Fiction: Love Walked In, by Marisa de los Santos

At first it appears to be telling two different stories: Cornelia, 30-something, single, waiting for romance; and Clare, 11 and in danger of abandonment… Eventually of course, they coincide and it becomes not just a story of Cornelia looking for love and Clare trying to survive her mother, but a story of Cornelia and Clare coming together and how we connect and what makes a family and how does love come and when do you stay and fight and when do you have to walk away…

I really enjoyed this, more than I expected. But it was hard to think of Clare as 11 — she felt more like a 15 year old at least 90% of the time. I’m not often bothered by the “is this person older than they’re supposed to be feel in novels” (or not as much as my friend GirlDetective who I kept thinking of whenever I thought that here [note to GD, I really did!!]), but in this case it kept nagging at me.

And you know, Cornelia can be a bit twee at times. Apparently Sarah Jessica Parker will play her in the movie. Unlike many books, this one is concise enough, I don’t see there being the need to cut much of the plot.