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The Walshes #4-6
The Walsh Sisters
This three-book collection from the hot and heartwarming Walsh series includes The Cornerstone, Restored, and The Spire, plus exclusive deleted scenes and bonus epilogues!
The Cornerstone
A tough-as-nails businesswoman. An arrogant Navy SEAL. A power struggle with no end in sight.
Restored
Can a reformed player ever truly play by someone else's rules? Will tying the knot tie down a free spirit They're building a future, but can they ever fully demolish the past?
The Spire
Rebel, runner, recluse, rich girl.
Nine years ago, Erin Walsh ran away from everything. He's the ice to her fire, and he's willing to sacrifice everything to bring her home.
The Cornerstone
A tough-as-nails businesswoman. An arrogant Navy SEAL. A power struggle with no end in sight.
Restored
Can a reformed player ever truly play by someone else's rules? Will tying the knot tie down a free spirit They're building a future, but can they ever fully demolish the past?
The Spire
Rebel, runner, recluse, rich girl.
Nine years ago, Erin Walsh ran away from everything. He's the ice to her fire, and he's willing to sacrifice everything to bring her home.
- GenresRomanceContemporary
975 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 20, 2018
118 people are currently reading
176 people want to read
About the author
Kate Canterbary
48 books5,580 followersUSA Today Bestseller Kate Canterbary writes smart, steamy contemporary romances loaded with heat, heart, and happy ever afters. Kate lives on the New England coast with her husband and daughter.
To get in touch with Kate, please email kate@katecanterbary.com
To get in touch with Kate, please email kate@katecanterbary.com
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
February 22, 2020
The Cornerstone
After reading the Walsh Brothers Trilogy Shannon Walsh was already my favorite family member. She’s brilliant, heroic, tragic and resilient and fiercely loyal to her family. This book is aptly titled The Cornerstone because she truly is the cornerstone of the Walsh family. At nine years old when her mother dies she takes on the role of parent to her five siblings as her father spirals into an abusive hell. After years of sexual abuse by her father he throws her out of the house when she’s only seventeen and still in high school. She finds a way to finish high school, get her realtor’s license, put her three younger siblings through college, and put herself through college and law school. If that’s not enough she fronts the money for herself and her siblings to perform a coup and take over the family’s architectural firm from her father. She does everything but the actual architectural work for the firm, C.F.O. buying and selling the real estate, handling payroll, P.R. and still doing far too much for her now adult brothers like making their doctors appointments and even taking care of their dry cleaning. As I said in my review of the Walsh Brothers if they were going to chose a C.E.O. or managing partner among the siblings it should have been Shannon, not her older brother Patrick who got the title.
Shannon now in her mid-thirties has been unlucky at love. Until she meets her BFF Lauren’s older brother Navy Seal Will at Lauren’s wedding to her brother Matthew. This story was a lot of fun as these to ultimate alphas battle for the upper hand from the moment they meet. One thing they can both agree on is their sexual chemistry is off the charts as they practically destroy the cottage Shannon is staying in for her brother and Lauren’s wedding. The first challenge to their relationship is the obvious fact that Will is a Seal and a very special Seal who is always being deployed for special black ops. Missions. He’s rarely in country and when he is, he’s not in or near Boston where Shannon and her family call home. The second issue is Shannon’s inability to cut the apron strings and not be so closely involved in her adult brothers lives. She’s been the mother figure or “Bitch in Charge” as she calls herself for so long she doesn’t know who she is if she’s not so closely involved in their daily personal lives. Between her seventy hour per week career and her sense of duty to nannying her brothers she feels guilty taking any real time for herself. When her brother Sam experiences a serious health issue while she’s away for a weekend with Will she feels so guilty she breaks things off with Will. But Will has already figured out that Shannon is the woman for him and he’s not about to be dissuaded by Shannon trying to shut him out. This book made me cry for Shannon and what she’d been through and her belief that she’d never find someone who could accept her as she is and love her. But there was plenty of laughs along the way as she and Will knocked heads and plenty of steamy and mildly kinky sex. Seems Shannon and Will both like it a little rough and with a little bondage thrown in.
Restored
This isn’t a knock on this book but I really don’t know why Canterbury wrote it other than she needed a 3rd book to make this compilation a companion trilogy to the Walsh Brothers trilogy? Tiel isn’t a Walsh sister, she’s a Walsh sister-in-law. Although by this point in the story she’s been accepted by Shannon, Lauren and Andy as a full member of the Walsh sisterhood. Much of it’s sort of a rehashing of Necessary Restoration, Sam and Tiel’s story combined with events in their lives mentioned in The Cornerstone from Sam and Tiel’s points of view. Some scenes are copied and pasted right from those two books. Some of the events mentioned in those two books are given much greater detail like what happened when Tiel and Sam spent Thanksgiving with Tiel’s family. We heard it didn’t go well but now we get to actually witness what happened. A lot of this story revolves around Sam and Tiel’s attempts to start a family and Tiel’s attempts to find her career path after finally earning her Ph.D. It’s touching and romantic and of course sexy because all of the Walsh siblings and their significant others have their sex drives in overdrive and apparently are all fans of rough sex and bondage not to mention a little ass play. I did really enjoy this story. It just took some time for me to get beyond the fact that I already knew so much of it from reading previous Walsh books.
