Not as good as the first but.... (The Accidental Family - Rowan Coleman)

Member Name: Lbird99

Product:	The Accidental Family - Rowan Coleman
Date:	26/04/09 (31 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well Written, easy read

Disadvantages: Weak Male Lead

I was really excited when I saw Rowan Coleman's 'The Accidental Family ' while in Tesco. I am a big fan of Rowan Coleman's style of family orientated Chick Lit, and loved the predecessor to this, 'The Accidental Mother'. However I found that although I enjoyed this book it was not as good as the first one

Without giving too much away if you haven't read 'The Accidental Mother', City Girl Sophie Mills is left to bring up her best friend's two little girls Bella and Izzy when she passes away and their father cannot be found. Sophie knows nothing about children and currently has no desire to have any, and finds her life being turned upside down with hilarious results. Eventually the girls' father Louis returns to claim his daughters.....

Fast forward 6 months and Sophie has swapped her London life for Mrs Alexander's guest house in Cornwall where Louis has settled with Bella and Izzy. For various reasons she doesn't feel ready to move in with them. Sophie knows she loves the girls, and she thinks she loves Louis, but when she finds herself accepting his proposal she realises how little she knows about him. Thus begins a rollercoaster ride of emotion as Sophie confronts skeletons in Louis' closet, the return of lush American Jake, her love interest before Louis, and a whole host of other hurdles to overcome.

The story unfolds in the third person, so we see the tale from an outsiders point of view. As with standard third person chick lit this means you can normally see what is coming a mile off. However this does not really take much away from the book, but I found there were points I was secretly hoping to be surprised with a surprise twist.

My main disappoint with this book is the lack of warmth and depth to Louis character - which is a real turn off for a male lead in a chick lit novel! This is the same as in the first novel, when I really wanted her to stay with Jake rather than fall for Louis. As Louis' past was a central part of the plot I felt he needed a few more dimensions, or else the storyline to explain why his character was so flat, but that never happened. This lack of characters made you question why someone as strong and feisty as Sophie would want to be with him.

However Rowan Coleman has added some great new characters, my favourite being Grace. Grace is an elderly lady who lives at Mrs Alexander's, who swears like a trooper and is addicted to television chat shows. She talks Sophie through her many loves and marriages, with some of her tales being very moving.

All in all this is a very good chick lit novel, which is really easy to read as either a sequel or as a standalone novel. I found I could put it down, but I did look forward to the moments when I could pick it up again. I would recommend it to any avid chick lit reader

Summary: Easy Reading Chick Lit