penandpage's review against another edition
3.0
Review posted on my blog. http://www.dishwaterdreams.com/book-reviews/book-review-heart-like-mine
This is the second book I have read by Amy Hatvany. The first I read was Best Kept Secret, which I really loved.
Heart Like Mine is about a woman and a girl. Grace is a hard-working, professional woman who doesn’t want kids, but her fiancee, Victor, has two kids. Grace decides she can find a way to be ok with being a part time step-mom.
Ava is a thirteen year old girl, Victor’s daughter.
When Ava’s mother dies suddenly, her world turns upside down. The story that follows wants to be a mystery, but is really the story of how Ava and Grace find their way to a relationship with each other.
Kelli, Ava’s mother, has a chunk of time missing from her life. Photos stop. Yearbooks stop. Everything seems to stop. Then it picks back up a few years later. Heart Like Mine really wants finding out more about Kelli to be a mystery, but as a huge mystery fan, the book doesn’t succeed. It is very easy to figure out what is missing. There are not really any surprises here.
What is lovely about this book is the relationships. Grace and her best friend, Grace and Victor, Victor and his children, Grace and Victor’s children. All of the relationships draw you in. What is a mystery of sorts is how these relationships will survive, or even if they will survive. The characters are well written and in many cases, especially our narrators, Grace and Ava, their thoughts help develop those relationships even more. We get to hear the things they choose not to say.
If you are looking for a mystery, this isn’t the book. But if you are looking for a book that has great relationships and well developed characters that is a perfect lazy Sunday light read, this is a perfect choice.
This is the second book I have read by Amy Hatvany. The first I read was Best Kept Secret, which I really loved.
Heart Like Mine is about a woman and a girl. Grace is a hard-working, professional woman who doesn’t want kids, but her fiancee, Victor, has two kids. Grace decides she can find a way to be ok with being a part time step-mom.
Ava is a thirteen year old girl, Victor’s daughter.
When Ava’s mother dies suddenly, her world turns upside down. The story that follows wants to be a mystery, but is really the story of how Ava and Grace find their way to a relationship with each other.
Kelli, Ava’s mother, has a chunk of time missing from her life. Photos stop. Yearbooks stop. Everything seems to stop. Then it picks back up a few years later. Heart Like Mine really wants finding out more about Kelli to be a mystery, but as a huge mystery fan, the book doesn’t succeed. It is very easy to figure out what is missing. There are not really any surprises here.
What is lovely about this book is the relationships. Grace and her best friend, Grace and Victor, Victor and his children, Grace and Victor’s children. All of the relationships draw you in. What is a mystery of sorts is how these relationships will survive, or even if they will survive. The characters are well written and in many cases, especially our narrators, Grace and Ava, their thoughts help develop those relationships even more. We get to hear the things they choose not to say.
If you are looking for a mystery, this isn’t the book. But if you are looking for a book that has great relationships and well developed characters that is a perfect lazy Sunday light read, this is a perfect choice.
kaylakaotik's review against another edition
3.0
* This book was received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. *
virginiacjacobs's review against another edition
3.0
This is a hesitant 3 stars. The story was compelling enough for me to look forward to reading it, even though the three female characters sometimes blended together and the ending was predictable. It was a good book and a quick read.
shai3d's review against another edition
5.0
I don't often immerse myself in women's fiction and when I read a book like A HEART LIKE MINE, I have to question why. I am not sure if it is that the blurbs just don't catch my attention or that I just don't think to look in that section. My reading habits are definitely going to have to change.
A HEART LIKE MINE blew me away in part because I could relate so easily relate to her. I also married a man with two children and there were a couple times where we thought that we would end up raising the boys. I really had to do some heart searching to determine if I was ready for the whole deal. Like Grace, I determined that I could if I had to though I didn't want children otherwise.
Grace's perspective only took up a third of the book but I very much enjoyed Ava's also while I found Kelli's to be heart wrenching. Just another case of parents being so religious that they deserted their child in her time of need.
A HEART LIKE MINE is very well written and destined to touch the heart-strings of any women but especially those women that decide to be become step-mothers. I recommend it highly and give it 4.5 stars.
*** I received this book at no charge from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions expressed within are my own.
A HEART LIKE MINE blew me away in part because I could relate so easily relate to her. I also married a man with two children and there were a couple times where we thought that we would end up raising the boys. I really had to do some heart searching to determine if I was ready for the whole deal. Like Grace, I determined that I could if I had to though I didn't want children otherwise.
