The Family You Make

A Novel

by Jill Shalvis

Readers who enjoy an involving story with characters that have some complexity should give this women’s fiction title a look. I very much enjoyed it.

Ms. Shalvis drew this reader in immediately. The first chapter of the book evoked strong feelings in me. Levi and Jane are stuck in a gondola (way high up) during a major weather event. I was almost literally trembling for them even though I knew that an author would not kill her main characters at the beginning of a novel. Still, I felt the cold, the shaking of the car, the fear of death and the relief when feet were again on the ground (just where I like mine to be!)

From this opening the author goes on to create a story with people about whom I cared. A few of them are:

Jane: She had a difficult childhood. Jane now works as a traveling nurse, never staying too long in any one place and, up until now, avoiding romantic attachments.

Levi: As a good male protagonist, he is nice looking and smart but he is dealing with a past grief. It is he and Jane who are trapped in the air together.

Charlotte: She is the one person to whom Jane has let herself become close. However, Charlotte has her own backstory with its repercussions in her current life.

Mateo: He knows all three of the others. Mateo is an ER doctor, so knows Charlotte, a surgeon at the same hospital. He and Levi were best friends for many years. Levi also knows Jane who lives with Charlotte and is a nurse in the same community for part of the year.

Watching how these people find their ways makes for a warmly involving read. This is the second novel that I have read by Ms. Shalvis and it will not be my last.

From the Publisher

	The Forever Girl	Love for Beginners	The Summer Deal

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.