The Spire
For first five books in the Walsh Series we’ve heard mention of youngest sibling Erin and her epic feud with oldest sibling Shannon which has kept Erin from returning to the U.S. for nine years now. She emails, texts and sometimes will even talk on the phone to her brothers but it’s nothing but silence between Erin and Shannon. Well she did return for Lauren and Matthew’s wedding where she and Shannon avoided one another, never even speaking when they were unavoidably in each other’s presence. She shows up again for brother Sam and Tiel’s wedding where we’re told she even smiles at Shannon but they still never speak. At Sam’s wedding it’s mentioned that she and Walsh family BFF doctor Nick seem awfully close. In Restored Sam gives Tiel his version of what the feud is about but it’s not even close. My only problem with this story is the idea that Shannon, the family matriarch who is a born caretaker allowed nine years to go by without reaching out to Erin. Yes, Erin said and did some terrible things to Shannon but she was a very troubled teenager at the time and Shannon is smart enough to know that and loving enough to have long ago forgiven her. No doubt Erin has an extremely troubled history as a teenager. Like Shannon, her father sexual abused her and beat her and verbally abused her. One thing that never made sense to me is why Shannon even after becoming an adult and knowing what her father also did to Erin, didn’t have the man thrown in jail? Erin was full of pain, self-loathing and anger which she inappropriately expressed through self-destructive behavior despite Shannon’s best efforts to help her when she became Erin’s legal guardian when she was old enough. When Shannon is finally forced to have her committed to a psyche ward for a month after Erin’s attempted suicide, Erin says terrible things to Shannon and when she’s released moves in with Matt and never returns home to Boston or speaks to Shannon again.
Ultimately this is a story almost as much about Shannon and Erin’s reconciliation as it is the romance between Erin and Doctor Nick. Because their histories of abuse were so similar, Erin needs to know from Shannon that she can be happy, that she can love and be loved. There’s also a shocking revelation regarding brother Riley that I never saw coming.
Nick and Erin meet the night before Matt and Lauren’s wedding. Nick is immediately taken with the auburn haired, green eyed beauty who is nearly an identical twin to her eight years older sister Shannon. She’s not only beautiful but brilliant. She already has one doctorate, she’s attending Oxford and doing field research around the world to earn her second before she’s even turned thirty. Nick has heard the stories from her family. He’s heard how Erin is a wild child capable of creating chaos at the drop of a hat. But that’s not the woman Nick quickly gets to know and fall into love/lust with. They end up on a lobster boat where the captain is an internet ordained minister so they ask him to marry them the very same night they meet. Although they spend the rest of the book referring to each other as husband and wife, it’s never really clear until the end whether they are legally married. Because yeah, the guy was authorized to perform a marriage ceremony but these two didn’t have a wedding license. Since this is a contemporary romance where facts like that are sometimes ignored, I was just never sure. After a weekend of lots of sex and sharing their lives, Erin returns to Iceland where she’s doing field research and taking classes at Oxford in England for her next doctorate . For the next two years Nick and Erin carry on a long-distance romance while Nick is earning all sorts of board certifications as a pediatric neurosurgeon in Boston and Erin is trotting the globe doing field research when she’s not back at Oxford. Their actual times together are few and far between. If I’m being honest, this whole part of their story while they suffer with their long separations and Nick becomes increasingly frustrated with Erin’s unwillingness to plot out a future where they can actually be together got tedious for me. I know the author wanted us to truly feel the long separation and build the frustration but for me it got a little long. Eventually things come to a head when after Erin begins to list all of her post doctorate itinerary for the coming years that obviously doesn’t include her making Boston or anyplace her home base Nick tells her he can’t continue the way they have been. He can’t settle for stolen weekends three or four times a year that require one or both of them to travel to the other side of the globe to be together. He tells Erin that her refusal to make Boston or any where her home base has nothing to do with her needs for field research and scientific conferences and everything to do with her fear of Shannon and commitment. Erin tearfully tells Nick she can never be what he needs her to be and ends their relationship. Nick immediately regrets he allowed his frustration to drive Erin off and tries to apologize and backtrack. But Erin knows Nick really meant what he said and she feels she isn’t worthy of his love and is incapable of giving him the love he deserves so she ignores his emails and phone calls. The thing is Nick is right. Erin has allowed her guilt and fear of rejection by Shannon the only mother figure she’s ever known to prevent her from trying to close their divide. Which really doesn’t make sense at this point because several months ago Shannon had begun reaching out to Erin in warm and friendly emails. But Erin has let so much time go by she’s stuck in her pattern of self-isolation and just can’t find the courage to face Shannon. Since the book opens with Nick’s phone call to Erin telling her Shannon is having her baby and it’s time for her to come home and mend fences, by the time the story catches back up to that point you can pretty much figure out how things are going to go. The only big mystery is how do Nick and Erin make their relationship work with Nick located in Boston while Erin’s career involves traveling the world for field research and conferences? It’s a wonderful ending as Erin and Shannon tearfully reconnect, her relationship with Nick is revealed and she is welcomed into the family fold by not only her siblings but their significant others. Erin discovers she can love and be loved enough to be a wife, a sister and a friend. The lessons of this story are that people can change so you shouldn’t continue to judge them without learning who they are now and you can go home again.
