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The Walshes #9

Foundations

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Fall in love. Get married. Have a baby. Live happily ever after.

That was how it was supposed to go, right? Love and here comes the bride and babies and forever.

But sometimes, forever has a strange way of sorting itself out.

Like a post-baby dry spell with no end in sight—unless a naughty schoolteacher pulls on her fancy panties and takes matters into her own hands.

Foundations is the Underneath It All (Matt and Lauren) novella featuring Six Years Later, the happy-ever-after novella originally published in The Walsh Brothers plus the Jenga, Cocktails, and Cookies novella originally available only to Kate Canterbary’s newsletter subscribers, and two additional bonus scenes.

114 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 28, 2020

274 people are currently reading
793 people want to read

About the author

Kate Canterbary

48 books5,561 followers
USA Today Bestseller Kate Canterbary writes smart, steamy contemporary romances loaded with heat, heart, and happy ever afters. Kate lives on the New England coast with her husband and daughter.

To get in touch with Kate, please email kate@katecanterbary.com

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5 stars
417 (41%)
4 stars
339 (33%)
3 stars
213 (20%)
2 stars
31 (3%)
1 star
17 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 86 reviews
Profile Image for Just A Girl With Spirit.
1,403 reviews13.3k followers
January 4, 2022
I will always want more from this family. My heart feels empty having wrapped up the final book in this beloved Walsh series. Foundations was perfect, and I loved getting a glimpse of Matt & Lauren learning to navigate parenthood, and also finding their way back to who they were before they had a baby. I love their love, passion, and raw animalistic lust they have for each other and what that lust and passion produces behind closed doors. They are pure fire! All of The Walshes are with their mates, and I will always want a front row seat to watch them in action 😈.
Profile Image for Dawn Strickland.
435 reviews20 followers
July 30, 2020
Home
Foundations was a wonderfully comforting read. It was like going home. I loved this window into the world of The Walsh Family. It encompassed everything I enjoy about Ms. Canterbary's writing: witty dialogue, soul deep connection, humor, passion, and heart. The glimpses of side characters that definitely deserve their own HEAs, were an added bonus. So many feels!
Profile Image for AJ.
3,251 reviews1,070 followers
September 10, 2020
4 stars

This is a great little bonus for fans of The Walshes series. A novella for the couple that started it all – Matt and Lauren – set three months after the birth of their first baby.

This book contains the Underneath It All (Matt and Lauren) novella featuring Six Years Later, the happy-ever-after novella originally published in The Walsh Brothers plus the Jenga, Cookies, and Cocktails novella originally available only to Kate Canterbary’s newsletter subscribers, and several additional bonus scenes.

Matt and Lauren’s connection was clear from the moment they met, and that has only intensified in the years that they’ve been together. But since they bought their baby girl home, they have struggled to reconnect in the way that means so much to them both.

We loved each other more than I thought possible. It was more intense than ever but it was an intensity founded in distance. We gazed at each other from across the room in awe, as if to say, Look what we made. Look what we have. Look what we are. Look at where we are now.

This was a new era for our relationship and I wasn’t the only one stumbling through it.

It’s a situation that so many new parents have to deal with, and I loved watching Matt and Lauren face those difficulties and find their way forward, and back to themselves

I was a mother and a wife and woman, and I could be all of those. I wasn’t limited to one.

In addition to the Matt and Lauren novella, this collection also contains some deleted scenes from the Walsh Family Vault, and as a mad fan of the series, I was thrilled to catch up with the characters that I love so much.

If you haven’t read this series – seriously, get onto it. Funny, sexy, emotional and romantic with some of the best family dynamics I’ve read, it’s a must-read for contemporary romance fans. And with this series spawning so many of Canterbary’s other books, it’s the best starting point to dive into this author’s work.

I loved it. 4 stars.

Profile Image for Tmstprc.
1,297 reviews168 followers
July 28, 2020
Always love visiting the a Walshes!
726 reviews4 followers
July 29, 2020
More Walsh Family News

Reading these bonus and deleted chapters is kind of like having a family reunion where only your favorite relatives are invited. It’s a pleasure to catch up with them and everything they they say is interesting.

