Customer Reviews

This Heart of Mine (Lib)(CD)

5 star:		(79)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

The best writer of contemporary romances proves that she is still at the top of her game in "This Little Heart of Mine." Susan Elizabeth Phillips plays matchmaker for two characters from some of her previous popular novels: Molly Somerville (Phoebe's little sister from "It Had to Be You") and Kevin Tucker (the Star's backup quarterback from "Nobody's Baby but Mine"). Molly is all grown up and is supporting herself as an author of children's books. Problem is, her personal life is non-existent. Kevin is now the Stars' superstar quarterback, but he hasn't allowed himself to have much of a life outside of football. Both are feeling restless and dissatisfied, and when they accidentally spend a weekend together, the results are disastrous. Kevin comes away thinking that Molly is a flat-out kook, and Molly is left emotionally battered. Thanks to some more unusual circumstances, they end up running a bed and breakfast Kevin has most unwillingly inherited. OK, so far this all sounds like nonsense, but trust me, Phillips makes it work. The characters are richly drawn and quite charming. Not only does SEP add a lot of humor (you will laugh out loud), but she also creates a wonderfully tender and sweet romance that manages to avoid being sappy and cloying. I was particularly impressed with the way she was able to intertwine Molly's children's books into the narrative without making them annoying distractions. If you only buy one contemporary romance this year, this should be the one.

Molly Somerville is a children's book author. She has had an unrequited crush on Chicago Stars quarterback Kevin Tucker for ages. Of course, he doesn't know she is alive. When they both end up at the Calebow family cabin for a weekend alone, she acts on her crush by climbing into bed with him. He's so out of it that he doesn't know who it is until he wakes up, amid a broken condom. He thinks she's nothing more than a spoiled heiress. Feeling violated, he tosses her out. Kevin is forced by her brother in law (and GM of the Stars) to make an honest woman out of her. They begrudgingly go along with the scheme with plans for an annulment after the baby is born, unfortunately, tragedy strikes first. When Kevin discovers that she's been a shut in, he takes her with him to a campground he inherited from his deceased parents. It's not the stuffy old folks retreat he remembers from his childhood - it's now a B&B with cottages that cater to the family crowd, and it's there that Molly comes alive again, as she and Kevin's relationship takes a dramatic turn.

This is the fifth book in the Chicago Stars/Bonner Brothers series of books, and definitely one of her more bittersweet and tear inducing. Interspersed with passages from Molly's series of Daphne the Bunny/Benny the Badger books, it's so charming when Kevin discovers that many of Benny's antics coincide with incidents from his own past. And the jocks verses kids who were picked last in gym class softball game was hysterical.

As an admitted fan of Susan Elizabeth Phillips, I may be biased, but THIS HEART OF MINE is one of her better books and I wouldn't hesitate to reccommend this book to anyone. Especially if you're already a fan don't wait for the paperback, this is one hardcover book that's worth the extra expense.

Kevin Tucker (the back-up quarterback from NOBODY'S BABY BUT MINE) is a football player for whom the game is his life and that's the way he likes it. To simplify matters, he doesn't make it a habit to spend time with women who are chatty or intelligent. So to his surprise he enjoys the short time he inadvertantly spends with Phobe Somerville (from IT HAD TO BE YOU and current owner of the Chicago Stars, the team he plays for)'s little sister, what was her name again? That is until one night when she commits an impulsive act that could affect both their lives.

Mollie Sommerville, a children's book author with a hard earned reputation for being a good girl has had a crush on Kevin for years. Unfortunately, he can't even remember her name. She's also had restless and wild impulses for years. Both she successfully subdues . . . most of the time. And one of those few times she didn't is something for which Kevin doesn't seem willing to forgive her.

Pushed together by circumstances, Kevin and Mollie learn that the other is not entirely who they seem to be and they, and they alone, understand each other.

Personally, as THIS HEART OF MINE is being sold as the last in the Chicago Stars series, I would have liked to have seen more and longer appearances from characters from the previous books. I was especially disappointed that the Bonner's didn't play a part, but new readers might find this a boon as THIS HEART OF MINE defintely stands alone, and while it's nice to have read IT HAD TO BE YOU first, it's certainly not necessary.

