Book Review: "Love Walked In"

This is a love story, but not the one you think it is.

Well, that's not totally true. It's kind of the one you think it is, with the main character, Cornelia -- a 30-something, single, bohemian-type woman -- realizing that the hot guy isn't necessarily the right guy, and the right guy is the guy she grew up with.

So yeah. That's been done only a billion times.

But that's not the main story. Cornelia falls in love with Claire, who is 11 and the daughter of the hot guy she doesn't really love. Claire falls in love with Cornelia, too. This makes Cornelia not loving Claire's dad all the more awkward. But that situation kind of takes care of itself. (Harsh of me, I know. But it does.)

Vivianna, Claire's mom, is out of her mind. No, really. She goes crazy, leaves Claire on the side of the road and vanishes. Weeks go by before she returns, and by this time Cornelia and Claire have bonded.

In the end, Cornelia and Claire both find their way. And you come to realize that neither of them would have been able to do it without the other. While there are a few nitpicky things that I don't buy in this story, overall I really liked it.

And... it's the first book ever in the history of books to make me cry.

This is why:

"My heart is large; it can contain everything at once, and the road I'm on with Teo, can you see it? It runs forward and backward and no matter which way we travel on it, the direction is the same. You know the direction I mean: Homeward."

Ugh. I cried because even though I've had relationships, I've never had THAT relationship. The one you know is right and it doesn't matter where you go or what you do, because you're with the right person and it makes everything right. I want to know what that's like.

And I'll be damned if I didn't tear up talking about that in book club. Embarassing.

Finally, in the bad news department: Sarah Jessica Parker, who is a fan of this book, is producing and starring in the movie adaptation as Cornelia. Read the book to find out why this is all wrong. If she's going to be in the movie, she should be Vivianna. Or Linny! But not Cornelia. She's not good enough for Cornelia.