Warning! This review will contain spoilers for the book, because it's impossible for me to convey all my vitriol without going into plot specifics. Molly Sommerville (who we first met as a frankly horrid teenager in It Had to Be You) is now all grown up and making a living as a children's book author, writing illustrated books about Daphne the Bunny, a rabbit who appears to wear designer clothes and going on adventures based on events in Molly's own life. While Molly inherited a multi-million dollar fortune from her horrible father, the former owner of the Chicago Stars, she gave it all away to a charitable foundation some years back (this is the only likable thing she does in the WHOLE book). Every few years, Molly appears to feel bored and acts out in crazy ways. She tends to change her hair drastically before each such crazy act. Molly has had an unrequited crush on Kevin Tucker, the star quarterback of the Chicago Stars, for years. He lives a life of dating foreign fashion models and doing extreme sports and barely knows she exists. There's a badger in Molly's twee little books based on him. Then one weekend, Kevin and Molly find themselves in the same house in the country, and Molly seems to think that it would be a good idea to get undressed and get into bed with man she's been in love with, while he's asleep. He, thinking he is dreaming, has sex with her, and wakes up, appalled that his boss' younger sister is naked in bed with him, and took advantage of him. Molly has the audacity to be disappointed that the sleep sex she initiated wasn't great. Kevin points out that she basically RAPED him, and they go their separate ways.Of course Molly gets pregnant, and when Phoebe, her overprotective sister, and Dan, her brother-in-law discover it, they don't rest until they've figured out who the baby daddy is. Now, Kevin is worried he'll be seen as a victim (and also doesn't want to piss off his boss), so says nothing about the RAPE. Molly, because she's a terrible human being, refuses to come clean about her horrible nocturnal sexual assault, and the two are forced to marry. Molly miscarries shortly thereafter, because I guess karma's a bitch. I want to stress here, to any reader of my reviews who may be offended, that I would never wish a miscarriage on any woman in real life, but Molly is a fictional character, and a reprehensible one at that. I wanted nothing but bad things for her. Losing the baby she gained from RAPE only seems like cosmic justice. When Kevin discovers that his shotgun wedding bride is languishing away, all depressed because she lost their baby, he takes her along to the holiday cabins his parents owned, because he thinks it'll do her good to get away and he needs to sell the place. Having spent every single summer there as a child, surrounded by middle aged people, Kevin has no fond memories of the holiday camp, and can't wait to unload it on someone else. Molly, however, decides that the place looks like the real life version of her children's book universe, and does everything in her power to make Kevin see how "exciting" it is there, mainly by getting herself into dangerous situations, so he has to rescue her. Even having been warned by Mrs. Julien's review that this was a terrible book, I forced myself to keep reading it, hoping against all hope that maybe Molly would show some sort of redemptive qualities. But no, she's awful all the way through. I felt really bad, because Kevin is such a good guy, and I loved him as a supporting character in Nobody's Baby But Mine. He deserved so much better than an emotionally manipulative, spoiled shrew of a wife. When she climbed into bed with him, I was uncomfortable. By the time she has the nerve to express disappointment that the sex she had with a SLEEPING man who she took advantage of wasn't as great as she'd hoped, I wanted to throw my e-reader across the room in disgust. I didn't really like Molly in her first appearance in the series, but here I outright hated her.Not only did I hate Molly, but because Phoebe and Dan from It Had to Be You are supporting characters in this, and behave absolutely atrociously to Kevin all the way through, I now retroactively dislike their book a lot more too. The end of book, when Phoebe basically forces Kevin to choose between his career or staying married to the woman who sexually assaulted him and that the Calebows forced him to marry, in order to orchestrate some sort of elaborate grand gesture had me swearing loudly. Which reminds me, another reason this book pissed me off. Instead of swearing, Molly says "Slytherin" every time she's upset. Of her many deplorable qualities, it was probably one of the least bad, but it was still incredibly annoying.The only reason this book is getting a full one star is because I liked the secondary romance between Kevin's birth mother and a famous artist. I wish poor Kevin had sold the holiday cottages (having always hated camping I was firmly on his side about his super boring childhood summers), drowned Molly and run off with someone worthy of him. At least now Lisa Kleypas no longer needs to worry about being responsible for the worst romance I've read this year. I cannot imagine anything I'll read this year that I'll hate more than this book. I honestly don't know if Susan Elizabeth Phillips was trying to do some form of clever reversal on the "heroine falling in love with her rapist" that so frequently occurred in Old School romances. If that was her intention, she failed. Badly. Do yourself a favour and avoid this book like the plague.
