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Two-Sided Heart
For Randal, it is love at first sight when he lays eyes on Leah. After a short, whirlwind romance, Leah leaves all she knows behind in New Orleans and moves to Savannah, Georgia to marry her newfound love, only to exist in secrets.
Now seven years of bliss, Leah and Randal welcome beautiful, twin daughters—Leanne and Brooklyn. After several hours of intense labor, Leah falls madly in love with her babies. Randal, on the other hand, not so much. With a heart of ice, Randal makes an unconscionable decision that changes Leah’s life forever and eventually determines his demise.
After Randal being the breadwinner and taking care of everything, Leah now finds herself heartbroken, clueless, betrayed, and alone. With only Brooklyn by her side, she embarks upon a new life, with Randal’s secret constantly haunting her.
"Two-Sided Heart" is a mother’s worst nightmare.
Now seven years of bliss, Leah and Randal welcome beautiful, twin daughters—Leanne and Brooklyn. After several hours of intense labor, Leah falls madly in love with her babies. Randal, on the other hand, not so much. With a heart of ice, Randal makes an unconscionable decision that changes Leah’s life forever and eventually determines his demise.
After Randal being the breadwinner and taking care of everything, Leah now finds herself heartbroken, clueless, betrayed, and alone. With only Brooklyn by her side, she embarks upon a new life, with Randal’s secret constantly haunting her.
"Two-Sided Heart" is a mother’s worst nightmare.
326 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 8, 2018
4 people are currently reading
9 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 28, 2018
This is a story of the love of a mother and the connection of twins torn apart at birth. Leah was a young woman from Louisiana who could pass for white when she met Randall Mann. He claimed he didn't care about her color until they had children. Leah has to rebuild her life that is devastated by tragedy. Patricia Anne Phillips does a good job with this story and it was enjoyable. It was a little repetitive in areas and I found few inconsistencies, but a good story overall.
March 2, 2018
Book Review
Two-Sided Heart: Novel
By Patricia Anne Phillips
Reviewed by Maxine Thompson
http://www.maxinethompsonbooks.com
http://www.maxinethompson.com
Stories of twins separated at birth have been around for many years. But Patricia Anne Phillips’ novel, Two-Sided Heart, has a fresh twist. This is a multi-layered, intergenerational gem of a story.
The story opens on the day of Elvis Presley’s death, August 16, 1977. This is a great historical marker, because on the day of Presley’s death, the world mourned this rock n’ roll icon as it was the end of an era. His cultural impact was one that combined African American music, country music, and blues. Elvis Presley represented the beginning of more integration of Blacks and whites through music, which also is reflected in this storyline.
Ironically, on the date of Elvis Presley’s death, Leah Mann, the protagonist, goes into labor and prematurely gives birth to twin daughters, one Black and one white.
Today, we see these stories on the Internet, where there is a white parent and a black parent, who, through a genetic chance occurrence, give birth to twin babies exhibiting two different colors. One child looks white, the other twin looks black.
In this case, Leah sees her babies, whom she falls in love with right away. Although both babies are biracial, you could only tell it in one baby. One baby is white, and the other baby is tan—clearly destined to be a Black child.
The problem is Randal, Leah’s husband, is white, and she is Creole. Although her husband knew of Leah’s Black DNA when he married her, he hadn’t minded because she looked white. He met her in New Orleans, where mixed races are common. After their marriage, all his friends assumed Leah was white.
However, Randal hadn’t thought about the possibility of the Black genetics showing up when they gave birth to their set of twins. This may have not been as important in today’s society. Unfortunately, this took place during a social period in history when Interracial dating and marriage were still taboo.
