Heart and Soul

Rating:
Summary: All too convenient
Review: Although the vast majority of the books I read are fiction, I also love reading about pianos and pianists. I was delighted to discover this book, which at least purported to be a novel about pianists. Alas, it was not really about piano playing at all. Instead, it was a rather trivial novel about a set of relationships some of which happened to involve piano playing. A novel that really focused on the talent of the heroine would have had to provide more of a basis for her excellence; instead, she emerges as a brilliant pianist almost from nowhere. There is no sense of the sweat and tears of learning to play piano at that level. The only inkling of the scope of the heroine's endeavor comes when we find out that the heroine suffers from intractable stage fright, a fright she overcomes with surprising ease when the perfect partner discovers her.

The romance aspects of this novel are also weak, as is the sense of the passing of time (almost none seems to pass). Solutions to problems--such as the long-term care needs of the father--leap out of the woodwork. Everything comes much too easily to the heroine, including her discovery of the love of her life waiting in the wings (where he has been for 22 years) when her piano partnership ends. Her traumas do not last long, and are all easily resolved, whether by a sudden and surprising injection of money, friendship or love.

Life is just not this easy, and a novel in which it is this easy almost inevitably lacks a sufficient sense of drama to be successful. This novel is no exception.

Rating:
Summary: What happened!
Review: Are you sure this is the same woman that wrote "Out of the Blue"? This was a good story, but was it necessary to have a character with such a filthy mouth? Am I to believe that people from this part of New York talk and act like this? Were I from that part of New York, I'd be offended. For someone who was a concert pianist, Bess certainly didn't speak or act like one. David seemed to be a bit more cultured. I don't mean to be a prude, but I didn't enjoy this book as much as the first one. I just cannot bring myself to give this book more than two stars. This story could have been told in a much better way. This was more like a trashy romance novel and I don't read those. This is the second book of Ms. Mandel's I've read and I won't be so quick to read the next one.

Rating:
Summary: Realistic, unforgettable, heart-warming
Review: Courtesy of A Romance Review

Heart and Soul is not a regular romance. The story is written in first person, like a diary or biography told by Bess herself. Bess is from a blue-collar family, a straightforward person and never hesitate to express her feelings and thoughts in a colorful way. David Montagnier is the opposite of Bess in both background and personality but he loves the funny side of Bess as well as her talent in music. Ms Mandel has written a realistic, unforgettable, heart-warming story that will surely grace your keeper shelf.

Rating:
Summary: All too convenient
Review: I'm a sucker for a love story. Heart and Soul is just that and it is not a sappy one either. It is about Bess Stallone, a tough Long Island girl who just happens to be a gifted pianoist. She talks with a foul mouth, has a very good sense of humor, you can't help but like her.

David is a virtuoso known throughout the world. He is handsome and very famous, in need of a new partner at the piano. The long and short of the story is that he picks Bess and works with her as they become a pair on stage and off. She is so much in love with him and he her.

It is a story told before of course, girl from the wrong side of the tracks hooks up with the pretty boy. Same old story but this one really will grab you and touch you and also make you laugh. David is a tortured soul who ultimately caves in and falls apart as does their relationship. There are such tender moments though in this story.

Of course there is also Jake, her forever friend and the one who has always loved her since 7th grade and will be there for her at the end when she needs him.

I loved it. If you are looking for a good love story this is for you.

Rating:
Summary: Another Great Love Story
Review: I'm a sucker for a love story. Heart and Soul is just that and it is not a sappy one either. It is about Bess Stallone, a tough Long Island girl who just happens to be a gifted pianoist. She talks with a foul mouth, has a very good sense of humor, you can't help but like her.

David is a virtuoso known throughout the world. He is handsome and very famous, in need of a new partner at the piano. The long and short of the story is that he picks Bess and works with her as they become a pair on stage and off. She is so much in love with him and he her.

It is a story told before of course, girl from the wrong side of the tracks hooks up with the pretty boy. Same old story but this one really will grab you and touch you and also make you laugh. David is a tortured soul who ultimately caves in and falls apart as does their relationship. There are such tender moments though in this story.

Of course there is also Jake, her forever friend and the one who has always loved her since 7th grade and will be there for her at the end when she needs him.

I loved it. If you are looking for a good love story this is for you.

Rating:
Summary: realistic yet beautiful love story
Review: Rocky Beach, a working class town in Nassau County, Long Island is home to Bess Stallone (no relation to the movie star) who defies her parents to take piano lessons from the music teacher at her school. She enters the competition to go to the prestigious Julliard School and works many part time jobs to pay for her lessons. She is a musical prodigy who is so afraid of performing in front of an audience that she faints whenever she tries.

When David Montagnier, a former child prodigy, comes into her life, he wants Bess as his partner in his two-piano repertoire. He isn't afraid she will faint and embarrass them both and as time goes by, she becomes one with David and the music while overcoming her stage freight. The pair is together both professionally and personally until tragedy strikes and Bess must find the courage to go on alone.

New York Times best-selling author Sally Mandel has written a realistic yet beautiful love story that will warm the heart of readers. Bess' meteoric rise to fame feels like it could happen to anyone who has talent. HEART AND SOUL is a heartwarming work that will be placed on the romance reader's keeper shelf.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Money Sure Don't Buy Class!
Review: This Cinderella-story revolves around Bess Stallone, "No relation" as she's compelled to tell every soul she meets, a piano prodigy who's rescued from poverty and a dysfunctional family life by David, an arrogant French concert pianist who needs a performing partner. Perhaps she should've taken some charm school courses along the way, because she maintains her toilet-mouthed working class lack of manners throughout. I honestly don't know what they see in each other, besides raw lust, which they steam up enough pages with. In the end, David wimps out by committing suicide, making him even more annoying and less sympathetic in death than he was in life. He was manic/depressive, but the main reason for taking his life seems to have been because he couldn't take the bad reviews from a hostile critic even more obnoxious than he was. Bess carries on without him, and that's an admirable trait, but I didn't see any real character development or growth here, especially when Bess wraps up the story with her longtime childhood pal, who'd been in love with her since their sandbox days, back to whence she came. Since it came full circle, the reader can't help asking, 'so what's the point?' The misspelling of Juilliard several times didn't help either.

Rating:
Summary: This book is amazing...
Review: Very few books do I read the last line and and then just sit there and go "Wow" but this is one of them. The humor helps with the emotional upheavals. Loved it.

Rating:
Summary: Heart and Soul
Review: Very few books do I read the last line and and then just sit there and go "Wow" but this is one of them. The humor helps with the emotional upheavals. Loved it.

Rating:
Summary: Heart and Soul
Review: Very few books do I read the last line and and then just sit there and go "Wow" but this is one of them. The humor helps with the emotional upheavals. Loved it.