A Ready-Made Family (Silhouette Superromance)

A READY-MADE FAMILY by Carrie Alexander March 25, 2007 Rating **** (4 Stars) In A READY-MADE FAMILY by Carrie Alexander, Lia Howard Pogue is trying to keep her family together while on the run from her ex-husband. He's threatened to take the children away from her, and she refuses to let it happen. She knows it's only a matter of time that he will locate them, and that once his scheduled visitation day passes, he will definitely have the police involved. On a whim, Lia takes her kids with her to visit her good friend Rose who is about to be married. They pack everything with them, since Lia is hoping to stay with Rose until something better comes up. Unfortunately, due to car problems, they end up missing the wedding, but they come upon Rose's brother, Jake Robbins, an ex-army Ranger who does not welcome them with open arms. It didn't seem like Lia had anything going for her. No money, no place to live, and an ex who could easily put her in jail for kidnapping the kids, Samantha, age 14, Howie age 10, and Kristen Rose who was only 4. When Jake gets to know them better, he sees them as a ready-made family, and he knew she needed him. He's ready to settle down, and what better way than to help out his sister's friend? Lia desperately needed a knight in shining armor. But Jake had his work cut out for him in order to convince Lia that the best solution would be to marry him. Of course, no one mentions the word LOVE, at least not at first... I enjoyed A READY-MADE FAMILY. I find that my favorite harlequins are the ones that centered on kids and Carrie Alexander did a good job with creating realistic children and dialog to go with it. I also found the other characters to be interesting enough to keep me reading, especially the scum bag of an ex husband who finally shows up to take the kids away from Lia. A READY-MADE FAMILY was an all around good read.