I have adored Sarah Morgan and her stories for as long as I can remember. They’re sexy, they’re incredibly delicious to lose yourself in, and they’re always guaranteed to leave you with a smile on your face and a skip to your step. Sarah writes beautifully, about friendship, family, relationships, and you can always be sure that there’ll be a ridiculously handsome hero involved somewhere, just to add that extra sparkle and excitement to the story. I just know that whenever I’m in need of a pick-me-up, Sarah Morgan delivers each and every single time. Her writing is seamless, her settings and characters always so easy to get to know and love, and her stories wrap you up entirely in new adventures and discovery.
This was such a heart-warming, uplifting tale of grief and loss, of making peace with the past and allowing new friendships and relationships to find you. Morgan focuses beautifully on vulnerability, honing in on recently-bruised hearts and shattered families, exploring in great depth the intricacies of love, but also portraying the splendid chaos of being a teenager and the unpredictability of life.
Before the author takes us to the hustle and bustle of New York, we’re delivered to the serene and quiet setting of the Lake District, to be introduced to Clare. Although all is gentle in Clare’s surroundings, within, an emotional storm is brewing. After the death of Becca, Clare’s childhood friend, Clare is left clutching a letter from Becca, and preparing herself to attend Becca’s funeral. As Clare thinks back to their shared history, Morgan captures the fierce emotions that Clare experiences and it’s impossible not to empathise with her. Immediately, we’re left wondering what went wrong between Clare and Becca, because it seems that at one point, they were inseparable. I was intrigued about this friendship between the two women, because although it seemed they had plenty of memories between them, I felt that there was something darker hidden beneath the surface, too. A secret perhaps, something that was likely to change everything.
Morgan then changes setting and we’re amongst blooms and flowers aplenty as we meet Flora, also suffering her own sort of loss. Amongst the hustle and bustle and the pleasant banter between Flora and Julia, it’s here that Flora is happiest, and we come to learn that her mother, too, had worked with flowers and been incredibly passionate about them. As Flora works beside Julia, she spots a man outside, who seems lost in thought as he stares at the blooms on offer outside the store. When Flora offers to help him, he introduces himself as Jack, and it comes to light that we have another character trying to come to terms with the loss of a loved one, lost to his grief and trying his best to parent his two daughters without his wife, Becca, beside him.
I adored watching these two separate lives intertwine. It was magical, and it seemed to happen at just the right moment, when both Flora and Jack perhaps needed it most. You can always be sure that the moment Morgan’s main characters stumble upon each other, or cross each other’s paths, that it’s a moment the reader can picture perfectly in their mind. Morgan’s writing has always had a dream-like quality to it, while also retaining the believability of real life. The romance in her books always seems to be just on the very edge, teetering between believable and fairy-tale like, and I think that’s one of the reasons I adore it so much. It’s no different in ‘Family for Beginners’, and Morgan ensures that her customary heart-flutter inducing story-telling does exactly that. What made the meeting between Jack and Flora even more special, was how the reader already knew that these two characters were going to be able to help each other. Their unique qualities were going to slot into place beside each other, and I was so excited to see it happen.
Morgan’s characterisation is spot-on in ‘Family for Beginners’, and the title really couldn’t be anymore perfect for the story within. Jack, with his two daughters Izzy and Molly, has the sort of busy, noisy life that Flora has always ached for, and so when they come together, it seems to be the ideal fit for both of them. But of course, the path of life is never as easy as that, and when readers are introduced to Izzy and Molly, it quickly becomes clear which one of the girls isn’t going to allow a stranger to join their family without putting up a fight. Izzy was such a complex character, but aren’t all teenagers? And having recently lost her mother, Morgan does such a fantastic job of conveying the agony, confusion and anger that a grieving teenager would be dealing with. I felt for Izzy so much, and it reminded me so much of my own chaotic emotions and how very big they felt to me at that age. It’s when Jack introduces Flora to his daughters that the trouble really begins, and we’re witness to the disbelief that Izzy can’t hide at this new woman trying to take her mother’s place.
The plot focuses mostly on Flora trying to find ways to fit into Jack’s ready-made family without rocking the boat or upsetting his children. It was agonising at times, to watch Flora desperately attempting to become friends with Izzy and Molly, only to be rebuked. I also felt frustration at how Jack seemed to be oblivious to his daughter’s emotional torment, but I knew that this only highlighted how difficult it would be for a father who’d recently lost his wife and was trying to fill the gap Becca had left behind. Morgan manages to convey these moments in the most emotional and sensitive way for the reader, and it really effected me because I felt sympathy for the characters. I wanted to tell Flora that she really was perfect just the way she was, and she didn’t need to be like Becca, which at times it was clear that she felt that was what she needed to do in order to be part of the family. I could understand that there would be a lot of pressure on Flora, especially when her and Jack’s worlds collide and she joins them on their summer getaway to The Lake District, the first time they’d be going there without Becca. Surrounded by Jack and Becca’s friends, you can’t even imagine how difficult it would be for Flora to do it, but again, the emotions are spot-on by Sarah Morgan, making this a truly tender and gut-wrenching story.
I can’t finish this review without talking some more about the beautiful setting of The Lake District. Morgan’s descriptions were utterly perfect, and she transported me straight there. I could picture everything so perfectly in my mind, and I particularly loved the secret island Izzy found, which became the place she’d go when she needed to figure out her thoughts, or simply wanted some peace.
Morgan captures the chaos that can take place when one family attempts to merge with another. The confusion, the uncertainty, the anger, the sadness. It was beautifully written and so easy to understand the characters, to feel the things they felt. I wanted nothing more than for Flora to be accepted into the family because it was something she’d dreamt of her whole life, ever since her own mother had died. I loved the similarities that were discovered between Flora and Izzy, the chemistry between Flora and Jack, and the surprising new friendships Flora formed while at The Lake District.
‘Family for Beginners’ by Sarah Morgan was a beautifully touching novel, one that discussed some tough but certainly relatable subjects, and did so in the most tender and moving of ways. The characters were fantastic as always, and I adored the focus on family which left me feeling as though I was wrapped up in a big, tight hug. Yet another glorious, happiness-inducing tale from Sarah Morgan. I already can’t wait for the next one.
Who says you can’t choose your family?
When Flora falls in love with Jack, suddenly she’s not only handling a very cranky teenager, but she’s also living in the shadow of Jack’s perfect, immortalised wife, Becca. Every summer, Becca and Jack would holiday with Becca’s oldest friends and Jack wants to continue the tradition, so now Flora must face a summer trying to live up to Becca’s memory, with not only Jack’s daughter looking on, but with Becca’s best friends judging her every move…
The more Flora tries to impress everyone, the more things go horribly wrong… but as the summer unfolds, Flora begins pushing her own boundaries, and finding herself in a way that she never thought she needed to.
And she soon learns that families come in all shapes and sizes.
You can purchase your copy of Family for Beginners by Sarah Morgan here.
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