Heartwood: A Novel

This was like reading some junior high romance novel. I seriously wonder if Belva Plain really wrote this or if someone in her family found some outline she had and decided to write the book. I have read her for years and she is not given to juvenile sex scenes or such simplistic resolutions. The characters were plain annoying and unlikable .

This book was pleasant. Nothing to write home about. Very childish writing. If you read current Danielle Steele then you would like this book. Loose ends are tied up from original book Evergreen.

Don't waste your time.

Heartwood is my first book by the late Belva Plain. Amazing, amazing writer. I found two precious nuggets.
First,when she wrote time does not heal everything. "After a loss, the passing of time allows you to absorb the pain, and make it a part of yourself. But after that, you can never expect to go back to what you were before. You'll find new ways to laugh, and even to enjoy life, but you'll never do it the same way you did ....". Second, "Loving is all there is...Treasure it, for God's sake, because it's all there is".
I got to go get the rest of her books.

I haven't read this book yet, but will definitely do so. Even mediocre Belva Plain is better than just about anything out there today. While Evergreen is possibly the best family saga novel ever written, the other 2 books in the trilogy, The Golden Cup and Tapestry were wonderful too. Although it broke my heart when Anna turned Paul down at the end of Tapestry. Giving it 5 stars for the whole series because even if this one is only worth 1, the other 3 will average it out.