one of the strangest, ill scripted, awkward bedroom scenes I can ever remember. Taft took the blame, but it was all Lana’s fault, folks.

Birdie Sweetiepie...that was the pen name Taft, the singer/songwriter hero, conjured up for Lana. All I could think of was no wonder he was buying songs off other artists. Because, face it, if that’s the best you got creative wise, you’ve missed it by a country mile. For some reason I cannot fathom, Lana loved it! Birdie, even became his pet nickname for her. Well, isn’t that just so...tweet. Sorry, the corniness must be contagious. All this had me seriously questioning if I was going to be wasting my time on this one. At almost 30%, I was hesitant to continue. By 40%, I realized I continued 10% longer than I probably should have. But I pushed on until 75% when Lana went into another tirade that had me realizing I really had just about enough of this leading lady’s mood swings.

Sure, it was pretty easy to figure out the secret Lana was keeping to herself. But I’ll be honest, I’m not fond of that particular type of drama in my romantic reads. I knew Taft would likely be the one to help her get over it. Yeah, I did want this famous country legend to make beautiful music with this somewhat equally famous music artist, but she didn’t deserve him. Not after what she blurted out at 80% into it. He might forgive her, but I sure wouldn’t.

Here’s to hoping others really enjoy this series. I appreciate the sweet, classy book covers and wish this author all the best. I just don’t think she was singing my kind of song here. Though parts of it were quite enjoyable, I need to consistently enjoy the whole storyline. Rating: 2.5 stars

Title: The Songbird Sisters, Series: The Songbirds of Darling Bay (Book 3), Author: Rachael Herron, Pages: 425, stand-alone but part of a series best read in order, singer/songwriter heroine, country music star hero, easily upset heroine, some steamy scenes, sexual assault references, just felt off at times, unforgivable moment.

Book 1 - The Darling Songbirds (Adele & Nate), Pages: 395, 3/1/16
Book 2 - The Songbird’s Call (Molly & Colin), Pages: 297, 8/29/16
Book 3 - The Songbird’s Sisters (Lana & Taft), Pages: 425, 4/4/17

(These comments are based on an advanced reader copy distributed via NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. No compensation was provided to this reviewer, nor is there any affiliation between the reviewer and author/publisher/NetGalley.)

This book by Rachael Herron made me laugh and cry. A story of sisterly love with a strong message for victims of rape. Add a great love story to the mix and you have it all. Thanks for adding another "Darling" story. Can I have another please?

good from beginning to end