Blue Heart Blessed

Daisy is a romantic. She owns a secondhand wedding boutique that sells old wedding dresses to new brides. In her shop, one can find out the story behind the dress they are buying and learn about the love story the dress helped to create. But there's one dress she won't sell - the dress she was supposed to have been married in. There the reader enters Daisy's world where she lives in a remodeled old hotel with several delightful and interesting characters. From Father Laurent who blesses the hearts tucked in the wedding dresses toRoaslina who helps out with the dresses and cooks a neighborhood Sunday dinner, they help to bring life and happiness to Daisy. She herself is still getting over her heartbreak when Father Laurent's recently divorced son enters the scene. What will it take for two hurting souls to find forgiveness and love again? Susan Meissner has become one of the few authors that not only must I immediately go out and get her newest book but every book has been a winner. In her latest work,Meissner has produced an absolute gem of a story that I fell in love with from the beginning. The characters in this book become real to you. Reading this book was like entering Daisy's world and becoming part of her life. The story is so detailed and character driven. I loved her letter writing to Harriet. I think there's a Harriet inside everyone of us that says what we wish could have said at that moment. I would love to read a whole book just based on Daisy and Harriet's letters. I really felt for Daisy throughout the book. Being jilted by the person you love is an awful experience. The pain she went throughout the whole story is something I myself could relate to. Therefore I was rooting for her during the whole story hoping for a happy ending. I wish I could be part of this little community. I would love to rent a room in the refurbished hotel and eat dinner with the gang on Sundays and help out in the bridal shop. If only books could really come to life! This book is such a refreshing read from all the hard, edgy stuff that is out there today. This book however is not a light fluffy read. It's a story that will open your heart and stay with you long after you've finished the last page. HIGHLY recommended.

This book was wonderful. Daisy was sweet and funny, but overcome with bitterness when it came to men. The story is about her overcoming her bitterness and falling in love again. Father Laurent who lives in her aparment complex makes the story even better. Also her business is a cute element in the story. Selling second hand wedding gowns would probably be a very fun job which you get to see in this book. This book was worth the read.

Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue is a superstition most women know about on their wedding day. The something blue is what got Daisy Murien into her own business of selling secondhand wedding dresses. She has Father Laurent, a retired priest, bless a little blue heart she sews into the wedding dresses. Some dresses, like her own, have never been worn on the wedding day. Daisy was rejected by her fiancé ten days before they were to get married. She owns this business in hopes to be able to let go and sell her own dress. What she learns instead through Father Laurent is that God's love is the only thing that will help her let go. As Daisy's family tries to get her out on blind dates, Daisy rejects the idea of being able to go out. It's not until she meets Father Laurent's son Ramsey, that she learns that each person copes differently to their own rejection. As Daisy struggles to learn that life isn't wrapped around her, she begins to understand the love God has meant for her. Susan Meissner's story helps you connect with a very young woman who has not rejected the idea of romance-but the idea that it's meant for her. Through the characters she has created in Father Laurent, his son Ramsey and grandson Liam, Daisy learns that not all heartaches are the same and that each person hurts in their own way. It's through faith and love of God that each person can recover and regain their sense of well-being. The story is very fast paced and hard to put down, with Daisy's quirkiness and the wisdom of her alter ego Harriett, do you learn to enjoy the humor in Daisy's life. The story will help you understand that sometimes we all need a little blue heart that blessed to be sewn not only into our own dresses, but to be sewn into our very lives. Armchair Interviews says: Susan Meissner does it again.

Susan Meissner's gift of emotive and poignant storytelling shines in Blue Heart Blessed. Susan invites the reader to engage with her characters' souls with her talent for imbueing them with authentic feelings that spill from the pages in an almost unparrelled fashion. Daisy travels a painful road of rejection and despair and yet hope glistens on every page through Father Laurent's wisdom, the whimsy of the blessed blue hearts, Harriet's auspicious advice and Daisy's own belief, though for a time hidden by heartache, that God provides love that is sufficient for her. Be prepared to shed tears of pain, joy and laughter when you pick up this little gem - you will not be able to put it down.

Have you ever discovered that you were dating someone you had strong feelings for and they just didn't reciprocate those intense emotions, only to discover that you were more in love with the idea of being in love than with the person you thought you were in love with? If this rings true to you, then you'll want to read Blue Heart Blessed. Susan Meissner has done it again with this book and created a masterful tale of love and loss, healing and hope, and what to do with the hole in our hearts that we all long to fill. This is such a powerful and fabulous story that it is making my list of top books for 2008! Not only was Blue Heart Blessed deep and thought-provoking, but it also really tugs at your heart strings. The raging emotions Daisy is hammered with, and the soul-searching she experiences, will make an impression on your heart. But once you get through the storm with her you will take away from her life a valuable lesson you can apply to your own. Written in Susan's unique style, Blue Heart Blessed is more touching than fun, but still has a chick lit feel to it. And the main character is one loveable, wacky woman who writes to herself about her troubles, then answers her own questions. Sometimes it's downright funny and other times the insight is quite profound. This book is a keeper, trust me.