Customer Reviews

So Into You

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Grace O'Brien has been a nun, a poker player, and even a treasure hunter. Now she is assistant to Louise Rivard (a.k.a. "Tante Lulu") and learning all about alternative medicine. Angel Sabato has been with Grace on many of her past adventures. The handsome man has been her best friend for over a decade. But when Angel admits his feelings of love for her, all that changes. There were some things in her past that even Angel does know. Rejected, Angel leaves Louisiana the next day.

It is a year later when Tante Lulu talks Grace into helping the Duval family. Lena Duval, the oldest of four siblings, has been working herself sick (literally) for the well being of her sister and brothers. For five years Lena has managed to avoid Child Protective Services (CPS) and keep them from learning that their parents were dead. The Duvals move in with Grace and Tante Lulu talks Angel into returning to Louisiana and building homes for her new foundation named Jude's Angels. The first foundation home built will be for the Duvals. Tante Lulu will pull strings to deal with CPS and the like.

Angel knew he messed up a year ago, but he is determined to claim Grace as his own. She may not know it yet, but she will be his wife. But this time Angel will not simply toss his heart out for her to stomp on. This time he will be more cautious. But when Angel finds out Grace's hidden secrets, will he want anything to do with her?

**** THREE AND A HALF STARS! There were times I just wanted to smack Grace. She may have had a lousy childhood and she may have done something in her teen years that she regrets, but it is not as if she killed her fellow nuns and was on the run from the law. I feel that Grace made mountains out of mole hills. Many people today have made the same choices Grace did. She is not a bad person. As I came to know Grace and Angel better, I became irritated that Grace felt as if she could not trust Angel. I, as the reader, seemed to understand Angel better than the woman that has been his best friend for years. However, Tante Lulu, the Duvals, and dealing with the CPS almost make up for the irritating actions of Grace's. Tante Lulu is one crazy old lady. Her character is so much fun! She knows everything about anyone who is anything. (Meaning she knows the dirt on important people or has done big favors for them. She can pull strings better than an old fashioned phone operator.) For me, Tante Lulu stole the show. I hope to see more of her in the near future. ****

Reviewed by Vanessa Storme for Huntress Reviews.

So Into You
By Sandra Hill

Sandra Hill has written another fun filled romp in the Bayou! I simply adore this series! It will definitely bring a smile to your face and joy to your heart.

Grace O'Brien and Angel Sabato had been best friends for years until the day Angel suddenly realizes he feels much more than friendship for the lovely Grace.

Grace had a history that she is afraid to share with anyone. She feels she doesn't deserve their love and can't subject them to the things of her past. From a wild child to a nun, to a poker champ to a successful treasure hunter, Grace has definitely not lead the normal every day life. The secret she holds keeps her from having the life she really wants, to be a loving wife and mother. While studying the healing arts with Tante Lulu, she gets involved in all kinds of Tante Lulu's schemes.

Angel, a contractor and treasure hunter is too stubborn to give up on Grace and the on going battle for her heart is an emotional roller coaster ride for the both of them.

Tante Lulu decides to step in and help. She is the matchmaker of the DeLeux family and very successful with the help of St. Jude, the patron said of lost causes. She is also one of the most endearing characters I've ever read. Full of love and compassion for even the most stubborn of people, and not to mention definitely eccentric! (We could all use a Tante Lulu in our lives whether we want to admit it or not).

Finding an orphaned family of four she decides to set up a foundation for the victims of Hurricane Katrina who still need help. This is a major undertaking and Tante Lulu involves her entire family, including Grace and Angel into the mix, with Angel building the kids a new home and Grace taking care of them in the meantime.

The adventures and changing relationship between Angel and Grace will make you laugh and cry, cheer for their victories and hiss at their failures.

Surprises abound in this fantastic book and you are kept guessing until the very end. I wouldn't have missed it for anything! Sandra Hill definitely has another winner!

Author Sandra Hill is the best-selling writer of more than twenty titles including: Tall, Dark, and Cajun, The Cajun Cowboy, The Red-Hot Cajun, Pink Jinx, Pearl Jinx, and Wild Jinx. She resides in central Pennsylvania with her husband the stock broker, her four sons, and very large dog.