Grace's perspective only took up a third of the book but I very much enjoyed Ava's also while I found Kelli's to be heart wrenching. Just another case of parents being so religious that they deserted their child in her time of need.
A HEART LIKE MINE is very well written and destined to touch the heart-strings of any women but especially those women that decide to be become step-mothers. I recommend it highly and give it 4.5 stars.
*** I received this book at no charge from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions expressed within are my own.
gertyp's review against another edition
4.0
I really loved this story, but almost stopped reading it because the author used god instead of God and it was used often. When someone uses the expression "Thank God", they are THANKING someone and that person/entity should be capitalized. If you don't believe, don't use those phrases. I know that sounds petty, but put another deity in its place, Allah, Yahweh etc. It DOES make a difference.
chrissymcbooknerd's review against another edition
The night I met Victor, the idea that I might become the mother of his children was the furthest thing from my mind. In fact, being a mother was pretty much the furthest thing from my mind any night of the week.
As CEO of a successful organization, Grace is widely known as a woman who is passionately devoted to her career. While she is confident in her ability to excel in the workplace, she feels a bit more out of place on the domestic front. While Grace's friends and family all have beloved children of their own, Grace herself has no intention at all of ever having babies. Where is that maternal instinct and innate desire for children that people so commonly attribute to women?
So, when Grace meets Victor, she is hesitant to really allow herself to fall for him. After all, he has a teenage daughter and a younger son who do spend part of their time at home with their father. Although Grace is comforted by the fact that Ava and Max will still be primarily parented by their mother, Kelli, she still has a difficult time fitting into her new role as a parental figure for the children -- especially after Victor proposes and prepares to announce the news to the kids.
And then, one terrible moment changes everything when Victor learns that Kelli is dead, presumably inflicted by her own hands. Max and Ava are sent to Victor's home where they will now reside full time, forcing Grace to rearrange her priorities and her hours at work to accommodate the new living scenario. When the children rebel and Victor seems to side with his daughter over his fiance on numerous occasions, Grace wonders if her love for Victor is enough to counter the misery she now feels at home. Is it possible for a woman who never wanted a child to learn to have a heart for mothering?
Soon, Ava and Grace uncover new clues that suggest that Kelli was hiding a terrible secret that ultimately led to the demise of her young life. What really happened to Kelli when she was just fourteen years old that caused her parents to abandon and disown her like they did? And will the terrible truth of this woman's reality be the one thing that threatens to destroy Grace's relationship with her new family?
I really enjoyed HEART LIKE MINE and I was impressed with the sensitivity and honesty that the author conveyed in presenting the story. For starters, I really enjoyed the manner in which the story was displayed through alternating chapters from the perspectives of three key characters: Ava, Grace, and Kelli. Both Ava and Grace were detailed in first person, while Kelli's portions took a more distant third person perspective that often gave the reader flashbacks into the past in order to really build the back story. The layout of the novel was a bit reminiscent of the style of Jodi Picoult, which obviously works for her based on the popularity of her many fabulous books, of course.
I think the story raised interesting questions not only about female relationships but also about the nature/nuture debate as it relates directly to motherhood. Grace really struggles with the fact that she seems to lack that emotion and skill that other women describe as an innate mothering instinct, yet she finds herself falling into a new, protective love towards Ava and Max that was strangely new and unexpected for her. Simultaneously, it is also interesting to observe the manner in which the relationships change at different points throughout the story -- first, when everyone learns about Kelli's death and later as more information surfaces about the history of her young life. The multi-layered nature of the novel was really appealing on an emotional level, beyond the interest generated in the curiosity of what really happened to Kelli.
I'm glad that I had an opportunity to read and review HEART LIKE MINE, and I thank the publisher for allowing me to partake of such an enjoyable new novel! :)
As CEO of a successful organization, Grace is widely known as a woman who is passionately devoted to her career. While she is confident in her ability to excel in the workplace, she feels a bit more out of place on the domestic front. While Grace's friends and family all have beloved children of their own, Grace herself has no intention at all of ever having babies. Where is that maternal instinct and innate desire for children that people so commonly attribute to women?
