Family Affair by Debbie Macomber

The Book:

Lacey Lancaster has moved to a new city after her divorce and is still struggling with the loneliness. To keep company she has an Abyssinian purebred cat Cleo. Cleo is going through her mating period and Lacey is on the look out a mate for her. Just then her annoying neighbor’s cat named Dog decides to barge in and make the best of the moment. Cleo gets pregnant and Lacey has to deal with her neighbor Jack.

Jack had been extremely irritating since the time she has moved in … leaving flowers for Lacey and trying to befriend her while fighting constantly with his girlfriend Stacey (at least that is what Lacey thinks). Now she has to interact with him because of the Cleo situation.

Is Jack really the monster she perceives him to be or are they be going to be friends soon? Will it just be friendship or will love rule the air?

The View:

I was down with the flu last week and picked up all the books from my TBR pile that were really short reads (because I spent very less ‘awake’ hours). ‘Family Affair’ was probably the shortest of them all .. It was in that rare category that falls between a short story and a novel since it ran for slightly over 100 pages. I initially decided to buy this on my Kindle but when I saw it in the library shelves I safely checked it out. Terrifically glad I did that otherwise all you would have had in the place of my review would have been my vents.

I always manage to like or dislike the characters, love or hate the writing style, detest or adore the cover design and rave or rant about the author in every review. But this one is different. I had no remarkable emotions when I read this book. I neither loved the story nor hated it. It was just one of those stories I would have read in a magazine while waiting at the doctor’s office and forgotten about it before you can say “short story”.

The characters were just ‘there’. They were average and did not leave an impression. Again I neither loved or hated them. If I met Lacey or Jack in my real life I would have said hello and walked past them as un-dramatically as it happens every day of our lives. If the book had been longer I am sure more time would have been spent on polishing the characters pasts and their present.

Rated a 3 on 5 just because it left no strong impact in me. It was one of those rare books that you read, you forget and when someone asks you if you have read this one.. you have to check your blog to see if you actually have. That is bad isn’t it?

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