Heart to heart love!
Grace Lundquist returns home, determined to hide her pain and her past. She is a hardworker, always there for everyone. The town loves her but what about her childhood sweeetheart who upped and left when things got to serious? Of all the people to show up back in her life, Grace just has to encounter Mike Gardner, the man behind all her pain, the man she never really stopped loving! Grace and Mike know each other down to the very soul, but that certainly doesn't mean things will be easy. Knowing someone intimately isn't quite the same as loving someone. Can their heart-to-heart conversations lead to love or will Grace's secret be more than either of them can hsandle?
A fun romance read. The title of this mini-series Heart to Heart is perfect for this romance! Donna Alward makes the reader see both the intimacy and the distance betweeen the hero and heroine in their heart-to-heart conversations. As a reader, I felt these two really did know each other and love each other.
I also liked the way this author showed how intimate talks are wonderful but don't exactly equate to romance itself. I have dated many an good conversationalist but love takes more than just a good heart-to-heart talk. Watching this hero and heroine talk --- and seeing their mistakes with one another ---- I felt that their HEA would last beyond the last page. Nice!
I also liked that the author went beyond a stereotype of women in her creation of the heroine. I can't say how without creating a spoiler, but I like seeing romances that have heroines who represent women in all our variety.
AKA Merri
Family Challenge Team: The Spine Breakers with my dh Glenn AKA Phaedrus
Paisley
Thanks for much for reading and for reviewing. I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Mike and Grace were magic for me - I cared for them very much and really wanted them to have their happy ending!
FALLING FOR MR DARK AND DANGEROUS, Romance, August 08, Aus/NZ Sept. 08
THE RANCHER'S RUNAWAY PRINCESS, Romance, January 09
HIRED: THE ITALIAN'S BRIDE, Romance, June 09
http://www.donnaalward.com
http://www.donnaalward.blogspot.com
I don't read the HRs but...
your reviews keep making me want to pick one up anyway! Great review!
The D2K Paranormal Junkies 2008 Challenge
thanks
Donna, thanks! Fun read. Their conversations...they sort of reminded me of the friendship I have with my dh. When I finished the book, I could so easily envision them married, happily married. I guess it is like maybe they developed marriage skills during their sometimes firey courtship?
Debiw, I do like this Harlequin Romance line. I am waiting for all of Jan books and then should be getting Feb. as a subscription. Same with the Medicals. I think when it comes to the short romances the HR and MR lines are my favorites. I find them very refreshing after a long book and the HR line is the absolute best to read when someone in the family is sick or things are hectic.
AKA Merri
Family Challenge Team: The Spine Breakers with my dh Glenn AKA Phaedrus
Paisley said,
"the HR line is the absolute best to read when someone in the family is sick"
I have to agree. My mom subscribed back when she was raising kids, married, running a business, volunteering . . . she could escape for an hour or two and recharge.
I started reading HRs again going on 4 years ago when one of dh's college buddies was losing his wife (and what made it horrible for all of us was that their kids were 6, 4 and 3 at the time -- he's since remarried a woman who loves those kids and they love her, or so I hear). B/c of what I did for a living back in the day, had an idea of how quickly her illness would progress but what do you say? We're 1000 miles away and couldn't do a darned thing other than pray. So I started reading HRs and SRs like they were calorie-free chocolates.
Those people who criticize romance without having read it and those who insult the intelligence of romance readers have no clue how good the writing is and how it can refresh a person like nothing else. And books can do it in the middle of the night when you can't sleep and can't call a friend . . .
So, yeah, what Paisley said.
Penn
Join the 2008 Book (Reading) Challenge!!! It’s for a good cause and it’s FUN!
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Penn
I admit I favourited this review (I know, what a narcissist), and Penn your last post is lovely. It sums up exactly what I feel about writing romance. You know I started writing it when I was at a low point and it simply made me feel better. It was a creative outlet but it was also just so...hopeful. And when I get asked, which I inevitably do, why Romance, I always answer, WHY NOT? It's all about love, and hope, and happy endings. Isn't the world sad enough? Isn't the quest for love and happiness relevant?
