Book Review

Book: Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos
Finished: September 2009
Pages: 307
Challenges:

**Summer Reading Challenge ** A-Z Challenge ** Read Your Name ** To Be Read ** Read & Review**

First line: " 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."

My Thoughts:
I liked this book. I wasn't sure I was going to in the beginning, and there were a few parts in the middle that lagged a little, but at the end of the day I enjoyed it. The author's writing style is very lyrical with wonderful metaphors sprinkled throughout. The main characters, Cornelia, the 31 year old single gal, and Clare, the 11 year old lost and abandoned girl, were real and deep and thoughtful characters.

Clare is lost on two plains--physically she is abandoned on the side of the road by her mother. But lost also in her world at home prior to being dropped off as she navigates a world where her mother is spiraling towards a manic break. She is trying to hold everything together to protect her mom--striving to constantly give the allusion that all is well within the walls of their home. But it isn't.
And Clare is very frightened and alone.
I love how Clare is so brave, and allows Cornelia into her heart so readily--intuitively knowing that Cornelia is trustworthy.

I love how Cornelia was a bit old fashioned and a hopeless romantic--fond of quoting or alluding to old movies.
I love how Cornelia was such a natural nurturer, and stepped up to the plate without any hesitation to help this little girl.
But most of all, I love that at the end of the day, Cornelia sacrifices her dream and does the right thing by Clare.



From Booklist Cornelia is a single thirty something who lives her life like a series of movie moments. She's a manager of a cafe because she hasn't figured out anything better to do. Her ideal man is Cary Grant. And just when she thinks he'll never show up, he does, in the form of Martin Grace. What she doesn't know is that Martin, with his cool charm and debonair demeanor, has a daughter, Clare. And she never would have known that except that Martin, in a state of panic, shows up with the girl at the cafe after her mother had a breakdown and left Clare to fend for herself. Estranged from his daughter for years, Martin doesn't know what to do with her. Both women's stories are told in alternating chapters, Cornelia's in first person, Clare's in third.