Love Walked in

by Marisa de los Santos

'My life, my real life, started when a man walked into it, a handsome stranger in a perfectly cut suit, and, yes, I know how that sounds'. For 31-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 cafe in which she works. But, when Cornelia meets 11-year-old Clare, their lives are forever changed in unexpected ways...Funny, touching and smart, "Love Walked In" is a winning tribute to classic film and true romance.

• ISBN10: 067091617X
• ISBN13: 9780670916177
• Publish Date: 6 April 2006 (first published 1 December 2005)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 22 June 2009
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
• Imprint: Viking
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[Leah]

I can't remember exactly how I came to buy Love Walked In by Marisa De Los Santos. I think someone recommended it to me, so when I noticed it in the book swap one day it suddenly pinged in my mind that this was a book I was supposed to read and I bought it for myself. My version of the book has the loveliest cover with a water-colour of a woman's face with hearts and butterflies and with the title front and center, it's definitely what drew me to the book despite the recommendation because despite being fairly plain it is rather eye-catching. However the book has sat on my shelf for absolutely ages and I only picked it up out of sheer desperation because nothing was appealing to me.

When I first picked up the book I didn't read the synopsis properly because I assumed the book was utterly devoted to Cornelia and her new man, but it's not. There's actually two plots to the book. Yes, Cornelia does meet a man when he walks into her cafe but we also have the story of Clare, an 11-year-old girl left fending for herself as her mother gets crazier by the day. The two separate plots then come together as it turns out Martin, Cornelia's new boyfriend, is none other than Clare's absent father. The book is much more than that, though, as Cornelia and Clare bond and form a friendship - describing it as a friendship doesn't do it justice, in fact. While I was taken by Cornelia, it was Clare's story that got to me most and the book just got better when the two met each other. I really loved the plot of the book, I was sucked in very easily and I was surprised at how much I wanted it to all work out OK for both Cornelia and Clare.

I immediately fell in love with the characters. Cornelia and Clare are so different to each other (and not just due to their age gap) but they're so similar in many ways as well and their scenes together are just brilliant. Considering she's an eleven-year-old girl, Clare is very grown up and mature for her age, even before her mother ups and leaves. I did sometimes think maybe she was too mature, but really, for all I know eleven-year-olds could well be that mature these days, so who knows? There also seemed as if there was an innocence to Cornelia, despite being the grown up, at times she relied on Clare to be the more mature one and there there was just something about Cornelia that seemed a bit naive and not particularly street-wise. As for the men who make up the book, I was never particularly taken with Martin. The coldness toward his daughter put me off him completely and he just wasn't a nice person, not really. I did however love Teo, Cornelia's childhood friend, he brought a much-needed sparkle to the book, and I loved how Clare took a shine to him at first sight.

Love Walked In is immensely well written. According to some online bios I've read, Marisa is a poet and I could very well believe that because her words are very poetic. I did think I might end up bored with the novel due to the way it's written, sometimes with long descriptive paragraphs to describe certain sensations, but I lapped it up. The book moves, chapter to chapter, from Cornelia to Clare switching from first-person narrative to third respectively. As I got nearer to the end of the novel, 100 pages to go in fact, I began to worry about the ending. I knew Clare's mother was probably going to re-appear and I will be honest, I didn't want her to. I wanted her to stay as far away as possible and I began to dread turning the pages knowing she was going to pop up. Because that section of pages was going to make or break the novel depending on the outcome. I'm very pleased to say it made the book, definitely. Yes I was disappointed Viviana came back, but it was all handled beautifully. Love Walked In was a joy to read, from start to finish, and one I would recommend easily.