Book Review: Loved Walked In

Book: Loved Walked In 

Author: Marissa De los Santos 

My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Brief synopsis:

A tribute to classic film and true romance, LOVE WALKED IN tells the story of two women – one older, one younger – and the unexpected ways in which their lives are forever changed by chance.

For thirty-one-year old Cornelia Brown, life is a series of movie moments, and “Jimmy Stewart is always and indisputably the best man in the world, unless Cary Grant should happen to show up.” So imagine Cornelia’s delight when her very own Cary Grant walks through the door of the hip Philadelphia café she manages. Handsome and debonair, Martin Grace sweeps Cornelia off her feet, becoming Cary Grant to Cornelia’s Katharine Hepburn, Clark Gable to her Joan Crawford. Meanwhile, on the other side of town, eleven-year-old Clare Hobbes must learn to fend for herself after her increasingly unstable mother has a breakdown and disappears. With no one to turn to, Clare seeks out her estranged father, and when the two of them show up at Cornelia’s café, the lives of Cornelia and Clare are changed in drastic and unexpected ways. A cinematic and heartfelt debut that pays homage to the classic Cary Grant/Katharine Hepburn romantic comedyThe Philadelphia Story, Love Walked In is sure to win over critics and readers of contemporary fiction. 


My review: 


So, I read the follow up novel, Belong to Me, before reading this book. A lot happens in this book that leads up to Belong to Me. Because I had read Belong to Me first there were certain events toward the end of the story that I knew would happen. In the end, I'm glad for this. I actually found De los Santos's character development to have strengthened a lot with Belong to Me. While I really liked the characters in this and felt a warm affection them throughout, De los Santos was able to really develop the characters in new, interesting and layered ways much more with Belong to Me. I am glad to see her ability to do that-- it made some of the slight flatness of the characters I felt with Love Walked In manageable because I knew she would grow in her writing with her second novel. 


With that said, I did enjoy this book. It was warm and fuzzy and really touched on the many types of love that people have for each other-- romantic, maternal, the love of friends, the love of a stranger even. I liked the development of the friendship that was created between Corneila and Clare, especially because I knew where Corneila's story was taking her. (And really, to be honest, the direction that her future was heading wasn't in-obvious even without having read the follow up novel.) 


I gave this book a 3.5. Without having read Belong to Me, I may have said a 3 to be perfectly honest. It's a short, quick read. It's warm. It's fuzzy. It's nice. It's a good filler book. Grab it for a quick vacation read or as a follow up to a bigger, denser novel-- it will take the edge off. :) 


More soon! Working on finishing my book club read- my next book post will be our group review.  Happy reading!