Family Man

In a nutshell: the Gilchrist family empire was built on high-powered real estate deals centered around restaurants. The aging matriarch of this empire now has a problem. Her restaurants are starting to fail and there is no one within her immediate family she can trust to sort it all out. She needs needs an heir. Someone to take the reins. Someone as ruthless as she has been over the years. There is someone. Her grandson, Luke Gilchrist. The only problem? She disowned his parents years ago. Now the only person she truly trusts is her personal assistant, angelic and sweet, do-no-wrong Katy Wade. And since Katy has refused to commandeer the ship herself Queen Gilchrist has ordered her to find someone who will, namely the black sheep show more grandson, Luke. Luke is a very reluctant heir and it's up to Katy to convince him it is worth his while to come back. His mettle is tested early as every Gilchrist seems to get into some kind of trouble. One Gilchrist was involved in a real estate scam. Another Gilchrist was caught in a blackmail trap. Every Gilchrist comes to Luke via Katy (as the Gilchrist "guardian angel") for help. The big hook of this story should be Luke. Why does he agree to come back to help the failing empire? Are his intentions true or is he out for revenge? Krentz could have made the story line far more suspenseful and mysterious and tension filled had she kept Luke more in the shadows. show less

I had to quit reading this book about 150 pages into the story. I couldn't concentrate on the story for a single, small by aggravating, reason: The author uses the family's last name (Gilchrist) on each page. It was hugely distracting. "He had Gilchrist eyes." "He was such a Gilchrist." "What else could she expect from a Gilchrist?" Again and again and again. It got to the point that I couldn't concentrate on the story because I had to scan the page to see if the word didn't appear. After I went about 10 pages in this manner, I finally gave up.

And the story was boring too. Obvious villains, contrived situations, poorly drawn characters. I've read a few other Krentz books; I'm fairly certain this was my last.

Katy Wade has spent ten years minding the Gilchrists. Now she wants to turn the family problems over to someone else - and the problems aren't small. The financial woes are likely to sink the whole financial boat if someone doesn't step in - Katy's counting on Luke Gilchrist, the family black sheep to take over. Luke's up for the job - but only if Katy's part of the package.

Complete with a pesto-thieving canine, the plot may be predictable, but the banter is amusing. If you like Krentz, this one will keep you reading.

one of Krentz's best novels; great strong male hero and stubborn and independent female; timeless love story

:)

Instant but justified trust.