Bright Eyes by Catherine Anderson

Bright Eyes by Catherine Anderson
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars419 pages

Bright Eyes (June 2004) is the next entry in the Coulter Family series. This novel tells the story of Zeke Coulter’s romance with a struggling single mother of two named Natalie Patterson who lives next door. Zeke forms an attachment to Natalie after her son Chad vandalizes his property and he offers the boy an opportunity to work for him to pay off the debt. Natalie is an aspiring singer who develops a relationship with Zeke after seeing how well he handles her son. She has to juggle with her supper club that is soon to be bankrupt, her shady ex-husband, and her growing feelings for Zeke. As the story progresses Zeke becomes more involved with Natalie and her children, including her four year old daughter Rosie, and he even tries to get Natalie back into singing professionally.

The conflict that emerges towards the end seems a bit forced, as if Anderson needed something really dramatic to shake up the relationship between Zeke and Natalie. The romance in this story does not have as much depth as the previous novels in the series and by the end of the book Zeke and Natalie appear to be settling for one another because the chemistry is lacking. The stronger characters in the book are the kids Chad and Rosie, and that speaks to how uninteresting the romance is in Bright Eyes. Anderson stumbles in the fourth book of The Coulter Family Series, not because it’s a bad story overall, but because it pales in comparison to the previous novels.

Blue Skies by Catherine Anderson

Blue Skies by Catherine Anderson
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
432 pages

The third novel in the Coulter Family series is Blue Skies (January 2004), focuses on Hank Coulter and his relationship with Carly Adams. Carly was born with an eye disease that made her blind up until she had a surgery as an adult that gave her the ability to see for the first time in her life. On her first night out with eyesight she makes a reckless decision and has a one-night stand with Hank after leaving a local bar with him. To Carly and Hank’s extreme dismay they discover their night together results in a pregnancy that threatens to irreparably damage Carly’s vision. Hank decides that they should marry because he feels it is the proper thing to do, and Carly reluctantly agrees.


Over the next several months Hank and Carly have to deal with the baby and Carly’s condition. This story is unconventional because the main characters fall in love after they are expecting a child and get married, and it also shows the hardships of legal blindness and how that affects a relationship. While Blue Skies is not as sentimental as the previous novels in The Coulter Family Series, it does have a touch of cold hard reality about the consequences people face when they make bad decisions, and how they can turn it around to make it a positive experience if they make the right choices afterwards. Hank and Carly’s love connection demonstrates that great things can result from what people may initially think is a mistake.