After reading the Walsh Brothers Trilogy Shannon Walsh was already my favorite family member. She’s brilliant, heroic, tragic and resilient and fiercely loyal to her family. This book is aptly titled The Cornerstone because she truly is the cornerstone of the Walsh family. At nine years old when her mother dies she takes on the role of parent to her five siblings as her father spirals into an abusive hell. After years of sexual abuse by her father he throws her out of the house when she’s only seventeen and still in high school. She finds a way to finish high school, get her realtor’s license, put her three younger siblings through college, and put herself through college and law school. If that’s not enough she fronts the money for herself and her siblings to perform a coup and take over the family’s architectural firm from her father. She does everything but the actual architectural work for the firm, C.F.O. buying and selling the real estate, handling payroll, P.R. and still doing far too much for her now adult brothers like making their doctors appointments and even taking care of their dry cleaning. As I said in my review of the Walsh Brothers if they were going to chose a C.E.O. or managing partner among the siblings it should have been Shannon, not her older brother Patrick who got the title.
Shannon now in her mid-thirties has been unlucky at love. Until she meets her BFF Lauren’s older brother Navy Seal Will at Lauren’s wedding to her brother Matthew. This story was a lot of fun as these to ultimate alphas battle for the upper hand from the moment they meet. One thing they can both agree on is their sexual chemistry is off the charts as they practically destroy the cottage Shannon is staying in for her brother and Lauren’s wedding. The first challenge to their relationship is the obvious fact that Will is a Seal and a very special Seal who is always being deployed for special black ops. Missions. He’s rarely in country and when he is, he’s not in or near Boston where Shannon and her family call home. The second issue is Shannon’s inability to cut the apron strings and not be so closely involved in her adult brothers lives. She’s been the mother figure or “Bitch in Charge” as she calls herself for so long she doesn’t know who she is if she’s not so closely involved in their daily personal lives. Between her seventy hour per week career and her sense of duty to nannying her brothers she feels guilty taking any real time for herself. When her brother Sam experiences a serious health issue while she’s away for a weekend with Will she feels so guilty she breaks things off with Will. But Will has already figured out that Shannon is the woman for him and he’s not about to be dissuaded by Shannon trying to shut him out. This book made me cry for Shannon and what she’d been through and her belief that she’d never find someone who could accept her as she is and love her. But there was plenty of laughs along the way as she and Will knocked heads and plenty of steamy and mildly kinky sex. Seems Shannon and Will both like it a little rough and with a little bondage thrown in.
Restored
This isn’t a knock on this book but I really don’t know why Canterbury wrote it other than she needed a 3rd book to make this compilation a companion trilogy to the Walsh Brothers trilogy? Tiel isn’t a Walsh sister, she’s a Walsh sister-in-law. Although by this point in the story she’s been accepted by Shannon, Lauren and Andy as a full member of the Walsh sisterhood. Much of it’s sort of a rehashing of Necessary Restoration, Sam and Tiel’s story combined with events in their lives mentioned in The Cornerstone from Sam and Tiel’s points of view. Some scenes are copied and pasted right from those two books. Some of the events mentioned in those two books are given much greater detail like what happened when Tiel and Sam spent Thanksgiving with Tiel’s family. We heard it didn’t go well but now we get to actually witness what happened. A lot of this story revolves around Sam and Tiel’s attempts to start a family and Tiel’s attempts to find her career path after finally earning her Ph.D. It’s touching and romantic and of course sexy because all of the Walsh siblings and their significant others have their sex drives in overdrive and apparently are all fans of rough sex and bondage not to mention a little ass play. I did really enjoy this story. It just took some time for me to get beyond the fact that I already knew so much of it from reading previous Walsh books.
