Generations of the Heart

Thoughly enjoyed reading the latest Viqui Litman book. The characters leave you wanting more. Can't wait to start her next book in the series.

This story was cute and I liked it more than the first I think. At times it rambled and had me skipping but the story held for me simply because there was more "life" than death in this book. In the first they dwelt on death quite a bit. I would love to find out what happens next! I also enjoyed Kat and Laurie and it wasn't all buttered up!

With multiple piercings and get-a-load-of-me makeup Darlene Kindalia takes center stage in "Generations Of The Heart," Fort Worth author Viqui Litman's sequel to "The Ladies Farm" (1999). Single mom Darlene has Texas size gumption, all of which she needs to raise 5-year-old Tiffany, a budding Little Miss Bayou Queen, and cope with a runaway ex who stole her cash and trashed her Camaro. Financial straits force her to live in the Janis Joplin room at the Ladies Farm, a Hill County B & B owned by her mother, Rita, hair dresser extraordinaire, and three lady friends. "Lady" may be a slight misnomer as one of them expressed outrage by pitching furniture over a mezzanine railing when a posh hotel's bar wasn't open at 6 a.m. Nonetheless, while hoping for better days, Darlene makes a living by doing medical transcripts and enjoying a dalliance or more. For instance, she and married Dr. Ryan Plummer have "done the horizontal hokie-pokie." yet she is astonished when he asks her to have his baby. After all, " procreation had never been the object of their endeavors." Shock becomes acquiescence when she learns how handsomely she will be paid for this favor. She is young, healthy and, while she may liken herself to trailer trash, there is one thing Darlene knows she can do: make babies. What she does not know is that Ryan and his wife, Jill, are the parents of young Taylor, a victim of hemoporosis, a life threatening blood disease that prevents red cells from carrying oxygen. The Plummers have frozen embryos with which to implant Darlene, so that she will give birth to not just one child but twins, in order to provide stem cells for Taylor. Gestational carrier and surrogacy may not be in Darlene's vocabulary, but she does understand $25,000. She is elated when Earl, a former blocker for the Sydonia Sabers who thought Darlene was the prettiest girl in high school, helps her up the ante to $40,000. Life is definitely improving, she decides, and Earl will be physically rewarded - at last. Problems occur when Darlene miscarries after Earl samples her earthly delights. Soon, she discovers she has lost two babies but gained one. She is pregnant with Earl's child. Stem cells harvested at the birth of this child could also help Taylor, unless it is too late. Set primarily in the Metroplex of Texas, "Generations Of The Heart" staggers from time to time under the weight of medical descriptions. Nonetheless there are enough simmering relational issue to keep pages turning: Kat, a partner in the Ladies Farm, seeks the handicapped daughter she once abandoned and falls in love with a Dallas specialist; and a New York group of Orthodox Jewish women referred to as the "Kosher Crew" descend upon the B & B. Ms. Litman has her locales down pat and her plot neatly packaged. Darlene reaches a satisfactory conclusion regarding the birth of her child, and Earl convinces one and all they can sell smoked briskets on the Web. Someday, he d