Belong to Me

City dweller Cornelia Brown moves to the burbs with her oncologist husband Teo. They've got a place in what looks like the perfect neighborhood, nice homes with nicely manicured lawns. They can be happy here. However the women who live in suburbia are a bit slow to accept Cornelia. Right from the get go it looks like she might not be one of them when she wears a skimpy black dress to a party of pastel wearing housewives. The self-anointed, self-appointed Queen-bee Piper at first seems bent on making Cornelia's new life difficult, criticizing her constantly. Piper seems to be a blue-eyed, blonde snob, but we see another side to her when she cares for her terminally ill friend Elizabeth. Things, and people, are not always what they seem at first. Cornelia also makes friends with Veronica "Lake" Tremain and her exceptional thirteen-year-old son Dev. Dev meets Claire, who I came to know in love in Ms. de los Santo's first book Love Walked In and the relationship that develops is pure poetry as is this whole story. At first Cornelia is excited about the change her life is taking, then it looks like it isn't going to turn out to be everything she thought it was cracked up to be and finally it all turns out better than she ever could have imagined. I came to this book straight from Love Walked In, but you don't have to. Some how Marisa de los Santos has written a sequel that reads like a stand alone. That's talent, not to meantion the beautifully written heart-warming story that will leaving you hugging yourself and loving these people. I can't recommend this one highly enough. Reviewed by Vesta Irene

This book is lovely. Reading "Belong to Me" made me feel like faith, hope, and love might actually prevail. Marisa de los Santos has created a world where seemingly awful people can redeem themselves and generous, decent people, even though they might not get exactly what they want, have a chance to come close. Nothing that happens to Cornelia, Piper, Dev, or Lake is easy to face up to, but they're faithful to the people they love no matter what, and that makes them very real and very memorable. "Belong to Me" really does get at the heart of what it means for humans to belong to one another.

I loved this book. It's a gorgeously written portrait of the extraordinary lives of women who might appear ordinary. You know these characters, you probably are one of these characters and by the time the book is over you will LOVE all of these characters even the ones that are deeply flawed. (Personally, while I enjoy Cornelia's voice, I fell hard for Piper. Oh and Dev, what I would give for my son to turn out like Dev. . .) Marisa de los Santos's skills as a poet are on full, rich display. Her senteces are sparkling gems of delight for the ear and the heart. Her plot moves effortlessly and swiftly and even as the story experiences true loss it is bouyed by new discoveries. If you ever wanted a smart, witty, deep and honest argument for the thriving life of the suburs, this is is.

I picked up this author's previous book, "Love Walked In", while browsing at a bookstore last year. I noticed that the author is a poet, a fact which almost caused me to put the book back on the shelf. I gave it a second look and was SO glad that I brought it home. I read a lot of women's fiction, as an escape from my busy life as an IT Director and mother. Most of the books in this genre are light, "chick lit" type fiction, so I rarely come across an author whose writing and stories draw me in as much as De Los Santos has. When this, her newest, book was released, I bought it immediately and in HARDBACK (... and I always wait for paperback releases). I just finished the book and am again amazed by the writing. Her writing is poetic, and very visual, but certainly not flowery. It draws you in and makes you laugh and cry in turn. I'm a fast reader, and the writing certainly didn't slow me down, just made for a richer reading experience. My only regret about discovering this author is that she hasn't written more - I'm going to have to wait ... years? ... for the next novel! I read about 7-8 new books each month, and Maria De Los Santos is now at the top of my list. If you like a well-written, funny, poignant story about families, parenting, and love, definitely order this novel.

A refugee from intellectual city living, Cornelia Brown is the explorer of a new terrain: the burbs. She believes that her own wits and childhood environment have prepared her to live among the families who occupy its picturesque streets. However, as the book opens with her first cocktail party, Cornelia learns that settling in to her new life is not going to be as easy as she thinks; clearly, this is a foreshadowing of things to come. Her neighbor (the leader of the suburban pack) Piper quickly puts Cornelia in her place, although Cornelia is not sure just what that "place" is. Thus begins the charming tale author Marisa de los Santos has presented in her second book, "Belong to Me." Thankfully, unlike many second novels from authors who have had a successful first book, readers can pick up and enjoy this book without knowing anything about de los Santos or the characters who inhabited her first novel. The joy from the beginning to the end of this story is complete unto itself, without history or explanation. De los Santos's strong characters and lyrical writing engage from the first pages and hold the reader's interest to the end. Caught up in their own dramas, the women who inhabit the pages of "Belong to Me" are smart, tough, and sometimes catty. Their world encompasses the joys and pain of child-rearing, infidelity, and cancer, as well as the need to present a perfect image to the outside world. The glue that holds them together--as well as the story itself--is the human connection, the ability to reach out to a helping hand when things look most bleak. This might sound like just another volume in the chick lit genre, but what de los Santos brings to her writing that takes this up a step is her beautiful phrasing. Pick up the book and open to any page. Somewhere therein, the reader will find some emotion or scene so beautifully described that it can only be placed in the realm of serious writers, of "literature." This is really little surprise, given the author's vocation as poet, with a PhD in creative writing. All that study and writing practice by de los Santos has been carefully enfolded into a very compelling storyline in "Belong to Me." Without being distracted by her beautiful prose, she instead takes her (ok, largely female) audience on a lively journey that makes reading this book hard to put down, using her descriptions merely as enchantment along the way. She grounds her characters and stories in the foibles of daily life, never losing the central storyline despite her talent for turning a phrase. In the end, "Belong to Me" is a great book because of its solid storytelling. It stands alone with its vulnerability and virtue, and it's likely that readers everywhere are going to be hearing a lot more about Marisa de los Santos. Christine Zibas, Book Pleasures