Customer Reviews

The Things We Do for Love (Brilliance Audio on Compact Disc)

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Able voice performer Susan Ericksen delivers a fine performance as she articulates the hopes and dreams of two women, one a 38-year-old who appears to have lost everything, the other a young unwed mother-to-be.

Angela DeSaria Malone knew early on what the years ahead would hold: love, marriage and children. This was not to be. She has undergone what for her is surely the ultimate heartbreak: she has suffered miscarriages, lost a child, been unable to adopt, and finally her marriage has crumbled.

She returns to her hometown of West End hoping to find comfort among her family and familiar surroundings. Once there she loses herself in redoing the family restaurant, and she meets young Lauren Ribido. Lauren touches Angie's heart; the girl is pregnant, deserted by her lover and ignored by her mother. She's in desperate need of love and care. Of course, Angie provides both.

An abortion is simply out of the question for Lauren. But, what can she offer a child? Would it make sense for Angie to adopt the child? Sometimes the most logical conclusions are not in the offing. Both women are swept up in life altering experiences.

Another listen that requires Kleenex on the side.

- Gail Cooke

I was looking for something to read on vacation and what a wonderful surprise! I was so pleased with this book that I am back today to buy at least 3 or 4 more by this author. I am a great fan of LaVyrle Spencer and was heartbroken when she quit writing but Kristin Hannah has a very similar style and I am so excited to have discovered her. The characters are so real and the stories so believable that you forget it is a novel. Can't wait to get my package from Amazon!

Angela and Conlan Malone divorce after fourteen years of marriage because she never recovered from emotional setbacks caused by her infant's death and a failed adoption. The advertising guru flees Seattle for her hometown of West End, a few hours away. In town, her recently widowed mom and her sisters welcome her home, but the siblings still hold some resentment on the special treatment their dad provided to his Princess while they slaved in the family restaurant, DeSaria's.

Since the fourth grade, Lauren Ribaldo has worked to insure she would never duplicate the loser life of her mother. When she lost her job due to cutbacks, she searched for employment to pay the rent, but high school seniors have limited opportunities. Angela needs to help the teen, finally hiring her as a waitress while she struggles to save the family business. As she helps Lauren improve her life, Angela feels she receives more back as she has the child she always wanted, though she thought it would be playgrounds for a while not fancy dates. Déjà vu will soon test the relationship between these proud folks.

Readers will appreciate this deep relationship drama starring a solid female protagonist struggling with emotional setbacks and a fine support crew that brings Angela further alive for the audience. The story line is filled with emotional excitement whether it is the restaurant, the broken link with Conlan or the growing relationship between Angela and Lauren. Fans of a five tissue box character study will enjoy THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE and want a future tale starring an older Lauren.

Harriet Klausner

This story interested me because I am a fan of Kristin Hannah's books. This one is one of the best of hers I have read. The story showed very strong emotions, very realistic situations, and highly believable characters. This book looks some things straight in the eye, like poverty and teenage pregnancy, making the reader want to help those that are suffering from either. The story will make you believe in the power of family and the power of love, and it will more than likely make you shed a few tears. Not really a light read, but enjoyable nonetheless.

While taking care of a three and half year old boy who got sick with a stomach bug over the holiday weekend ~~ I needed something light to read in between laundry duty and dishes and nurturing a little boy. I picked this one up and was engrossed into the story till 1 a.m.! It's been awhile since I've been able to do something like this!

This is probably my first Kristin Hannah book ~~ and I was leery of picking it up since I am on a roll with my nonfiction reading. I am glad though that I picked it up! It's been ages since I have laid in bed and finished a book in hours!

This book is about Angie who returned home to her small town after leaving a high profile advertising career in Seattle. She just went through a divorce ~~ not a bitter divorce, just a very sad one. She had given up her dreams of having a baby after suffering for years with miscarriages, infertility issues and losing her little baby, Sophia. She comes home to where her family is and rediscovers her dreams. Lauren, the other main character in the story, is a loveless seventeen year old, who has worked very hard in maintaining a scholarship at the local private school. She works full time after school and is dating the star of the football team, David. Lauren and Angie discover one another and helped each other to heal.

It is a beautiful story ~~ lots of promises and hope and joy. There is sadness and tears but it is a happy ever ending story ~~ which is what I like to read once in awhile! The scenery and the food descriptions sound wonderful ~~ and it sure is a great escape novel! =0)

This is a perfect read for any time, especially in the summertime when it's hot out and you need to keep still to keep cool! I plan on reading another one of this author's books if I see them around!

