His Unexpected Family

by Robyn Thomas

Sometimes you have to take the leap… again.

Newly widowed with a new baby, Ren Jamieson is putting her life back together after her thrill-seeking husband’s death. But when she’s called to show a high-end property to a prospective client–a commission she desperately needs–she meets a man who makes her pulse pound like nothing she’s ever known…

Cole Matthews is more than he seems. Real estate is only part of the reason he’s in Australia–the other is to see Ren, and make amends somehow for the life lost. The last thing Cole expects is a woman whose humor, sweetness, and sexiness give him a rush greater than any he’s ever experienced...

Torn between her growing feelings for Cole and the risks of loving yet another adventurer, Ren will have to choose between keeping her feet on the ground… and taking the most dangerous leap of her life.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance

123 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 7, 2012

About the author

Robyn lives with her husband and two sons on the outskirts of Melbourne, one of the most liveable cities in the world. Writing romance helps to balance the effects of living in an all-male household. She loves to cook, hates to clean up, and keeps very odd hours. She thinks that lattes are one of the most significant inventions ever—right up there with fire, the wheel and electricity. She collects art glass and spotted dinnerware, loves movies of all descriptions, and is almost certain that pavlova and cheesecake form the sixth major food group.

Reviews

[Tee loves Kyle Jacobson · Rating 5 out of 5]

His Unexpected Family is one of those books that will stay with you long after you have finished reading it. Once I started reading I could not out it down. I laughed and I cried and in the end when it was over it left me feeling like I was right there with Ren and Cole.

Ren is newly widowed from her husband with a new born and struggling to make sense of what happened to her husband. Her husband was a thrill seeker and adrenaline junky who lived for the next thrill that got him high. In having that attitude he died from an accident and left his wife and daughter alone to fend for themselves. Ren being a strong mother continues to work in realty to provide for her and her child. So when she receives the call of her career that can make her safe financially she is all for it.

Cole is tortured by his friends death and wants to make amends with his wife and child. Cole is also a thrill seeker and lives for the rush and high he gets from doing daring things. But Cole is tortured by the loss of friend and he sort of feels responsible so he wants to make amends with his friends widow but in order to do that he knows he can't just approach her so he decides to buy some properties and talk to her that way.

What Cole did not bank on was him falling in love with Ren. Ren has become his high because every time he is near her his heart starts to jump and beat erratically. Never has Cole felt this but will Ren take down the walls she has out up? Will she open up to Cole? Will she love him? This book is an amazing story about love, loss and redemption.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

cute quick read. i have loved all books from entangled publishing.

[Fiona Marsden · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely romance about second chances and new starts from debut author Robyn Thomas. Set just outside Melbourne, Australia and in Melbourne itself, the story is about young widow and new mother Renata, Ren, and her husbands friend and adventure seeking colleague Cole. Cole comes looking for Ren to help deal with his guilt over the death of Danny, who died on a climb Cole arrived too late to join. Cole's brother Nate died at the same time causing alienation with his family.

The instant attraction between these two is complicated by Ren's feelings of inadequacy over the large amount of debt Danny left her with. Cole too is not looking for permanency so their relationship is a constant dance around guilt from the past and unacknowledged hopes for the future. Ren is wary of becoming involved with another man like her husband who would never be satisfied with a home life and must be always seeking out new thrills. Cole is constantly aware of the shadow of Danny and the type of man he was as he starts to see himself with a future based around this small family of Ren and her daughter Char.

This is a very sweet story and the hero and heroine are well drawn and very likeable people. At times I felt the emotional depths were skated over a little and we didn't really see much complexity and inner workings of the protagonists considering the issues both were dealing with. As such it was a lightweight and very enjoyable read. I recommend it to anyone who wants a sweet not overly hot read with just a nice touch of sizzle.

[Melissa Maxwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was an unexpected delight. I bought this book because Entangled published it in its Indulgence series and I loved many books in that series so that when another comes out I just buy it. It was on my kindle for a few weeks and i finally relented to reading it and how happy I was to. This book blew my expectations out of the water. This book is about widower Ren and her daughter Char who's husband was killed on one of his adventures and leaves them with piles of bills. Cole was supposed to be there with his brother and best friend (Ren's husband) when tragedy struck and took their lives. He blames himself and wants to make it right by helping the widow of his best friend that he did not know existed. Sparks fly between Cole and Ren but both deny. The book had twists I was not expecting but was delighted to find. This would be a great read for the romantics out there.

[Jennifer (random jendsmit) · Rating 3 out of 5]

full review on random jendsmit

In a nut shell:
good story | very touching | LOVE the ending | super sweet | full of ups and downs

Details:
So in keeping with my recent style of reviewing – this is going to be short and sweet.
I love the characters in this book – I love their dynamic and the chemistry. I love the angle on this story. How are you supposed to move on and rebuild your life after you lose your husband without him even knowing you were preggers?! That right there made me want to cry!

I think you should check this title out – it really is touching and sweet!

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

When i first started the book it took me a while to get into it. i will say that books covers like a two week mark and that is a little short for falling madly in love but who's to say its not...

I really enjoyed the book for over 300 pages it was a nice read i will be getting more of her books and soon.

[Bernie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Expect the Unexpected...As I started reading this romance novel I was drawn in by the characters, their lives, surroundings, bringing a smile to my face and a tear to my eye. A wonderful book and I look forward to reading the next one.

[Carissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to call this one quits about a third of the way through. It was just not doing anything for me! The style was a little bit too choppy and the characters just didn't make any sense. Definitely not a read I enjoyed

[Deanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked this one. Loved Cole and Ren. Great read.