The Walsh family has more than enough antics and love for each other to share. In good times and in bad they have each other. This collection of chapters includes the entire Walsh gang in various times of their lives. I hope that author, Kate Canterbary will reunite us with these great characters again in the future, but even if she doesn’t, this book is a nice addition to the series. If you are not familiar with the Walsh family, start with Underneath it All and be prepared to love the entire series and this awesome family.
Profile Image for Laurie.
1,016 reviews51 followers
July 29, 2020
The Walshes Fix Everything!!!! Seriously, they really do.

It didn’t matter to me that I have read these bits of Walsh goodness already. Sitting down and getting to sneak back into Walsh-World for just a little while was a balm for my heart. I love these characters and each chapter made me love them all the more.
Profile Image for Regina Breier.
50 reviews1 follower
August 3, 2020
Welcome back Matt and Lauren!

If you are familiar with The Walshes, and specifically the couple that started it all, then you will want to read this novella. If you have not read Underneath It All, then please start there.

Matt and Lauren got married, Matt finished the house he promised her and just in time...because they had their first child. Now three month later, Matt and Lauren forgot how to be Matt and Lauren. Both struggle with their new titles of Mom and Dad. And just like it takes a village to help new parents, The Walsh family, along with the Halsted grandparents, help Matt and Lauren adjust your parenthood.

The story is a quick read and helps you stay in touch with one of the funniest families in Boston. Readers continue to celebrate the love of these two characters and celebrate the birth of their little one.
Profile Image for Elizabeth.
569 reviews
July 28, 2020
There is just so much delightfully wonderful content in this book, a must have for any Kate Canterbary fan. Foundations is six years after Matt and Lauren meet. There is a preface that provides a timeline where this fits within the Walsh world. Foundations, originally found in the Walsh Brothers box set as an extended epilogue, is the main content with the short story of Jenga, Cocktails, and Cookies added as a bonus chapter. This extension of Matt and Lauren’s story reminds me of how realistic these characters are and the feels that they themselves are going through. It demonstrates how life after children changes everything. However, Matt is still the same pervy growly man he’s always been and Lauren is Lauren. They’re everything you want them to be. The bonus chapter (JC&C) opens the door of possibilities of new books staring the staff and faculty of Lauren’s school.
In addition to catching up with the Walshes, all (I’m pretty sure) those amazing bonus chapters found in newsletter emails and deleted scenes can be found here.
41 reviews1 follower
August 2, 2020
It’s like putting on your favorite sweater!

I loved Kate’s books about the Walsh siblings and their crazy, messy, relationships. These characters are the very definition of family and there is much to love in getting to know them. Foundations is a wonderful opportunity to revisit these couples and will remind you why you loved them so much while catching you up on what’s transpired in more recent times, including a Walsh-esque email exchange about closing the office due to COVID-19. Well worth the read!
Profile Image for Kate.
Author 4 books30 followers
February 28, 2021
Because growly, bitey boys and pervy girls are my kinda peeps.

Foundations : Kate Canterbary :
|| For pumpkin spice and pervy girls ||

Ugh, this is the last “Walsh” book (so far 🤞🏼) and I couldn’t have loved this series more!
Will now attempt to delay / avoid my inevitable book-hangover by reading more by KC.
Profile Image for Mel.
1,699 reviews4 followers
October 9, 2024
Shockingly, I actually liked this and liked it way more than Matt and Lauren’s origin story. I liked Lauren and her difficult postpartum journey and trying to get the passion and heat back in her marriage, it all felt very relatable. And I really enjoyed Patrick explaining the art of pulling out to Matt, that made me laugh. My favorites were the random bonus scenes at the end.
Profile Image for Kelly.
1,216 reviews15 followers
September 24, 2020
A quick and fun read for fans of the Walsh family including a novella on Matthew and Lauren as they grapple with life with a baby, plus extra scenes from the 'Walsh Family Vault'. Loved seeing all my favourite characters as their lives change and grow with new additions and challenges.

Profile Image for Busybeth76.
738 reviews3 followers
July 31, 2020
The Walsh Family at it's Best