5-30-06

This was a great story all about reaching out to others. In this book, Angie, who was newly divorced and lonely, comes back home to help run the family business, the Desaria Restaurant. After getting divorced from her husband Conlan, she needed something else in her life. And what better than helping the failing family restaurant with new plans?

As Angie turns the restaurant around, a new girl comes into her life, Lauren, a teenager whose mother is an alcoholic who just lays around all day. Lauren has such a longing to be wanted and loved by someone, and is really trying to make something out of herself. When Angie meets this girl at the Help Your Neighbor shelters, she takes to her. She seeks Lauren out for a waitressing job at DeSaria's, and Lauren turns out to be a great help there.

As Angie becomes closer to Lauren, the two become great friends. When Lauren becomes pregnant with her boyfriend David's child, she needs a place to turn to, and as the story moves on, Lauren is there for her all the way.

Conlan is coming back into Angie's life as well, and whether or not the two will re-connect, the story goes on to tell. Lauren has a very difficult decision to make on what to do about her impending baby. It is Angie and Conlan, whom since losing two precious children of their own, may want to adopt Lauren's child. But only time will tell whether Lauren has the strength to give her child up or not.

This is a story all about love, reaching out, and sacrifices.

So glad Amazon suggested this author! Intense, quick reading--holds your attention. Moves quickly, and you just think you can figure the ending--and the author switches on you! Plan to read other novels by this author. Story touches the heartstings!

What a beautiful story of love, loss and acceptance. This story personifies the age-old cry of injustice regarding people who want children and aren't able to have them, versus those that have them but don't want them or aren't able to take care of them. In a heartbreaking but spellbinding manner, Ms. Hannah expertly exposes the raw and ragged relationship between the young Lauren, with nothing but a bright and happy future ahead and her mother, whose life seems to be one of continual failures and disappointments. When Lauren seamlessly becomes part of a large and loving family through recently divorced Angie (who's desire to be a mother has left her emotionally spent), they each fulfill a critical need in the other, that is nothing short of heart-wrenching. I laughed, I cried, I didn't want it to end. I know it's a good book that I've just finished when I spend the next 2 days thinking through what would have happened next--had there been another chapter. I appreciate the writing style of Ms. Hannah and very much look forward to the next book of hers that I read. (I have two unread in the book case--ready to dive in!)

I enjoyed this novel, which explores the concept of motherhood in many different forms. First there is Angie, who wanted to be a mother so badly that it ruined her marriage. She undergoes several unsuccessful rounds of IVF, she pins her hopes on adopting a baby from a pregnant teenage mother who later changes her mind, and she experiences the heartbreak of giving birth to a premature baby, who later dies. All of this occurs before the novel begins; by the time we meet Angie, her marriage is falling apart and she's getting ready for a divorce.

Second there is Lauren, whose mother is an alcoholic who takes little interest in her. Lauren lives in a dilapidated apartment but is determined to break out of the lower class by working hard at school. Then she becomes pregnant and all of her plans are called into question.

Third there is Maria, who is Angie's mother. Maria is a rock, the Italian mother of three adult girls. Maria has a minor role in the story, but her presence is still important; she is the head of a big, noisy family, the kind of family Lauren has always dreamed of and Angie has always taken for granted.

When Lauren and Angie meet, it seems they are both able to give each other some semblance of what they've always dreamed about. Angie immediately adopts the role of a mother, taking Lauren in when Lauren's real mother finally abandons her. Lauren, in turn, is made to feel a part of Angie's big Italian family. But the real challenge to their relationship comes when Lauren announces her pregnancy. Angie is suddenly confronted with envy towards the girl she's come to think of as a daughter. And Lauren isn't sure she wants to keep the baby. When she offers it to Angie, Angie isn't sure she wants to accept--can she go through heartbreak again if Lauren changes her mind?

Ultimately, the question of what it means to be a mother is the central theme of this book. The different relationships between the characters are explored in detail, and those relationships become more and more complex as the story reaches its unpredictable conclusion. Anyone who is interested in the subject of motherhood will find this novel to be an enjoyable and thought-provoking read.

Angie experiences so much loss in her family and searches for peace. Heartwarming, heart-wrenching and emotional. This one will tug at your heart strings. Wonderful portrait of motherhood, courage and all facets of love.