02 Jul Moorewood Family Rules by HelenKay Dimon
Some rules are made to be broken …
*****
#Blogtour
Well, I’ll never complain about my family again, after reading about the one Jillian Moorewood has been saddled with!
Elder daughter of a conman who charmed his way into marriage with an heiress, her father introduced his whole family into her family, and now Jillian is dealing with an uncle, cousins and even a great-aunt who have spent their lives scamming, grifting and conniving to live off other folks’ wealth.
From pretending to be millionaire property developers to stealing the bracelet from a rich woman’s wrist, they’ll stop at nothing to get what they want.
But what of Jillian herself? When we meet her she has just come out of prison after serving time for tax evasion and fraud, but it is quickly established that she is just another victim of her father’s family’s greed.
For, thanks to her mother’s will and her own concentrated efforts, she controls the finances – and they don’t like it.
Liars. Cheats. Murderers?
Jillian is now planning her revenge, but first she wants to know who was responsible for putting her in jail.
Was it Jay, her charming, oh-so-plausible uncle or one of his twin daughters, Astrid and Anika?
Was it great-aunt Patricia, whose grifting skills have only grown with age?
Could it have been Greg, Jillian’s erstwhile boyfriend who is now wooing her sister, Emma? Or Doug, the family black sheep? Imagine what you’d have to have done to earn that title in a family that is prepared to lie, cheat and even kill their way to riches.
Suddenly Jillian is in danger
The action takes place over a week or two in the Moorewood family mansion, when Jillian returns to threaten them with eviction and loss of the family fortune.
She thinks they’ve underestimated her – but maybe she has underestimated them. For suddenly her life is in danger, and she needs that hulking bodyguard Beck who has appeared on the scene!
As the tension builds, we’re treated to the inside workings of a truly dysfunctional family where every member is out for themselves – despite the family rules that say they have to stick together. For rules are made to be broken …
Witty and entertaining
This was a fun and thrilling story, with such a refreshingly different premise. Each chapter begins with a Moorewood family rule, then dissects the meaning behind it in witty and entertaining ways.
While there is a plot – Jillian needs to call a halt to her grifting family, while they are out to thwart her – it is ultimately all about the characters.
They’re larger than life, living an existence that is beyond most people’s reality, but in the end they are still flesh-and-blood humans who can and do grow and develop as the story moves on. Some even develop a conscience!
They are so much fun to get to know, and you can’t help liking them even as you gasp at their audaciousness and dishonesty.
But it is Jillian herself who has the most growing to do. Groomed by her mother to be the family protector, and embittered by her three years in prison, she has to find her way back to her true self.
And Beck might just be the person to help her do it.
You’ll laugh your way through this book, even as you’re shouting at Jillian to watch her back, and empathising with the genuine emotions that are never wholly disguised by the wit and cynicism of the dialogue.
By the end you realise why Jillian can never turn her back on her family, awful as they are. And you’ll maybe take away some rules for your own life.
My favourite has to be don’t steal from people who could kill and dismember you.
It’s my new mantra from now on!
The Moorewood Family Rules by HelenKay Dimon is published by Avon in paperback and ebook
About the Author
Helenkay Dimon spent the years before becoming a romance author as a . . . divorce attorney. Not the usual transition, she knows. Good news is she now writes full time and is much happier. She has sold over thirty novels, novellas, and shorts to numerous publishers. Her nationally bestselling and award-winning books have been showcased in numerous venues, and her books have twice been named “Red-Hot Reads” and excerpted in Cosmopolitan magazine. But if you ask her, she’ll tell you the best part of the job is never having to wear pantyhose again.
Follow her on Twitter @HelenKayDimon
Find her on Instagram @HKDimon
Thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for inviting me on this blogtour and to HarperCollins/Avon for the advance copy of the book.
Catch up with the rest of the blogtour at the links on the poster
More books featuring dysfunctional families
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