#1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Mallery masterfully explores the definition of a modern family–blended by surprise, not by choice–and how those complicated relationships can add unexpected richness to life. “Heartwarming…this book is sweet and will appeal to readers who enjoy the intricacies of family drama.”–Publishers Weekly Life is meant to be savored, but that’s not easy … savored, but that’s not easy with no family, limited prospects and a past you’d rather not talk about.
Callie Smith doesn’t know how to feel when she discovers she has a brother and a sister–Malcolm, who grew up with affection, wealth and privilege, and Keira, a streetwise twelve-year-old. Despite her trepidation, she moves into the grand family home with her siblings and grandfather on the shores of Lake Washington, hoping just maybe this will be the start of a whole new life.
But starting over can be messy. Callie and Keira fit in with each other, but not with their posh new lifestyle, leaving Malcolm feeling like the odd man out in his own home. Becoming a family will take patience, humor, a little bit of wine and a whole lot of love. But love isn’t Malcolm’s strong suit…until he learns that an open heart, like the family table, can always make room for more.more
Warning: Adult Sexual Content and Subject Matter, which you can skip over and still fully enjoy the book.
Strangers Callie and Kiera are stunned to find out separately that they have a brother Malcolm and they are expected to join him and their grandfather Alberto in their home. Meanwhile, Malcolm and his grandfather Alberto are preparing to welcome two new family members into their lives after Alberto finds papers in his deceased son’s belongings. Kierra,12 is coming from a foster home and Callie an adult, is working two jobs to make ends meet after being released from prison. The three siblings will have to learn to trust and become a family with their grandfather while facing numerous pitfalls. Complicated relationships, trust issues, and of course romance will draw the three together with the help of Delaney, a barista and Malcolm’s best friend Santiago. A good story about picking up life’s pieces and putting them back together to create a brand new happier picture.
Really enjoyed. A bit trite on plot but characters are good. Deals very well with himan emotions And feeling gs thought provoking in places.
Predictable, but pleasant. Likeable characters.
I loved the characters and that it is a situation that could easily happen in today’s world. The lack of trust, the hardship and best of all the coming together of the characters as family.
An excellent book by Susan Mallery. You don’t want it to end.
Absolutely loved the book! Couldn’t put it down.
Loved this book.
I love Susan Mallery’s romance novels especially her Fool’s Gold series, but her women’s fiction books leave me struggling for something more or less at times.
For the most part I really enjoyed When We Found Home and would definitely recommend it to other readers, but the beginning of the book was filled with so many topics that revolved around what was and wasn’t politically correct that I struggled with the most important parts of the story.
Keep in mind that none of these issues would have changed the dynamics in the story so they had no reason to be there except for the author wanting to address them. These are the “little darlings” that should have been scrapped during editing because all they did was take away from a very interesting and poignant story about three people finding they had siblings that they never knew about and how they learned to find love and home.
The second half of the book flowed so much better and I came to love this family and the many people that they loved and cared for throughout the book.
Loved the story! Well written and inspirational, a feel good story.
Great plot and great characters.
Another book by this author I could not put down! I loved the family dynamics in each family represented because they all felt like either my family or some I have known. Plus many characters had baggage they had to overcome to get where they needed to be by the end of the book.
The romance portion was entertaining at times as personalities clashed, but as in any good book, it all works itself out.
Finding out you have two other siblings and have a wealthy grandfather definitely was overwhelming news for Callie and had been very overwhelming for Keira two months ago. Their step brother, Malcolm, had been with his grandfather since he was twelve and was used to the lifestyle and family.
Malcolm was already working in the family business and didn’t want to be bothered with a twelve-year-old and now he had another sister. At least this sister wasn’t a child.
The siblings were all children conceived when their father had affairs while on business trips.
Wealthy businessman Alberto Carlesso found out about his grandchildren after his son passed away in papers his son had kept hidden and was determined to find his newest granddaughters.
WHEN WE FOUND HOME was an enjoyable read for me. The characters were believable and most were lovable even though the wonderful situation seemed a little hard to believe. The characters were what carried the story line, kept my interest, and had me wanting to be friends with the characters and the entire family.
Keira was twelve, sweet, loveable, and a bit on the outspoken side. Callie was twenty-six, struggling financially and emotionally, and hiding a secret about her life.
Keira was my favorite because she just KNEW the right things to say and do even though she had her own issues to deal with.
The book had heartwarming as well as funny moments.
Women’s fiction fans and Susan Mallery fans will not be disappointed in WHEN WE FOUND HOME.
This book has something for everyone…family, food, secrets, surprises, and love.
ENJOY if you read it. 5/5
This book was given to me as an advanced reader copy by the publisher. All opinions are my own.
What a touching, loving, interesting, and sometimes confounding book! The newest by author Susan Mallery, When We Found Home, is all these things and more.
First, you have a grandfather who is all about family. Then your dad, who is deceased, cared less about family. Now you find out your dad not only didn’t care about you but had two other children your grandfather wants to bring into the family. Poor Malcolm.
Malcolm is running the family business, now he gets to be ‘big brother’ to two new sisters. Callie is a 20 something who made some poor choices. Keira is a 12-year-old in foster care, whose mother made some poor choices. Both are hesitant to bond with Malcolm and are a bit suspicious of the whole ‘We’re gonna be a family’ thing that their grandfather is advocating. Add in an accident, new love interests, a problem with the family business, and you have the makings of a fabulous story.
When We Found Home looks at family dynamics, especially when family is what you must make, rather than what you are familiar with since birth. Genetics made them siblings. Love, trust, and caring, make them family and give them the ability to finally find home.
