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I had a couple of other books lined up to read before Belong to Me. However, when I allowed myself the pleasure of reading the first chapter of this book, I was immediately sucked in and I couldn’t put it down.

The characters in this story are so real and uncontrived that I found myself wishing I lived in their neighborhood.

I had no idea when I received the ARC of this book that this was a second in a series. The author does a wonderful job of filling the reader in on any previous history and this book worked well by itself.

I thoroughly enjoyed Marisa de los Santos writing style. She paints beautiful pictures and her characters are masterfully written. She also has us exactly where she wants us with her characterizations. I loved Cornelia with her spunky and real personality and I even ended up liking Piper Truitt. Piper’s character especially had me thinking about putting myself in another person’s shoes. I will be on the lookout for more books by Marisa de los Santos because I loved this one. (5/5)

This second book by Marisa de los Santos is about friendship and family, and we see the highs and lows of both in the characters’ lives in this novel.

Cornelia and her doctor husband Teo move in to the ‘perfect’ neighborhood, but the women who live there are very slow to accept former city-dweller Cornelia. In fact, she sticks out like a sore thumb at her first dinner party, wearing a little black dress while the others are wearing pastels and linen slacks. It seems that the circle of friends not only dress alike, but also have an unwritten code for conduct and proper behavior as well. The ‘queen bee’ of the neighborhood, Piper, seems bent on criticizing Cornelia about everything from clothing to lawn care. While we see Piper at first as overly critical and a perfectionist, we later see her as a loving, compassionate woman as she cares for a sick friend. The development of her character as the book progesses was one of the most interesting to watch.

Cornelia does make friends with Lake, a woman who does not live in the neighborhood. Relieved to finally have someone to talk to, Cornelia spends more and more time with Lake and her gifted 13 year-old son, Dev. Dev was an interesting character to read about as well. He starts spending quite a bit of time with Cornelia and Teo at their house and through them meets his first girlfriend, Clare.

The chapters were structured such that each one was from only one character’s perspective and alternated mostly among Cornelia, Piper, and Dev. I thought this worked very well. By the end of the book, I felt that I knew and liked all the main characters in the story. Belong to Me is the second book by Marisa de los Santos, and apparently some of the characters in this novel were also in her first book, Love Walked In. I haven’t read that one, but definitely plan to after really enjoying Belong to Me. This book does stand alone, though, as I didn’t even know it was a continuation of sorts until after I had finished it.

Released 4/1/2008 by Harper Collins.

2008, 388 pp.
Rating: 4/5

Hear Marisa de los Santos speak about Belong to Me.

Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos
Contemporary Fiction
2008 HarperCollins Publishers
Finished on 3/13/08
Rating: 4.5/5 (Terrific!)

ARC - Due out on April 1, 2008

Book Description

Everyone has secrets. Some we keep to protect ourselves, others we keep to protect those we love.

A devoted city dweller, Cornelia Brown surprised no one more than herself when she was gripped by the sudden, inescapable desire to leave urban life behind and head for an idyllic suburb. Though she knows she and her beloved husband, Teo, have made the right move, she approaches her new life with trepidation and struggles to forge friendships in her new home. Cornelia’s mettle is quickly tested by judgmental neighbor Piper Truitt. Perfectly manicured, impeccably dressed, and possessing impossible standards, Piper is the embodiment of everything Cornelia feared she would find in suburbia. A saving grace soon appears in the form of Lake. Over a shared love of literature and old movies, Cornelia develops an instant bond with this warm yet elusive woman who has also recently arrived in town, ostensibly to send her perceptive and brilliant son, Dev, to a school for the gifted.

Marisa de los Santos’s literary talents shine in the complex interactions she creates between these three women. She deftly explores the life-altering roller coaster of emotions Piper faces as she cares for two households, her own and that of her cancer-stricken best friend, Elizabeth. Skillfully, de los Santos creates an enigmatic and beguiling character in Lake, who draws Cornelia closer even as she harbors a shocking secret. And from the first page until the exhilarating conclusion, de los Santos engages readers with Cornelia, who, while trying to adapt to her new surroundings, must remain true to herself. As their individual stories unfold, the women become entangled in a web of trust, betrayal, love, and loss that challenges them in ways they never imagined, and that ultimately teaches them what it means for one human being to belong to another.