Listed as Cajun Book Number 8, So Into You follows Grace O'Brien, a redhead who has been a nun, poker player champion, treasure hunter, and folk healer. She's up for just about anything except marriage. So when her best friend and co-worker, Angel Sabato, declares his undying love for her and proposes, she freaks out. Heartbroken, Angel leaves town as fast as the plane allows. Grace begins working with Tante Lulu helping a poor teenage girl trying to keep her siblings together in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. But starting a foundation, avoiding social services, and building a house are more than they're cracked up to be. Tante Lulu, with match-making forever in mind, goads Angel back to Louisiana to help. And down in Cajun country, love sometimes comes with a mess of trouble... Trouble that can throw Grace and Angel into each others arms where they belong.

This book is dedicated to the Hurricane Katrina survivors, and though the foundation in this book is fictitious, the author has several charities listed on her site for this cause if you wish to check it out, [...].

Though Tante Lulu was a hilarious Cajun southern Louisiana woman of ninety some years old, I did find her dialect a bit tiresome to read toward the end. Then again, I just don't know how the book could have done without it.

In saying that, it is apparent that Sandra Hill, good ole humor, strong characters, and a witty plot go hand-in-hand. Fans of her previous books will not be let down with this new book in her Cajun Series. Sandra is planning a new blog on her website with Tante Lulu (a fictional character in this series), of which I cannot wait. Who knew a meddling old southern woman could be so addicting? This book is the perfect example of how secondary characters should be. The setting was phenomenal, the dialog hilarious, and the romance frustrating and sweet. The plot will hook you from page one.

So Into You, by Sandra Hill, delivers a punch packed with true southern charm, romance, and fun-filled hilarity.



Kelly Moran,

Author and Reviewer

Angel Sabato asked poker champion adventuress and former nun Grace O'Brien to marry him as he informed her he loved her; shocked that her friend declared his affection, she said no because of a secret that would turn his love to loathing. He married someone else, but that rebound relationship failed rather quickly and he fled for Germany to lick his wounds.

One year later he has returned to the Bayou. Tante Lulu asks him in her sweet ordering manner to help build a house for a family of orphans, victims of Katrina. He agrees, but in exchange begs Tante Lulu to help him marry his beloved Grace. Soon Angel and Grace are trying to keep the orphans together. Meanwhile the object of Angel's adulation wants to say yes if he asks again, but fears telling her beloved the truth about her past; and he deserves nothing less if she says yes.

The return to Cajun country for the magic of Tante Lulu will elate fans of Sandra Hill as the author provides the usual facetious farcical frolic but also contains two serious subplots: Grace's past that has her rejecting Angel's proposal and the orphans' efforts to stay together although the oldest is a teen. Fans of the series are so into the Cajun romances, "there must be voodoo in the vibes" (Atlanta Rhythm band).

Harriet Klausner

This book is a continuation of the Cajun/Jinx series'. With many of the same characters from both of those and of course, Tante Lulu heading it all up! This book made me both laugh out loud and bring a tear to my eye. Sandra Hill has created such realistic scenarios and individuals it's almost like they become part of your extended family. I can't wait for the next release!

This is the first book I've read by Sandra Hill and I can tell you it won't be the last. So Into You is a fast-paced and funny novel. I enjoyed the story of Grace and Angel but the true star is Tante Lulu. What a hoot! I laughed out loud at the things that came out of her mouth.

Grace and Angel share a true passion for each other. They just choose not to act on it for a few (frustrating) reasons. Tante Lulu will have none of that and she invokes St. Jude (her go-to saint) to set the wheels of love in motion. And don't even try to stay out of the way. It won't help! Because of a bet, the two are brought together. I can't remember reading a steamier scene - hot doesn't begin to describe it. Thanks to Ms. Hill I will never again be able to look at a platter of sliced fruit without thinking about Grace and Angel. Oh, my! You've been warned. . .

