What would you do if you found out your late spouse wasn’t the biological parent of your stepchild as they had led you to believe? Would you let it go, in hopes the child wouldn’t go looking for their birth family, or would you help them in their search? This is the dilemma Neil Falcon faces when he first discovers his late wife, Rita, wasn’t the biological mother of his teenage stepdaughter, … Rikki. His decision to look for her roots puts them on a path that leads them to a part of Neil’s past, one he thought was locked away forever. Kelsey Wagner is shocked to see the man she once adored appear on her doorstep with claims that Rikki may be her biological child. After finding out her daughter wants her to be a part of her life, she agrees. Amidst the confusion of raising a teenage daughter, the old feelings resurface. They know their daughter wants them to become a family, but can they make it work?
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This is the 1st book in this series. The characters are well written the story line has drama conflict and chemistry
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This is a very different book with Neil, Rikki and Kelsey. Neil is married to Rita who has a daughter Rikki from her first marriage. He finds out that Rikki is adopted he sets out to find her real mother which happens to be a old friend of his Kelsey. He is fourteen years older than Kelsey and met her when she was abused by her mother and he was a counselor. What starts out as a friendly arrangement between Neil and Kelsey for the sake of Rikki turns into a attraction that they can not deny. Loved the characters and enjoyed reading how they made a strange situation work for them.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
The first book in the Tri-Town series a well written story.This is an Older man/younger woman story. Neil Falcon is almost fourteen years older than Kelsey Wagner they met when she was eighteen he was her councillor at the time. He ended up married to Rita who he thought had a daughter,but Rikki/Erika is Kesley’s daughter she is now almost fourteen. Kesley had a lot of growing up to do, and to find forgiveness for her Mother. This is A must read story, by an Author I have not read before. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I’ll get right to the review since everyone’s read the blurb. First, I love that the novel takes place in the Maritimes. I’m a huge fan of eastern Canada.
There are three main characters. Hero Neil Falcon, his stepdaughter whom he deems as his real daughter, Rikki, and the birth mother of Rikki, heroine Kelsey Wagner.
I’ll start with Neil. He’s a great guy. He’s the kind of guy women love to date and the guys enjoy having beers with. Widower Neil is a writer and works for a magazine. His boss is a tyrant, but Neil manages to juggle career and parenthood.
Rikki is going on fourteen. And she’s every inch a fourteen-year-old: willful, struggling to find her independence, reverting to a little girl when things go wrong, and demanding a perfect family life from Neil and Kelsey. I thought Rikki was wonderfully written. The way Rikki swung from wanting to be an adult and then scuttling back into childhood was bang on. The author should consider YA because Ms. Allison nailed adolescence to a T.
As for Kelsey, she’s struggling to make a living as a maid at the beginning of the story. Kelsey’s had a tough life of physical, emotional, and mental abuse living with an alcoholic mother. Finding herself pregnant at sixteen, she ran away, and this is where she met Neil, who was her counsellor at the group home, and helped Kelsey get back on her feet.
The story gets rolling right away. The reader is dropped into Neil arriving at Kelsey’s apartment in Montreal. I liked this, because the story centers on Neil, Kelsey, and Rikki fighting to become a family. Neil struggles with his feelings, because he wants Kelsey. Kelsey feels the same way. Their fears were wonderfully portrayed, because there is much to fear. It’s a big step for all three, and as mother and father, neither wants to disappoint Rikki if a relationship doesn’t work out. I liked how they put Rikki first.
As for the dialogue, it’s witty, emotional, and so to character. The author really excels here.
The trio hit a lot of rough patches, and the tests were if they could work it out as a couple and as a family. There are few surprises, too, that kept the story fresh throughout the novel.
I don’t want to say too much or I’ll leave spoilers. Let’s just say this is a novel about a family struggling to become one loving unit, and they have many hurdles to pass to see if the three get their HEA.
It’s a short read at 53K words, but Ms. Allison does her job as an author and covers everything within the pages. I highly recommend Away to Me.