Thank the lord for snow storms. Or more accurately, thank the weatherman for predicting 3-5 inches of snow and only producing about 2 inches of slushy ice mix.

Thanks to that 2 inches of slushy ice mix, I was able to enjoy a couple of snow days. (The ability to do this may or may not have been a driving factor in my career choice as a teacher. Just kidding, but it is a nice little perk.)

So thanks to the couple of snow days I have been able to enjoy, I was able to continue my never ending quest in finding the “end” to my Never Ending Book Basket by finishing yet another great book.

The book up for discussion this week is Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos.

Belong To Me

This was the third book that I have read by this author over the past year. I stumbled across her first book Love Walked In, in my favorite used book store and was captured by the warm and inviting characters she created.

Fast forward almost a year later, and while perusing the shelves of another books store, I came across Belong to Me, which was a follow up book to Loved Walked In. I couldn’t pass up the chance to sink in with those inviting characters again, so I quickly added the book to my book basket.

Let me start off by saying that Belong to Me can be read as a stand-alone book. It does connect to Love Walked In, but you can connect and love this story and its characters without having read the aforementioned book. (Though I highly recommend reading both.)

Belong to Me is a story about people and connections. And believe me, you will feel those connections throughout every page of this book.

This book, like others by Marisa de los Santos, is told in alternating perspectives. This book presents the perspectives of three very different and unique characters. I’ll break it down for you easily:

• First you got Cornelia. She was also one of the perspectives in Love Walked In, and is by far my favorite character in both books. Cornelia is not your average modern woman, and she is a breath of fresh air to this story and its characters. She quotes old books and movies, moves to her own little beat, and doesn’t give two shits about what people think of her. (Hence, why I love her character so much!) In Belong to Me, she has recently moved with her husband Teo to the suburbs from the city, and is busy navigating what that move entails as she is thrown into the shark infested waters of suburbia.
• That’s where Piper comes in. She’s one of those above-mentioned sharks. I wanted to not like Piper, because she can be the epitome of a mean girl who says and does some not so nice things. By the end of this book though, Piper had weaseled her way into my heart. Piper is the typical mother, doing it all, while balancing taking care of her ailing best friend who is slipping away to cancer. Throughout this story, Piper tries to find the balance in her life while taking care of her family, her ailing best friend’s family, as well as trying for once to take care of herself.
• Last but not least is Dev. Dev, short for Deveroux, is a fourteen year old boy new to the same suburb where Cornelia and Piper live. He moves to town with his mother, Lake, who has brought him here to attend a school for the gifted. Dev is clearly very gifted, and is a very smart and intuitive young man. Dev’s point of view in the story offers a look at these characters that as a reader you do not expect. Let’s just say, looking at the world through Dev’s eyes is very interesting to say the least, and will have you really thinking about what this wonderful boy has to offer to this story.

So there you have all three very distinct and wonderful perspectives of this book.

I won’t reveal too much of the plot line of this story, but again I will say that this story is about connection. It is about how people come together in the strangest of situations and times. Watching and reading of these connections throughout Belong to Me created an fantastic experience.

Reading how Cornelia, Piper, and Dev’s stories intertwine together is breathtaking. There is even a little bit of mystery to solve with their stories, as you try to piece together how all three of these characters come together and connect. And believe me, the way they connect is mind blowing in a lot of ways.

As per most of my posts, I will give a lovely little list of what I adored in this book:

• The very well described and developed characters. As I mentioned earlier, I love the characters in this book. They are all warm and inviting (even Piper, eek!) and will draw you in immediately. The author does a simply spectacular job of describing and developing each character in this book, even if they aren’t providing their own point of view. By the end of this book you will feel as if you know each and every one of these characters, and you will most definitely care wholeheartedly for them.
• The multiple perspectives. I LOVE when books are told in multiple perspectives. I think it adds a new side to the story, and provides an insight into the characters and the story itself. This book was no different. Each perspective in this book is different and unique, and provides further insight into the connections laced throughout the book itself.
• Authenticity. This book and its characters ooze authenticness. What I mean by that is that these characters are described so realistically that I am pretty sure they could and actually do exist somewhere in some form. The feelings and emotions portrayed by the characters in this book are wholly authentic. We have all felt at one time what they feel. We have all been (or will be) in one of their shoes at one point in our lives. In essence, these characters are authentically real in every way.
• The theme of connection. Throughout this book there is a theme of connection. I haven’t exposed all of that connectedness yet, but if you read this book you will so totally feel connected. Connection is a powerful thing, and this book presents connection at its best. It shows what happens when people from all walks of life come together, and find how connection can change them in ways that they never knew how.

In the end, Belong to Me is a story about connection. It’s about how we all connect to those we love, those we know, and even those we don’t know.

This story presents three very distinct characters who are all searching for that connection, even if they don’t know it yet. The connection they find will lead them to places they never knew they’d be, but where they truly do belong.

Thus, this story is about finding those who truly belong to you, and what it means to call them yours.

Belong to Me will have you reading and feeling that connectedness until the very last page, and in the end will make you ecstatic to know there is such a thing as true connection.