TWO OF A KIND
Ten years after losing her husband, Christina Connelly has worked through the pain, focusing on raising her teenage daughter and managing her small decorating business. But her romantic life has never recovered. Still, it’s irksome to be set up with arrogant, if handsome, doctor Andy Stern at her friend’s wedding. If he wasn’t also a potential client, needing his Upper East Side apartment redesigned, she would write him off.
This is never going to work, Andy thinks. Still grieving his wife and struggling with a troubled son, he’s not looking for a woman, and certainly not someone as frosty and reserved as Christina.
Ten years after losing her husband, Christina Connelly has worked through the pain, focusing on raising her teenage daughter and managing her small decorating business. But her romantic life has never recovered. Still, it’s irksome to be set up with arrogant, if handsome, doctor Andy Stern at her friend’s wedding. If he wasn’t also a potential client, needing his Upper East Side apartment redesigned, she would write him off.
This is never going to work, Andy thinks. Still grieving his wife and struggling with a troubled son, he’s not looking for a woman, and certainly not someone as frosty and reserved as Christina. Their relationship will be strictly business. Yet to everyone’s surprise—including their own—these two find themselves falling in love.
But if reconciling with their pasts is difficult, blending their lives and children to create a new family is nearly impossible. They’ve been given a second chance…but can they overcome all the obstacles in the way of happily ever after?
- NAL
- Paperback
- September 2013
- 448 Pages
- 9780451239532
Buy the Book
$15.00
About Yona Zeldis McDonough
Yona Zeldis McDonough is a longtime doll lover and collector. She is also an award-winning author who has published numerous books for children and adults. She presently lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children.
Praise
“McDonough crafts a complex romantic tale of two families, skillfully developing multidimensional characters. . .Multiple points of view show the complications of dating for parents, the compromise of interfaith romance, and the unforeseen consequences when lives get out of balance. Readers will delight in this layered tale of friendship and love.”—Publishers Weekly
“Honest and engrossing, this novel explores the intricacies of unexpected attraction, falling in love after losing a spouse and combining two resistant families. The characters are complex and captivating, adding depth to an already engaging plot, which culminates in a surprising twist. Four and a half stars.”—Romantic Times
“Honest and engrossing, this novel explores the intricacies of unexpected attraction, falling in love after losing a spouse and combining two resistant families. The characters are complex and captivating, adding depth to an already engaging plot, which culminates in a surprising twist. Four and a half stars.”—Romantic Times
Discussion Questions
What are your first impressions of the two main characters, Christina Connelly and Andy Stern? Are they positive or negative?
Did those initial impressions change over the course of the novel and if so, how does that happen?
How does the old adage “opposites attract” play out here?
Do you feel that the differences in these two characters can be successfully overcome and that their marriage will stand the test of time?
What role does Andy’s mother play? Do you feel Ida is sympathetic character?
How do Jordan and Oliver affect the relationship of their parents? Do you think they will be able to blend successfully and become a family?
Oliver accepts Christina much more easily than Jordan does Andy. Do you think that has more to do with who Andy is or who Jordan is?
Both Christina and Andy were happily married prior to the novel’s opening. What effect do those prior relationships have on the one they are trying to build?
What significance does Christina’s house play in the novel? How did you feel about what happens to it?
Christina is a believer in the poetry of objects. Are there particular objects that elicit this kind of response in you?