Customer Reviews

Hearts on a String: A Novel

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I do enjoy books on women's friendships and that was the draw for me to this book. Plus.... of course, total cover love. It looks like bubble gum or cotton candy... :)

It took awhile for this book to really get started. In the beginning you learn much of each of the women and the conversations during this part of the book didn't flow for me and somehow felt choppy. As the women share stories we as readers are let in on some unusual secrets


That being said, once you get through this bumpy section, the book picks up a pleasant pace that left me overall satisfied with this read. I appreciated the ending of the book and felt it wrapped up nicely and made me consider those bonds, or strings if you will, of friendships that I am thankful to have in my life.

I have loved, and gifted, some of Ms. Radish's earlier books but found her work before this, "Searching for Paradise . . ." a disappointment. I had high hopes for this, her latest book, but it seems her trajectory continues to go down instead of up. I'm left to wonder if Ms Radish has lost her zest for writing and is merely plugging words into a formula that no longer works. "A group of women, strangers to one another?" Check. "At varying stages of life?" Check. "Lots of emotional baggage littering the landscape?" Check. "Strengthened by the bonds of sisterhood, community, and a little male bashing?" Check. Actually, it's not just that the formula is tired and tread bare; the characters here are simply not very likable and it was very hard to get past the beginning of the book which is filled with bickering and sniping. I missed the spirit and humor - and yes, the esprit de corps I've come to expect from Radish's women. I'm not sure if I'll buy another of her books.

A group of women meet for the very first time in an airport bathroom in Florida. They seem to come together while helping one of the women retrieve her cell phone that has fallen into the toilet. Just as soon as the phone is saved an announcement shocks them all. The airport is closing due to a freak storm. No flights are going anywhere. Their choices are few, camp out in the airport with hundreds/thousands of other people for God knows how long or share a luxury hotel suite. They choose the hotel suite of course, and that is when this spur of the moment decision takes them on a very unexpected trip that could change their lives.

Dollycas's Thoughts
This was not my favorite Kris Radish book but after a slow start I really did enjoy it. This random group of women thrown together under strange circumstances and trying to cope with their huge differences was interesting, funny, sad and at times pretty unbelievable but I just went with it. Each woman was exceptional in their own way, handling some kind of stressful circumstances in each of their own lives and by sharing their stories it helped them to develop a weird type of bond. The psychic convention and another back story were a little over the top and I am not sure if these elements were even necessary to a book that may have been stronger without them. I didn't like this one as much as I did The Elegant Gathering of White Snows, but it's a engaging story of unlikely friendships.

Sometimes there is an author who touches you so much that the only review that you need to hear, is that it was written by that person. For me, Kris Radish is one of those writers. I love everything she writes. I wait eagerly to hear that there is another book that she is gifting to the world. I can only ever hope that one of my books someday touches someone the way her, Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn, touched me, and none of her writing ever disappoints me. This book makes me glad I was born female and sorry I took so long to celebrate that.

Dixie D. M. Goode

A great-grandmother tells her great-granddaughter a beautiful story about the thread that connects all women, tying them forever in sisterhood. So begins Hearts on a String by Kris Radish. Many years later that young girl will be lucky enough to learn the true meaning of that thread that connects women.

Present Day: Airport bathroom - A woman is cussing up and down in a toilet stall while four other women in the bathroom stop in their tracks, unsure what to do or say. Nan's cell phone has fallen in the toilet and has gotten lodged in there. The women all try to figure out what to do to help this woman get her phone out of the toilet. When they finally do get the phone out, it's to an announcement that all flights have been canceled due to inclement weather and Nan, in anger, stomps the phone to bits and pieces with her high heel anyhow.

Nan has just left a luxury suite at a hotel and has offered to call and get her room back and the women can all stay there. The other four women know that within minutes it's going to become impossible to find anywhere to stay so they agree. So what happens when you get an investment banker, a hairdresser, a mom, an elderly singer and a very flirtatious and sexy manager at a Wendy's - well let's just say it's not all breezy moments of forming friendships and love.

The first part of the book moves kind of slowly with the women mostly nit picking and bickering with each other. It's painfully clear that they don't want to be together and don't seem to be bonding at all. As the story evolves though and we begin learning more about the intimate details of these women's lives the story starts to take on a life of it's own. As they begin sharing with each other as well we begin to notice that these five women who seem to not want to open their hearts, start to thaw a bit.

Most of these women really weren't likable in the beginning - amusing but not likable. Nan is ticked off at everything-her husband is involved in some shady dealings and probably having an affair. Cathy is so busy flirting and sleeping around that she just doesn't know how to have a real relationship. Margo is a mom of three teenagers and she is endlessly busy. Patti is the elderly singer -kind of the mom of the group and sometimes the glue that holds them together. My favorite of the women was Holly -the youngest of them and a hairdresser. She just seemed the most real to me as well as being the one that had the more loving and giving personality that just drew you to her.

However all is not as it seems. While you may think you know each of these women by now - you find that you really don't. The last half of the book takes you through some unexpected twists and turns but it's just these events that manage to bond these women together in friendship. The plot of the novel does become kind of far fetched and some of the things that happen make you roll your eyes a bit but the thing is I read this book for pure entertainment and escapism and it gave me that.

The message in the pages of this book is the power of women's friendships and the power of the bonds they can form. Even though these five women started out as strangers and really had nothing in common, they found over time ways to bond and ended up being fiercely protective of each other. This novel leaves you realizing how important the bonds between women are and no matter what is going on in your life, if you have those friendships you'll pull through.

I love Kris Radish normally but this book is way too contrived. The book moves slowly and the reactions of the women to the storm and each other are not believable. I am so disappointed. I wanted to read a typical Radish book that entertained and made me appreciate women's friendships. I wish I hadn't purchased this book.

This is one of Kris' best, and I have read many of her books. It's a fun read, with lots of things going on and a few surprises. I read it over the holidays by the fire and really enjoyed it. Kris creates real women characters with complicated lives. Bravo, Kris!

The author stated the tension between the characters over and over again, but never made this reader FEEL it. This reader just felt annoyed to be told again that the characters were sniping and yelling at each other without actually showing it happen. This book felt like a paint by numbers fuzzy painting. There is a picture there, and it might be art, but it's not good art.

Chick-lit. This book would make a great sitcom. Read it when you have a lot of time on your hands because it takes awhile to get to know all the characters.

I liked this book a lot more than I originally thought I would. This is the story of 5 women who meet in an airport restroom and form a bond over the following 4 days. They didn't always get along and they didn't always like each other, but in the end, they formed a wonderful bond.

This is a wonderful story of womanhood, strength, companionship, and adventure. It's not just a fluff-filled women knitting and drinking tea story. There is a surprisingly exciting adventure that I don't want to give away.

Toward the end of the story I thought it was dragging on a bit and I was waiting for the last page. However, at the very end, everything came together very nicely and I was happy with the ending.

One thing I did not like was the cover. I think the women riding down stair railings is very cheesy and has nothing to do with the story at all. If I had not won this but had seen this book at the bookstore, I would not have even picked it up based on the cover and the title.