Don't MISS THIS HEART OF MINE. A little crazy at times, very contemporary, and an all around great romantic read.

This Heart of Mine lived up to all of my expectations for a SEP novel. Its hard to believe that we won't be meeting up with any other characters from the Chicago Stars. This book endeared me like all the rest. I loved Molly and Kevin's story and revisiting most of the families from some of her other books. It was great seeing that Dan & Phoebe had more children besides the twins. Both Molly and Kevin were believable characters. They each had insecurities that all of us have which keep us from accepting love without question. Its fascinating to watch their feelings mature as they work together on a neglected camp for senior adults. I also enjoyed the subplots surrounding Lilly and Liam, as well as the teenage newlyweds hired to work at the camp that couldn't keep their hands off each other long enough to get the work done. The way Molly wrote her childrens books around Nightingale Woods and the similarities between fact and fiction was the most fun for me, especially when Kevin realizes which character he is. If you've read any of Susan E. Phillip's books before, you won't be disappointed with this one.

Molly Somerville had previously lived the kind of life most only dream of. That is, until she decided to give her entire fifteen million dollar inheritance to charity. Now she's the struggling author of children's books featuring the characters Daphne the Bunny and Benny the Badger. It may be a little more than coincidence that Daphne and Benny are mirror images of herself, and the object of her long-term infatuation.

Kevin Tucker is the famous quarterback for the Chicago Stars football team, owned by Molly's sister, Phoebe. Kevin is wild, gorgeous, infuriating and barely knows she's alive. But that's all about to change. Because Molly has a wild streak of her own, and when her and Kevin accidentally end up at the family vacation house together, her wild streak turns into an uncontrollable urge. Kevin is furious, and their lives irrevocably change.

Together they take a trip to Wind Lake, the drab campground of Kevin's childhood summers, which he recently inherited and can't wait to sell. What they find is a surprise - a bed and breakfast and a collection of beautiful, quaint cottages set in picturesque surroundings. Perhaps this is the place to put differences aside, heal old wounds, and grab onto a once in a lifetime love.

This is the fifth, and final installment in the Chicago Stars/Bonner Brothers series. For those of you who may not know, the order is: "It Had To Be You", "Heaven Texas", "Nobody's Baby But Mine", "Dream a Little Dream", and "This Heart of Mine". I confess I didn't read the series in order, and have yet to read, "Dream a Little Dream". However, this is a strong finish for an outstanding collection of books. I continue to be amazed at how SEP builds her complex characters, layer by layer, until they breathe with a life of their own. Molly and Kevin must each face the ghosts of their past, and struggle to accept their feelings for each other. The setting of Wind Lake was magical, and the humor SEP weaves in her stories so well, was present too. The baseball game has to be the funniest part of the book. And I love the Daphne and Benny story excerpts at the beginning of each chapter. Not only do I recommend this book, but the whole series (except "Dream a Little Dream" which I haven't read, so can't voice an opinion). In fact, three books of this series are some of my all-time favorite reads, with this being one of them. Enjoy!!

I've read every Susan Elizabeth Phillips book I could get my hands on since I stumbled upon Nobody's Baby But Mine a few years ago. They've all been extremely entertaining reads: witty, clever, romantic, and sexy. This book is certainly no exception! It does, however, have a couple of short falls. First, there were a couple of elements of both Molly and Kevin's personalities that are pretty central to the plot that I didn't feel were fully developed. (Why's Kevin been so restless? What set off Molly's latest "incident"? etc.) Also, since this book is a continuation of the Chicago Stars series, I really expected the characters from the previous novels to play a larger role here. (I don't think they should have dominated the story, but an *appearance* would have been nice!)

So what are my recommendations for this novel? I enjoyed it, and I am glad that I bought the hardback edition. It's a definitely a "keeper" book for me! If you're new to Ms. Phillips' work, you may want to hold out for the paperback and check out her previous works in the meantime.