The Spire
For first five books in the Walsh Series we’ve heard mention of youngest sibling Erin and her epic feud with oldest sibling Shannon which has kept Erin from returning to the U.S. for nine years now. She emails, texts and sometimes will even talk on the phone to her brothers but it’s nothing but silence between Erin and Shannon. Well she did return for Lauren and Matthew’s wedding where she and Shannon avoided one another, never even speaking when they were unavoidably in each other’s presence. She shows up again for brother Sam and Tiel’s wedding where we’re told she even smiles at Shannon but they still never speak. At Sam’s wedding it’s mentioned that she and Walsh family BFF doctor Nick seem awfully close. In Restored Sam gives Tiel his version of what the feud is about but it’s not even close. My only problem with this story is the idea that Shannon, the family matriarch who is a born caretaker allowed nine years to go by without reaching out to Erin. Yes, Erin said and did some terrible things to Shannon but she was a very troubled teenager at the time and Shannon is smart enough to know that and loving enough to have long ago forgiven her. No doubt Erin has an extremely troubled history as a teenager. Like Shannon, her father sexual abused her and beat her and verbally abused her. One thing that never made sense to me is why Shannon even after becoming an adult and knowing what her father also did to Erin, didn’t have the man thrown in jail? Erin was full of pain, self-loathing and anger which she inappropriately expressed through self-destructive behavior despite Shannon’s best efforts to help her when she became Erin’s legal guardian when she was old enough. When Shannon is finally forced to have her committed to a psyche ward for a month after Erin’s attempted suicide, Erin says terrible things to Shannon and when she’s released moves in with Matt and never returns home to Boston or speaks to Shannon again.
Ultimately this is a story almost as much about Shannon and Erin’s reconciliation as it is the romance between Erin and Doctor Nick. Because their histories of abuse were so similar, Erin needs to know from Shannon that she can be happy, that she can love and be loved. There’s also a shocking revelation regarding brother Riley that I never saw coming.
Nick and Erin meet the night before Matt and Lauren’s wedding. Nick is immediately taken with the auburn haired, green eyed beauty who is nearly an identical twin to her eight years older sister Shannon. She’s not only beautiful but brilliant. She already has one doctorate, she’s attending Oxford and doing field research around the world to earn her second before she’s even turned thirty. Nick has heard the stories from her family. He’s heard how Erin is a wild child capable of creating chaos at the drop of a hat. But that’s not the woman Nick quickly gets to know and fall into love/lust with. They end up on a lobster boat where the captain is an internet ordained minister so they ask him to marry them the very same night they meet. Although they spend the rest of the book referring to each other as husband and wife, it’s never really clear until the end whether they are legally married. Because yeah, the guy was authorized to perform a marriage ceremony but these two didn’t have a wedding license. Since this is a contemporary romance where facts like that are sometimes ignored, I was just never sure. After a weekend of lots of sex and sharing their lives, Erin returns to Iceland where she’s doing field research and taking classes at Oxford in England for her next doctorate . For the next two years Nick and Erin carry on a long-distance romance while Nick is earning all sorts of board certifications as a pediatric neurosurgeon in Boston and Erin is trotting the globe doing field research when she’s not back at Oxford. Their actual times together are few and far between. If I’m being honest, this whole part of their story while they suffer with their long separations and Nick becomes increasingly frustrated with Erin’s unwillingness to plot out a future where they can actually be together got tedious for me. I know the author wanted us to truly feel the long separation and build the frustration but for me it got a little long. Eventually things come to a head when after Erin begins to list all of her post doctorate itinerary for the coming years that obviously doesn’t include her making Boston or anyplace her home base Nick tells her he can’t continue the way they have been. He can’t settle for stolen weekends three or four times a year that require one or both of them to travel to the other side of the globe to be together. He tells Erin that her refusal to make Boston or any where her home base has nothing to do with her needs for field research and scientific conferences and everything to do with her fear of Shannon and commitment. Erin tearfully tells Nick she can never be what he needs her to be and ends their relationship. Nick immediately regrets he allowed his frustration to drive Erin off and tries to apologize and backtrack. But Erin knows Nick really meant what he said and she feels she isn’t worthy of his love and is incapable of giving him the love he deserves so she ignores his emails and phone calls. The thing is Nick is right. Erin has allowed her guilt and fear of rejection by Shannon the only mother figure she’s ever known to prevent her from trying to close their divide. Which really doesn’t make sense at this point because several months ago Shannon had begun reaching out to Erin in warm and friendly emails. But Erin has let so much time go by she’s stuck in her pattern of self-isolation and just can’t find the courage to face Shannon. Since the book opens with Nick’s phone call to Erin telling her Shannon is having her baby and it’s time for her to come home and mend fences, by the time the story catches back up to that point you can pretty much figure out how things are going to go. The only big mystery is how do Nick and Erin make their relationship work with Nick located in Boston while Erin’s career involves traveling the world for field research and conferences? It’s a wonderful ending as Erin and Shannon tearfully reconnect, her relationship with Nick is revealed and she is welcomed into the family fold by not only her siblings but their significant others. Erin discovers she can love and be loved enough to be a wife, a sister and a friend. The lessons of this story are that people can change so you shouldn’t continue to judge them without learning who they are now and you can go home again.
