Open Your Heart

by Michelle Monkou

Still haunted by a violent attack that destroyed her life and self-confidence, nurse Shelly Bishop slowly opens her delicate heart to the possibilities of love when she encounters Justin Thornton, an... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1583143793
• ISBN13: 9781583143797
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: Kimani Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

Open Your Heart, You'll Enjoy This Book!

Shelly Bishop is still grappling to forget the pain inflicted upon her by an old flame, Toby Gillis. Justin Thornton is attracted to the strong, courageous woman, however, he's been burned by women before, and wonders if Shelly is after his money. Toby Gillis wants to take over Justin's family bank, using his backstabbing tactics. Toby approachs Shelly again, and she finally finds the strength to overcome her fears of her attacker. Justin executes a plan to bring Toby Gillis down, wanting to make Toby suffer for all the wrongs he's inflicted upon Shelly and his family business. While Shelly cares for her elderly ill patient, Justin's father, she develops a loving relationship with the old man, and Shelly and Justin finally discover his plan to bring the two of them together.This book was great! It shows how a young courageous woman overcame her fears, and learned to open her heart and love again! This is an exciting first novel from Ms. Monkou, and I look forward to reading her next book!

Open Your Heart

Wonderful! Exceptional story that will raise your spirits and touch your heart.

Excellent Read

I have to start out by saying I haven't read a romance novel for many years. However, this book took hold of me from the first page until its conclusion. Michelle did an excellent job of gaining your interest in the story immediately with an opening chapter that grabbed you and pulled you in. She developed very strong characters and made you want to know what would happen next. The main storyline involving Justin and Shelly and how their love developed was enough to keep your interest but she took it a step further by having interesting and well written subplots including one that involved family and commitment that added even more to an already well told story. For many readers the character they loved most is the father. However, for me my favorite characters were Justin and Shelly. I loved their story. I loved the way Michelle had their love develop, nuture, and grow and eventually wind up in the ending that you wanted. My favorite scene in the book was the first time they shared their love. It was beautifully written and it's what everyone who wants to be or is in love dreams about. I started out by saying that I hadn't read a romance novel in a number of years; however, because of this book, I am anxiously awaiting Michelle's next novel entitled Finders Keepers. An excellent job from start to finish.

Bravo Michelle, Open Your Heart is a winner!

Open Your Heart is a wonderfully delightful novel written by an exciting new author, Michelle Monkou. I read it and thoroughly enjoyed it. As the title suggested, I opened my heart and was amply rewarded with several hours of a remarkable written, emotionally satisfying, and thoughtfully presented novel. Open Your Heart is filled with tender moments and exciting intrigue centering around wonderfully thought out characters that seem to jump right off the page. The plot was particularly well developed and continually gave me the sense of urgency as the story line played out on each page. The novel flowed easily with well-written dialogue and detail descriptions. Open Your Heart is a human-interest gem filled with emotion and feeling that kept me entertained from the first page to the very last.The two main characters, Shelly Bishop and Justin Thorton, are extremely well written and gave me a detailed sense of their personality and motivations. Shelly, battling the inner turmoil of a long ago betrayal, is timid when it comes to opening her heart and trusting for fear of being hurt again. Having been physically attacked by a man whom she once considered a friend, she finds it difficult to open up to anyone including her family. Then there's Justin Thorton, the strong hero, who struggles with having been betrayed by his wife's infidelity. The wife begged his forgiveness just before she is killed in a car accident. Justin didn't forgive her and is tortured by that decision. Several secondary characters also add to the fullness of the novel. My favorites are; Phillip Thorton, the sly matchmaking father of Justin, and Toby Gillis, an all around menace and meanie. In a well-rounded ensemble, these characters brought the story to life and had me excitedly reading until the wee hours of the morning. Bravo Michelle, you've got a winner in Open Your heart!