(as of May 11, 2025 14:33:30 UTC – Details)
It’s often said that in life everything happens all at one. New York’s new First Family is about to find out the meaning of that familiar expression.
Just a few months into her first term as governor, Candace Reid already has a full plate. Managing the business of the State of New York is a challenge that requires creativity, intelligence, and infinite patience. And, that isn’t the greatest challenge facing Governor Reid. With three grown children, and three grandchildren underfoot, the thought of becoming parents to a toddler would have seemed preposterous less than a year earlier to Candace and her wife Jameson. Now, the pair finds themselves juggling the demands of work, the issues facing their grown children, and the needs of their four-year-old adopted son Cooper.
A devastating accident in the state, hurtful allegations, the meddling of distant family members, a health scare, and competing personalities will put Candace and Jameson to the test. As the storms of life rage and pass, Candace and Jameson must endeavor to find their way forward. To succeed, they will require patience, compassion, love, and laughter—the Building Blocks for the future. Falling in love may happen in an instant, relationships and families are BY DESIGN,
Building Blocks is the seventh installment in the BY DESIGN series.
ASIN : B01F4JX4TU
Publisher : Bumbling Bard Creations (May 3, 2016)
Publication date : May 3, 2016
Language : English
File size : 1.6 MB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 398 pages
Customers say
Customers love this book’s continuing story and find it wonderfully written, with well-developed characters and humor throughout. They appreciate the family dynamics, with one customer noting how the family pulls together, while another mentions how the characters grow stronger as a couple and family. The book receives positive feedback for its real look, with one customer highlighting how the images reflect the development and image, and another noting the numerous storylines that develop properly.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Debs –
Welcome back Candace and Jameson and the rest of the Reid-Fletcher gang
Welcome back Candace, Jameson, Cooper, Pearl and the Gang. JA Armstrong has once again delivered a great read, the only downside is that there is always never enough time spent with the Reid/Fletcher clan. Which might I add continues to grow.This time we share the highs of weddings, engagements, growing relationships with the lows of sudden trips to the hospital with a health scare for one of our much loved characters, then a second trip for another. Both have Jameson worried and in the second incident worrying what she did or didn’t do that contributed to the accident.Marianne is slowly coming to terms with her grief and is asked to lead a grief support group by Scott. Shell and Mel make progress in their relationship much to the delight of all.Laura and Jonah have secrets from the past to deal with and Laura especially has a vindictive parent to deal with though there is also a reconcilation in the wings for her.Cooper and Spencer are delightful though they are only young they put the adults through their paces with a series of questions about relationships, parents, genies, and some provoking artwork with blue paint.Pearl is still Grandma to everyone and the rock that Candace has when things get rough, and get rough they do, personal and professional issues raise their heads and old wounds are opened, but will this allow them to finally be healed?Dark secrets revealed, old hurts revisited, past relationships visited and reconcilations happen, nothing is ever simple in the Reid-Fletcher household and their story continues to delight, enthrall and we welcome these friends old and new back into our lives albeit for a short time.Thanks again JA for giving us a glimpse of this remarkable family and sharing them with us.A great read and able to be read as a stand alone though I highly recommend that you start at the beginning.Why I hear you ask, well that’s easy. BY DESIGN, one should always start at the beginning, this enables one to see the story UNDER CONSTRUCTION, whilst builing a SOLID FOUNDATION for the characters and no matter how many ROUGH DRAFTS there are, there’s always room for NEW ADDITIONS and even sometimes we revisit things for RENOVATIONS, which in turn allows us to continue BUILDING BLOCKS of the tale, though hopefully going forward there aren’t any ROAD BLOCKS, that impact on the musings of our storyteller. Let’s just wait and see what is to come. Enjoy these great stories.
Kindle Customer –
Awesome Series
Wow each book gets better and better. Really loving this family. I think everyone should give this series a chance and read it. Sometimes it keeps me up until early morning even though I know I have to go to work the next day. I have trouble stopping at a chapter and instead keep going til the end of the book.