There's a lot more to the story - all in all, a very entertaining book.

SO INTO YOU by Sandra Hill was absolutely the best 'pick me up' mood read for me! This book so captivated me from page one til the very end where I ended in wanting to read anything and everything of hers! I really enjoy contemporary romances that have a strong romance, meaning the emotional and sexual tension that grows as their romance grows. This book so perfectly had it! I was on the edge of my seat at times, teary eyed and other times laughing right out loud!

Even though I haven't read the JINX's books of Sandra Hill's (I'll be changing that soon!), this book so stands on its own. SO INTO YOU is the first in the Bayou Angel series and they connect too with the Jinx Series (WILD JINX, PEARL JINX and PINK JINX), which are centered around an elderly but young at heart, Louise Rivard, known as Tante Lulu.

Tante Lulu is a 93 year old Traiteur and folk healer. Grace O'Brien, an apprentice to Tante Lulu is tagging along with together to learn as well about folk healing. Set 4 years in Louisiana after the Katrina Hurricane and devastation of the families and homes there, Tante Lulu pairs up with another foundation that helping wishes become true. Together they call it Louisiana Hope Foundation consisting of Starr's Hope and St. Jude's Angels. As Tante Lulu has her faith in St. Jude, she's determined to keep families together, specifically the family that lost both parents over time and a young 19 year old taking care of keeping 3 other siblings and her together and out of Child Protective Services reach. Bringing together too her nephew and family of the LeDeux's, Tante Lulu brings in Angel Sabato who's a half brother of Tee-John (John LeDeux's) wife (WILD JINX). As Tante Lulu and history of her matchmaking adventures in her previous books, she's at it again, this time bringing Angel back to help this family in building a home and fund-raising to keep the family together. This also brings Angel back with Grace to work together. Angel is determined for Grace to see beyond their friendship and Tante Lulu is there to help!

As times I cried when I felt so much for Grace's past and all the healing she's needs to do, I felt like I was going through it with her as I read this book. This author Sandra Hill writes in a way that will have you feeling the empathy, sensitivity and reactions as the characters do. Without giving away her past and secrets, I could so understand and sense the hesitancy that Grace felt to make big steps in her life. As she make changes through her life from being a nun, to a poker player and now learning about folk healing, her helping this family in need brought out so much of her heart in how well she relates to others and children. Angel has his own heart to heal about Grace's past rejection and making decisions about setting down to find his own home and where his heart belongs, as his racing away from rejection doesn't ease the pain. Tante Lulu is there with it all! I so much laughed that I had to elbow my hubby 'read this' 'read that' and he did with delight! Other times I was teary eyed and looked up to him and he knows that even tho these characters may not be real life ones, there is still so much true in them about our own growing in our life that never ends both personally and in our relationship with our significant other. Too, it so brings out how we should not forget the devastation of what Katrina did to Louisiana and surrounding areas and states. The need there still continues today. I not only fell in love with Angel (gosh his hot and heaven!) and Grace, but I absolutely adored Tante Lulu! I never had anyone in my life like her but I had parts of her in my life with others in my extended family and friends. Everyone who reads this book will find parts of this book or the story as a whole, reflecting in their own life but even more, laughing, which is just wonderful! I so tried to do a 'professional' review of this but the best words that came were from my heart. There's no other words more I can say but read SO INTO YOU by Sandra Hill! If you haven't read Sandra Hill yet, you can start here or with the beginning of her various series listed at her SITE. Since this is my first contemporary of hers and she has all that I love from a contemporary romance, I'll be diving in from the beginning with THE LOVE POTION. Don't hesitate with her Viking historicals which I enjoyed a few that I read so far and looking forward to more of VIKING HEAT is coming 9/1/2009.

[...]

There are not many times that I will stop half way through a book and just stop reading. But for some reason I had to stop with this book. I'm not quite sure what it was about it.....The characters were great, they had spark, but it just didn't flow for me. The book seemed that every time it got moving it was stopped with a break by the author and started another flow. I would have liked to finished and seen what happened, but I just couldn't seem to bring myself to do it.