"Heart Like Mine" by Amy Hatvany ~ Exceptional Story!

 

 

SUMMARY :

 

From rising star Amy Hatvany, an engrossing new novel about a woman whose life is turned upside down when the man she's engaged to suddenly becomes a full-time father to the children from his previous marriage.

 

Thirty-six-year-old Grace McAllister never longed for children. But when she meets Victor Hansen, a handsome, charismatic divorced restaurateur who is father to Max and Ava, Grace decides that, for the right man, she could learn to be an excellent part-time stepmom. After all, the kids live with their mother, Kelli. How hard could it be?

At thirteen, Ava Hansen is mature beyond her years. Since her parents’ divorce, she has been the one taking care of her emotionally unstable mother and her little brother—she pays the bills, does the laundry, and never complains because she loves her mama more than anyone. And while her father’s new girlfriend is nice enough, Ava still holds out hope that her parents will get back together and that they’ll be a family again.

But only days after Victor and Grace get engaged, Kelli dies suddenly under mysterious circumstances—and soon, Grace and Ava discover there was much more to Kelli’s life than either ever knew.

Narrated by Grace and Ava in the present with flashbacks into Kelli’s troubled past, Heart Like Mine is a poignant and hopeful portrait about womanhood, love, and the challenges of family life.

PARTICULARS OF THIS BOOK :
Published by:  Washington Square Press
Pages:  342 and Readers Club Guide
Genre:  Fiction/Contemporary
Find more here:  Amy Hatvany
Twitter:  @AmyHatvany
Facebook.com/amy.hatvany


SOMETHING ABOUT MS HATVANY :   *Taken from her website

Amy was born in Seattle, WA in 1972, the youngest of three children. She graduated from Western Washington University in 1994 with a degree in Sociology only to discover most sociologists are unemployed. Soon followed a variety of jobs – some of which she loved, like decorating wedding cakes; others which she merely tolerated, like receptionist. In 1998, Amy finally decided to sell her car, quit her job, and take a chance on writing books.

The literary gods took kindly to her aspirations and THE KIND OF LOVE THAT SAVES YOU was published in 2000 by Bantam Doubleday. THE LANGUAGE OF SISTERS was picked up by NAL in 2002. (Both were published under her previous last name, Yurk.)

Amy spends most of her time today with her second and final husband, Stephan. (Seriously, if this one doesn’t work out, she’s done, kaput, no more husbands.) She stays busy with her two children, Scarlett and Miles, and her “bonus child,” Anna. Their blended family also includes two four-legged hairy children, commonly known as Black Lab mutts, Kenda and Dolcé. When Amy’s not with friends or family, she is most likely reading, cooking, or zoning out on certain reality television shows. Top Chef is a current favorite. She eagerly awaits auditions for the cast of “Top Author.” (“Quick Edit” instead of “Quick Fire” Challenge? C’mon, producers! That’s gripping television!) THE DAME'S REVIEW : I really wanted to review "Heart Like Mine" so much and was delighted to be able to get a reader's copy recently.  It was burning a hole in my coffee table all through the Christmas holidays as I was dying for the opportune time to pick it up for a good read.  Well worth the wait, I'm here to report to you! Amy Hatvany is one of the best of the contemporary women writers of today, in my humble opinion.  She knows how to translate women's issues and to bring them to the forefront through believable and endearing characters, both female and male...and those of all ages.  She is a chronicler of our times, I think, in her assessment of what goes on in the contemporary family and in the minds of those mothers who are dealing with them.  She has her hand on the pulse of women in crises and she can tell you about them so that you feel their angst and their push-pull of emotions. My sympathies were torn in this book between the main female characters. Grace, the young woman who really didn't want to be a mother but was thrust into a situation where she had to choose to be one or not to the children of the man she loved.  A tough decision no matter how you look at it!  And, Kelli, the natural mother of the children in question, who died and left them to their father. Both of these women, the children and their father seemed so real in Hatvany's hands!  I thought about them in the hours when I wasn't reading...   If, as so many authors believe, characterization is the thing that makes a book great, "Heart Like Mine" is a great book! It is a gripping novel from the first sentences and it holds on 'til the last.  This is one you won't soon forget, with women you'll be thinking about for days after you put the book down.  A perfect book for book group reading!   5 stars   Deborah/TheBookishDame