#BookReview: FAMILY FOR BEGINNERS by Sarah Morgan @SarahMorgan_ @HQstories

Publication: 2nd April 2020 – HQ

Who says you can’t choose your family?

When Flora falls in love with Jack, suddenly she’s not only handling a very cranky teenager, but she’s also living in the shadow of Jack’s perfect, immortalised wife, Becca. Every summer, Becca and Jack would holiday with Becca’s oldest friends and Jack wants to continue the tradition, so now Flora must face a summer trying to live up to Becca’s memory, with not only Jack’s daughter looking on, but with Becca’s best friends judging her every move…

The more Flora tries to impress everyone, the more things go horribly wrong…but as the summer unfolds, Flora begins pushing her own boundaries, and finding herself in a way that she never thought she needed to.

And she soon learns that families come in all shapes and sizes.

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Nothing cheers me up like a novel by Sarah Morgan. Her stories are entertaining, heart-warming, and so well-written that I always find myself completely engrossed in them and I always fall in love with the characters.

Her new novel, Family For Beginners, sees two fantastic female protagonists. Flora is a woman in her thirties with a bit of a tragic past and in search of love and family. She works as a florist (never name was more adapt) and one day she meets Jack, a widower with a teenage daughter, a seven-year old daughter, and a late wife who, according to everyone who knew her, was simply perfect. Will Flora find what she is looking for with Jack?

Izzy is Jack’s seventeen-year-old daughter. Still grieving over her mother’s death and feeling guilty over the fight they had right before her death, Izzy feels it’s her responsibility to take care of her father and to take on the role of mother to her younger sister. So, when Flora enters their lives, Izzy is ready to do everything to make sure she doesn’t stay.

I LOVED the characters. Like in all her novels, they are very likable, engaging, and well-developed. They are the kind of characters I wish they were real and they could be my friends. I liked Izzy, even when she was an annoying teenager, and I found her sister Molly so adorable and funny.

One of my favourite thing about Sarah Morgan’s novels is the settings she chooses for her stories (I am still dreaming of a Christmas in Scotland thanks to The Christmas Sisters). In Family For Beginners, the author splits the story between my all-time favourite city, New York City, and the Lake District which, thanks to the author’s beautiful descriptions, I just added to my list of places to visit.

Would I recommend this story? Of course, over and over again. I ADORE Sarah Morgan and Family For Beginners is a beautiful and captivating novel about family, friendship, love, and new beginnings.

A huge thank you to HQ and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this amazing novel.

Amazon.co.uk: https://amzn.to/2K6EkQq