This was a great book. This story was about siblings that are newly acquainted learning how to get along, new love interests for the two older siblings and there’s even a little mysterious theft that’s going on at the family company. The characters are absolutely fabulous! You can’t help but love the youngest, Keira. Once I started reading this book I couldn’t put it down.
I love Susan Mallery’s writing style. She does a wonderful job of giving readers all the feels while adding in just the right amount of quirk and fun. And with When We Found Home, she doesn’t disappoint.
Malcolm joined the Carlesso family when he was 12. And while he had a great relationship with his mom and formed a bond with his new-found grandfather, his dad was pretty awful… and now they are finding out just how awful with the addition of a couple of half sisters. You just have to feel for Malcolm as he struggles to relate to his new family dynamic. His has no idea how to connect with his 12 year old half sister, Keira, and the sudden appearance of a new sister only a couple of years younger than him makes it even more complicated. Luckily, with the help of a lovely barista, he just might figure things out.
Callie has gone from having nothing to having everything, including a family, and she’s just not sure how to handle it. Adding in an intimidating and emotionally distant brother doesn’t help. But the relationship she forms with her new little sister, as the two of the bond over their now drastically different circumstances, will just melt your heart. Throw in a guy who thinks she hung the moon, and her life might become just about perfect.
Keira is the one I wanted to cuddle the most out of the group (although Malcolm comes in a close second – the man is just clueless but he does try … ish). Her childhood was awful, including a druggie mom and a stint in foster care. It’s no wonder that she’s convinced her new posh life won’t last. Luckily an accident, a friendly barista, and the appearance of her new half-sister just might be the catalysts to help her trust in her new situation.
Mallery uses her trademark wit & snappy dialogue, along with engaging & well-developed characters, to deliver a wonderfully emotional read. While there is a romance for both Malcolm and Callie, its the three of them trying to figure out how to become a family that really steals the show. The complications from being thrown together at this point in their lives make it even that much harder to find a way to connect but with a little guidance, some honesty, and sheer will, they just might make something wonderful out of a terrible beginning.
**Review given honestly and freely after receipt of a reader copy. This opinion is completely my own and was not influenced in any way.**
This was a very interesting book. Very hard to put down
What an incredibly well written story about family . That’s it. Family. One of the most powerful words, in my opinion. It can mean so many things to different people. Yes, there’s an actual definition, but the essence of the word is so much more. This is a story of family and its power. And it is outstanding.
From the blurb you know three half siblings find each other and this is their journey to family. What you don’t know is the powerful way Susan Mallery turns mere words into a saga that is captivating and emotional and heartfelt and joyous, that you just don’t ever want it to end. Honestly, I could have read about this family for a ling time. She’s a wizard, this woman. I never tire of her stories. I could read one story for days or hours and I would feel the same about each one. She has done a phenomenal job with this book. I was engaged from page one.
Great read! Love all of her books!
Alberto Carlesso’s family immigrated from Italy to Seattle in the 1930s. As a teen during WWII, he first created his own marinara sauce using his cooking skills and fmaily recipes, that eventually made it to NYC. Ultimately, Alberto decide to sell his food directly, creating Alberto’s Alfresco, now a multinational multibillion dollar enterprise. Along the way, he married the girl next door and they had one son, Jerry. But Jerry was not really interested in managing the business, preferring sales and traveling all around the country. To his parents sorrow he never married. But when Malcolm was 12 years old, his mother brought him from Portland, Oregon to speak to Alberto. Malcolm was the spitting image of Alberto’s late wife (I don’t recall her name ever given) but Jerry insisted on a DNA test. Then Malcolm and his mother were moved into the large house, but the only reason she brought him, was because she was dying. Alberto showered Malcolm with love, but Jerry was indifferent. Many years later, after Jerry died and Alberto and Malcolm went through his papers, they found there were two other children, 12 year old Keira, found in foster care and 26 year old Callie in Houston, who are brought home, embraced by their grandfather, but held at arms length by Malcolm, not out of malice, but his not knowing how to relate to them. He doesn’t trust easily, not only because of Jerry, but he has recently been betrayed by the woman he had planned to marry.
Santiago Trejo, became Malcolm’s best friend in college. A farm worker’s kid he entered University of Washington on a football scholarship. Malcolm showed Santiago that he was much smarted than he thought he was and Santiago taught Malcolm how to loosen up. Santiago eventually gave up football for finance and when Malcolm wanted to expand the business, he hired Santiago on. Santiago is a player, convinced that one day he will meet the right one, but until then, relationships are not for him
Delaney Holbrook, is reinventing herself, currently back in college studying to be a naturopath and working as a barista in the coffee shop in the lobby of Alberto’s Alfresco’s building. Until a couple years ago, she was engaged to Tim, a policeman, like her father, a man she had known all her life and she working at Boeing, senior management in finance. Then on the same night, both were shot in the line of duty; Tim was killed and her father paralyzed and now in a wheelchair. In the aftermath, she became lost, thought she needed a change, but now is having doubts.
All these intriguing and intricate characters are woven into a powerful story about family dynamics, love, lost, trust and hope. While I have read most of the author’s books, in my opinion this is the best and most powerful of them all. There is even a delicious recipe at the end.
When we found Home is by Susan Mallery is such a heart warming story. Yes it has romance it in but i think what’s more important is it shows the complexity in a family unit. You will be sucked into this book. The drama is just right not overdone or boring. Once i picked up this book i was not able to put it down. The author has a special gift in writing her books that you will feel as if everything going on in the story you are living right there with the characters. Learning to live with sibling you knew nothing of is i feel the whole story here. The romance parts were awesome but it was more than just a romance. I give this one a 5 star rating. Would definitely recommend.