donnakay 's review for:

One Big Happy Family by Susan Mallery

3.75

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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This novel was like watching a cozy holiday movie at Christmas time. What started out as a completely quiet and uneventful  holiday season, intended for some needed couple time, turned into an all-out family affair at the cabin. This book was a nice exploration of family themes and how much they people that fit into those boxes can easily stretch beyond our immediate blood relations. It also talks bout how the strong ones in our family can forget that they can also depend on others to pick up the slack , and it's okay to not be totally okay. There was a lot of kindness and consideration throughout the interactions of the characters in this novel, even when hard conversations were occurring. If you're looking for a book to give you all the feels of a classic holiday movie, then I recommend giving this one a go. 

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the gifted e-arc.