This Heart of Mine combines the warmth and sass that are a Phillips' trademark. While Phillips has always created wonderful, endearing characters, she's added something new with this book. Kevin and Molly are part of a larger community where their actions and concerns--and, yes, their quite hot romance!--give the reader a sense of a larger world than one often finds in a romance. The secondary characters around Kevin and Molly and the "critters" in Molly's book are quite splendid and involving. And funny--laugh-out-loud funny, in fact!

All this makes the This Heart of Mine poignant, touching, and quite special, a book that stands out from the crowd.

And the writing? Well, nobody keeps up a pace like SEP, that's for sure! I can't imagine an evening better spent than entering the world of THIS HEART OF MINE. Loved it, loved it, loved it!

Maybe its just me, maybe I am missing some pages. If I could give this book zero stars, I would. The heroine, who has been lusting after the hero for years gets her chance to be with him. Does she have an adult, reasonable conversation with him? No. Does she maybe propose a friends with benefits type deal, you know, with the hopes of getting the happily ever after? No. She decides to rape, yes, rape the hero while he is sleeping. And it is rape because the sex was not consensual and the hero himself calls it rape afterward. Anyway, after this sexual assault, she is angry at the hero because he doesnt fall in love with her. In the real world, this woman would be featured on Dateline or America's Most Wanted.

So heroine gets her family to force hero to marry her, they go to a bed and breakfast and oh bugger it. Really, save yourself. This book is terrible. Its horribly offensive to women. Its damaging to young impressionable girls who might read it. There are better and honourable ways of getting your dream guy. Raping him in his sleep and having your uncle punch him in the face so that he marries you is not it.

Susan Elizabeth Phillips is a master of the romantic fiction genre, and she has a clever turn of phrase that makes her dialogue always funny and never stale. However, despite her skill with conversation, sometimes Phillips tends to lack in the practicality quotient of the novel.

Molly Somerville is a child storybook author, the sweet, mousy (yet actually quite pretty), and spunky heroine romance authors love to write ... again and again and again. When she spends a weekend at her sister's spare house, an unexpected visitor drops in - the star football player of her sister's sports team. He is, of course, a handsome, speeding, thrill-seeking, close-mouthed bad boy that would never, ever, not in a million years, fall in love or even so much as look at a girl as plain as Molly Somerville.

And yet, the inevitable happens, but in such a way that it almost distasteful - this is the book's lowest point, a period where giving it up seems almost preferable to moving on. No sort of romance would seem to blossom from this soil, and the fact that it happened at all is so utterly improbable that you're laughing through the bizarreness of it all.

However, after this lapse, the book picks up and develops a sweet, tender romance that gets quite good. The male lead is one of Phillips' most attractive, being a little broody and taciturn and of course everything turns right and rosy in the end.

The getting there, however, takes some teeth-gritting. If you like Phillips, you'll love her other works, like It Had to Be You, Match Me If You Can, and Ain't She Sweet. This Heart of Mine has the same irresistable lead and witty dialogue, but the plot gapes illogically.

The lovely cover made me choose this book - but then - OH NO! - I discovered that not only was it (ugh) a romance, but also had something to do with football (double ugh). For some (wonderful) reason I stayed with it and then wasn't ready for it to end. The main characters are, for the most part, a delightfully believable bunch and the interweaving of Daphne the Bunny storyline is inspired and skillfully done. The main characters of Molly (Daphne) and Kevin (Benny) dive right off a cliff into a world of whimsy, of fun, and of family - but also getting priorities straight. Not only did Kevin find himself alive and kicking in the Daphne books, I too found some of my friends residing inside too. For a frothy, bodice ripping type of story, it is amazingly well written. A couple of subplots are efficiently tucked in and then it is off to the land of Nightingale Woods. The premise of an infatuation ultimately leading to molestation of the male character is more than a little far-fetched - and not very nice - but builds into a fantasy love story that is clever, if not always politically correct. The book contains some really graphic love scenes, which are somehow are kinder and gentler and nicer than most. The epilogue is so creative that it just almost makes me believe again in Happily Ever After.

Mamalinda (Melissa the Wood Frog?), who also favors shawls, pearls and tiaras, but not while riding her mountain bike