Hearts on a String: A Novel
Author: Kris Radish
Publication Date: May 25, 2010
Publisher: Bantam
ISBN: 978-0553384758
322 pages
Source: Review copy provided for free for my participation in book tour hosted by TLC Book Tours.
Women’s fiction is right up my alley. I love stories of women discovering themselves, of lifelong friendships, and of new, unlikely friendships that go the distance. When I heard about Hearts on a String by Kris Radish, I was intrigued. This is the kind of book that sounds perfect for me! Women’s Fiction? Check! Women’s friendships? Check! Women finding themselves? Check! I sat down to what I expected to be a delightful story of five women who unexpectedly bond over a chance meeting in an airport restroom.
Here’s the synopsis from Amazon:
“Holly Blandeen has always cherished the story her grandmother told her about the thread that connects all women, tying them forever in sisterhood. It’s a beautiful idea, but with all the curveballs life has thrown her way, Holly has often felt isolated, different from other women. That starts to change when she meets four strangers in an airport and they agree to share a luxury hotel suite because a powerful spring storm is barreling across the country, stranding travelers from California to Florida. What begins as a spur-of-the-moment decision becomes an unlikely, unexpected, and sometimes reluctant exercise in female bonding, as these five exceptional women—each at a crossroads—swap stories, share secrets, and seek answers to the questions they’ve been asking about life, love, and the path to true happiness. A storm may have grounded them for the moment, but after this wild adventure in which anything can and does happen, they’ll never have to fly solo again. “
Sounds promising, right? Sadly, this just wasn’t the book for me and I wasn’t able to finish it. I actually didn’t even make it 100 pages in. I’ll tell you my reasons, but just because it didn’t work for me doesn’t mean it won’t work for you. Since I was not able to finish the book, I will not be giving it a star rating.
So, here goes.
With five different characters, I was expecting each chapter to be narrated by a different woman. I’ve seen it work beautifully in other novels and it’s easier for the reader to understand who the characters are and what is happening in the story. In this book, however, this was not the case. There were multiple POV shifts between the women on the same page, let alone the entire chapter. My head was actually spinning a little bit because I was trying to figure out who was talking, who they were, and what their story was. It got to be so confusing for me that I actually set the book down in frustration several times! One character would be “thinking” something, then some conversation would ensue, then a different character would be “thinking” something, then some more conversation amongst them, etc. I just got tired of trying to figure out all of these characters.
The big thing, though, for me, is that I didn’t really CARE about any of these women. Maybe I could have gotten past the whole POV shifts if the women were actually sympathetic. But, they weren’t. These women supposedly had just met and yet they were verging on being hostile toward each other. I just didn’t get it! If you had just met someone you don’t know and you are sharing a hotel room with them, aren’t you going to share pleasantries and try to be nice? I know this is FICTION, but I just couldn’t wrap my head around this plot. I know if you get a bunch of women together that things may not always run smoothly (anyone ever work in all female office?! LOL I have!), so I get it, but I’m just asking for a morsel of empathy toward each other. Give me a reason to like these women. Give me a reason to want to pick up their story and know these women. It just was not there for me.
I know this review may sound harsh, but I was really looking forward to reading this book and I was so truly disappointed when I just could not get into it and it was frustrating me more than anything else. This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I will definitely seek out her other work before giving up on the author completely, but this book just didn’t work for me.
Check out the other reviews of this book at TLC’s Book Tour Stops for Hearts on a String (I know others liked it, so get some other opinions before you make up your mind!!!)
Monday, July 5th: Joyfully Retired
Wednesday, July 7th: Sashay Magazine
Thursday, July 9th: Scraps of Life
Wednesday, July 14th: Simply Stacie
Thursday, July 15th: Rundpinne
Friday, July 16th: A Bookish Way of Life
Monday, July 19th: Reading at the Beach
Tuesday, July 20th: Lit and Life
Monday, July 26th: Anniegirl1138
Tuesday, July 27th: Luxury Reading
Wednesday, July 28th: Along the Way
Monday, August 2nd: My Random Acts of Reading
Wednesday, August 4th: One Person’s Journey Through a World of Books
Monday, August 16th: Peeking Between the Pages
d was taken without permission from Crazy-for-Books.
