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Book Summary InformationAuthor: Marisa de los Santos Edition: Paperback Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 2006-11-28 ISBN: 0452287898 Number of pages: 307 Publisher: Plume Product features: - ISBN13: 9780452287891
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Love Walked InBook Review: Promise walked out.... Summary: 3 Stars
Marisa De Los Santos is blessed with a writer's voice that renders her protagonist a witty, passionate personality whose observations and dialogue lines jump off the page. Cornelia is spicy, clever and caring woman who, at thirty, is still searching for herself when the perfect man walks into the café she manages. But when the sheen wears off Martin's "perfection," what he leaves behind is his eleven-year-old daughter, Clare. The bond forged between Cornelia and Clare is touching. Their needs mesh well--Cornelia's to nurture, and Clare's to be mothered following the disappearance of her unstable mother.
What a great premise for a novel. What a great promise to the reader for hours of indulgence in a simply good book. And indeed, the wonderful prose kept me going. It kept me turning the pages seeking more.
But that's where the novel fizzled. In terms of plot development, it took almost one third of the novel before the two main characters first came face to face. And in that span of time, the relationship between Cornelia and Martin never got far. The cracks in the potential for the great romance were gaping long before the reader became fully invested--along with Cornelia, who genuinely tried to fall in love with him--in the blooming of this love story.
Reading on, though, the plot turned into pure schmaltz. The last third of the book introduced a new cast of characters unessential to the story; tacking them on into the plot seemed forced. And the unfolding events were no more than a sweetened version of a Hallmark card. Clare breezes through the most horrific traumas a child can experience with little scars. I would have considered discussing this section of the book a SPOILER had it had some credibility, but every aspect of the story simply lay flat. The prose that De Los Santos used until now to keep me going was overused to try to create excitement where none existed.
Take the death of Mrs. Goldberg. A character mentioned in passing before, an Alzheimer patient that Cornelia never even visited in the many weeks of the first part of the novel, was suddenly mourned with depth that was hard to empathize with. No matter how much prose De Los Santos compiled postmortem on Mrs. Goldberg, the old woman never became a real person, nor could her house so "full of treasures" be visualized. I wish the author had given the reader one important such item to understand "the stories" that suddenly so captivated Cornelia to hijack her full attention and emotions, but which the reader could not take a part. The obscurity of Mrs. Goldberg became more so as I wondered why name a character by a distinctly Jewish name yet strip her of any cultural or religious background that would have made her life and death authentic? (e.g. No mention of who officiated her funeral, which the heart-broken Cornelia attended with the reader.) As Cornelia devoted herself to documenting Mrs. Goldberg's stories, the reader learned none of them other than the not particularly interesting way Mrs. G. had met her husband fifty years before.
Not to spoil the story for those readers who want to learn what happened to Clare's mother and how Cornelia's commitment to the frightened girl held up, I will not delve into my disappointment of the non-plot on these fronts.
A good editor could have pointed these out as well as some others. (e.g., Why must each leading man in this novel be so over-the-top outstandingly handsome? And why must everyone talk about these men's looks at every opportunity?) I am certain that, with some guidance, this capable author could have streamlined the story to make this book the kind of satisfying experience it first promised but failed to deliver.
Talia Carner, author,
Puppet Child and China Doll
Summary of Love Walked InMake this your next book club selection and everyone saves. Get 15% off when you order 5 or more of this title for your book club. Simply enter the coupon code DELOSSANTOSLOVE at checkout. This offer does not apply to eBook purchases. This offer applies to only one downloadable audio per purchase. When Martin Grace enters the hip Philadelphia coffee shop Cornelia Brown manages, her life changes forever. But little does she know that her newfound love is only the harbinger of greater changes to come. Meanwhile, across town, Clare Hobbs?eleven years old and abandoned by her erratic mother?goes looking for her lost father. She crosses paths with Cornelia while meeting with him at the café, and the two women form an improbable friendship that carries them through the unpredictable currents of love and life. Love Walked In, the first novel by award-winning poet Marisa de los Santos, is bursting with keen insight and beautifully rendered prose. Invoking classic movies to illuminate the mystery and wonder of love in all its permutations, Love Walked In is an uplifting debut that marks the entrance of an enchanting literary voice.
United States Books
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