Family Matters

Marc Wilde had once had everything he desired - an exciting job as a foreign war correspondent, athletic prowess as a snowboarder and skier, and dozens of beautiful women who wanted to get to know him better. Now, after a bomb blast in the Middle East, Marc was confined in a wheelchair, not knowing if he would ever be able to walk again. He spent most of his days getting drunk in a nearby town, bitter against the world. That's how he met Fiona Gordon - a pretty substitute teacher who worked part-time as a barmaid to help pay the bills. Fiona didn't like men who drank a lot, and she surely didn't like men with attitude problems. Yet, there was something different about Marc Wilde, something that told Fiona that he needed help to deal with all of the physical and emotional pain he had. Fiona had her own problems - a teenage brother who was also a paraplegic, too many bills, and not enough money - but she is still drawn to Marc in an effort to help him. She is determined to not get too close to him, though. Marc tells her that he will fully recover in time, and Fiona knows that once he is able to walk, he'll be out of her life and never look back. Still, how can she protect her heart from him? Well, this book really lived up to the "emotional" part of the Harlequin Superromance tagline! The ups and downs of Fiona and Marc's friendship/romance could really tug at the heartstrings. I even cried during one part of the book, and I rarely cry when I read. The romance seemed realistic. It wasn't a music in the air, roses every date kind of romance. Instead, it was down-to-earth, with Fiona and Marc needing to deal with their own insecurities and fears as the relationship progressed. Fiona was a bit too sugary-sweet sometimes, and Marc was a bit too crass at times, but altogether this book was very well put together and offered a heart-warming romance.