 |
|
Title: Hearts Divided: 5-B Poppy Lane\The Apple Orchard\Liberty Hall
ISBN: 0778322122
Author:
Debbie Macomber
Katherine Stone
LOIS FAYE DYER
Publicate Date: 2006-02-01
Publish: 2006-02-01
List Price: $7.99
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Mass Market Paperback
 |
|
|
|
|
Amazon Lowest New Price: $0.01
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $0.01
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Customer Review: |
|
1: Hearts Divided
5-B Poppy Lane
Ruth is a student going to school for her masters degree. She decides to send a Christmas card to a soldier serving in Iraq. His name is Paul Gordon. Although Ruth and Paul disagree on the war, they develop a strong friendship and write to each other constantly. After a few months Paul informs Ruth that he will be on leave soon and he is hoping to see her. Ruth is excited and nervous. She plans to bring Paul to her grandmother Helen's house while he is there.
Ruth and Paul have an emotional and beautiful first meeting. But their huge political differences stand in their way. During their lunch, Helen reveals a secret that shocks and distresses all of them.
Helen's experiences help Ruth to deal with her feelings for Paul. If they can both bend a little, they may be able to work through their differences and embrace the unexpected love they have found in each other's arms.
5-B Poppy Lane is a blend of powerful emotions and romance. Helen survived heartache and tragedy and through her, Ruth learns the importance of love and acceptance. Ruth and Paul were strangers who end up finding their soulmates. It is so romantic. 5-B Poppy Lane is a very tender and moving story.
Liberty Hall
Chloe is a professor. She is helping her grandmother Winifred on a project when she meets Jake. Jake is semi-retired from the Marines. He is very interested in Chloe and Chloe is attracted to Jake as well. Their relationship gets jump-started when Chloe's life is in danger. Someone from Jake's past is out for revenge and Chloe becomes the perfect way to make Jake suffer.
Jake worries that the man who has targeted Chloe is the same man that has been following him for weeks. With help from a detective, Jake and Chloe discover who the stalker is, but before they can find him he locates Chloe and Winifred first.
Liberty Hall is an exciting and mysterious story. Jake's take charge personality is enticing and Chloe's intelligence and femininity are a good match for him. Their courtship is surrounded by passionate kisses and danger, but their relationship becomes solid because of the strife they face.
The Apple Orchard
Elizabeth has been betrayed by her fianc??, Matthew, so she heads to Sarah's Orchard to be comforted by her grandmother Clara.
Nick lived in Sarah's Orchard as a child. One night when he was a boy and Elizabeth was just a toddler, he saved her when she wandered away from her home. Nick left right after that with his mother and her, then, boyfriend. When he came of age, Nick headed out on his own, but he eventually came back home to Sarah's Orchard. After spending time with Elizabeth, Nick falls in love with her.
Through her grandfather's letters written to Clara during the war, Elizabeth thinks he was hiding things. Nick was also in the military and he understands the need to hide the awful truth of war from those you love.
Nick and Elizabeth find something special back in Sarah's Orchard. Home is truly where the heart is.
The Apple Orchard is a very sweet story. Nick is a lost soul and a good man. Elizabeth is a sweetheart and they make a loving couple. I love a story about love that transcends time. Nick and Elizabeth were meant to be. Sarah's Orchard is a lovely place. It's the perfect place to call home.
Hearts Divided contains a trio of heart-felt and moving stories. 5-B Poppy Lane is a story about acceptance and compromise. Liberty Hall has intrigue and excitement, and The Apple Orchard is romantic and tender. Helen, Winifred, and Clara are amazing women. Their experiences brought back memories of my grandparents and their war stories. Hearts Divided is a touching book that put a smile on my face and warmth in my heart.
Nannette
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed
|
2: Three solid stories highlighting the plight of military families
Usually there is one or two weak stories in an anthology, and I'm pleased that this collection contained three winners! I like how they were interconnected. The grandmothers in each story were best friends with each other, and kept in touch through newsy letters/emails that revealed or reinforced components of the plots. As well, there was a strong military theme that served as a reminder to support our troups, even when we have mixed feelings about the war itself. Freedom comes with a price.
5B Poppy Lane by Debbie Macomber: I'm always amazed at how Debbie Macomber can pack so much substance, with such a detailed plot and well-developed characters, into a 100 page short story! Grandmother Helen's story was quite heavy and almost overwhelmingly tragic. I like the way her story unravelled, as a supportive historical backdrop to the contemporary relationship between Paul and Ruth. Very well done!
Liberty Hall by Lois Faye Dyer. What a fascinating story, filled with action, mystery and danger! It contained a well-written suspenseful plot, with nicely drawn characters. I especially liked the collegate setting. Lois Faye Dyer is the only author in this collection whose works I hadn't read before, and I was quite impressed.
The Apple Orchard by Katherine Stone: Such a sweet story about the transforming power of love. Nick had such a heartbreaking start in life, and it was nice to see what a wonderful young man he turned out to be despite the odds. Another enjoyable story by Katherine Stone.
|
3: Hearts Divided
*** In this sweet little story collection, past and present are bridged by a common thread of love and revealed secrets. Granddaughters learn lessons about love from their grandmothers' recollections of the past, of loves they had in the WW II era. The stories are connected by email messages between the three grandmothers, but they do have a common theme. Debbie Macomber's entry that opens the anthology is the strongest of the three, however, each one is a sweet, safe read for book lovers of all ages to enjoy. ***
Amanda Killgore
|
4: Not bad...
Of the three stories, I enjoyed the one by Katherine Stone the best. It was very sweet and the characters were cute. The bit about the grandmother's eyesight seemed sort of random, though... kind of like the author wanted to just throw in some information that people should know about cataracts.
The story by Debbie Macomber sort of seemed... a little dated, I guess. As I read it, I sort of wondered if it had been written years ago and was being republished, with a few updates to accomodate for technological advances (cell phones, email). It was just an impression I got from the characters, I think.
I have no real complains about the Lois Faye Dyer story. It was fine.
All in all, an okay book, but not a keeper.
|
5: three terrific Washington State novellas
"5-B Poppy Lane" by Debbie Macomber. In Cedar Cove, Washington, anti-war protester Ruth Shelton has been exchanging letters and email with USMC Sergeant Paul Gordon. However, he is coming home from Afghanistan on leave and wants to meet her in person. She has doubts because of his occupation
"Liberty Hall" by Katherine Stone. Former sergeant Jake Morrissey visits his friend Dan at the University of Washington Medical Center's rehabilitation Medicine Department where his brother in arms is getting an artificial leg installed. Jake meets English Professor Chloe Abbott whose group the Seattle's Women's Club has donated much of the medical equipment. They are attracted to one another form the start, but someone with a grudge plans to use her as a throw away pawn to get at Jake.
"The Apple Orchard" by Lois Faye Dyer. In Sarah's Orchard, Washington though he knows he will be punished by his mother's latest boyfriend, Nick rescues the toddler. Elizabeth's grandparents Charles and Clara are grateful. Years later, an adult Nick returns to Sarah's Orchard where to his shock Clara knows him instantly as Elizabeth's hero. He stays there basking in the grandparent-like love of Charles and Clara. When Charles dies he remains there for Clara. When Elizabeth returns home, she and her hero fall in love but he keeps his military experience secret from her so she has doubts.
These three terrific Washington State novellas star heroic military men and realistic women with doubts about a relationship with a soldier/veteran. The key to the tales is that diverse opinions on the Global War Against Terrorism is treated with respect and not wrapped inside phony for or against patriotic fervor while honoring the soldier.
Harriet Klausner
|
|
|
|
|