October 6, 2019
The Cornerstone
LOVED Shannon and Will’s HEA. Shannon’s perspective as “Head Bitch in Charge” since she was 9 when her mother died was something I could relate to to a certain extent and how it shaped everything about her personality and character. She certainly met her match with Will, who was the perfect hero for her. On paper, they’re all wrong for each other given how strong-willed they each are but Will sees through Shannon’s mask and armour and perseveres, wearing her down. I loved that he just wanted to take care of her because no one else did.
I have mixed emotions about how the sexual, physical and emotional abuse is handled in the series because it’s never really dwelled on….we know that Sam had OCD, had suffered from bouts of depression and had seen a psychologist regularly but it mostly happened off page. In this case, we get a hint that Shannon was sexually abused by her father very early and it’s not confirmed until well near the end of the story…that he threatened to do the same to Erin. We know from Shannon’s POV that she’s worked through it in therapy and that she doesn’t have any sexual hangups about it – and when she tells Will, it was another key way that he showed her that he was different, that she could trust him to take care of her and accept her because he didn’t treat her with kid gloves….and in hindsight now, it’s a beautiful thing.
Restored
I enjoyed the super-extended epilogue that was this book to Tiel and Sam’s HEA - that they are building a life together despite their dysfunctional childhoods that works for them. We see how his relationship with his family, and especially Shannon changes, how Tiel comes to terms with her family not being a part of her life and how his family rallies around them and becomes the loving family she never had.
The rapid-fire, speak over each other head-hopping dialogue was used to great effect again in this book - I really enjoyed the chaotic mood it conveyed because being with family can be messy and there will be times you talk over each other.
Glad to see them work through their miscarriage and difficulties of getting pregnant.
The Spire
I learned in Before Girl that Nick and Erin had lived apart their first couple years of marriage and in this book I found out why - that they got married on a whim the night they met by a lobster fisherman. More of the abuse by their father comes to light and we learn that it was so bad that Erin tried to commit suicide and acted out sexually to feel wanted, having sex with her 32 yo english teacher and seducing Shannon's boyfriend, among other self-destructive behaviours. She was always running away and it was a beautiful thing when she and Shannon finally make up - brought together by the birth of Froggie - and she comes to realize that she doesn't have to run anymore.
Big surprise was to learn that Riley was in love with Lauren. That didn't come to light in any of the books before and I'm really curious to see how the keeper of all secrets finally gets over her and meets his match.
* found family
* hate you/love you
* pining hero
* long distance love
* elopement
* marriage in progress
LOVED Shannon and Will’s HEA. Shannon’s perspective as “Head Bitch in Charge” since she was 9 when her mother died was something I could relate to to a certain extent and how it shaped everything about her personality and character. She certainly met her match with Will, who was the perfect hero for her. On paper, they’re all wrong for each other given how strong-willed they each are but Will sees through Shannon’s mask and armour and perseveres, wearing her down. I loved that he just wanted to take care of her because no one else did.
I have mixed emotions about how the sexual, physical and emotional abuse is handled in the series because it’s never really dwelled on….we know that Sam had OCD, had suffered from bouts of depression and had seen a psychologist regularly but it mostly happened off page. In this case, we get a hint that Shannon was sexually abused by her father very early and it’s not confirmed until well near the end of the story…that he threatened to do the same to Erin. We know from Shannon’s POV that she’s worked through it in therapy and that she doesn’t have any sexual hangups about it – and when she tells Will, it was another key way that he showed her that he was different, that she could trust him to take care of her and accept her because he didn’t treat her with kid gloves….and in hindsight now, it’s a beautiful thing.
Restored
I enjoyed the super-extended epilogue that was this book to Tiel and Sam’s HEA - that they are building a life together despite their dysfunctional childhoods that works for them. We see how his relationship with his family, and especially Shannon changes, how Tiel comes to terms with her family not being a part of her life and how his family rallies around them and becomes the loving family she never had.
The rapid-fire, speak over each other head-hopping dialogue was used to great effect again in this book - I really enjoyed the chaotic mood it conveyed because being with family can be messy and there will be times you talk over each other.
Glad to see them work through their miscarriage and difficulties of getting pregnant.
The Spire
I learned in Before Girl that Nick and Erin had lived apart their first couple years of marriage and in this book I found out why - that they got married on a whim the night they met by a lobster fisherman. More of the abuse by their father comes to light and we learn that it was so bad that Erin tried to commit suicide and acted out sexually to feel wanted, having sex with her 32 yo english teacher and seducing Shannon's boyfriend, among other self-destructive behaviours. She was always running away and it was a beautiful thing when she and Shannon finally make up - brought together by the birth of Froggie - and she comes to realize that she doesn't have to run anymore.
Big surprise was to learn that Riley was in love with Lauren. That didn't come to light in any of the books before and I'm really curious to see how the keeper of all secrets finally gets over her and meets his match.
