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By A. D. Roland
Format:Kindle Edition
Reviewer- DMP for Rorreviews . wordpress . com
I really must applaud McCune for going off the proverbial hero/heroine stereotype board by making Jim "not as handsome as she first thought" and Rachel being "A little more plump than he had originally thought". There are just NOT enough of realistic characters in books for my liking, but McCune succeeded in pleasing my appetite.
The lively and fun dialogue McCune creates in this romance made me recall many personal life experiences with my 'true love' and as McCune quotes in her book, woman have many true loves in their lifetime, if done right.
I absolutely love how she weaved the blossoming romance between Jim and Rachel. Tender yet passionate at various times. The strength McCune brings out in Rachel had me cheering her on and the realization from the beginning that Jim showed when recognizing Rachel's simple life had me wishing more real life men would be in-tuned to that behavior.
I really must applaud McCune for going off the proverbial hero/heroine stereotype board by making Jim "not as handsome as she first thought" and Rachel being "A little more plump than he had originally thought". There are just NOT enough of realistic characters in books for my liking, but McCune succeeded in pleasing my appetite.
The lively and fun dialogue McCune creates in this romance made me recall many personal life experiences with my 'true love' and as McCune quotes in her book, woman have many true loves in their lifetime, if done right.
I absolutely love how she weaved the blossoming romance between Jim and Rachel. Tender yet passionate at various times. The strength McCune brings out in Rachel had me cheering her on and the realization from the beginning that Jim showed when recognizing Rachel's simple life had me wishing more real life men would be in-tuned to that behavior.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Esther JG
Format:Kindle Edition
Much of the plot of Heart-Strong centers around what it means to be
"perfect," especially perfect for someone. Is the slender, perfectly
groomed, perfectly behaved blonde perfect? Is the curvy,
less-than-perfectly groomed and behaved brunette? The contrast between
the two characters couldn't be more marked, although both are divorced
mothers of sons (big contrast between the boys, too, of course). The
distinctions are, naturally, superficial. What's really important is
that Rachel and Jim, as do so many of us, construct a vision of what
they think would be "perfect" for them, ignoring their own natural
impulses and instincts.
I liked the structure of the book, which starts with an appealing set-up and brings the characters right back to it at the end. It's a nifty mechanism, but it works because it also illustrates the theme of perfection. Vivid characters also bring the theme to life in a way that keeps it fresh.
I liked the structure of the book, which starts with an appealing set-up and brings the characters right back to it at the end. It's a nifty mechanism, but it works because it also illustrates the theme of perfection. Vivid characters also bring the theme to life in a way that keeps it fresh.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
In Heart-Strong, Rachel and Jim meet sweet outside the supermarket. Is it love? Not so fast. First,
girl-next-door Rachel must learn to trust her heart; not her practical, curly head; and guy-next-door Jim must dodge the wiles of the Perfect Woman. As always, Bonnie McCune's characters are wonderfully human, funny and oh-so-easy to identify with. I especially loved the passage where Rachel bungles the language of texting while trying to make amends with Jim. This quick, hard-to-put down read left me charmed.
girl-next-door Rachel must learn to trust her heart; not her practical, curly head; and guy-next-door Jim must dodge the wiles of the Perfect Woman. As always, Bonnie McCune's characters are wonderfully human, funny and oh-so-easy to identify with. I especially loved the passage where Rachel bungles the language of texting while trying to make amends with Jim. This quick, hard-to-put down read left me charmed.
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By Bull Frog
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Rachel Kinsey is a short, plump, semi-chaotic paralegal who can see
the good in everyone. She runs on her emotions more than her head;
heart-strong, not head-strong, and perhaps that’s why she’s dated so
many of the wrong men. One day, she bumps into a stranger at the food
store and feels an automatic attraction for the man who shares her
opinions on the high cost of food. She assumes she’ll never see him
again, but when her son comes home from soccer injured, he’s in the
company of the stranger, a guy named Jim who has been helping the team.
Jim has also felt an attraction for the strange woman he met at the grocery, although he can’t figure out why. She isn’t anything like the ideal woman he has logically selected in an itemized list of attributes. When they recognize each other, they begin to date.
