Levi Cutler has come home to Sunrise Cove for a visit with his family but decides to take the Gondola up the mountain to catch the view from high above. As he is heading to the top a storm sweeps in and the mountain evacuates, including a nurse named Jane. A strong wind snatches the gondola right in front of theirs off the line leaving Levi and Jane clinging to their lives, and each other. Levi’s phone picks up a signal and he calls home to say goodbye but can’t break his mother’s heart. Instead he tells her he has a girlfriend named Jane which he knows will make her ecstatic. Of course, they survive this incident but now they have his family and a fake relationship to navigate. A relationship that Levi would like to make real.

This novel had a real fast start as the first scene is inside the gondola and sets the pace pretty quickly. Our two protagonists are pretty different. Levi is a tech guy who was brought up in an outdoorsman family and Jane is a loner who had been shuffled from family member to family member, never really belonging to anyone. Surprisingly it was easy to see how they were a good fit. Levi also was an outsider within his own family, or at least that was how he saw it. He understands Jane and doesn’t let her standoffishness scare her off. I liked his persistence and loved that she was hesitant but also bold.

I can always count on Jill Shalvis to write in a great group of friends who are quirky and interesting, giving the main characters some relief from having to carry a book. There is a side romance in this novel between Levi and Jane’s best friends that is interesting and cute. I am hoping we get to explore their relationship further in a future book! I am also looking forward to seeing Levi’s sister get her own story as she’s got an interesting arc of her own that needs exploring!

If you’re looking for a good weekend read that won’t take too long to get through, then The Family You Make may be the right book for you. I read it on my vacation and it hit my sweet spot for fun characters that will take me away from the drag of hours of flying, making the time go by quickly. It was a sweet, cute story with some emotional depth for our main characters and the right book at the right time for me!

❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for my honest review and it was honest!

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