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Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos ★★★★★

Over this past long weekend, I hunkered down to finish a book I was absolutely in love with from the start. 

 

 

Here's the synopsis of the book, as provided by Goodreads:

 "On a recent rainy Monday, I'd tried imagining the last month and a half of my life as a feature film, a game I play, secretly, fairly often, and that I'm convinced other people play, secretly too," confesses Cornelia Brown, whose witty observations and small epiphanies in the pages of Marisa de los Santos' Belong to Me surround readers like the warm embrace of an old friend. Cornelia and her impossibly handsome husband, Teo Sandoval, made their debut in the author's Love Walked In.

As this book begins, the couple is settling into their first house on an idyllic street in a picturesque Philadelphia suburb. Cornelia is inexplicably drawn to "this unsurprising place" that she yearns to call home, but her neighbors are less sure of how these transplanted, apparently childless urbanites will fare in their midst. Especially Piper Truitt. The epitome of blonde cool, this demanding mother of two has created her own version of perfection within the walls of a home that sits across the street from Cornelia's. From their early encounter at a dinner party, the two are at odds, a situation that Cornelia, adrift from her familiar surroundings, cannot conceive how to navigate.

As the novel progresses, new characters emerge. We meet Elizabeth, Piper's best friend, who's battling cancer, as well as Toby, Cornelia's brother, and Clare, the bright and compassionate teen familiar to readers of Love Walked In. Then there's Lake, a single mother working at a local Italian restaurant, who throws Cornelia a timely lifeline in the form of a dish of spaghetti alla puttanesca. Lake's son Dev, a preternaturally gifted 13-year-old, becomes Cornelia's unexpected kindred spirit. Deftly blending several tales at once, de los Santos' narrative is richly embroidered with intertwined lives and loves. As present circumstances are threatened by the revelation of past secrets, the friends forge a circle of strength and forgiveness that the reader, too, belongs to -- and will hate to leave when the last page is turned. A triumphant testimony to the power of love, Belong to Me hums with the hope that pulls friends through the ups and downs that the years hold in store for everyone. 

Here's my take on the book:

Wow. Just wow. de los Santos weaves this story in such a way that had me on the edge of my seat with anticipation and excitement with almost every page. The characters were extremely well developed, and it felt like this could be the story of my own neighbors - nothing too far-fetched, developed over time. Highly recommend!

You need to drop what you're reading, drive to the nearest library or bookstore, and grab this book. Although it has the same characters as Loved Walked In, it's a stand-alone book. It's about 400 pages, but it only took me the weekend to read because it is so fantastic.

Currently Reading 

MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search for a New Best Friend by Rachel Bertsche 

To Read

The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth: Popularity, Quirk Theory and Why Outsiders Thrive After High School by Alexandra Robbins

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings
* This is a continuation of a series. To see the first book, please see #1.