Heart Like Mine - Amy Hatvany

Short description

When a young mother dies under mysterious circumstances, those she leaves behind begin looking for answers in the past—and find a long-buried secret they could have never imagined.

Thirty-six-year-old Grace McAllister never longed for children. But when she meets Victor Hansen, a handsome, charismatic divorced restaurateur who is father to Max and Ava, Grace decides that, for the right man, she could learn to be an excellent part-time stepmom. After all, the kids live with their mother, Kelli. How hard could it be?

At thirteen, Ava Hansen is mature beyond her years. Since her parents’ divorce, she has been the one taking care of her emotionally unstable mother and her little brother—she pays the bills, does the laundry, and never complains because she loves her mama more than anyone. And while her father’s new girlfriend is nice enough, Ava still holds out hope that her parents will get back together and that they’ll be a family again.

But only days after Victor and Grace get engaged, Kelli dies suddenly under mysterious circumstances—and soon, Grace and Ava discover there was much more to Kelli’s life than either ever knew.

Narrated by Grace and Ava in the present with flashbacks into Kelli’s troubled past, Heart Like Mine is a poignant and hopeful portrait about womanhood, love, and the challenges of family life.

My opinion

Amy Hatvany did a great job writing this book. I especially liked how she used three different lead characters. Kelly the mom, Ava the daughter/teenager and Grace the stepmother. Each one of them got a life that they initially didn’t want, that they never expect that they would have. And it’s was interesting to see how the three of them dealt different with it.

There were also several flashbacks included in the book or even whole chapters that took place in the past. These parts of the book were what made this book so good for me. It was like you were on a journey through the book and through the heads of these three characters. And at the end all the loose ends came together and you finally knew there whole background. This was especially the case with Kelly, her life was more complex than you thought of the beginning of the book. And through these flashbacks you also got to see why Grace, Kelly and Ava are the persons they are today and why they make their decisions. And with the age difference between Ava and the two other women you can see exactly how your age influences your perspective on certain things.

I don’t read many romance/adult books, but I’m glad that I read this one because I really enjoyed reading it.

Towers

 

 

Extra

Author: Amy Hatvany
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Publishing date: March 19th 2013
Pages: 370

See you later xx

El