Heart's Desire: A Novel (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this disappointing sequel to Beginner's Luck, spunky teen Hallie Palmer is finishing up her first year at the Cleveland Art Institute, juggling student loans, finals and the ever present dilemma of when and how to lose her virginity. Amid her troubles, Hallie is called upon by her former quasi-guardian, Bernard Stockton, to help him win back his boyfriend, Gill, so she agrees to stay with him once again and earn money doing garden work for the summer. (Bernard still shares a home with his 60-something, pornography-writing, cause-driven mother, Olivia, and her Italian live-in lover, Ottavio, as well as with Olivia's unpredictable pet chimpanzee, Rocky.) As a sign of changing times, Hallie's harried mom asks for her help with Louise, Hallie's party girl younger sister. Gill contemplates leaving his gay lifestyle to marry a woman and start a family, Bernard decides he wants to adopt a Chinese baby and Hallie can't get sex off the brain. Though Pedersen tries hard to match the zany, madcap atmosphere of Beginner's Luck, the sequel lacks the fresh spirit and charm that made its predecessor so winning. (July)
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From Booklist

Hallie Palmer comes home from college with lots of problems. She is broke and without a boyfriend, and her complicated family life has gotten worse. Her employer-guardian, Bernard, has broken up with his longtime lover; one of her sisters is in trouble; and every guy she meets has issues. Undaunted, the ever-capable Hallie gets to work. She will find a boyfriend, help Bernard, earn money, and, as a bonus, save her town, a weird mix of Mayberry and Las Vegas. It all seems a bit much, and when Pedersen throws in an alcoholic chimpanzee and a story that owes a lot of its momentum to her previous book, Beginner's Luck (2003), one wonders how it can work. But oddly enough, this sweet-natured and inviting book manages splendidly. Readers are quickly drawn into Hallie's world and are ready to cheer for her and her motley crew. Funny, tender, and poignant. Neal Wyatt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 397 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (July 26, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345479556
• ISBN-13: 978-0345479556
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #861,535 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny, emotional, with vivid characters. A winner, September 3, 2005

By	booksforabuck "BooksForABuck.com" (Dallas) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

After a year in college, Hallie Palmer has all summer to figure out how to pay for her next year at college. Because if she can't come up with some cash, she'll need to drop out after a semester and work full time. Fortunately, her foster father, Bernard, offers to let her work in his garden again--and a high-stakes poker game has come to Cosgrove County, Ohio--and Hallie is something of a gambler. But both of these offers come with strings. Bernard has broken up with his longtime lover, Gil, and is despondent to the point of playing suicidal opera arias. And the late-night poker games come with a bit of a moral dilemma attached.

Then there's the virginity issue. Hallie thinks she may be a sex-maniac because she can't stop thinking about sex. There's the boyfriend from school--the one she was just at the point of having sex with. Then there's the ex-boyfriend from high-school. The one who seems to have more girlfriends than he can shake a stick at. And the nerdy future Bill Gates who's had a crush on her since fourth grade. Finally, there's the town bookie's cute grandson--even if he is math impaired and seems to read and write stories about death (and Bernard picks him up with his gaydar). Between the difficulties of finding a suitable guy and Hallie's own ambivalent feelings toward sex, love, and forever, she starts to wonder if she's going to be carrying her virginity into old age.

Author Laura Pedersen has created a houseful of delightful and vivid characters. Bernard, his larger-than-life mother (who is always ready to protest for justice and point out the Unitarians who have served America and the world so well), Bernard's ex-lover, Gil, the alcoholic chimpanzee, his mother's Italian lover, and even the town cop are all fully realized and fun. Hallie's life is full as she attempts to deal with the people in her life--helping them, but also suffering from an over-abundance of their attempts to help her out as well.

HEART'S DESIRE has a strong chick-lit feel--it's very much the story of a young woman's growth, with a strong element of humor as well as solid emotional content. It's the kind of book that makes you stay up way too late at night--reading just one more chapter. I'm very happy to recommend HEART'S DESIRE highly.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The continuing adventures of a great teenage character, September 30, 2005

By	Sherri Caldwell "RebelHousewife.com" (Atlanta, GA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I really enjoyed BEGINNER'S LUCK, the first book in this projected four-book series by Laura Pedersen. I love the intrepid teenage heroine, Hallie Palmer, and the author's straightforward, funny, clever writing style and turns-of-phrase. Laura Pedersen's books bring to mind the charm, eccentricity, and small-town appeal of BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE for an older teenage audience.

Hallie's story continues in the second book, HEART'S DESIRE, during the summer after her first year away at college. Hallie returns to the wildly eccentric, wonderful Stockton household, pre-occupied with (someday) losing her virginity, finding true love, and figuring out if the two are inextricably linked. She's also faced with new crises to solve, both in her old family and in her new one, and another 60-second mystery, in addition to figuring out how to fund her second year of art school (legally).

The Sex issue comes up again; actually, it is pervasive throughout HEART'S DESIRE, as 17-year-old Hallie grapples with the complexities of love and sex. Laura Pedersen again handles this subject exceptionally well, with humor and sensitivity.

I enjoyed the interviews with the author at the end of each book, and look forward to continuation of the Hallie Palmer series.

Enjoy!

Sherri Caldwell, co-author, The Rebel Housewife Rules: To Heck With Domestic Bliss!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CHARMING SEQUEL, July 26, 2005

By	Jean Callahan (Springfield, MO) - See all my reviews

This book is laugh-out-loud fun. After finishing it I immediately went back and reread BEGINNER'S LUCK and realized how many of the good lines and details I had forgotten, or rushed through too quickly the first time around. (Though it's not necessary to have read the first to enjoy this one.) Pedersen tells cheerful and sweet-natured stories that are a relief from all the rape, hate, incest, terrorism and war that we constantly see and read about - a refreshing change, or a temporary escape. The town is also wonderfully inviting and reminds me of growing up outside of St. Louis in the late 1950s. The books are intelligently written with well-developed likeable characters and I look forward to the next installment. These books are modern in that the characters all have to deal with real world problems of prejudice, a tough job market, expensive college educations, and yet the themes of love, home, and friendship are universal and thus they'll never go out of style. I also recommend them for teenage girls as the books deal with sex and that sort of thing with a good moral compass. It helps to be older in order to understand all the references to music, poetry, and literature. However, Pedersen does give enough context for most of these so that anyone can understand how they fit into the story.