Review: Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos
by Jenners • 08/14/2010 • 4 Stars, Chick Lit, Contemporary, D Authors, Fiction, L Titles • 18 Comments
A meme concept by That’s A Novel Idea
2 words that describe the book―Modern-Day Fairy Tale
3 setting where the book took place or characters I met
- Setting: Philadelphia Area, Modern Day
- Cornelia Brown loves classic movies (especially The Philadelphia Story), can keep up her end of a clever conversation and manages a cafe (while she figures out what she really wants to do in life). Despite her down-to-earth demeanor, she believes in romance. So when Martin Grace, a Cary Grant look-alike, walks into her cafe one afternoon, she is dazzled–especially when he asks her to accompany him to London on a whim. Although she declines the invitation, she begins a relationship with him when he returns.
- Clare Hobbes is a smart and sensitive 11-year-old girl who lives with her gorgeous but increasingly troubled mother. Her father is almost a stranger to her after her parents divorced years earlier. Although Clare loves her mother with all her heart, lately her mother’s behavior has become increasingly strange. When Clare calls her father for help, he downplays her concerns. Scared and desperate, Clare does everything she can to keep her life as normal as possible–despite her mother’s increasingly erratic behavior. When fate brings her in contact with Cornelia, both of their lives are changed forever.
4 things I liked or disliked about the book
- I disliked that I accidentally read the sequel to this book, Belong To Me, first. Don’t you hate when that happens? Although each book can certainly stand alone, I wish I had read them in the proper order as I knew some of what was going to happen in this book because I’d read the next one. Don’t make the same mistake!
- I liked (no, let’s make that loved) Cornelia! She is such a fun and likable character, and I loved visiting with her again. She has a wonderful way of telling her story that draws you right in and makes you wish that she could be your friend in real life. She is utterly down-to-earth but has this witty and clever way about her that charmed me as much as she charmed Martin.
- I liked the relationship that develops between Clare and Cornelia. de los Santos makes the relationship feel utterly believable, and Clare is such a wonderful kid that you can completely understand why Cornelia gets so involved with helping her.
- I liked how de los Santos writes. She has a lovely way with words, and her writing seems so effortless that you just disappear into Cornelia and Clare’s world. I guess some might call this book “chick lit,” but I hate that label because de los Santos’s writing and story transcends what you might expect from the “chick lit” genre.
5 stars or less for my rating:
I’m giving the book 4 stars. This was de los Santos’s debut novel, and I’m amazed how assured and confident her writing is. Cornelia and Clare are characters that will stay with you (as will Teo and Linny), and I hope de los Santos revisits these characters in her third novel. If you’re looking for a well-written, touching and funny story about how love can change our lives in an instant, this would be a wonderful choice. You can be sure that I’ll be reading de los Santo’s next book as soon as it comes out. Highly recommended!
The Whys and Wheres: I got this book from Paperback Swap as soon as I realized that it was the book I SHOULD HAVE read before Belong To Me.
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Glad you loved this one too
One of these days I'll get to the sequel.
i've wanted to read these since they came out but just haven't for some reason….now i will really make an effort to get these books!
I fell in love with the cover and thankfully read them in order and loved loved them. I sure do hope there is a third book!!!!
I haven't had a chance to read any of this author's books yet, but I do want to. I'll be sure and read these books in order since you said so!
These sound really good. Great review
I need to read them both.
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/
I read this book. It was ok. I just finished reading "Travels With Charley" on my Kindle (did I tell you that my darling daughter sent me one? HOORAY) and now am reading Elizabeth George's latest on it. I love the Kindle, because I read in bed a lot, and when I would use a book, it poked me in the boobs. The Kindle doesn't do that. How is that for a Kindle testimonial? Do you think Amazon would be interested in the boob angle? molly
Carrie from Books and Movies saved me from making that mistake literally days before I picked up Belong To Me. I LOVED these two books. They will most definitely be on my favorites list for this year. I really think, for those that did not like Belong To Me, that reading them in order may have made a difference. You must fall in love with Tao before you can forgive him his faults.
Yep….I hate accidently reading books out of order!
I did the exact same thing! Didn't like it either.
I really liked this book too. Cornelia is a fantastic character. Someone sent me Belong to Me after I read it and I haven't had a chance to get to it yet.
I just got this from Other Jill so I'm excited to read it, even though I will also hate that I'll be reading the first book second!
There are plenty of "issues" in both these books that transcends them beyond the dreaded chick-lit label. I liked both of these books, maybe not as much as you, but I did like them.
I read this last year and it made my 2009 Favorites list. Now I need to read the follow up book. I've decided recently to stop categorizing into chick lit, women's lit, etc and just use fiction. I've found that it's really a matter of personal perspective how those labels would be applied. So Fiction it is! Nice review.
I'll have to add this to my list of books to read. Cornelia and Clare sound like characters I would enjoy reading about. Great review! I too love the cover!
Sorry, I won't be reading this one.
I read "Belong to Me" earlier this year and just did not like it. I didn't like Cornelia, I didn't like her husband, I didn't like pretty much anyone else in the book. It just was a blah book for me.
But, I also hate it when I accidentally read the companion book before the first one!
I can't say just how much I loved this book. I didn't feel like it was chick lit at all. I'm sorry you read them out of order. I didn't think about the fact that Belong to Me would ruin some things in this book but you're right, it would. :/
I didn't realize this was a series either-good to know! I love both covers!