Jennifer Greene Yours, Mine & Ours

Yours, Mine & Ours

Jennifer Greene

Harlequin Special Edition, Mar 22 2011, $4.99

ISBN: 9780373655908

In Chicago suburb Silver Hills, recently divorced lawyer Mike Conroy and his four year old son Teddy move into their new home along with Slugger the Basset Hound. Teddy goes over to the girlie girl next door neighbor to show her his worms when she screams at a decibel that would have won her American Idol. A female adult version races out of the same house the girlie girl came out of. Soon her dog and cat and his dog and cat are in a melee. Her daughter Molly has a temper tantrum and hits Teddy. First impressions between Mike and Amanda Scott is not what either expected.

Mike and Amanda are attracted to one another. Ironically they followed the same American family model: with first comes marriage; followed by the baby (and pets); next the divorce; and ended with single parent, child and pets move from Chicago to the burbs. They seem like opposites, but share the same issues as single parents and vow no activity with the opposite sex. As they fall in love with one another and the other's child, they wonder if they can be a modern day mini Brady Bunch though each recognizes the kids' needs come before their desires.

With a nod to the movie (1968 original and 2005 remake) Yours, Mine and Ours, and the Brady Bunch, readers will enjoy this warm family drama as seemingly opposites confronted with similar parenting issues fall in love. The cast is solid especially the lead couple and their respective kids and pets as Mike finds life as a burbarian grow on him; just like it did Amanda before him.

Harriet Klausner