I've been reading a lot of Christmas romances and this is one of my least favorite.  It's a good story that centers on domestic spousal abuse.  I guess I'm a little old fashioned to want my Christmas stories a little less intense.  This would be a good story if it wasn't advertised as a Christmas romance.  Part of the series, Where Secrets are Safe, this story does have a happy ending and gives great insight into shelters and families of domestic abuse.

Quinn gives fans another story centered around The Lemonade Stand, a women’s shelter in Santa Raquel, California. This thirteenth novel in the long-running series focuses on two love stories, connected but taking place many miles apart.

Dr. Simon Walsh, a top pediatric thoracic surgeon in Los Angeles, suffered damage to an optic nerve in a vicious attack. His doctors have told him that it will be six months to a year before the full extent of the damage is clear. He chooses to leave LA and retreat to an isolated cabin in Prospector, Nevada, while he waits to learn if his injury will mean the end of his career. When he stumbles across the body of a badly beaten woman, he feels compelled to help her, but she will accept his help only if he agrees not to report her injuries.

The woman, who identifies herself only as Cara, is not certain she wants to survive. Abused physically and emotionally by her husband for years, she has endured out of love for her daughter. Now she believes her daughter is dead, and life has lost its purpose. Slowly, under Simon’s care, Cara’s physical wounds heal, and Simon’s gentleness and generosity begin the healing process for her battered spirit as well. When news comes that Joy is alive, Cara dares to hope for a new life.

Meanwhile, in Santa Raquel, Edward Mantle struggles to connect with seven-year-old Joy, the traumatized granddaughter he has only recently met. At the same time, he is monitoring the search for his estranged daughter Cara who is missing. Authorities fear she has been killed by her husband Shawn Amos, who has been charged with beating his sister to death. Edward finds strength in his friendship with Lila McDaniels, managing director of The Lemonade Stand. Lila yearns to help Edward, but she cannot allow her feelings for him to move beyond friendship. She is convinced that an event in her past makes her unworthy of love.

Christmas is a season for forgiveness, reconciliation, and miracles wrought by love. Will it be the season that all these troubled souls find wholeness and family again?

This story is closely connected to For Joy’s Sake, the book that immediately precedes it. Although A Family for Christmas can be read as a standalone, readers whose hearts were wrenched by Joy’s plight in the earlier book will be particularly interested in this one. It is a dark book filled with deeply wounded characters. The darkness is somehow deeper because the wounds were inflicted, some deliberately and some through misunderstanding, by those who should have been sources of love and support. It is easy to feel liking and sympathy for these characters, but some readers may find it a stretch to believe that all their problems can be so simply resolved. Others will accept that in a romance—and a Christmas romance, at that—the unbelievable can happen.

A healing opportunity! If you read the previous book in this series (For Joy’s Sake), you will quickly pick up on the fact that this is a direct continuation of the on-going plot of that story. I felt like the dual plot of this book was somewhat distracting. I guess it was meant to make it a more stand-alone by letting the reader in on what had happened in the past and was on-going with additional characters than the main two of this particular romance, but I think I would have gotten more enjoyment out of it if it had just been a concentration of Simon and Cara and then in the end the reunification of the story line would have happened. None-the-less, I was happy read the completion of this mystery, and I enjoyed Simon & Cara’s relationship a lot!

Doctor Simon Walsh is on leave and staying in a deserted cabin in Nevada when he stumbles across a woman left for dead by her abuser. He manages to get her to his house and sets out to find out what happened to her and see if he can tend to her wounds enough to have her on the mend.

Cara Amos has a spotty memory but the things she is remembering from what happened to her is scaring her! She has no clue that her missing daughter is actually forging a connection with her own estranged father at The Lemonade Stand in Santa Raquel, CA. Will she be able to remember the details of her attack before danger gets to her daughter?

Okay I just have to point out that cover. Its cute, but then my eye draws to the background of the girl and I'm confused by the two guys in the background. This is just something I'm noticing before reading just confused me for a moment. (Never mind just finished the book and realized its the grandpa and the Lila.)

Dr. Simon Walsh has some vision problems and decided to rent out a secluded cabin to recover. Little did he expect to stumble upon a battered women unconscious. Cara was left for dead and was just waiting for things to end, she didn't want or need help after everything that has happened. Meanwhile Lila McDaniels is helping Cara's daughter bond with the grandpa she didn't even knew she had after going through a traumatic experience.

I think that was a terrible description the way I wrote it but it's hard to do so without spoiling the book. I loved the characters. It was tough seeing was Cara went through and I couldn't help but be curious on her dirty little secret and to find out more. I liked getting to know more about Simon in what happened to him and why he decided to seclude himself. Now when it came the grandfather and Lila although it was a nice addition I didn't really feel that it was necessary, more like it was filler and that the book could've just gone without but it was nice enough. Thing is I'm not a fan of two stories in one with multiple point of views except for the main characters and sometimes I had a hard time following what I needed to know from certain characters. Maybe that is just some problem that I'm going to need to deal with myself. I liked seeing that companionship between Simon and Cara and how they both helped each other out and really think about things. Overall a pretty good book I liked it.

A story about healing after domestic abuse, about survival, about finding your way again, and about the kind of love that can help in the process. 
This book was not an easy read. It took me a good part of a week to digest and think about the horrendous events the characters had lived through. Even all the abuse is in the past, and happen only in the memories and nightmares of the characters, I would recommend being careful with the story if violence towards women and children can be a trigger for you. Even without an abusive past, I felt the impact of the story. That gives you a great picture of the talent the story is written with, and how deep in the mind of the characters the author takes the readers as the story progress.
The dual stories happening at the same time and twining together, until combined towards the end, gave a broader picture of the events and the history of the characters. It was a little bit distracting yet also helpful in taking off some of the deeper angst that could have built in the tale, if not known what was happening in California. 
All four main characters have gone through heartbreaking experiences in their lives and are broken souls in desperate need of healing and finding forgiveness for themselves. This takes time, effort, and energy that leaves a little else to be handled in their lives at the same time. The romantic relationships are very slowly developing on the backburner and take a second seat in the progress of the plot. 
While realistically yet sensitively talking about domestic abuse, the story does deliver hope in the better tomorrow's to come. The tale points out there are places to look help for, it reaffirms the power of love and the possibilities of healing and mending of body and soul, and it delivers the kind of ending that leaves you with faith in the future and promise of a recovery. 
~ Four Spoons with a teaspoon on the side

This story was a lot more intense than I thought it would be. I could not get thru it sorry to say. I like things to be a bit more light hearted even with some drama but this was not it. Tara is a great author and I have read other books but this was too hard.

A Family for Christmas packs a punch as it was totally unexpected for me! Having thought it would a lighthearted read that follows a predictable pattern that is often seen in romances, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was not only a sweet read but one with suspense as well. If your a fan of super romances, I highly recommend this one!

Because of the title, I thought this was going to be a Christmas story but it is definitely not the usual light-hearted 
Christmas tale  Instead, it is about a man who rescues a woman.  They are both physically and emotionally damaged.  A second romance is also in the offing - a woman who cares for emotionally handicapped children and a grandfather of one of her charges.  I kept wondering when Christmas would come into this story.  Although it is well written, it is depressing and emotional and not the Christmas story I expected.