2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
TRULY A HEARTWRENCHING STORY, February 27, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Unexpected Family (Silhouette Special Edition) (Paperback)
The characters were so well drawn, so real to life. Ms. Campbell made me know them intimately, forcing me to feel with them, cry with them, and rejoice with them! Joe and Meg's story is about the heart and the struggle it often takes to open it and to finally admit to what's been inside of it all along.
Joe went through so much hell as a prisoner in Milagua that for years, all his emotions and energy were tied up in the only hopeful vision/idea he had to hang on to -- his first love, Elena. Even after he returns home and marries Meg (his best friend's sister), it's not until late in the book that he acknowleges he DOES love his wife, and always has. Watching him come to allow that love, to admit it, to own it -- and only after the impact of discovering his son -- is a powerful,emotional experience.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
(Diane Grayson) says, January 22, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Unexpected Family (Silhouette Special Edition) (Paperback)
If you are looking for a light and fluffy, funny book, then I strongly suggest you pass on this one. If you are looking for a very well-written, poignant, heart-squeeze of a book, then this book is for you. Keep the tissues nearby, though...you might need them. I rarely cry - for any reason. However, there were a few places in this book where even I was getting a bit misty.
Meg and Joe McConnell have been married for four years. They've known one another since their teens, when Joe was friends with Meg's brother. However, their marriage has not always been happy, and was entered into more for convenience than passion. They love one another, but always feel that each has disappointed the other in ways that cannot be atoned for.
Meg married Joe knowing that while he loved her, a large part of his heart would always belong to Elena, his first love. She wants nothing more than to make a home for him, and have a family. Imagine her heartbreak to learn that she cannot bear children. She feels that she has failed Joe, and their lives will not be complete without children. When all medical means fail, they pursue adoption.
Joe had been a reporter in Milagua, and Elena was one of the rebels. In the midst of an uprising, Joe was captured and thrown into prison, where he was tortured for several years. He maintained his sanity during this time by focusing on the life he would have with Elena after his release. However, when that day finally came, Joe was told that Elena had been killed in the uprising. He returned home, scarred and shattered, only to learn that his mother had also died while he was gone, and he was now completely alone. He finds his way to Meg's house, where she and her brother take him in. Meg has helped him heal physically, and held him through the nightmares.
He loves Meg, but he feels that a part of him has been destroyed by all that he has been through. He wishes he could give her more, and make her happy. Since a child will make her happy, he wants a child for her.
They are both shocked to learn that Joe already has a child - Elena's. Nine year-old Antonio comes to live with them from a Milaguan orphanage.
Meg truly wants to make a home for Tony; he's a bright child, and so much like Joe. How could she not love him? But he's also a reminder of the ever-perfect Elena, who not only had Joe's love, but also gave him the child she could not. Tony has many adjustments to make, as well. He's lost his mother, his homeland, and is living with a father he doesn't know. Joe wants to make a home for his son, and also do what's best for his wife. He feels completely out of his element, and fears he cannot be a good enough father.
The characters in this book were very well drawn, and I ached for them. I wanted them all to be happy, and for them to grow into a family. They all wanted this, as well, but each had to be able to set aside their own perceptions, and learn to communicate. And by the end of the book, each had done an admirable job. I was touched.
This book is definitely of the "tortured" variety, but is very well written. It's not overly maudlin, or sappy. The characters have justifiable pain to deal with, but they do not wallow in it. I was drawn in from the first page, and rejoiced with the characters by the end of the book. What an incredibly sweet ending.
This is Ms. Campbell's second book for Silhouette. I haven't read her first book, but I will be looking for it now, as well as anticipating future reads.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
For me, this book didn't live up to its potential., February 13, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Unexpected Family (Silhouette Special Edition) (Paperback)
The premise of the story is promising. Meg McConnell wants two things in life - her husband's love, and a baby to make them into a real family. Those two things don't seem like much, but for Meg they're going to be pretty difficult to come by. For starters, her husband, Joe, doesn't want to be in love with her. His ability to love and, therefore make himself vulnerable, is still all wrapped up in his former lover, Elena. She's dead and Joe seems to be unable to get over her.
As if that's not enough of a burden on Meg, she's unable to have children and the only option seems to be to adopt. She feels as if that would secure the family bond whether or not Joe ever loves her. Before they can adopt, however, nine-year-old Tony comes to live with them. Tony is Elena's son....and Joe's. Now Meg has to live with the knowledge that Joe loved - possibly still loves - Elena much more than he loves Meg, and Elena has already given him the child Meg is unable to have.
I wanted to like this book. I really did. The premise intrigued me, and I saw the potential for an emotinal, edgy read. I didn't get it. Meg was too sweet, too understanding, and too willing to accept whatever small crumb of affection Joe was willing to give her. I kept waiting for her to stand up for herself, to walk out on Joe, to tell him to get on with his life already - something! - but it never happened.
Right up until the very last pages of the book, Joe was calling out Elena's name in his sleep and talking about how much he loved her. If I were Meg, I would have smacked him and probably left him. Meg, however, decides she'd rather have a loveless marriage than none at all. I found that to be a pretty sad comment on the level of her self-esteem. And that was at the end of the book!
Sexual tension was almost non-exsistent in this story. In fact, I didn't get the impression that Meg and Joe had a particularly sexual relationship. He treated her more like a sister. His nicknames for her - Meggers and Meggles - were not something I'd want my lover calling me.
This book could have been fantastic. I had to force myself to finish it, though, and when I did I was disappointed.
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