But this isn’t a typical romance. Jim isn’t ready to commit, and starts dating another woman, Donna, on the side. Donna fits his list of attributes more than Rachel does, and he goes back and forth between the two. It isn’t a love triangle so much as a case of indecision, being torn between logic and emotion, and not knowing what it is that he really wants.
The book is only six chapters long, making it a pleasant four-hour read. The love scenes are limited to kisses, and the attraction is based more on friendship than physique. It doesn’t follow the usual plot development for a romance novel. Actually, it’s more in keeping with “Bridges Over Madison County”. It’s about making up your mind, exploring what is in your heart, and learning to accept people just the way they are, faults and all.
Jim has also felt an attraction for the strange woman he met at the grocery, although he can’t figure out why. She isn’t anything like the ideal woman he has logically selected in an itemized list of attributes. When they recognize each other, they begin to date.
But this isn’t a typical romance. Jim isn’t ready to commit, and starts dating another woman, Donna, on the side. Donna fits his list of attributes more than Rachel does, and he goes back and forth between the two. It isn’t a love triangle so much as a case of indecision, being torn between logic and emotion, and not knowing what it is that he really wants.
The book is only six chapters long, making it a pleasant four-hour read. The love scenes are limited to kisses, and the attraction is based more on friendship than physique. It doesn’t follow the usual plot development for a romance novel. Actually, it’s more in keeping with “Bridges Over Madison County”. It’s about making up your mind, exploring what is in your heart, and learning to accept people just the way they are, faults and all.
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By SEckhardt
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I enjoyed the work. Most of the story was extremely realistic and
believable. Most of the characters brought an instant connection and
seemed like people I knew, so putting the book down wasn't an option.
Great book, Bonnie!
Great book, Bonnie!
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Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
The two main characters are destined for each other and drawn to each
other from the moment they nearly meet, but they keep missing each
other. When they finally do meet up Rachel Kinsey doesn't fit the
description of a classical beauty. She's a soccer mom who doesn't mind
expressing her opinion and she's cute but slightly plump.
Attorney Jim Landers loves soccer and kids and is immediately drawn to Rachel but is captivated by the perfection and glamour of another woman. Will Rachel and Jim ever connect? A simple romance with light humor. I give it three out of five stars.
Attorney Jim Landers loves soccer and kids and is immediately drawn to Rachel but is captivated by the perfection and glamour of another woman. Will Rachel and Jim ever connect? A simple romance with light humor. I give it three out of five stars.
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Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I enjoyed this sweet, charming story from the cute meet in the grocery
store all the way to the end. Set in the real world of today it was
imbued with deft touches that struck a chord in my heart. I well
remember how my brother went through a phase where he would only date
red-headed women. So when Jim in the story mentions that he usually went
for blondes, I nodded my head. Yes, that's the way it is.
And just as it is in the real world, Jim isn't sure about Rachel--who, among other things is impulsive, and certainly not perfect. So Jim dates another woman who is flawless, but he constantly compares the two women. He even makes up a list of each woman's attributes. It reminded me of the time my husband and I were buying a house. We made lists of what we wanted and what each house featured. However, Jim is dealing with women--and to me it was a bit funny that he thought he could be so objective by using that list.
It's a short tale, but I recommend it. It will give you a cozy feeling inside and maybe like me you'll nod your head. Yes, that's the way it is.
And just as it is in the real world, Jim isn't sure about Rachel--who, among other things is impulsive, and certainly not perfect. So Jim dates another woman who is flawless, but he constantly compares the two women. He even makes up a list of each woman's attributes. It reminded me of the time my husband and I were buying a house. We made lists of what we wanted and what each house featured. However, Jim is dealing with women--and to me it was a bit funny that he thought he could be so objective by using that list.
It's a short tale, but I recommend it. It will give you a cozy feeling inside and maybe like me you'll nod your head. Yes, that's the way it is.
Headstrong.
Rachel Kinsey fits the
description perfectly.
The divorced soccer mom may
be ditzy and as sympathetic to losers as a charity, but she
knows what she wants.
A man completely different
from her unreliable ex-husband and the outrageous characters
she’s usually doomed to attract.
Enter Jim
Landers, the ideal candidate.
An accidental encounter
introduces her to the tall, dark attorney who loves soccer and
kids.
The only problem?
He’s not prepared for a
ready-made family and a woman as comfortable as a beloved
sweater rather than a beauty queen.