* found family
* hate you/love you
* pining hero
* long distance love
* elopement
* marriage in progress
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 13, 2018
The Cornerstone is set up a little differently from books 1-3, you have a prologue and then jump to the past where it all began. You still have the witty banter, heartbreaking moments, and the family ties. The time line overlaps with book 3, so it's interesting to see Shannon's thoughts and feelings on conversations and situations. You'll read new bits of conversations that are occurring during gatherings that you weren't privy to before. Things aren't always as they appear. I won't spoil anything for you, but there are three scenes I wish the author had written because I really think the reaction of the characters (specifically Matt) would have been priceless. However, this author always has a plan and does nothing without thinking it out first, so I trust that she had her reasons.
Restored is actually a continuation of Book 3 (Necessary Restorations) so it revolves around Sam and Tiel. I love the whole "sorry not sorry" attitude of these characters; the meddling nature of annoying siblings (who have no filter) you can't help but love; and the steamy relationship between the main characters. It's the whole package of love, hate, laugh, and cry that you want in a book.
The Spire, from the start the prologue alone had me yelling out, "holy XXXX" (we'll just leave it at that). "The Spire" is witty, thoughtful, heart wrenching (have your tissues handy), and heart warming with bits of perfectly placed humor throughout. Books 1-5 give us little tid-bits about Erin, the main Walsh character in this book, but we find out in this book that her siblings really don't have a clue about who she really is and we understand why she has stayed away as long as she has. I couldn't put this book down, even when my eyes became heavy from the sleep aid in my cold medication. All six books of the series overlap at certain periods of time and you get to see all these different perspectives of holiday dinners, weddings, and other special events and these "ah-ha" moments occur and what you initially thought about one character is the furthest thing from the truth. Each books advances a little further into the future than the last. Bravo to the author for keeping this all of this information and timelines straight and can only imagine what her pile of notes look like. I can't wait for Book 7 (Riley's story) because if it's headed where I think it's headed, "The Spire" has perfectly set the stage for it.
Restored is actually a continuation of Book 3 (Necessary Restorations) so it revolves around Sam and Tiel. I love the whole "sorry not sorry" attitude of these characters; the meddling nature of annoying siblings (who have no filter) you can't help but love; and the steamy relationship between the main characters. It's the whole package of love, hate, laugh, and cry that you want in a book.
The Spire, from the start the prologue alone had me yelling out, "holy XXXX" (we'll just leave it at that). "The Spire" is witty, thoughtful, heart wrenching (have your tissues handy), and heart warming with bits of perfectly placed humor throughout. Books 1-5 give us little tid-bits about Erin, the main Walsh character in this book, but we find out in this book that her siblings really don't have a clue about who she really is and we understand why she has stayed away as long as she has. I couldn't put this book down, even when my eyes became heavy from the sleep aid in my cold medication. All six books of the series overlap at certain periods of time and you get to see all these different perspectives of holiday dinners, weddings, and other special events and these "ah-ha" moments occur and what you initially thought about one character is the furthest thing from the truth. Each books advances a little further into the future than the last. Bravo to the author for keeping this all of this information and timelines straight and can only imagine what her pile of notes look like. I can't wait for Book 7 (Riley's story) because if it's headed where I think it's headed, "The Spire" has perfectly set the stage for it.
November 18, 2023
Cornerstone
This series just keeps getting better and better. I am binging through the audiobooks because I cannot get enough of this family!
Kate takes us on another journey with this beautifully broken family. They are each finding partners that challenge, encourage and build them up instead of tear them down.
I can relate to Shannon the most because of her place in the family . She is the glue of the family because she felt the need to be.
Restored
Kate continues to take us through the emotional wringer with this book. The characters deal with so much hurt, anger, and fear. However, with the love of their family they continue to preserve, begin healing and look forward to new beginnings.
The Spire
I think this is the most emotional book in the series, so far.
Kates writing continues to be amazing…taking us on an amazing journey across the globe with these characters that are broken but so deserving of love.
Nick has the patience of a saint. His love and devotion to Erin is unmatched.
As the family begins to heal, accept and understand the past there are beautiful relationships that are restored.
The narrators did an amazing job with the voice, personality and emotion they gave each character!
This series just keeps getting better and better. I am binging through the audiobooks because I cannot get enough of this family!
Kate takes us on another journey with this beautifully broken family. They are each finding partners that challenge, encourage and build them up instead of tear them down.
I can relate to Shannon the most because of her place in the family . She is the glue of the family because she felt the need to be.
Restored
Kate continues to take us through the emotional wringer with this book. The characters deal with so much hurt, anger, and fear. However, with the love of their family they continue to preserve, begin healing and look forward to new beginnings.
The Spire
I think this is the most emotional book in the series, so far.
Kates writing continues to be amazing…taking us on an amazing journey across the globe with these characters that are broken but so deserving of love.
Nick has the patience of a saint. His love and devotion to Erin is unmatched.
As the family begins to heal, accept and understand the past there are beautiful relationships that are restored.
The narrators did an amazing job with the voice, personality and emotion they gave each character!
