Review: Interesting story
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 23, 2014
I've read all the Escape to New Zealand books and this one was different in that there was not as much rugby and time with the team and other families. It focuses just on Hugh and Josie and the two children, who were Hugh' s step-siblings (Charlie and Amelia).I enjoyed the story and the reality of what is must have been like for Hugh to suddenly have the responsibility of the two children. How he had to deal with the sudden loss of his own dad, and how he had to change teams to live with this brother and sister; and then deal with being injured in a rugby match and unable to play until he healed. Josie was a good character to play off of Hugh. She was strong, capable and also vulnerable.As with all the other books, I skipped the more intimate scenes, but still enjoyed the story.  Some parts seemed a bit unrealistic at first (having rugby players guest on a soap opera), although after thinking about it, that does happen on television shows just to raise the ratings!  The fact that one of the rugby players was Hugh was made it a bit too coincidental. It worked well though to move the relationship between Josie and Hugh along and give it the push it needed. So, all in all, I'd recommend this book with the friendly warning that there isn't as much rugby playing as with the other New Zealand books.