Things We Do For Love (Hannah) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
In this tear-jerking novel by Hannah (Between Sisters), 38-year-old Angela Malone abandons a successful advertising career in Seattle to find comfort in West End, the small Pacific Northwest coastal town where she grew up. Pregnancy woes (chronic miscarriages, a baby who lived only for five days and a botched adoption) have caused her marriage to journalist Conlan to end in divorce. Her big, warmhearted Italian family welcomes her with open arms, and she throws herself into revamping the family restaurant, DeSaria's. Then she befriends hard-working teenager Lauren Ribido, who's in need of a new coat, some mothering and, later on, a place to live. Lauren's life is far worse than self-pitying Angie's—she's pregnant, her alcoholic mother has given up on her, and her rich boyfriend, David, is off to his first-choice college. Lauren can't go through with the abortion David encourages her to have, and the next step seems obvious: she should give the baby up to Angie, who's on the way to reconciling with Conlan. Hannah stacks the odds against Lauren almost absurdly, and makes her life with Angie a rose-tinted dream come true, but she paints a wrenching, convincing picture of the dilemma teenage mothers face. Familiar but warmly rendered characters, a few surprising twists and a bittersweet ending make this satisfying summer reading.
Publishers Weekly


In her latest novel, Hannah (On Mystic Lake) tells the story of a woman so consumed by her inability to have a child that her relationships with her family, her friends, and especially her husband are damaged. After divorcing, Angie Malone returns home to care for her aging mother and try to salvage the family's floundering restaurant business. She offers the teenaged Lauren Ribido a job as a waitress. Cautious about becoming too emotionally involved with the young woman, Angie watches Lauren cope with school, a distant and perpetually drunk mother, and a romantic relationship with a wealthy high school boyfriend. When an unexpected (but predictable) pregnancy forces Lauren to give up her dreams, Angie must come to grips with how much help she can offer the young woman. Hannah strikes a serious and quite somber chord, bringing a thoughtful, insightful touch to Angie's attempts to restart her marriage, bond with her siblings, and assist Lauren. The romantic aspect of the novel takes a distant second place to the relationship between the two women and the complicated issues of grief, childbearing, and acceptance. A worthwhile addition to any public library fiction collection. —Margaret Hanes, Sterling Heights P.L., MI
Library Journal


Best-selling Hannah's latest sensitive tale explores the need we all have for love in a portrait of two women of different ages and backgrounds. Angie Malone has come back to her small Washington State town after suffering the loss of a child, the end of a marriage, and the death of her father. Nestled in the bosom of her family...as she copes with her grief.... When Angie reaches out to 18-year-old Lauren Ribido,...they worry that she'll be disappointed. Lauren has not had an easy life.... Angie becomes attached to her and acts like a surrogate mother as they embark on a shaky friendship. Hannah captures the joy and heartache of family as she draws the reader into the lives of her characters and makes them feel like personal friends, proving once again why she is a star of women's fiction. —Patty Engelmann
Booklist