A review by penandpage
Heart Like Mine by Amy Hatvany
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.