Disneyland For Lonely Hearts

By Enne Hess: 

Being in love with Disneyland is a given, but what about falling in love at Disneyland? Somewhere between Fantasmic! and Peter Pan’s Flight, bread bowls and the Haunted Mansion, there is a home for romantics one and all. The novel DISNEYLAND FOR LONELY HEARTS (now available on Kindle and Nook) explores this world of color, kaleidoscopes, and coming of age as adults.

Melinda Rhodes used to crack fortune cookies in search of the miraculous. She stole dandelion puffs from the yards of strangers even when pit bulls posed a threat. And to her, poetry always sounded like incantations, though she won't admit it anymore. Since the death of her husband, Melinda has fallen out of love with love. Years later, this former romance novelist can barely fill out a deposit slip without crying. Her best friends Tara, a perennial beatnik, and Keri, a blind therapist, buy her an annual pass to Disneyland in a last stitch effort to help Melinda reunite with her own whimsy.

As a regular at the theme park Melinda tries to look behind fairy tale clichés, but finds herself going to salsa bars with Disney princesses, power walking through Fantasyland, and giving pep talks to the punk rocker inside the plush Minnie Mouse costume. In her new routine, Melinda meets Cole, a slacker who's worked every job at Disneyland – from jazz trumpeter to Monorail attendant. They both have secrets they aren't willing to share quite yet.

In DISNEYLAND FOR LONELY HEARTS, Melinda wanders amongst cynics and romantics to find a wonderland in herself far more complex than expected.

More information can be found at: http://disneylandforlonelyhearts.tumblr.com/ebook/

Cheers and enchantment!

Disneylanders, A Novel: Book Review

 
Disneylanders, A Novel
Have you ever read a book that immediately transports you to the place or time that you are reading about? The sights, the sounds and smells? Has a book ever taken you back to your childhood? Well, Kate Abbott's book, Disneylanders, A Novel, published by Theme Park Press, does just that. Not only does the author take me straight to Disneyland, but she has the ability to take me back in time to my own childhood and those oh–so–awkward moments of testing my wings; trying to become an adult. (p.s. this book is geared for the teen audience.)

Kate Abbott's book is well written and thoughtful; about a thirteen year old girl struggling to figure out who she is. Casey is on vacation with her parents at Disneyland, where through crazy circumstances, she bumps into a fifteen year old boy and they innocently spend their time together with and without their families, touring the parks, enjoying the rides and getting to know one another. There's a lot of Disney trivia thrown in for good measure.

I found myself completely engrossed in the story, reading aloud descriptive paragraphs to my husband, and quizzing him on the chapter titles. Each chapter named "more or less on a famous Disney slogan, song, attraction, show or spiel." (The answers were at the end of the book!)

Although the book is written for a specific group, young adults or tweens, I truly enjoyed reading this. It is a fun, heartfelt story, sometimes hitting close to home, it made the tale that much more believable.

Thank you to Theme Park Press for sending this book to me for review!
This link will take you to their other book selections!