March 24, 2019
Good, but it hits a pet peeve..
A well-written trio of novels that completes the previous series, while still leaving a few loose ends for future stories.
But the first book's hero,Will, bothers me. He shouldn't be an officer, especially a senior officer. SEAL Teams are mostly enlisted men, with a junior officer occasionally. The senior officers stay in command posts and run the overall operations. They're not fast-roping from helos. And he's not going to be a Navy Captain at 15 years, either. Any of these facts can be found easily. If you're going to use military characters, then give them the right ranks for their ages, jobs, and countries.
A well-written trio of novels that completes the previous series, while still leaving a few loose ends for future stories.
But the first book's hero,Will, bothers me. He shouldn't be an officer, especially a senior officer. SEAL Teams are mostly enlisted men, with a junior officer occasionally. The senior officers stay in command posts and run the overall operations. They're not fast-roping from helos. And he's not going to be a Navy Captain at 15 years, either. Any of these facts can be found easily. If you're going to use military characters, then give them the right ranks for their ages, jobs, and countries.
September 24, 2019
Women of walsh
So loved, adored, and breathed me some Shannon and Will. Favorite read list for sure. Then Sam And Tiel were okay in round two. Tiel can't compete in the intrigue and knowing how to love department. And I still can't get my mind around how much the character changed from the beginning of the story to the insecure unfriendly person at the end of the story in book one. Nick was incredible but that Erin is wackadoodle. She just never had any soft approachable moments until the final scene and that was too little too late for me to be invested.
So loved, adored, and breathed me some Shannon and Will. Favorite read list for sure. Then Sam And Tiel were okay in round two. Tiel can't compete in the intrigue and knowing how to love department. And I still can't get my mind around how much the character changed from the beginning of the story to the insecure unfriendly person at the end of the story in book one. Nick was incredible but that Erin is wackadoodle. She just never had any soft approachable moments until the final scene and that was too little too late for me to be invested.
December 18, 2019
4 1/2 stars overall.
I'm going to say it again - this series is REALLY worth listening to on audio. I loved reading the books, but the narrators do an amazing performance of all the characters, and it takes the story to the next level.
I have purchased both The Walsh Sisters and The Walsh Brothers collections, purely for the bonus content. I love anything extra the author gives us on these characters, so I just had to have these.
As for the books individually included in this collection:
The Cornerstone = 4 1/2 stars
Restored = 4 stars
The Spire = 5 stars.
I'm going to say it again - this series is REALLY worth listening to on audio. I loved reading the books, but the narrators do an amazing performance of all the characters, and it takes the story to the next level.
I have purchased both The Walsh Sisters and The Walsh Brothers collections, purely for the bonus content. I love anything extra the author gives us on these characters, so I just had to have these.
As for the books individually included in this collection:
The Cornerstone = 4 1/2 stars
Restored = 4 stars
The Spire = 5 stars.
May 15, 2023
Collection of some of the best reads of all time
Kate Canterbary's writing is truly magical. I don't have adequate words to explain how much I love the Walshes. These siblings are so beautifully flawed and deeply wounded. And they are so relatable. I felt so much of my own struggles in their stories. I cried with them, I laughed, and I was soaring when each sibling got their HEA.
I don't re- read as a rule, but I know with certainty I will be re reading and re-listening to this series.
Kate Canterbary's writing is truly magical. I don't have adequate words to explain how much I love the Walshes. These siblings are so beautifully flawed and deeply wounded. And they are so relatable. I felt so much of my own struggles in their stories. I cried with them, I laughed, and I was soaring when each sibling got their HEA.
I don't re- read as a rule, but I know with certainty I will be re reading and re-listening to this series.
May 28, 2019
One of my go to series’
The Walsh family are one that will live with you forever and if you are like me you will visit them again and again. Having a couple of the stories together is great for bingeing. If you haven’t met them yet I would start with the brothers stories but the sisters ones are my favourites 😍
The Walsh family are one that will live with you forever and if you are like me you will visit them again and again. Having a couple of the stories together is great for bingeing. If you haven’t met them yet I would start with the brothers stories but the sisters ones are my favourites 😍
February 14, 2020
Love wins
The Walsh Sisters continues the series starring the Walsh siblings. This compilation features the lives and loves of Shannon and Erin, and more from Sam and Tiel. As with all large families there are secrets, grudges, and arguing, but above all there is loyalty and love. I highly recommend this series.
The Walsh Sisters continues the series starring the Walsh siblings. This compilation features the lives and loves of Shannon and Erin, and more from Sam and Tiel. As with all large families there are secrets, grudges, and arguing, but above all there is loyalty and love. I highly recommend this series.
March 11, 2020
God I love this messy family of architects and one volcanic scientist. Love them. I was sick for a few days this March and I downloaded this set from KU so I could binge read my fav comfort books while recovering.
Erin and Shannon are characters that will stay with me for a long time, as will their love interests.
