misssusan's review against another edition
4.0
Five Things That Are Great About Love Walked In
+ The writing. Marisa de los Santos' background is in poetry and it shows. Plus writing a main character who's a huge classic movie buff is an excellent excuse for nearly unrealistically good dialogue.
+ And speaking of the main character! Cordelia is marvelous, a good person who's a bit lost in a way I found really recognizable. I'm impressed by people who know what they want and go for it, I've never had that kind of certain ambition. Neither does Cordelia. She's still doing pretty well for herself though.
+ It starts off looking like one familiar kind of love story – 'My life started when a man walked in, a handsome stranger in a perfectly cut suit' – and changes to a different one that I liked much better.
+ This book is about people trying their best to live as good people. I read this manga Flowers of Evil awhile back which I didn't like because it's the kind of story that feels morally bankrupt – where it conflates we're all screwed up with we're all awful people – and this is the opposite of that. Cordelia wants to do the right thing even when it's hard and hurts her.
+ Also to go back to that third point this is a really really excellent love story. All kinds of love: friendship and romance and parental. It's practically glowing with affection and it made me feel hugely happy to read it.
4 stars
+ The writing. Marisa de los Santos' background is in poetry and it shows. Plus writing a main character who's a huge classic movie buff is an excellent excuse for nearly unrealistically good dialogue.
+ And speaking of the main character! Cordelia is marvelous, a good person who's a bit lost in a way I found really recognizable. I'm impressed by people who know what they want and go for it, I've never had that kind of certain ambition. Neither does Cordelia. She's still doing pretty well for herself though.
+ It starts off looking like one familiar kind of love story – 'My life started when a man walked in, a handsome stranger in a perfectly cut suit' – and changes to a different one that I liked much better.
+ This book is about people trying their best to live as good people. I read this manga Flowers of Evil awhile back which I didn't like because it's the kind of story that feels morally bankrupt – where it conflates we're all screwed up with we're all awful people – and this is the opposite of that. Cordelia wants to do the right thing even when it's hard and hurts her.
+ Also to go back to that third point this is a really really excellent love story. All kinds of love: friendship and romance and parental. It's practically glowing with affection and it made me feel hugely happy to read it.
4 stars
dorkira's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Mental illness, and Death of parent
mrsjkamp's review against another edition
4.0
Book club book! Review later.
I really enjoyed this novel. Classic oldies movie/movie star references aside, Cornelia can be respected and understood. She's honest, up front, and likeable, but we got the point about Cary Grant and black and white movies! Her relationships with Martin and Clare aren't typical, which made this story a bit exciting. It took some plot twists, some predictable, some surprising. All in all I was amused by every turn it took.
I really enjoyed this novel. Classic oldies movie/movie star references aside, Cornelia can be respected and understood. She's honest, up front, and likeable, but we got the point about Cary Grant and black and white movies! Her relationships with Martin and Clare aren't typical, which made this story a bit exciting. It took some plot twists, some predictable, some surprising. All in all I was amused by every turn it took.
cathi_p's review against another edition
4.0
4 stars because it was just what I needed right now. A story about love in all of it's glorious forms.
sierranevada005's review against another edition
2.0
Read as the bonus book for the Spellbound book club, and I was not a fan. I did listen to it on audio, which might've added to the overall awful experience, but the grating nature of the main character's inner monologue was just not enjoyable at all. The most disappointing part was that the story was actually very interesting, and the writing was not bad. The characters were just not all that likeable, and therefore their story wasn't either, 2 stars.
bonniekitts's review against another edition
2.0
In the end, I was happy to read this. I did not care for the first half as it was so depressing. I wasn't a fan of Cornelia. She was too much for me with too many references to movies and books. The book dripped with description after description. I liked Clare and was curious enough about her to keep reading, but I was disturbed by her situation. The end wraps up happy, warm and fuzzy which I think I needed. It was all a little too convenient, however.
mimireads320's review against another edition
1.0
This is the second time I have tried to read this book and I have failed.
I can't put my finger on it- but I just loose interest in the plot. I read about 120 pages and I am having trouble keeping my attention with it. Written in two points of view- the chapters are not too entirely long-however, its not moving fast enough for me.
I think I am giving up and trading it back. :-/
I can't put my finger on it- but I just loose interest in the plot. I read about 120 pages and I am having trouble keeping my attention with it. Written in two points of view- the chapters are not too entirely long-however, its not moving fast enough for me.
I think I am giving up and trading it back. :-/
kcherry's review against another edition
I didn't care for all the film references & the writing style
snowmaiden's review against another edition
5.0
This book came out in 2005, and it's been on my to-read list since early 2013, one of the first books I ever added on Goodreads. (Don't ask me what my reason was for adding it over 8 years ago, because I really don't have any idea.) I only decided to read it now because I was looking at a list of books for springtime reading, and another book by this author was on there. (The joke was on me, because it turns out this particular novel is set during the Christmas season!) And yet, as so often happens with me, I feel I came to this book at exactly the right time.
The prose in this novel is like a dream. (I marked a ridiculous number of quotes, and I could have marked many, many more. I just love the voice of the narrator, Cornelia. She seems like an old friend who's whispering all her secrets in my ear.) The plotting, on the other hand, is kind of crazy. There are times when the author needed something to happen, and there is absolutely no logical reason on earth why that thing would happen, but she drives a bulldozer straight through all the obstacles and just makes it happen anyway. Ordinarily that kind of thing would drive me crazy, but for this book, I'm prepared to make an exception.
I guess what I loved most is the feeling that the book gave me. So many romance novels are "fantasy machines," as an English professor of mine once memorably called them. You put a couple of people in, you turn the crank, and out comes true love. This book, although shelved in the romance section of my local library, isn't like that at all, in spite of all the contrived plotting. It's about what happens when you put two people in the fantasy machine and what comes out isn't true romantic love, but something infinitely more complicated and wonderful. It's about real-life love and how it's both much better and much worse than our silly romantic dreams. Most of all, it's about how, to paraphrase the Rolling Stones, "You can't always get what you want, but you get what you need."
This book has been waiting so long for me to read it, and maybe it's because it's taken me this long to be ready for it. I hope I can live up to the lessons it has taught me about bravery and honesty.
The prose in this novel is like a dream. (I marked a ridiculous number of quotes, and I could have marked many, many more. I just love the voice of the narrator, Cornelia. She seems like an old friend who's whispering all her secrets in my ear.) The plotting, on the other hand, is kind of crazy. There are times when the author needed something to happen, and there is absolutely no logical reason on earth why that thing would happen, but she drives a bulldozer straight through all the obstacles and just makes it happen anyway. Ordinarily that kind of thing would drive me crazy, but for this book, I'm prepared to make an exception.
I guess what I loved most is the feeling that the book gave me. So many romance novels are "fantasy machines," as an English professor of mine once memorably called them. You put a couple of people in, you turn the crank, and out comes true love. This book, although shelved in the romance section of my local library, isn't like that at all, in spite of all the contrived plotting. It's about what happens when you put two people in the fantasy machine and what comes out isn't true romantic love, but something infinitely more complicated and wonderful. It's about real-life love and how it's both much better and much worse than our silly romantic dreams. Most of all, it's about how, to paraphrase the Rolling Stones, "You can't always get what you want, but you get what you need."
This book has been waiting so long for me to read it, and maybe it's because it's taken me this long to be ready for it. I hope I can live up to the lessons it has taught me about bravery and honesty.
eebeck's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
2.5