Rowena’s review on The Accidental Family by Rowan Coleman.

Hero: Louis Gregory
Heroine: Sophie Mills
Grade: 4.75 out of 5

Love is supposed to be the happy ending. Maybe it’s only the beginning….

Fashionable Sophie Mills was a corporate manager on a fast track to success. Then, in the space of a heartbeat — the time it takes for a car to crash — two little girls, Bella and Izzy, her best friend’s daughters, change her life forever. Named as guardian in their father’s absence, Sophie discovers that the soft touch of a little girl’s hand can be far more precious than a closet full of expensive clothes or an exciting job. And when their father Louis returns, the word “family” takes on a whole new significance, as Sophie finds herself deeply attracted to this handsome, mysterious man.

Moving to Cornwall to be with Louis and the girls is a deliriously, frighteningly adventurous start to a whole new life for Sophie. When Louis proposes marriage, Bella and Izzy immediately vault into bridesmaid ecstasy, but Sophie is besieged by doubt. Is marrying Louis, who left one wife before, the natural next step…or a scary mistake? Can she honor her promise to the girls to be there always, forever, whatever? When startling news from Louis’s past takes them all by surprise, can these individuals brought together by chance and tragedy make the commitment that a family is forever?

This is the book that comes after The Accidental Mother and I guess a whole lot of things went down in that book. We have the death of Carrie, mother to Bella and Izzy who is also best friend to Sophie. Sophie takes on the care of both Bella and Izzy and on the sly she tries to find their father, Louis Gregory. She finds him, he comes to take care of his daughters and they all fall in love with each other. Louis takes the girls back to Cornwall where he lives and not too long after, Sophie follows because she loves the girls and she loves the Dad too.

This book is what happens after Sophie moves to Cornwall to be with Louis and the girls. Man, I cannot say how much I loved this book. This wasn’t a chick lit book like I originally thought it would be but a contemporary romance with a whole lot of drama through in for good measure. Man oh man was there a bunch to keep the reader engaged in this story.

So we have Sophie Mills, who left her job in London to move to Cornwall where it’s a little bit country, okay a lot country and we see her fall in love with the town and with the people. She stays at the B&B and she makes nice with the lady that runs the B&B, she makes a great friend in Carmen and she spends her time with the girls, with Louis and thinking about her business venture that she’s going to take on just as soon as things quiet down. She’s really excited about this new life that she’s embarking on (with the occasional doubt, of course) and then Louis proposes. They’re in love and though Sophie is unsure if the love that they have for each other is real (considering the circumstances that led up to the proposal, I totally understood Sophie’s fears.) and lasting (and not the after effects of being thrown together and making the most of their situation), she is still pretty excited about the wedding. While she is making plans for her wedding dress she comes across a secret that she thinks Louis should know about.

That secret drives a wedge between Louis and Sophie that Sophie wasn’t expecting and watching these two fight their way to staying together made for one exciting read. I could not put this book down. The first few chapters of this book, I didn’t think I’d be able to finish it but as soon as the story took off, I fell more and more in love with these characters.

I really enjoyed getting to know Sophie’s character. I thought she was splendidly imperfect and totally normal. She is totally someone that I could see myself being best buds with. She’s that one friend that does crazy things and says the most craziest things and you just love her for it. The way that she was with Bella and Izzy and the way that she loved them made you admire the hell out of her. There was no doubt in my mind that she loved those girls and I thought she was a great heroine. A heroine that I could totally connect with. She wasn’t this perfect heroine. She made mistakes and she effed up but she learned from them and she fought to keep her family together and I respected the hell out of her.

Louis was a great father. The secret drudges up some things from his past that took him by surprise but watching him battle his past and juggle his present and future made me respect him. He was so normal. He messed up big time and he kept on messing up but no matter how many times he messed up, I didn’t hate him. I got frustrated as all get out because he was so obtuse but in the end, he got things right and I ended up loving the hell out of him. He was a great hero who rolled with the punches and tried to do what was right. He had a lot to make up for and I just thought he was a solid character. One that I ended up loving.

I loved Izzy and Bella, Cal and Carmen. I even loved the hell out of Sophie’s mother and thought her story with Sophie’s father was such a cute addition to the story. I wanted to kick Wendy in teeth and karate chop her in her neck but all of the drama that brought Louis and Sophie to the end was so worth it because I loved the hell out of this book. It was a bit slow in the beginning but the rest of the book totally makes up for it and I really enjoyed this book. I would definitely recommend this book for a great few hours of entertainment.

This book is available from Pocket. You can buy it here.