And when I hear from readers who say something I wrote touched something in them, or helped them through a difficult time, it's humbling...and the best feeling in the world.
Cheers,
Donna
FALLING FOR MR DARK AND DANGEROUS, Romance, August 08, Aus/NZ Sept. 08
THE RANCHER'S RUNAWAY PRINCESS, Romance, January 09
HIRED: THE ITALIAN'S BRIDE, Romance, June 09
http://www.donnaalward.com
http://www.donnaalward.blogspot.com
why I started reading romance
This is my friend Beverly. I have her permission to post this picture and tell her story (already out there in public space) or else I would not write this here. We met many years ago through books.
Beverly was an oncology nurse. This is her nursing school graduation picture. She developed breast cancer. During her treatment, she started reading romance and it helped her get through her treatments. Today she is a breast cancer survivor. Her treatments caused some nerve damage and she is not able to go back to nursing due to chronic pain issues from that nerve damage. The joy of her life now is reading and reviewing and selling romance books.
I met Beverly through her store. I just loved the way she talked about the genre, the women she has met who read romance, the authors. In a nutshell, my friend Beverly is why I started reading romance at the late age of 46 a little over a year ago. It excited me to hear her talk about it so I decided to try it...well you all saw what came out of that, lol!
Beverly and I are so different in many ways and yet books drew us together and brought out the deeper things we have in common as friends. We have never met in person but I consider her one of my best and most trusted friends, a real gift.
How does this relate to Marriage at Circle M and Donna Alward and the whole HR line? Grace and Mike are two vulnerable people but somehow their vulnerability draws them together and makes them stronger. I tend to go for the HR line when I want to lose myself or when life is too hectic (like my wonderful Patricia Thayer read when my dh was sick).
What does this have to do with me....well, when I left the academic world, a part of me died too. I never quit reading but there was a part of me that really missed thinking about books, writing about books. Then I joined Harlequin's 2007 Challenge and got it back again...but in a better way. Academic writing is dry, anxiety producing, etc etc...but I found blogging last year more creative and fun. I just think romance in general and the HR line (and Donna's book in particular) have a way of shedding new light on things in the heart.
AKA Merri
Family Challenge Team: The Spine Breakers with my dh Glenn AKA Phaedrus
Paisley
Paisley: This is me. Humbled. :-) And please pass my hugs on to Beverly.
Love Donna
FALLING FOR MR DARK AND DANGEROUS, Romance, August 08, Aus/NZ Sept. 08
THE RANCHER'S RUNAWAY PRINCESS, Romance, January 09
HIRED: THE ITALIAN'S BRIDE, Romance, June 09
http://www.donnaalward.com
http://www.donnaalward.blogspot.com
The Heart to Heart Mini-series
Donna, thanks. Penn's comment made me think of Beverly.
What are the other books in this mini-series? I have Ally Blake's but I don't think I have any others.
AKA Merri
Family Challenge Team: The Spine Breakers with my dh Glenn AKA Phaedrus
In Heart to Heart?
Heart to Heart is sort of an ongoing series, basically a "themed" series. For example, though MCM is a linked story to Hired By The Cowboy, Hired was in the Western Weddings mini series. The good news is the stories aren't linked, so you don't miss anything if you miss one...well, except a really great Romance. ;-)
It's an additional way for readers to know what they're getting.
Donna
FALLING FOR MR DARK AND DANGEROUS, Romance, August 08, Aus/NZ Sept. 08
THE RANCHER'S RUNAWAY PRINCESS, Romance, January 09
HIRED: THE ITALIAN'S BRIDE, Romance, June 09
http://www.donnaalward.com
http://www.donnaalward.blogspot.com