GRR Reviews The Real Thing (The Mackenzies Book 1) by Diana Fraser

The Real Thing has some problems with the Chinese references, and both commitment-phobes ended up in HEA was a bit hard to imagine, but the rest was a lot of fun.

Lucia Rossi had a terribly lonely childhood. Her father is Italian, and her mother is Chinese. When her mom decided to leave for China with her little brother after her father was simply too busy to be around, she felt abandoned when she's moved to a boarding school. When her father died, she went to live with her mother in Beijing for a while, but the death of her brother send her fleeing again, this time to New Zealand, where she works as an art restorer. She wanted a real family for herself, including the white picket fences, and she refused to get involved with a commitment-phobe... and that included her last liaison... Dallas McKenzie. Dallas knew he can't be what Lucia wanted, but he thinks he knew who can... Guy Martin, a widower who has yet to recover from the loss of his wife. Guy is also a commitmentphobe, and Lucia would have never gotten involved with him, except they share that pain of loss... and when he invited her home, she noticed that a painting their family hung, what was supposed to be a forgery... may, in fact, be the real thing. But when the inquiry went out to find the owner of "the real that turned out to be fake", it set forth something in motion that may take Lucia and Guy to the one place Lucia swore she will never return to...

Somehow the Chinese references feel slightly off. Also, I can't see one commitment-phobe recommend a different commitmentphobe for a relationship. Still, the rest of the plot is okay...

Category: Contemporary / Romantic Suspense

Primary Plot: Woman may have to return to a place she swore she never would when she discovered a "fake" painting may be the real thing ...

Tropes: commitment-phobe, family pressure, grief, ex's best friend, fish out of water, conspiracy

Overall Rating:  4/5