Review: The Family Gathering

The Family Gathering by Robyn Carr
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Having read and enjoyed Any Day Now, the second book in Robyn Carr’s Sullivan’s Crossing series, I told myself I would go back and read the first book, What We Found. I wanted more of the characters and the setting, I wanted to dig deeper into the world. Sadly, I have yet to read What We Found, but when I was given the chance to dive into the third book, The Family Gathering, I was happy to return to the world.

Personally, I would recommend reading at least the prior book before diving into this one. The romance story in this one is certainly a standalone element, having a solid starting and ending point, but there are many other elements intertwined throughout and these relate back to the prior books. In many ways, this is more family saga than romance – although the romance is enjoyable – and due to that a bit of understanding is needed to really appreciate all that occurs throughout this one.

I will be honest and say I was a little bit unsure as to how I would feel about this one at first. Despite loving Any Day Now, I wasn’t crazy about my other Robyn Carr read, The Summer That Made Us. When it took me a while to get into The Family Gathering, I feared we were going to have a repeat performance – a story I could appreciate, but not one I would love. Fortunately, in the end, I was won over by this one.

It takes a few chapters, but once you fall into the story it becomes difficult to put down. You fall in love with the characters, and the deeper you get into the story the more threads that come to light. There were some elements that felt a bit predictable, but as a whole I really enjoyed the way all the elements played out with this one.

As with my prior Robyn Carr reads, I found the main thing that won me over was how realistic the characters were. Many books go for completely outlandish characters and events to keep readers entertained, yet Robyn Carr reflects real life wonderfully. The events are easy to envision and the characters are believable, ensuring you’re sucked deeper into the story and unwilling to take a step back as you’re desperate to see how everything ends.

Dealing with many issues throughout, The Family Gathering quickly won me over and has left me even more in love with the Sullivan’s Crossing crew.

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