5++ star contemporary romance First of all, I just have got to say, what a great read! This book has everything that makes a great romance. Susan Elizabeth’s charm never fails to evoke all the right emotions from the reader.I haven’t really been reading the Chicago Stars series in order, a fact which I am thinking of remedying by starting from Book 1 of the series, the story of Molly’s sister which I am really interested in reading after seeing quick sneaks into her life with Dan Calebo.Molly and Kevin’s story is a fascinating one, not just the story of how they find one another and quickly fall in love, but rather a journey these two take in finding the love they could both have with one another if given half the chance. At first glance, Molly and Kevin couldn’t be further apart from one another if they tried. A children’s books author, her characters you find are closely linked with Kevin’s escapades over the years, Molly has had a huge crush on Kevin as long as she can remember. Not that football jock Kevin even knows she exists. With the continuous string of the doll faced women with no brains of their own that parade through his life, Kevin seems to be at the top of his game playing for the football team managed by Molly’s sister Phoebe.Though Molly doesn’t seem to realize it, she has got this streak of restlessness inside of her which lands her in trouble from time to time. This is what ends her up in Kevin’s bed, seducing him in his sleep and an outraged Kevin who gets rightfully pissed off about being taken advantage of. Kevin makes Molly promise to him that if there ever were consequences of their coming together she would let him know, which of course Molly doesn’t when she finds herself pregnant.Molly’s well meaning family, Phoebe and Dan are both shocked when they find out Molly is pregnant and jump to all the wrong conclusions about who took advantage of whom when they find out that Kevin is the father. Kevin slams back into Molly’s life and makes her marry him, though Kevin can barely be civil to the woman who has turned everything in his life upside down.In the end, mere hours after getting married, Molly suffers a miscarriage which quickly spins her world out of control. Once again, its Kevin who shakes her out of depression, takes her off on a trip to Wind Lake, and finds herself running the quaint bed and breakfast that Kevin inherits from his aunt which Kevin wants nothing to do with. Here Kevin faces his demons from his childhood face on, with Molly finally finding peace within herself in this beautiful place.Tentatively, Kevin and Molly find in one another friendship, and finally red hot desire for one another, that makes Kevin sweat profusely at the idea of getting all his emotions involved in finally inevitably falling for Molly.This is truly great story with a lovable cast of side characters and of course who wouldn’t love Molly’s fictional characters Daphne and Bunny with their witty and adorable insights into the beginnings of each chapter of the book. Highly recommended for those who love a good romance with a witty cast of characters that could make you smile, make your heart ache just a little and finally end you up with a bunch of happy tears at the truly deserving happy ending!Funny, poignant and heartwarming, this is must read for romance lovers.
What do You think about This Heart Of Mine (2002)?
¡Me encantó! ❤ Debo decir que al comienzo de la historia entre Molly y Kevin me sentí desconcertada, por la similitud con otra de las historias de la saga pero, una vez más, con su gran talento, SEP logró un giro inesperado y la historia cambió por completo. Para no ser repetitiva, en esta novela también encontramos una hermosa historia de amor, personajes (todos) adorables y bien logrados, y una ambientación interesante y muy romántica. Pero lo que más me gustó es la complicidad entre Molly y Kevin, que hace que esta historia llena de emoción y de ternura, te atrape hasta el final. Para las que adoramos “Tenías que ser tú” (primer libro de la saga) aquí volvemos a encontrar a Phoebe y Dan, y conocemos un poco más la familia que formaron.
—Marisa
I’m sure all of you have figured out my recent author love affair is with Susan Elizabeth Phillips and her Chicago Stars Series. I have adored all of the stories thus far and This Heart of Mine was FABULOUS and has shot to the top of my favorites! This story centers on Molly Sommerville and Kevin Tucker. No one would put these two together. Though their lives spin in different directions they have a connection through Molly’s sister Phoebe and her hubby Dan Calebow.Molly ~ I loved everything about her. She was a bit quirky, kind of sassy and had such a big heart. Her lonely teenage life had left her with quite an imagination which she uses for writing her books. Molly may be a very smart woman but she is famous for making some pretty rash decisions…..some pretty expensive. When Molly heads off to her sister’s summer home to work through her latest restlessness she thought it would be the perfect getaway. Ah but nothing is ever that simple. She comes face to face (so to speak) with the one man that has filtered through her thoughts (many of them sexy) for a while now. For Molly this isn’t good. She is wary of her impulsive behavior.Kevin ~ he was your typical handsome, sweet talking and sexy as all hell football player. A guy that had everything at his finger tips. He was living life in the fast lane until Molly decided to make him one of her rash decisions and it is one that will send them both over the edge. Kevin and Molly find themselves dealing with an adventure that neither planned nor expected. Kevin has to make a decision to keep or give away family property that sits on a beautiful lake, a place that comes to offer Molly a sense of belonging. When Molly begins to settle in and becomes a part of something that makes her feel good, Kevin only sees it as something he has to let go of. There are moments shared and friends made. But all this might not be enough. There was a lot to love in this one. I think I say this in every SEP review I write. I loved the side story of Daphne the rabbit and Benny the badger. It was so flipping sweet. The humor with all the family around was great; Dan and Phoebe and their kids. Hannah was such a sweetie. And then Lilly and Liam. I can't forget them. They added a little spin on the story that touched my heart. Everything and everyone just made this story just a little bit more special. And as I get deeper in the series part of me wants to suggest that if you decide to read these books (which I hope you do) read them in order. Each book is cleverly connected to the other.
—♥Sharon♥
This book made feel dirty (in a bad way). To me, there was no excuse for what the heroine did near the beginning.Molly always had a crush on Kevin, and when they accidentally end up staying under the same roof, she goes through his things, finds a condom in his toiletries bag, goes to his room while he's asleep, gets into his bed (he's still sleeping), puts a condom on him and then proceeds to rape him. That's right, rape. There's no way that what she did isn't rape. He wakes up and is furious,
—Mara