Rebecca MacAlister –
A little upset
I really didn’t care for the ending of this particular story. I didn’t care for the way Candice treated Jameson. She kept secrets she shouldn’t have and then yelled at her to not do something that she went and did herself. I know a lot of people will think that it was just a game and happy and all that. But, I think it was one upmanship. And that’s not how you show love.
Phyllis Reifer –
Great Series
I enjoyed this book and look forward to the next in the book series. I really like the two main characters and their family and friends.
Loek –
Love is what makes a family!
I love this non-tradional family. They are nuts but so loveable and charming. I’ve always felt like I was going through what the characters were going through and watching up close how they live their lives. The characters are so real and you feel immediately attracted to them. I had tears of laughter at the innocent, and sometimes practical questions of the boys. Not only the mommies but also other family members have to deal with all the boy’s questions. Cooper and Spencer have no way of understanding all the situations fully and that was hilarious. I like the easy open way that Spencer and Cooper converse. They were adorable. Not everything was sunny. Of course there was kind of family drama and also on the political side things went wrong. Someone tried to seriously harm their family. I hated that person, the son of a bitch with his deep-seeded hatred toward Candace. I felt so sorry for Laura. But through true love you can overcome everything and this family love each other deeply. I absolutely adore this series and again it was impossible to stop reading this fascinating book. This time the author made me extra happy with the length of the book.
Ayesha –
A must read, an re-read, I promise you will not be disappointed!!!!
This book is by far the best book in the series so far! You definitely see how a family pulls together, when faced with outside interference and medical illness. So many people would just react and that is not always is best course of action. This is a family that you can learn from. I like how this book is not only focused on Candace and Jameson it involves the entire family. Awesome writing, great story! This is one of my favorites, can’ t wait for the next book in this series and future books from this author.S/N please ignore that negative review on this post, you can tell it’s the same person that wrote the same post. Not everyone will like an authors work, but when it’s the same person commenting on the same book that is just ridiculous.
Jeannie Guttenberg –
In the Reid household the beat goes on……..
This is an awesome book that is just as awesome as the series it is part of. It continues the lives of Candace, Jameson and their family. This time we learn a lot about Candace and how she interacts with people, whether they be strangers, friends or family and whether the situation is bad or good. We get a really close look at how she interacts with family and the myriad of events involving The Three Stooges and Coop. We get to see how Candace copes with the stress, pressure and ever changing events of being Governor of the state of New York yet always putting her family first, most of all Jameson and Cooper. Nancy Ann Healy (JA Armstrong) again has written a book that lets you feel like you are sitting in the living room of the âBig White Houseâ taking part in the family discussion. I highly recommend this series âBy Designâ to everyone. You will not be disappointed and just maybe you will learn some life lessons along the way.
Kindle Customer –
Some things diminish with time, other things grow exponentially with time. The By Design books have grown and kept the very essence that drew me to them initially. What I loved the most was the characters and their journeys. But also the humour. The series portrays the life of, well in truth it could be about you or me. Just a typical family facing life with it’s many accomplishments and pitfalls. The series will make you laugh out loud and it will make you feel anger and it will make you cry. J.A. Armstrong is an excellent example in my opinion of an author with a great sense of humour and one that understands the complexity of life, love and friendship. Great book, great author. Read you’ll love it.
Robyn –
I am so addicted to Candace and Jameson and all their family. Building blocks actually brought tears to my eyes a number of times I was so enthralled I just couldn’t put it down. J.A. Armstrong does a great job of putting it all together and making you want more and more……I hope this series never ends
Julie –
I love the series such a loving family it makes you feel you like to be part of
Angel –
Fabulous could read the author’s books all day the interchange between the family new addition each story and you cannot help wanting more. Grams moms sister brothers and kids politicsIt just works .bravo read all the books you will be disappointed with any.Update 11 May after reading another reviewer comments is Nancy Healy and J A Armstrong the same person ?
Sophie â¤ï¸ –
I have loved Armstrongs books for quite awhile and really have enjoyed this series. But i took many goes at actually finishing this book. It just felt too much like the previous ones and repeated things way too much. Don’t get me wrong, i still love her characters, but i found that i was skipping some parts of this book. Perhaps the editing needed to be a bit tighter. There are only so many references to being a “lunatic” and “fortune cookies” or “chinese food” one can put up with.