Devon’s review of Finding Family by Gina Wilkins
Contemporary Romance released by Silhouette Special Edition 1 Apr 08
You know how the story goes: a nice guy meets a nice girl, they hit it off. The attraction grows, the sex is good, and after navigating some bumps in the road, they’re well on the way to happily ever after. It’s all very well and good in real life, but on the page it can be…pretty durn boring.
Such was the case with Gina Wilkins’ Finding Family. I liked the hero and the heroine, and found their individual issues pretty interesting. But their love story fell flat for me. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it was because their relationship involved so much decorating. Dr. Mark Thomas and Rachel Madison meet when he hires her to decorate his new house. They get to know each other while shopping, and we are treated to endless descriptions of the results. I love decorating magazines and HGTV, but I loathe reading about how the hero’s knick knacks were arranged on his bedside table. Rachel’s a great decorator, I’m sure, but where’s the drama in writing desks?
Mark has lived a rather solitary life, which is completely upended soon after he meets Rachel. He finds out that he has been living a lie. It’s a shocking situation, and Mark’s mixed emotions are depicted thoughfully. He’s disturbed at the revelations regarding his (late) mother, unsure about how he should feel about her now, and apprehensive about meeting his new family. He is angry, confused and guarded. It’s probably not the best time to add a new romance to the mix, but there you go.
Rachel is a fixer, the dependable one that everyone goes to for help. And her self-absorbed, hapless family members seem to need a lot of help. A more whiny, annoying bunch you couldn’t imagine. Yet, Rachel always ends up dropping everything to rush to these fools’ aid. She’s a likeable character, but Mark astutely notes that she enjoys that sense of importance that comes from being the rescuer. That’s a very human failing and it made her more interesting. She is a caring person, but Mark can’t help but wonder if he’s another project for her.
With two interesting characters struggling with personal dramas, it was strange that their romance wasn’t more compelling. It lacked sparks. Just two nice folks weathering a rocky start. I was far more interested in seeing how Mark dealt with his newfound relatives, and whether or not Rachel would tell her family and ex-husband to grow up. Not a painful read, but not a particularly good one either.
Grade: C
Blurb:
Her family drove her nuts. As the only sane one in a group of crazy relatives and friends, Rachel Madison was calm, comforting…and desperatley needed someone to care for her. Her interior-design work was her refuge, and her latest client, Dr. Mark Thomas, a sexy solitary man, tempted her to go beyond a purely business relationship.
Then a knock on Mark’s door introduced him to a brother—and a family—he’d known nothing about. Suddenly his predictable world was askew—and only Rachel could ease his confusion. But dare she risk involvement with a man who didn’t know his past…and who wondered about his future?
Read an excerpt here.