I loved this book. I loved the vividly depicted characters and how the author slowly allows the reader to get close to them. Even the prickly ones. I love the unique, quirky names de los Santos has chosen: Cornelia, Teo (Mateo), Deveroux, Aidan, Piper, Lake, Rafferty, and Kyle. Each name fits its respective character perfectly, and as I think back on the story, I can quickly envision each and every one.

And to think I almost gave up, sure that it was going to be nothing more than another book about women’s friendships. Not that there’s anything wrong with that sort of book, but I just finished Elizabeth Noble’s Things I Want My Daughters to Know and felt I needed something a bit more substantial. Well, I wound up getting it. Sure, Belong to Me borders on fluffy chick-lit, but the writing is oh, so beautiful. Not lyrical in the sense of Pat Conroy or Rick Bragg, but beautiful, descriptive phrases that force you to pause and go back for a second reading. And no wonder: It turns out that Marisa is also an award-winning poet.

This is a book about love & friendship, trust & loyalty, and ultimately the strength of family ties. The subplot dealing with Elizabeth’s cancer is realistic and tender, yet doesn’t dominate the entire story. The blossoming friendship between Piper and Cornelia reminded me just ever-so-slightly of Susan Sarandon and Julia Roberts’ characters in the movie Step Mom. I found myself getting teary-eyed on several occasions, yet this isn’t a depressing read. More than a guilty pleasure, this intimate and engaging read is the perfect book to curl up with on a rainy, spring afternoon and one you’ll want to share with all your girlfriends. I’d love to read a sequel, as I’m already missing Cornelia, Piper, Dev and Clare, but it may be another year or two before the author publishes another book. (And who knows if she plans to continue with Cornelia’s story.) But as luck would have it, I missed her debut title (Love Walked In), which just happens to be the prequel to Belong to Me. I know what I’m buying tomorrow at work!

It seemed impossible that you could stand in a kitchen making hot chocolate and grilled-cheese sandwiches with your best friend dying in the next room, the voices of her children tangled up with the voices of your own, that you could butter bread and watch, through the window, the trees relinquishing their leaves and hear the silvery tumble of water into a kettle, and be suddenly aware that what resided at the heart of every shape and sound was peace. A rightness hovering above all that was wrong, shimmering, like heat rising from a street in summer. -From Belong To Me, page 85-

Marisa de los Santos has penned a novel filled to the brim with laughter, tears, friendships, dreams, and love. It is a novel so genuine and real that I found myself nodding and thinking ‘exactly!’ over and over again.

Cornelia Brown moves with her oncologist husband, Teo, from the city to the suburbs - envisioning a perfect life complete with manicured lawns. Instead she finds a world filled with a grounding reality; a world more rewarding than she could ever have imagined.

All of Santos’ characters are authentic - flawed and all too human at times, they wiggle their way into the reader’s heart. Piper, Cornelia’s queen-bee next door neighbor, introduces Cornelia to the neighborhood with biting judgment tinged with anger - but, later reveals herself to be a person filled with self doubt, a character whose depth and honesty made me love her. Dev, a thirteen year old boy with an absent father, embodies the awkwardness of adolescence mixed with a maturity beyond his years. Lake, Dev’s single mother, holds a devastating secret - one that will rock all the characters to their core when it is uncovered. Santos draws her male characters splendidly…Teo, Toby, Rafferty and Tom all made me wish I lived in Cornelia’s neighborhood.

Santos is an award-winning poet (and best selling author of her first novel: Love Walked In), and her love of language shows in her radiant descriptions and acute ear for dialogue. Santos builds the tension slowly, revealing her characters chapter by chapter, until the final and unexpected end. Belong To Me is not just Cornelia’s story, but the story of all women - and it ultimately reveals the redemptive power of love and forgiveness.

This was a novel I resisted putting down for even a few minutes. It is Women’s Fiction at its best. I loved it, and I can’t wait to read Love Walked In.

Santos is a talented writer - one who will touch the reader’s heart and make you wish the book will never end.

Belong To Me is highly recommended. Rated 5/5.