Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos
Wow. Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos was some really nice escapism literature for me. I’ve been reading a lot of war torn, depressing literature lately (and seriously, when am I not?) and this one was a nice change. Love Walked In will take you away into a story about fear, loss, longing, friendship, joy, and love.
The story is told in alternating viewpoints (a style that I personally love) with Cornelia, a coffee shop manager, telling us her story in hindsight. Cornelia has a fantastic voice and I loved her thought processes and tangents. It made her really believable and somebody that you would want to sit down with and have a chat. Cornelia loves old, romantic movies and therefore is thrilled when she meets her perfect man, Martin Grace. She says, “My life - my real life - started when a man walked into it, a handsome stranger in a perfectly cut suit and, yes, I know how that sounds.”
Martin Grace does sound just about perfect and even sweeps Cornelia off her feet by starting their romantic relationship with an offer to visit London. But Martin doesn’t stay perfect forever and Cornelia soon discovers that he has a eleven year old daughter, Clare, with whom he simply doesn’t try hard enough to be a good Dad.
The other viewpoint is told in the third person from Clare’s perspective. Clare lives with her mother who is spiriling downward due to a mental illness. She must fend for herself but when her mother disappers she’s forced to seek out her estranged father. Cornelia’s and Clare’s world’s collide and they form a special friendship that will undergo several phases of redefinition Clare needs her missing mother and Cornelia finds herself needing Clare more everyday.
I really enjoyed all the references to a lot of other books (most featuring the main character as orphans) and classic film. I don’t know why but fiction books that mention other fiction books are always cool. And I wouldn’t mind having a sneak peak into Cornelia’s apartment because it really sounds like she has the perfect decorating style. All that apart, Love Walked In was beautifully written, fast paced, had true to life characters, and was a fantastic debut for Marisa de los Santos. I’m looking forward to reading the sequel Belong to Me, which just came out.
Visit Marisa de los Santo’s website for reading group guides and more.
Question to get things rolling: Wat would you do if you found out the guy that you were dating had a daughter that he never mentioned and that he doesn’t seem that interested in? And that daughter’s mother had gone off the deep end?
This sounds very good… Hmm as to what I’d do? Well dump him I suppose… but if I was super into him, I don’t know what I would do. I guess try to change him– but we all know that doesn’t ever work. I guess I’d try to hang out with the girl if she’d let me.
on July 17th, 2008 at 5:40 pmI know exactly what you mean about needing escapism literature. I’m still off kilter a little bit from The i Tetralogy. Silent Thunder was a good book to dive into next, though.
I’ve thought about Love Walked In a couple of times and your review makes me regret not picking it up at the library book sale a couple of months ago. I’ll have to hope to find it again. It would be a good thing to have waiting in the wings for just such an occasion.
Regarding your question, I’d dump him. The last thing I would need would be to get involved and potentially pregnant with a man like that.
on July 17th, 2008 at 7:20 pmI read this book a few months ago. (See my review here: http://thebluestockings.com/2008/04/love-walked-in/)
I, too, had misgivings about Mr. Wonderfu-Who-Doesn’t-Care-About-His-Daughter. I thought Cornelia dealt with it pretty well, though. This was a great book until the end, at least for me.
on July 17th, 2008 at 7:58 pmThis is one of my favorite books…now you have to read Belong to Me.
on July 17th, 2008 at 10:25 pmI recently read a different book with this same title but a different author and I came across this often, and must say it peeked my interest. Thanks for a great review.
on July 18th, 2008 at 3:13 amI’ve got this one on my short TBR pile (the big TBR is in the hundreds). I’ve heard such good things about it and the sequel (which is in the big TBR!) Glad to see that you enjoyed it.
I would be done with a man who didn’t mention his daughter. Maybe for the first date, ok, but longer than that would be a deal breaker for me. Not having a close relationship, I could maybe understand.
on July 18th, 2008 at 4:56 pmMan, everyone liked this book. I could not get into it. In fact I skipped around till I got to the end.
on July 18th, 2008 at 6:41 pmI’m glad to hear you enjoyed this book! I found it at a used bookstore and plan to read it on my upcoming trip to NY!
on July 18th, 2008 at 9:58 pmI really enjoy alternating points of view as well. Sounds likes a really nice read–I recently saw it on B&N.com but didn’t know anything about it so I skipped over it. I’ll have to look into this one, though.
on July 20th, 2008 at 9:07 amKathleen - Interesting. You make some of the same choices as our main character.
Jennifer - I would like to read i Tetralogy. I need to read Freese’s Down to a Sunless Sea first so I don’t feel guilty asking him for a review copy of that one!
Jessica - What didn’t you like about the end? I’ll hop on over to your review to find out.
Sassy Mom Bear - I read this one because I saw Belong to Me everywhere and wanted to read this one first.
Lisa - Glad to know I’m not the only one that has a short TBR and a large TBR. My short consists of those titles actually sitting in my bedroom.
Laura H - Some books are just like that. If we all liked the same things it would be really boring to read all of these blogs.
Laura - I got this one from the library but if I find it used I would definitly buy it for myself.
Trish - I never even knew what this one looked like until I picked it up off hold at the library. If it wasn’t for the fact that everybody kept reviewing Belong to Me I wouldn’t have heard of this one.
on July 20th, 2008 at 9:40 amI think I’ve only read one review where the reader didn’t like this book - it seems like the majority of people really enjoy it and I will definitely be moving it up on my TBR pile!
on July 20th, 2008 at 7:43 pm