So, when Grace meets Victor, she is hesitant to really allow herself to fall for him. After all, he has a teenage daughter and a younger son who do spend part of their time at home with their father. Although Grace is comforted by the fact that Ava and Max will still be primarily parented by their mother, Kelli, she still has a difficult time fitting into her new role as a parental figure for the children -- especially after Victor proposes and prepares to announce the news to the kids.
And then, one terrible moment changes everything when Victor learns that Kelli is dead, presumably inflicted by her own hands. Max and Ava are sent to Victor's home where they will now reside full time, forcing Grace to rearrange her priorities and her hours at work to accommodate the new living scenario. When the children rebel and Victor seems to side with his daughter over his fiance on numerous occasions, Grace wonders if her love for Victor is enough to counter the misery she now feels at home. Is it possible for a woman who never wanted a child to learn to have a heart for mothering?
Soon, Ava and Grace uncover new clues that suggest that Kelli was hiding a terrible secret that ultimately led to the demise of her young life. What really happened to Kelli when she was just fourteen years old that caused her parents to abandon and disown her like they did? And will the terrible truth of this woman's reality be the one thing that threatens to destroy Grace's relationship with her new family?
I really enjoyed HEART LIKE MINE and I was impressed with the sensitivity and honesty that the author conveyed in presenting the story. For starters, I really enjoyed the manner in which the story was displayed through alternating chapters from the perspectives of three key characters: Ava, Grace, and Kelli. Both Ava and Grace were detailed in first person, while Kelli's portions took a more distant third person perspective that often gave the reader flashbacks into the past in order to really build the back story. The layout of the novel was a bit reminiscent of the style of Jodi Picoult, which obviously works for her based on the popularity of her many fabulous books, of course.
I think the story raised interesting questions not only about female relationships but also about the nature/nuture debate as it relates directly to motherhood. Grace really struggles with the fact that she seems to lack that emotion and skill that other women describe as an innate mothering instinct, yet she finds herself falling into a new, protective love towards Ava and Max that was strangely new and unexpected for her. Simultaneously, it is also interesting to observe the manner in which the relationships change at different points throughout the story -- first, when everyone learns about Kelli's death and later as more information surfaces about the history of her young life. The multi-layered nature of the novel was really appealing on an emotional level, beyond the interest generated in the curiosity of what really happened to Kelli.
I'm glad that I had an opportunity to read and review HEART LIKE MINE, and I thank the publisher for allowing me to partake of such an enjoyable new novel! :)
shelfimprovement's review against another edition
2.0
If you hover over the second star in the ratings system, it says "it was ok." That pretty much sums up my feelings on this one. It was ok -- not bad -- but I didn't find myself truly enjoying it.
Grace is a thirtysomething nonprofit director who has chosen to focus on her career instead of pursuing marriage and motherhood. Things change when she meets a divorced restaurateur named Victor. She falls for him, but isn't quite sure how his two children, Max and Ava, will fit into her life plan. When the kids' mother, Kelli, dies suddenly and unexpectedly, Grace finds herself in a role she never envisioned for herself: full-time stepmother.
The book is told from a rotating POV, as Grace and Ava share narrative duties with an omniscient narrator giving insight into Kelli's troubled past. The writing was fine, but the characters never rose above a single dimension for me and I found Ava's voice to be pretty inauthentic. The marketing copy describes her as mature beyond her thirteen years, but I didn't get that from the book itself as her actions were often childish. I felt like Hatvany didn't get that a mature adolescent's voice is still not going to sound like an adult voice.
Still, it raised some interesting questions and ended up a little less schmaltzy than I feared after the first 100 pages.
Grace is a thirtysomething nonprofit director who has chosen to focus on her career instead of pursuing marriage and motherhood. Things change when she meets a divorced restaurateur named Victor. She falls for him, but isn't quite sure how his two children, Max and Ava, will fit into her life plan. When the kids' mother, Kelli, dies suddenly and unexpectedly, Grace finds herself in a role she never envisioned for herself: full-time stepmother.
The book is told from a rotating POV, as Grace and Ava share narrative duties with an omniscient narrator giving insight into Kelli's troubled past. The writing was fine, but the characters never rose above a single dimension for me and I found Ava's voice to be pretty inauthentic. The marketing copy describes her as mature beyond her thirteen years, but I didn't get that from the book itself as her actions were often childish. I felt like Hatvany didn't get that a mature adolescent's voice is still not going to sound like an adult voice.