If you're a fan of the Walsh Family series, you'll love this collection of a short novella, out takes, short stories and deleted scenes. If you haven't read the series, where have you been? This delightful collection provides clear insight into the most dysfunctional, crazy, unorthodox yet loving and tight knit family ever. They are brash, demanding and sexy. Foundations lets the reader continue living the dream of being part of the spectacular Walsh saga. Be sure to be part of it.
Profile Image for Stacie .
45 reviews1 follower
July 31, 2020
So happy that we get to revisit the Walshes and get a glimpse of Matt and Lauren's future. (I only hope we get little drop ins with the rest of the gang as well.) Kate has spun a world that we love to visit; would love to live in. Her world building is leaps and bounds beyond any other book series that I have read, including the Walsh series, the Walsh adjacent characters and the Talbot's Cove crew. Thank you, Kate!
Profile Image for Caroline.
101 reviews3 followers
July 31, 2020
I will never get enough of the Walshes. It is my favourite series ever and it's great to have this glimpse into their world again. Matt and Lauren were my gateaway drug to the series so I loved seeing them again and checking in with how their lives have progressed. The extra and bonus scenes are fantastic as well. Full of all the feels and the wit and humour that I have come to expect from my favourite author
Profile Image for LA Loves RomComs.
945 reviews7 followers
July 29, 2020
Loved this bonus content novella from Kate Canterbary! This revisit to the Walsh Family is really so wonderful!

Foundations takes place a six years after Matt and Lauren meet. It was originally in the Walsh Brothers box set, so if you own that, this is a duplicate, but there is additional bonus content that is not available in any other book. Jenga, Cocktails, and Cookies also centers on Matt and Lauren, and shows their life after the kids come along. And there are two other bonus chapters.

This is a wonderful way to catch up with a beloved couple.
Profile Image for Michele Packard-milam.
351 reviews10 followers
July 30, 2020
Wonderful Vignettes

This series of extras makes me want to go back and re-read all of these books. Kate Canterbary has become my favorite romance author - and that’s saying something, since she’s competing with the likes of Lucy Score and Adriana Locke. These books and characters are just so memorable and engaging!
37 reviews
July 28, 2020
Happily Ever After

I always love Kate’s books. This is a good example of what new parents go thru, when they have there 1st baby. The Walsh family was a great read. Now new characters are being added so hopefully there will be new books in the future.
Profile Image for Book Dragon.
164 reviews1 follower
April 12, 2024
Praise to an author who writes about the real topics in nice, easy ways using familiar characters in familiar fictional settings, but without belittling those issues.

We know Matt and Lauren - these guys were the start of the Walsh series and Lauren is the happiest, most reliable character in every book for all the characters. She's there for everyone and they all love her.

And in 'Foundations' she becomes a mom and faces the very real reality of losing herself. I say this without hesitation - and knowing we do not talk about this enough. It's almost taboo in itself.

I'm glad that it was a quick resolve, and we get both Matt and Lauren's inner monologue (and they bring in the newlyweds weds who set them in the right direction) and everything is ok in the end.

Not that it's always a quick resolve in the reals, but I've never felt words on a page speak more to me than some of the words written for Lauren. Really, that shit was real!

Apart from all the serious stuff - there's a party chapter and all the characters from a bunch of other books are there (the school that Jamie and Shay teach in - is the Lauren's school?) And then the Benchmark book characters get their introductions and I just eat that kind of crossover up, I really do.

There are also deleted scenes, other chapters and some fun 'what happened to Walsh Associates in 2020' that was a delight to read (not just because Seb Stremmel gets an honourable mention).

All in all, a great wee quick read that I obviously really enjoyed!
Profile Image for Laura.
394 reviews13 followers
December 8, 2021
What's the softest thing you can possibly think of? Blankets? Snow? Snow is soft, right? This book??? Everything about it made my heart ache in one of those ways that's oddly pleasant because it feels like your heart is just a few sizes too big for your body and everyone was so in love and happy and—

God, I love a good happily ever after.

And that's what this was. Really, really good.

Reading this entire series (and doing not much else while reading, let's be honest) was such an absolute delight and this family is everything I want out of a fictional family dynamic and, just to reiterate, everyone was so in love. Which is really my ultimate jam, let's be honest part two. I loved it. I loved them. I loved every single dynamic. I am a little bit sad that I have now read all the Walsh-focused books, but just as excited to dive into the rest of Kate's (I've read nine books, so we're definitely friends now, I can call her Kate) work.
1,388 reviews10 followers
August 8, 2020
Foundations, The Walshes book #9, is a brilliant little novella!

We have Six Years Later, which as the preface says:
Six years after Matthew and Lauren met in Underneath It All
Three Years after the end of Necessary Restorations
Ten months after the end of Thresholds
Between the last chapter and epilogue of Missing In Action
Between the last chapter and epilogue of The Magnolia Chronicles
Between the last chapter and epilogue of Before Girl
Three months are the last episode of Coastal Elite
One year before the start of Boss in the Bedsheets

In Six Years Later, we catch up with Lauren and Matthew and how they’re navigating their new life with their now three-month-old daughter, Madeleine.

