Heart of My Heart

by Stella Maclean

When James McElroy said those words, seventeen-year-old Olivia Banks believed him. And when she discovered she was pregnant with his child, she expected to marry the love of her life. Instead, the young couple was separated. Olivia thought she'd been abandoned and was forced to accept another man's offer to marry her and raise the boy as his own. Now, decades later, the truth reunites James and Olivia. They are husband and wife at long last. As James...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0373714874
• ISBN13: 9780373714872
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: Harlequin Special Releases
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 4.2" x 6.6"

Customer Reviews

Highly Recommended

Heart of My Heart is a poignant glimpse into a time capsule. Stella MacLean makes an impressive debut with Heart of My Heart, exploring the complex relationships of family; father-son, mother-son, marriage and the glue that holds them together. Fans of Nicholas Sparks' The Notebook will find Heart of My Heart as passionate a love story as any that endures life's hardships and joys as it spans a lifetime. Sprinkled with tidbits of the last forty years of history, MacLean revisits a time when Honor Thy Father brooked no argument, when a teenage pregnancy could rip a family apart and cause scandalous ruin. MacLean presents a story so warm and loving you'll wish it was yours. While Olivia McElroy's husband, James's, life hangs in the balance, she reviews the past forty years of their lives. James, after a quick conversation, leaves Olivia alone at their high school prom and flies to Ireland. Forced to flee by an autocratic father who believes in the delineation of the haves and have nots, Olivia is at a loss of what to do. Discovering she is pregnant, she goes against her parents' wishes and keeps the baby. Needing to protect her son, Olivia marries Alex, the owner of a restaurant where Olivia works. Meanwhile, James finds the father figure he always wanted in his understanding Uncle Seamus. Learning the electronics business from the ground up, James works tirelessly to please his father and hopefully be allowed to return home and search for the woman he loves. Like Jane Austen's Persuasion, Olivia and James find that timing and family interference keep them apart, but can't kill their love. I highly recommend Heart of My Heart.

An emotional page turner

If you like an emotional, angsty read that never slows down for one single minute, this superbly crafted book is for you. I read it in one sitting, and couldn't put it down because every scene flows so well from the last. The situations and character emotions are rich and intense, and my heart was tied up in knots by the second chapter. So much happens in this book, and there are so many well developed characters, it's hard to believe it's all packed into 250 pages! Bravo, Stella MacLean on a beautiful and poignant debut novel. It has a ton of heart, and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves an extremely romantic, character-driven story about undying love that lasts a lifetime. This is category romance at its finest.