A
woman whose kindness, enthusiasm for life, and unguarded honesty
may disturb a man who values order, perfection, and serenity.
Jim turns to the flawless yet
distant Donna as a substitute for Rachel.
She should
show him how much he means to her, but rejection from an absent
father and a capricious ex-husband may have ruined Rachel’s
ability to connect to Jim
Will she risk herself, her
son and their future by revealing how much Jim means to her?
A touching,
tender tale full of gentle humor, about thinking too much and
feeling too little.
Rachel must learn to be
heart-strong in order to find her soul mate.
EXCERPT
Copyright
2012 © Bonnie McCune
Rachel Kinsey
always met men. Frequently unsuitable ones. Buskers whistling on
pan pipes or thrumming drums. Winos old and young. Patched-up
homeless with shopping carts asking for a handout. But also
construction workers, computer techs, teachers. She related to
all sorts, always inherently able to identify the human element
in each.
Her universal appeal to them was a
sympathetic outlook and an open, trusting demeanor, the result
of her big hazel eyes fringed with curly lashes and her
teddy-bear rounded cheeks. She may not have been the most
gorgeous female in town, but she oozed empathy, compassion for
their problems, understanding about their clashes with friends
and family.
Their universal appeal to her was a
human connection with the male of the species. Men of all
shapes, sizes, and colors fascinated her. She considered them as
nearly a separate class of creatures. Lacking brothers, cousins,
uncles and assorted other men in her family, and robbed of the
weak connection she’d had with an emotionally distant father
when he divorced her mother, she made males the subject of
informal but intense scrutiny. She knew this weakness for fellow
mortals, even unreliable or penniless fellows, caused many of
her personal problems. But the failing, which had culminated in
a defunct marriage with an infrequently employed handyman, also
had brought her son Scott, now ten, so she loosed her curiosity
unfettered.
Late one afternoon in August she
announced to her sister, “I met a man today.”
“You’re always meeting men. Usually
unsuitable ones,” her sister snapped back.
“I don’t know if he’s unsuitable, but
he was tall and had the brownest eyes. I’d know him if I saw him
again.” In her musings, she tilted the water pitcher somewhere
in the vicinity of the glasses.
Sharon turned from the stove where she
was wafting spoons of spaghetti sauce through clouds of steam
and tomato splatterings. “Rachel,” she whooped and jumped across
the kitchen to rescue the pitcher before the water spilled. “Was
he another one of your weirdoes?” Sharon asked as she put the
pitcher on the counter.
“Oh, no. None of those. He was just a
regular man. Had a decent haircut. Even wore a sports jacket.
Although he did look...a bit ragged around the cuffs. And his
tie was off-center.”
“So a touch of vulnerability. Where did
you meet him?”
“Outside Super Shop “
“What does he do?” asked Sharon.
“I don’t know.”
“Where does he live?”
“I don’t know.”
“What’s his name?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t
know. All I know is I want to see him again.”
“Well, you realize the chances of
that.” Sharon moved the spaghetti pan to the sink and began
draining it.
“Yes, slim and none,” Rachel recited
Sharon’s standard philosophy.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bonnie McCune credits her tenacity for
the successes in her life, and A Saint Comes Stumbling In is
proof. Since fifth grade, she has been determined to be a
writer. This is her first published novel, but her
interest in writing led to her career in nonprofits doing public
and community relations and marketing. She’s worked for
libraries, directed a small arts organization and managed
Denver's beautification program. Simultaneously, she’s been a
free lance writer with publications in local, regional, and
specialty publications for news and features. Her main
interest now is fiction writing, and her pieces have won several
awards. Her civic involvement includes grass-roots
organizations, political campaigns, writers' and arts' groups,
and children's literacy.
For years, she entered recipe contests
and was a finalist once to the Pillsbury Cook Off. A
special love is live theater. Had she been nine inches
taller and thirty pounds lighter, she might have been an
actress. For reasons unknown (an unacknowledged
optimism?), she believes that one person can make a difference
in this world. McCune lives in Denver, Colorado, where
she’s been married to the same man forever, has two children and
three grandchildren, and is working on a humorous novel about
aging.
Read more about Bonnie at
www.BonnieMcCune.com.
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