We get some brief teasers for the new The Benchmark Series which is coming soon! We have Drew and Tara in Professional Development (coming August 2020) and Max and Jory in Orientation (coming September 2020).

We get more of all our favourites in some Walsh Family deleted scenes and bonus chapters.

COVID-19 has hit and everyone’s working from home. We get the Walsh Associates and their assistants take on 2020.
Profile Image for Christie.
1,136 reviews26 followers
January 1, 2022
3.5 stars

This was the perfect way to end the series!

Matt and Lauren weren't my all-time favourite Walsh couple, but it was fun getting a look into their lives again, since it's been so long since their book. I liked seeing how they adapted to having a baby, and the storyline was steamy and fun, while also feeling realistic.

I had mixed feelings about the deleted scenes. I loved the extra content, but got a little confused trying to work out when each one was set in the timeline of the series/each individual book. Since I read this series slowly over the entirety of 2021, it's been almost a year since I read some of the books, so some more guidance on when exactly each scene was set would have helped.

Really enjoyed the "Walsh Associates Take on 2020" bonus scenes near the end!
Profile Image for Chanel.
1,833 reviews
December 13, 2020
It was delight to revisit with the Walshes again. The author did an excellent and realistic job of portraying first time parents. You don’t know what sleep deprivation is until you have a newborn.
Matt and Lauren find it difficult to adjust to parenthood. This one time sexual couple struggle with the lack of time and energy to resume their sex life. I found myself relating to many of the feelings Lauren was having. I loved the closet scene.
This book also includes bonus material on many of the couples. It even deals with the new work world under COVID. You can depend on clever stories from this outstanding author.
Profile Image for Ann (Literary Lust).
1,615 reviews25 followers
December 3, 2022
Foundations has been perfectly written to close this series – going a full circle back to the beginning as the first part of this novella features Matt and Lauren whose story actually started this series in Underneath It All. There are also a number of bonus chapters that are very entertaining.

I’m going to miss the Walshes and their close circle now that the series has ended. I have loved spending the last couple of weeks with them. The series has been unputdownable. Maybe now I can catch up on Christmas shopping and housework 😬

5 stars.
Profile Image for Donna.
1,424 reviews13 followers
June 27, 2025
The Walsh Family ❤️

✏️Having spent many hours in the company of the Walsh siblings, their paths to meeting their loved ones, through to the challenges of bringing children into their families, this epilogue of fast forwards and bonus scenes is a delight. If you haven’t already, it’s worth adding the series to your reading wish list. This is book 9 in the series and not to be read as a standalone.

Read on Kindle Unlimited
My rating 4/5 - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Connect with me: http://www.instagram.com/read.athon2021
Profile Image for April.
69 reviews
July 28, 2020
In this short novella, we meet up with the Walshes again. Kate gives us a glimpse into Matthew and Lauren’s lives 6 years after “Underneath It All”. It’s a quick, fun read with just the right amount of dirty for the avid fan of this series. As an added bonus, there’s several chapters and exclusive content after the short story to add to the Walsh clan’s antics. If you’ve read Kate’s books and loved them, you need this book.
Profile Image for Phoenix.
1,218 reviews1 follower
July 28, 2020
I had an inkling that this wasn't new-to-me content so instead of buying it outright because I do love this series, I borrowed it from KU and sure enough, this is a novella that was packaged with the Walsh Brothers collection which I already had, along with other deleted scenes. Nevertheless, it was fun to visit with one of my favourite fictional families again.
Profile Image for Kimarmot.
151 reviews2 followers
August 3, 2020
Some people have book boyfriends, I have a book family, the Walsh. Since I’ve read Underneath It All, I’ve been hook to them. The series allows us to follow Matt and Lauren for six years. In this one, we get a glimpse of them and the other Walsh family member and acquaintances through a novella taking place 6 years after Underneath it All and several bonuses. Although they are not new as they were initially published in box sets or newsletters, it was still an immense pleasure to follow them. It was like catching up with old friends.
Romance books usually end when the two protagonists get married or start their life together. It always has been a little frustrating for me when I loved the couple. Luckily for me, Kate Canterbary never gave up the Walsh, and every time I read about them, it feels as good as slipping in my favorite yoga pants.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 86 reviews

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