I'm still not a huge fan of Sam, but he's growing on me.
Erin and Shannon are characters that will stay with me for a long time, as will their love interests.
I'm still not a huge fan of Sam, but he's growing on me.
March 13, 2020
Delicious
Shannon finally met her match and have mercy he was a hunk. Sam and Tiel finally got their happily ever after but not before some sadness. Erin finally comes home but not before she and Nick drop a bomb. Loved every single minute of these stories. Can’t wait to devour Riley.
Shannon finally met her match and have mercy he was a hunk. Sam and Tiel finally got their happily ever after but not before some sadness. Erin finally comes home but not before she and Nick drop a bomb. Loved every single minute of these stories. Can’t wait to devour Riley.
July 11, 2020
The secrets always come out
Two of my all-time favorite heroines are in this collection. Shannon and Erin are two of the strongest woman I've ever read. The men who love them are truly exceptional. Captain America and Black Widow are straight explosive. Who knew Kristoff had a thing for the Little Mermaid. These crazy siblings are so special.
Two of my all-time favorite heroines are in this collection. Shannon and Erin are two of the strongest woman I've ever read. The men who love them are truly exceptional. Captain America and Black Widow are straight explosive. Who knew Kristoff had a thing for the Little Mermaid. These crazy siblings are so special.
February 14, 2020
The Cornerstone, Epilogue, Long Lost Epilogue & One More Epilogue 1-41% 4.5 stars
Restored, Prologue, Epilogue & Tiel on Valentine’s Day 41-63% 5 stars I love Sam & Tiel
The Spire 63-99% 5 stars I will be so sorry when this series is finished
Restored, Prologue, Epilogue & Tiel on Valentine’s Day 41-63% 5 stars I love Sam & Tiel
The Spire 63-99% 5 stars I will be so sorry when this series is finished
October 22, 2019
Awesome
This was an amazing book. I always love to read about what happens next. This gave me all of that and more.
This was an amazing book. I always love to read about what happens next. This gave me all of that and more.
April 16, 2020
3.5 - good books, arguably a bit long, but the family saga has drawn me in.
June 26, 2020
Outstanding series
The Walsh family is damaged, complicated, loud, and wonderful. These three books had me laughing and crying, cringing and sighing. Highly recommended.
The Walsh family is damaged, complicated, loud, and wonderful. These three books had me laughing and crying, cringing and sighing. Highly recommended.
June 11, 2023
I picked this up after reading "In a Jam" and loving it. I am now an official Kate Canterbary fan. Plus, I love love love Lucy Rivers! And Christian Fox! A great story in great hands.
October 17, 2020
I love this series, and especially Shannon and Erin's books...
Their stories book-end this collection, and their relationships mirror each other, with both taking years to culminate in their HEA.
Their stories book-end this collection, and their relationships mirror each other, with both taking years to culminate in their HEA.
June 29, 2024
This a compilation of three books:
The Cornerstone
Restored
The Spire
I didn't see any content warnings with any of these and this might be a bit spoilery, but I went in blind and it hurt so I'm laying the ones that hit me out:
Cornerstone mentions child abuse of the worst kind.
Restored deals with issues of not conceiving and miscarriage.
The Spire lays out issues of abuse in all its ugly forms, (if you've followed the Washes so far, this is Erin's story), it mentions self harm, suicide and self destructive behaviour, too.
Having said that, I've given the books five stars because heck, I felt the feels and I cried dem tears. There were feelings I hadn't felt in a long ass time and it was interesting to have a book bring them up again, in a way that was relatively safe and relatable and non judgemental. I wasn't expecting to be reminded of miscarriages or other heart-hurting real-life realities when reading about fictional people in fictional places, but that's maybe why I connected with the characters and stories more?
I've thoroughly enjoyed listening to these six Walsh books and will move on to reading Preservation. Man, the intricacies of weaving timelines together was so clever, I might read these again knowing what I know (without the massive spoilers).
The Cornerstone
Restored
The Spire
I didn't see any content warnings with any of these and this might be a bit spoilery, but I went in blind and it hurt so I'm laying the ones that hit me out:
Cornerstone mentions child abuse of the worst kind.
Restored deals with issues of not conceiving and miscarriage.
The Spire lays out issues of abuse in all its ugly forms, (if you've followed the Washes so far, this is Erin's story), it mentions self harm, suicide and self destructive behaviour, too.
Having said that, I've given the books five stars because heck, I felt the feels and I cried dem tears. There were feelings I hadn't felt in a long ass time and it was interesting to have a book bring them up again, in a way that was relatively safe and relatable and non judgemental. I wasn't expecting to be reminded of miscarriages or other heart-hurting real-life realities when reading about fictional people in fictional places, but that's maybe why I connected with the characters and stories more?
I've thoroughly enjoyed listening to these six Walsh books and will move on to reading Preservation. Man, the intricacies of weaving timelines together was so clever, I might read these again knowing what I know (without the massive spoilers).
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