Still, it raised some interesting questions and ended up a little less schmaltzy than I feared after the first 100 pages.
bethreadsandnaps's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoy the author's writing. She's so compelling that I can't put down her books.
Grace is an interesting character as someone who is struggling with not wanting kids but falling in love with someone with kids. After the kids' real mother dies, she is thrust into her new role.
My problem with the book is there really isn't a problem-no real struggle. I mean, there's helping the kids go through their grief, a non-mystery, and a 10 page climax that you know how it would end. It seemed a little too simplistic, and the character Ava seemed more self-reflective than most teenagers.
I will definitely read more by this author, but I'm not sure her slow book pacing is for everyone.
Grace is an interesting character as someone who is struggling with not wanting kids but falling in love with someone with kids. After the kids' real mother dies, she is thrust into her new role.
My problem with the book is there really isn't a problem-no real struggle. I mean, there's helping the kids go through their grief, a non-mystery, and a 10 page climax that you know how it would end. It seemed a little too simplistic, and the character Ava seemed more self-reflective than most teenagers.
I will definitely read more by this author, but I'm not sure her slow book pacing is for everyone.
mactammonty's review against another edition
4.0
A look at being part of a blended from the points of view of three different women, the daughter, the ex-wife, the fiance.
I really liked how she told the story through women of different ages. It gave a great perspective of each event and how the person felt, the conflict each person had in their dealings with the other characters. Doing this also gave a much clearer picture of the other characters in the book; Max, Victor, and Diane, a 3-D picture.
This is a very quick, light story about how this type of family starts to mesh together in the beginning. It does not go extremely in depth into the major conflicts that can create deep rifts, although it does not stay on just the surface either.
I look forward to reading more of Amy Hatvany's work.
I really liked how she told the story through women of different ages. It gave a great perspective of each event and how the person felt, the conflict each person had in their dealings with the other characters. Doing this also gave a much clearer picture of the other characters in the book; Max, Victor, and Diane, a 3-D picture.
This is a very quick, light story about how this type of family starts to mesh together in the beginning. It does not go extremely in depth into the major conflicts that can create deep rifts, although it does not stay on just the surface either.
I look forward to reading more of Amy Hatvany's work.
shelleyrae's review against another edition
3.0
Amy Hatvany's Heart Like Mine is a moving novel of grief, love and family. When Grace fell in love with Victor she was relieved to learn he didn't want any more children, content with the fortnightly weekend care arrangement of his children from his previous marriage. But when his ex wife, Kelli, dies suddenly, Grace is forced to make room for his shattered thirteen year old daughter, Ava, and seven year old son, Max in their lives.
Heart Like Mine unfolds through the perspectives of Grace and Ava, with flashbacks into Kelli's troubled past. I feel the author's strength lies in her honest portrayal of her characters. They are sympathetic as they struggle with realistic internal conflicts and attempt to cope with their confusion and pain.
Grace desperately wants to support Victor and his children in their grief but is unsure of what her role is in the new family dynamic. She is wary of Ava's hostility, even though she understands the girl's behaviour and is prepared to make allowances, but it feeds into her own insecurities, especially when Victor fails to back her up. I think Hatvany handled Grace's conflicting emotions particularly well as a woman who had no desire to become a mother thrust unexpectedly into the role of caring for two grieving children.
Ava is shattered by her mother's death, having essentially become responsible for her mother's emotional well being for the three years since her dad left, she feels guilty that she couldn't save her mother. Hatvany captures Ava's pain and confusion beautifully, her impulsive bursts of hostility and poor judgement are believable as the teen struggles to cope with her loss. Ava's curiosity about her mother's hidden past is a way to connect with her now she is gone.
It's difficult to dislike Kelli, despite her weaknesses, when the secret she has kept hidden is revealed through alternating chapters. I could only find pity for a damaged woman that never really grew up and was unable to overcome early tragedy.
Hatvany explores the pain of loss and the difficulty of change as the family adjusts to Kelli's death and their new situation. While I think the author deals with the complex emotions of the characters the novel well, I didn't feel the plot was predictable and the story failed to offer any unique insight.
I think [b:Outside the Lines|12087624|Outside the Lines|Amy Hatvany|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1322519243s/12087624.jpg|17055804] was a stronger book but Heart Like Mine is a heartfelt, poignant story that is a quick, engaging read.