Love Walked In

By: Marisa de los Santos

Narrated by: Jennifer Ikeda

Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

Award-winning poet Marisa de los Santos crafts an irresistibly touching debut novel. Love Walked In is a contemporary tale, steeped in nostalgic, cinematic charm, of love in all its forms.

Unapologetically idealistic about love, Cornelia Brown appears to catch the break of a lifetime when the dashing Martin Grace, her own personal Cary Grant, comes strolling into her life. But it is Martin's connection to 11-year-old Clare Hobbes that touches Cornelia's heart in ways she never imagined.

©2005 Marisa de los Santos (P)2006 Recorded Books, LLC

Great story

Would you consider the audio edition of Love Walked In to be better than the print version?

I really liked this book. I think I would have liked the print version better for one reason. The voice of Cornelia was perfect. The voice of Claire did not fit and to make it worse, there was talking and laughing behind her voice. I found that very distracting. If I hadn't liked the story so much I would have quit.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Love Walked In?

The realization of love was one of my favorite moments. When love just hit.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This book almost made me cry. It was definitely a story that pulled me in and moved me.

Great story, some definite production issues

Loved the story and the voices of the narrators. The production left something to be desired. Somewhere around chapter 8, background noises became obvious - laughter and conversations. On a couple of occasions, the narrator seemed to take a drink. I would have expected these issues to have been dealt with prior to finalizing this for sale.

Distracting Performance, Interesting Story

Would you try another book from Marisa de los Santos and/or Jennifer Ikeda?

I like Marisa's characters, but the performance was incredibly distracting--lots of saliva sounds and background noise from Claire's reader, and overacting in Cornelia's reader :/

A beautifully story

Would you consider the audio edition of Love Walked In to be better than the print version?

No, but it would be really hard to capture in audio the intricate use of words that Marisa does so well.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Cornelia, because of her big heart and her love of cinema.

What about Jennifer Ikeda’s performance did you like?

I really can't think of any particular thing. It was not the best reading I have heard, but she does a good job.

If you could rename Love Walked In, what would you call it?

The title is perfect as is. Love Walked In in the romantic form of Martin Grace, but stayed on in a real sense with the love of Clare.

Readable

I read the whole book and enjoyed the characters but would never say it’s the best book I’ve ever read. It was so predictable I knew the ending half way through reading it. I was hoping for a twist but didn’t get it.

Great Story! One of the narrators not so great

I loved this story- it was my first book by this author and I like her complex characters. The narrator who did the voice of Claire, however, was not very professional- there was a lot of background noise while she read- laughing and talking in the background, it was very distracting. Other than that I’d highly recommend this story.

it must have been recorded in someone's basement

the recording quality is terrible. sounds like it was recorded in someone's basement with a party in the background. story too wordy and predictable.

sweet story

This was a sweet story, and one of those books you pick up and read right through. The story was a bit predictable, and the background noise on the recording of Clare's narration was at times distracting.

Production Issues

It's not often that I wish I would not have listened to a book on audio and instead, read it in paper form. I find that so often, the audio elevates the story and adds another layer and texture, adding to my enjoyment of it. However, that was not the case for this book. As many others have mentioned, there were production issues that made sinking into the story difficult. There was swallowing, lip smacking, etc. I also did not like the voice that Cornelia's narrator did for Martin, but I am not sure how much of that opinion is colored by the fact that I didn't really like Martin as a character.

As for the story, I especially enjoyed the Clare chapters and liked the book the best after Clare and Cornelia's lives intersected. I will continue to read on in this trilogy but will look closely at the audiobook reviews to see if I should continue in audio or make the switch to paper.

REALLY good!!

After the other reviews I was hesitant to get this but I REALLY liked it! The narrators both capture the characters, the thoughts, the emotions, the tone. Cornelia is at first surprisng, and yet once you get to know her, the narrator sounds just like you think Cornelia should. And Claire's narrator,not a child at all, portrays the thoughts and feeling perfectly. There are some very poignant thoughts and the narrators really do bring to life the main characters. The interepretation of the male voices was not as great (especially Tao) but they're passable. The story is simple and yes, predictable, but the thoughts and the observations throughout are interesting, sweet, and touching and, I thought, worth the experience.