[Ann]

I'm utterly biased toward this book, as I edited it. Funny, sensual, emotional, lovely contemporary romance.

Not putting any stars. Adding it to my list for my yearly book count.

[Julia Broadbooks]

Really sweet romance with a strong heroine.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet.

[Kayleigh {K-Books} · Rating 2 out of 5]

His Unexpected Family Review on K-Books

"When I'm with you I feel like I'm soaring to new heights."

As soon as I heard of this book I instantly wanted to read it. I have read and reviewed a lot of Entangled's Indulgence books and have loved so many of them. Entangled is one of my all time favourite publishers so was really expecting to love this book. This one kind of fell a bit short for me and didn't enjoy it quite as much as others in this Entangled line.

Ren is doing her best to get her life back on track after the unexpected death of her husband. With a newborn baby and tons of debt she is living in an attic. Enter Cole, the drop-dead gorgeous guy who awakens feelings in her that she has never felt - not even with her late husband. But can she afford to give her heart again, when Cole has the ability to leave her... with her heart crushed?

I really wanted to love this book. With a blurb like that who wouldn't? It's such a fantastic storyline and has great promise but unfortunately I just didn't connect with this book. I am a hopeless romantic and just love any contemporary romance/chic-lit book but I am so sad to say that I just didn't with this one. I didn't really connect with the characters at all and when I can't connect with the characters I end up not being able to really care about what happened to them.

Both main characters really just irritated me quite a lot. Both had good intentions but it really annoyed me that they just didn't communicate with each other at all. I liked Cole and know all he wanted was to help Ren but he didn't talk to her about anything and instead just took control of her life like he was in control and could do anything her pleased. I hated that about him. I know he was trying to help and make things better for her but he really could have gone about it in a different way.

Ren... *sigh* I felt for Ren... I did. She has had a horrible time lately with her husband dying and having her baby and all her money troubles but she needs to learn that it's okay to get help. She was very stubborn and at times I felt very rude to Cole, always saying how she didn't need his help when in fact... yes she did. That irritated me. I think I'd have liked these characters, and connected with them a lot more if they just talked to each other about their situation. The accident that killed her husband brought them together so that could have been something they could bond over and find friendship straight away by helping each other but instead they just co-existed and fought a whole lot.

The other thing that had this book falling short for me was the romance. I spent half the book waiting for the romance to start. I'm fine with romance coming into the book later on but I like it to develop and in this one I felt like it didn't. One minute they are hating each other and the only hint of feelings is that they think the other is hot. I didn't really find their 'connection' believable and I was half expecting some other guy (or girl) to come into the story to be the love interest because I couldn't see a romance forming between the characters. When the romance did start I was kinda like huh? Really?

Once the romance started I got more into this book and started to enjoy it a lot more. After the not-so-believable start I did see some real feelings coming out and started to like the characters more and was really liking the story. But by the time the romance has started it was like it was over really quickly. It was like romance... they're together.... the end. The ending was very abrupt for me and I would have liked to see where the characters went from there... how it happened and stuff like that.

Overall I did like the book, the writing style was really good and Robyn definitely captured my attention with her writing style but this one fell short for me. I think if anyone is a big romance fan then you will still probably really enjoy this one but for me there was just something missing.

"He wasn't ready to hole up in one place forever and stare at the same four walls eternally, but any day without Ren in it was a waste of time."

[Cocktails and Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cole Matthews, extreme sport filmmaker, thought he lost is all when his brother and best friend died in an avalanche. He vows he's going to become a better person and put all his millions to work helping make up for his mistake by not being with his brother or Danny when they died. His first order of business is to find a place to live while he searches for Danny's widow. Unknowingly, his realtor has an in to get him in contact with her.

Ren agreed to help her old boss show a wealthy hotshot some properties, which in turn will help her pay some of the mountain of debt she's been left with since her husband died in an avalanche. While she wants to be independent and be able to care for her infant daughter, she's starting to drown. But she soon has a benefactor, in the way of her potential real estate client...a man who also happens to have been best friends with her husband. She soon finds the man all too willing to throw money at her to help her out, but also step in and play at being a family with her.

I really wanted to like the characters more, given what each of them had lived through, but I found myself not very sympathetic to either of them, but instead frustrated. Ren not only had to deal with the death of her husband, but also knowing she was pregnant and alone with a mountain of debt. I'd almost start feeling for her when all of a sudden something would come out of her mouth that would turn me off (I felt a little sympathy for my husband with the lashing he's gotten with my sharp tongue after reading some of Ren's comebacks!).

Then there was Cole. He was riddled with guilt over the accident, because if he hadn't been delayed he may have been able to save his brother and his best friend. Get that. But suddenly he thinks throwing money at the situation is going to fix it. And when that doesn't quite cut it, he's going to take Danny's place in the little family he knew nothing about. Cole had good intentions, but he was doing everything for the wrong reasons, which made me mad because I kept thinking (to myself) that Ren has been through enough.

Cole and Ren needed time away from each other to realize that both of them, while not at fault for the accident that took their loved ones, had a hand in what had lead to their unhappiness and needed to decide what to do to change it.

[Lauren at Live Read and Breathe Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an Ok read. The story was good but I found lots of the books confusing on here and now and did he or did he not know who she was. The kinks get worked out in the end with the ending being good but it was not one of my favorites but the bonus is of you are looking for a quick read with a love story then this would be fine for all then.

[Netty · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's obviously me! I just didn't like it!

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A new to me author, it was ok.

[Sandra R · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry, I couldn't connect with this one and felt the story did not flow. DNF