Angelina
Disano
Romance
Midwest Book Review:
Make Me Whole
Make Me Whole is a romance story that probes Grace O'Leary's close-held secret, which is the reason why she doesn't pursue romantic entanglements or relationships. Even with attractive, perfect men like Joe Mura, who has also been avoiding commitment—until he meets Grace.
Together, the two represent a fire of contention and possibility that flames high. Their deadly combination of attributes creates an attraction that defies either secret-keeping or closely held notions of safety and achievement.
Angelina Disano shifts the viewpoints between these two disparate characters to balance their psyches, perceptions, and lives: "Unbidden, his thoughts drifted to Grace, but he vehemently pushed them aside. If he was going to test the waters in a relationship – and that was a big if – it couldn’t possibly be with Grace. They had said no strings. Plus, she lived in New York and last time he checked, New York was not Boston. No, if he were going to consider taking the plunge, Grace could not be a candidate."
As their trajectories continue to dovetail in unexpected ways, the layers of defense each have built over their expectations, desires, and personal strengths (which represent walls as well as bridges) begin to fall.
Grace finds herself wanting to reveal her lifelong secret to Joe, unburdening herself and making herself especially vulnerable for the first time. But she is better at evasion than confession, and she suspects that if she does come clean, Joe will be out of her life forever. As much as she doesn't want him close enough to discover the secret that cloaks her life, she also doesn't want him to leave.
Disano's ability to contrast two seemingly disparate lives to bring forth the similar concerns, limitations, and the objectives that power them lends to a story of coming together, immersion, and discovery.
Romance readers will find the relationship's currents and changes contrast nicely with the concerned friends who want to contribute solutions to an impossible dilemma.
As Grace's fear that she will be treated differently if her secret is known seems to come true, readers will find themselves mesmerized by the process of Grace's growth and self-realizations about not only her own life, but her choices and involvements with others.
Disano creates a story of revelation and love that tugs on the heartstrings. Make Me Whole's ability to resolve dilemmas between two characters that are equally powerful and resolute makes for an appealing tale of coming together and breaking apart.
This makes it a strong attraction for libraries catering to romance readers. This audience will find the concurrent story of growth experienced by both characters to be particularly powerful and revealing.
From Booklife:
Review of Mended Hearts
Disano’s debut highlights romance between a woman raising her younger brother and a CEO coping with his mother’s untimely death. Top-notch student Katie Williams left college before completing her degree, to raise her ten-year-old half-brother Tyler, after their mother died in a car accident. Katie secretly struggles with depression and regret over her decision to return home and take a job in banking. After her neighbor, Mrs. Stephens, dies from a brain aneurysm, Katie meets Matt, the son who comes to clean out his late mother’s apartment. While their relationship blossoms, both are wary of getting too serious—and their future is threatened when Tyler’s father decides to sue for custody if Matt, the CEO of a successful company, doesn’t pay him.
Disano crafts believable characters with a focus on their innermost thoughts and fears. Despite the “jolt of electricity” when they first kiss, the challenges Matt and Katie face in finding their way to each other come from the secrets that each wants to keep. Katie’s ambitions were thwarted by her mother’s death, leading her to raise her brother; despite her willingness to take on this responsibility, she faces worsening depression, which Disano describes with sensitive precision: “She still went to work, shopped for groceries, and took care of Tyler, but she didn’t want to do anything at all.”
Katie shoulders that burden, wary of the possible stigma of revealing it, in much the same way Matt, grieving his mother, initially hides his wealth and business success–his hesitancy stems from a former girlfriend who was more interested in his money than him. Disano slowly peels back the layers of these characters, revealing their wounds and desires, as they must find a way to total honesty if they want a chance at future happiness together. Readers of emotionally acute love stories will find an enjoyable balance of intimacy and action here.
Takeaway: A woman who dropped out of college to raise her younger brother considers risking her heart in this emotional romance.
Great for fans of: Colleen Hoover’s Ugly Love, Brittainy Cherry’s The Mixtape.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: B
Kirkus Review of Mended Hearts
Two adults who suddenly lost their mothers strive for connection in this romance novel.
Since her mom died unexpectedly two years ago, 23-year-old Katie Williams has put college and her future dreams aside to work as a teller in a Portland, Maine, bank and take care of her half brother, 12-year-old Tyler, whose abusive father left years ago. It’s a dull, dreary life in their cramped apartment, but Katie sees no way to move beyond it.
After his own mother’s death, 26-year-old Matt Stephens, a wealthy CEO of a computer software startup in Boston, comes to clean out her place, which happens to be one floor below Katie’s.
When he and Katie run into each other—literally—their attraction is immediate. He’s drawn to her “delicate” prettiness and mane of dark-brown hair and she, to his tall, muscular form and “midnight blue” eyes. They start dating, and the sex is spectacular, but the path to love proves to be a rocky one.
It turns out that both have something to hide; for Katie, it’s her long struggle with depression, while Matt keeps the fact that he’s rich under wraps, hoping to be loved for more than his money. When Tyler’s father threatens to seek custody, the couple’s secrets and true feelings come out.
In her debut novel, Disano initially doesn’t go very deep into Matt and Katie’s instant attraction, instead summing it up unsatisfactorily with questions such as “What was it about him that flustered her so much?” However, the portrayal of the relationship strengthens as the story goes on, and although the two predictably manage to work out their differences, they do so with notable integrity and caring. The couple’s sex life is improbably superb from the get-go, but the scenes that depict it are well written, varied, and reveal some unexpected verve on mild-mannered Katie’s part: “Oh yeah. That’s going to leave a mark.”
An enjoyably lusty romance with good relationship development.