Spencer Kent gave up on love a long time ago. As a twenty-eight-year-old single father with a fourteen-year-old son, Connor, he knows his appeal to the average gay man is limited, and when you factor in his low self-esteem and tendencies towards rudeness and sarcasm, it might as well be nonexistent. But that’s okay. A man is the last thing Spencer needs or wants.Tim Ellis’s life is falling apart … falling apart around him. After four years of hard work at college, he finds himself blacklisted from the career of his dreams by the professor he refused to sleep with and abandoned by the boyfriend he thought he was going to marry. Even though he was lucky enough to land a job at a bakery, he still feels like a failure.
Tim and Spencer’s first meeting is filled with turbulent misunderstanding, but Tim makes a connection with Connor through a Big Brother/Big Sister program, and both men put aside their mutual dislike for his sake. By letting go, they may help each other find their way into a life they never could have imagined.
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Dan Wingreen pulled me in from the very first page of The Family We Make. These characters are complex, slightly flawed, and thoroughly real. Very little went the way I expected, and I loved it!
Mr. Wingreen has a smooth, flowing writing style, and I can’t wait to enjoy it some more. What a marvelous discovery for my to-be-read shelf.
5+++ What a touching story! I’m going to start with a high recommendation!
This was more than a stunning story! It will grab you and will keep you thinking about them days after finishing! That kind of story is it!
Spencer is twenty-eight and already a father of Connor just fourteen years old.
Not quite in the position for a relationship and not quite the father to wear the batch ‘best father of the year’ if it’s about proper language or right behavior. But he got it for being the best for Connor. I loved his funny playful way of expressing, cursing, and messy way of fathering.
Conner is just like him, both with low self-esteem, no friends and loneliness.
Spencer is teaching literature at the same high school his son follows lessons.
After Spencer understands his son is bullied and has no friends he’s worried and gets Connor into the Big Brother program at the Youth Center.
Tim is working at a bakery, not his first choice. Volunteering is something he’s used to doing, now he has a new job, a new place and found a new job as a volunteer.
This is where Tim meets Connor, where Connor gets him as his Big Brother. They become friends. Connor’s life is heartbreaking, I cried for him, read it you will too.
Tim and Spencer are absolutely delightful together, hard times, good times, best times.
Follow those three and be stunned by their life.
This is one of the most honest stories I’ve ever read. Besides the heavy stuff there are also everyday matters just the real-life things, sweet crazy things, funny awkward things only intended for the eyes and ears of family. It was all superb. The humor was more than delightful.
Connor was such a precious boy, how he feels, thinks and expressed broke and warmed my heart, what a wonderful kid. Tim was just what Connor needed, a big brother who was there for him.
The more the men get involved the clearer it gets they mean everything for each other. Tim was mesmerized by Spencer and adored him, Spencer can’t believe his luck to find this man.
“Tim felt like he belonged with them. Like he was wanted.”
What a story, it made me tear up more than once. I dreamed about them, when a story is as catching like this one, you just can’t let it go. The important parts were thoroughly I’ll say it again thoroughly developed. It couldn’t get more appealing than it already was.
Spencer, Connor, and Tim their personalities were well pictured, I felt connected as if they were good friends.
The author shines a light on them from every angle, so you’ll get to know them through and through, you will love them because they are the most lovable persons.
The story felt whole, real, funny, heartbreaking and heartwarming.
I’ll end how I started with a high recommendation!
I was so excited to see a new book by Dan Wingreen, and was not disappointed with this one. He has a way of writing “living” and engaging characters, and this story had three of them you couldn’t help but fall in love with.
I hardcore fell in love with these characters. Here’s our cast:
-Spencer: 28 year-old single dad with a 14 year-old son, Connor. His maturity level sometimes matched that of his son’s, but the fierce love and protectiveness won me over.
-Tim: 22 year-old feeling stuck in life who volunteers as a Big Brother, where he meets Connor.
-Connor: Spencer’s 14 year-old son who is dealing with bullies and a lack of friendship in his life until Tim enters the picture.
The title of this book is The Family We Make and it truly felt so accurate. It was evident from the beginning how each character was crying out for a family or some love.
So many emotional and serious issues were part of this, but you never felt overwhelmed or bogged down. The humor and lightness of some of the dialogue helped keep you interested without feeling like it disregarded the seriousness of the situations. Bullying, teen pregnancy, homophobia? Name it and you got it here.
Regarding the heat? This was a slow burn, as Spencer and Tim go from adversaries to reluctant friends to wham bam in love. Their relationship progressed quickly once they truly became a couple, and the intimate scenes were well written, sexy, and realistic.
My first book by Dan Wingreen but hopefully not my last.
I loved Tim, Spencer and Connor. They felt so real and endearing that I wished I could reach them through the pages and smother them with hugs.
Tim was hesitant and doubtful of his every move, Spencer tried to hide his shyness with sarcasm, and Connor was the sweetest and loneliest kid. Their story is one of friendship that developed into more, while slowly their flaws and insecurities became puzzle pieces clicking together perfectly.
As mentioned in the warnings, the book did treat some serious issues. Connor’s being bullied, especially, caused me huge distress and heartbreak. I loved how it made Spencer and Tim clause ranks around Connor, and how they tried to solve the problem together. BUT, aside from this ugliness, this was a sweet, funny, moving story about a trust, love and family.