Miranda's Family

Miranda's Family #1

by Anna Jacobs

Miranda Westerby always believed she was an only child. When her adoptive mother dies, Miranda discovers a box of papers in the attic of the family home, and the contents shock her to her core: she is the eldest of four children, scattered to the four winds when their birth parents died suddenly. Miranda sets out to find her siblings, and along the way she finds a love of her own.

288 pages, Hardcover

Published April 17, 2025

About the author

Anna Jacobs has 87 novels published as of April 2019. She writes historical sagas and modern novels alternately, and in the past has written historical romances and fantasy novels (the latter as Shannah Jay).

She's addicted to story-telling and writes three novels a year. You can find a list of books and series on her website at www.annajacobs.com

Anna reads 3 novels a week. Happy reading, everyone.

Reviews

[Pam Coll · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always like Anna Jacob's novels - homely and familiar like a friendly voice. Also there is a simplicity about them which makes them easy to absorb. This one is a quick read, it has charm but the main character disappoints. The plot is obviously truncated in the interest of a sequel which I hope will come soon as the story does appeal and the story telling has been hugely interrupted. Melodrama dominates in the form of a wicked relative and her equally wicked servant. Miranda is a bother, she is obviously damaged by her isolated and loveless upbringing but her paranoia and negativity irritate with its repetitiveness. She is also a bit contradictory, paranoid one moment and careless and lackadaisical the next. For a modern woman she has only half-graduated. I look forward to the next in the series.

[Pearl Piper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very. Very long winded

.almost as though the author was filling in the pages so as to go the full mile with trivial descriptions of each person.. was only to the last few pages that things got going again and the storyline became interesting and going somewhere..there will be a sequel..hope it is better than this one..not up to Anna's standard at all.. took 2 pages to describe making a cup of tea...and so on..and so on...

[Alyson Jones · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't get past chapter 4. It was so slow and I didn't connect with the main character.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. There are lovely characters, a really good story about finding family and happiness

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

You have to read a few chapter to get into this book but once it gets goung I couldn't put it down

[Debbie Ridley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate doing this because I've read and adored all of Anna's books and always eagerly await her next.

This is the first in what I think is a new series regarding Miranda Westerby who was orphaned at 14 and had only a great aunt who met her once and packed her off to a boarding school only to communicate with her via solicitors from then on. You eventually find out there is a 'Westerby' trust that this great aunt runs though to help family members although she really doesn't.

Jim Tucker is a 70 year old recent widower after his wife Gracie dies. At the beginning of the book it says Gracie was a Westerby prior to her marriage and had had a daughter before meeting Jim that had been taken away from her. They didn't have children of their own.

Now this is what puzzled me. When Jim finally meets Miranda at the end of the book, he says he was the Westerby but changed his name after threats from the nasty great aunt and that he must be Miranda's grandfather! Impossible.

Why didn't the editor spot this glaring error?

Add a couple more characters, a confusing timeline for events and a rambling and repetitive dialogue and sadly this is the only book of hers that I found so difficult to finish. If it hadn't been Anna's, I'd have given up halfway through.