Not quite for me.
★★★★☆☆☆
Title: When We Found Home
Author: Susan Mallery
Genre: Fiction / Contemporary / Women’s Fiction
First published: 2018
Edition: Kindle e-book
Life is meant to be savored, but that’s not easy with no family, limited prospects and a past you’d rather not talk about. Still, Callie Smith doesn’t know how to feel when she discovers she has a brother and a sister–Malcolm, who grew up with affection, wealth and privilege, and Keira, a streetwise twelve-year-old. Callie doesn’t love being alone, but at least it’s safe. Despite her trepidation, she moves into the grand family home with her siblings and grandfather on the shores of Lake Washington, hoping just maybe this will be the start of a whole new life.
***
When I started this one I was in the mood for a more complicated, intricate contemporary, maybe a bit of romance. And I guess that was kind of what this was, but at the same time for me it missed the plank a bit with both the romances and the family situation.
This was a 400+ book and yet I did not really feel I was given enough time to connect with any of the characters, which felt kind of strange. The romances were pretty fast and obvious and there was just no subtlety to them. That kind of annoyed me. I guess I just prefer more of a slowburn? Insta-love I get, but insta-relationship territory I find a bit harder to digest for some reason. There are two romances in this and they will kind of samey, even if the (slight) issues are a bit different. The sex scenes (which there were only a couple of thankfully), were not that great, but that tends to be an issue for me. I just need more romance and chemistry! Set the scene, please!
The author did do a good job looking at various people, their life experiences and their expectations going forward. There were definitely aspects of this book that I did enjoy, like the development of the sibling relationship. I would not say this was a bad book, but overall it just was not for me.
4 out of 7 stars
Lola Et La Vie 