The Many Visions of Family
When a child grows up in a non-traditional family structure, it is sometimes challenging to understand and to appreciate fully the dynamics of a traditional structure of two parents residing in the same space, parenting their children together. For Lily Maddox, non-traditional would certainly describe her family structure. Her parents loved their children, and even loved each other, but they didn’t love each other or the idea of family enough to sacrifice careers and personal dreams to even reside in the same country let alone to live together and to parent together. So, Lily’s growing up was probably seen by many as exciting, glamorous, privileged and even eclectic— spending time with her dad a California sheriff, and with her mom, the famous model Madeline Lang, the children’s lives had been spent traveling. And so, jetting on private planes from one location to another was normal for Lily and her twin brother Paxton. And while Lily’s family was not two parents in the same house normal, both children knew the love of two parents, but not two parents living together as family—her parents were a long distant team, but not a day-in, day-out team, as each parent pursued professional goals and shared parenting decisions via phone, but rarely in person, together.
So when, Lily’s own glamorous model’s world, patterned after the pathway of her mom, suddenly collapsed around her when paparazzi published a compromising photograph capturing the moment after married actor Trask Halloway had made his move on an unsuspecting Lily, but before the unwilling Lily had physically rejected and repulsed the attentions of the married actor, she needed her parents, who while continents apart, teamed to rescue their daughter. Those missing seconds had allowed the truth to be lost and twisted, and the lost time allowed her career to crash in the aftermath of the false narrative of her seducing and luring the “loyal” husband away from his loving wife.
Wyatt Dalton, deputy sheriff in Eden Lake, California, his hometown, was living the dream in his own backyard. Eden Lake was a magical setting of mountains and water, far enough from the hustle of California’s hot spots—both in temperature and style—to avoid the crazy of a California lifestyle—and to retain its small-town vibe. But, the beauty of the geography and the diversity of outdoor activities provided year-round entertainment making it a growing draw for the well-heeled Californians seeking excitement close to home. What made Eden Lake ideal for Wyatt was the fact that while the activities of Eden Lake were great—he and his brother Josh loved to hike and ski and boat in their own backyard, it was the fact that it was their backyard that made the town special. It was the generational setting where their family had settled and still resided. It was where the brothers wanted to live out their lives and to build their homes and to grow their families among family. But when Wyatt’s boss, Sheriff Maddox calls him aside to ask, no rather assign, him to protect or as Wyatt saw it, to “babysit” the sheriff’s glamorous daughter Lily whose ill-judged actions had her garnered her the attention of paparazzi, brought her embarrassment and possibly cost her the glamorous globe-trotting lifestyle she obviously lived and loved, he was not eager, but he was dutiful. And so, he accepted the assignment, even if he was not enthusiastic.
This novel is a part of the Forbidden Small Town Bad Boys series. It is a delightful individual read, but it is so pleasing to know that there are other bad boy’s living in Eden Lake with stories that need to be read and love that needs to be found that the reader’s curiosity is compelled to keep reading about the friends and family of Eden Lake.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review, but I enjoyed the reading experience so much that I bought a copy for my "read-again" titles.