Initially, the father let his displeasure be known to Leah. He even expressed regret in marrying her, although he had loved her. Then, when Leah is released from the hospital with the white looking baby, Brooklyn, Randal seems to have a change of heart. The black baby, Leanne, was left behind in the hospital to gain weight. The husband told Leah that the baby had a weak heart. In a rash movement, her husband gave the Black twin up for adoption, but told his wife that the baby had died. Because he was going through bankruptcy, he thought the money he received for the baby would save him. His guilt, combined with his financial difficulties, were too much to handle, and he committed suicide when the remaining twin, Brooklyn, was only a month old.
Leah, whose husband has been the main support of the family, is left alone to fend for herself with her baby girl, Brooklyn. In addition, she finds out Leanne, the baby she is mourning, is not dead, but that the husband has given the baby away, so her grief is compounded. But, she has to figure out a way to make a living, so her search for her daughter is superseded by her need to feed her remaining twin and herself.
Thus, begins two separate journeys for the twin girls. Needless to say, the white twin, Brooklyn, has the luck of the draw. She appears white, and she has her mother’s undying love. On the other hand, Leanne, who began life rejected by her father, seemed to have a good start with what appeared to be a good adoptive Black family. But in a twist of fate, the truth came out about her adoptive family, and Leanne wounded up being orphaned and having to stay with unrelated, uncaring relatives.
This is a story of a mother’s deep abiding love and her great courage to rebuild her life. I loved this story because it is a page turner, yet it is relatable. With business elements, romance, suspense, and finally a surprising climax, this will keep the reader glued to the page, waiting to see what will happen next.
This is a tale of what it is to be marginalized by race in this country. Yet this is a story of redemption. Race is still the number one issue woven into the tapestry of this country, and this is a timely story.
Two-Sided Heart: Novel
By Patricia Anne Phillips
Reviewed by Maxine Thompson
http://www.maxinethompsonbooks.com
http://www.maxinethompson.com
Stories of twins separated at birth have been around for many years. But Patricia Anne Phillips’ novel, Two-Sided Heart, has a fresh twist. This is a multi-layered, intergenerational gem of a story.
The story opens on the day of Elvis Presley’s death, August 16, 1977. This is a great historical marker, because on the day of Presley’s death, the world mourned this rock n’ roll icon as it was the end of an era. His cultural impact was one that combined African American music, country music, and blues. Elvis Presley represented the beginning of more integration of Blacks and whites through music, which also is reflected in this storyline.
Ironically, on the date of Elvis Presley’s death, Leah Mann, the protagonist, goes into labor and prematurely gives birth to twin daughters, one Black and one white.
Today, we see these stories on the Internet, where there is a white parent and a black parent, who, through a genetic chance occurrence, give birth to twin babies exhibiting two different colors. One child looks white, the other twin looks black.
In this case, Leah sees her babies, whom she falls in love with right away. Although both babies are biracial, you could only tell it in one baby. One baby is white, and the other baby is tan—clearly destined to be a Black child.
The problem is Randal, Leah’s husband, is white, and she is Creole. Although her husband knew of Leah’s Black DNA when he married her, he hadn’t minded because she looked white. He met her in New Orleans, where mixed races are common. After their marriage, all his friends assumed Leah was white.
However, Randal hadn’t thought about the possibility of the Black genetics showing up when they gave birth to their set of twins. This may have not been as important in today’s society. Unfortunately, this took place during a social period in history when Interracial dating and marriage were still taboo.
Initially, the father let his displeasure be known to Leah. He even expressed regret in marrying her, although he had loved her. Then, when Leah is released from the hospital with the white looking baby, Brooklyn, Randal seems to have a change of heart. The black baby, Leanne, was left behind in the hospital to gain weight. The husband told Leah that the baby had a weak heart. In a rash movement, her husband gave the Black twin up for adoption, but told his wife that the baby had died. Because he was going through bankruptcy, he thought the money he received for the baby would save him. His guilt, combined with his financial difficulties, were too much to handle, and he committed suicide when the remaining twin, Brooklyn, was only a month old.
Leah, whose husband has been the main support of the family, is left alone to fend for herself with her baby girl, Brooklyn. In addition, she finds out Leanne, the baby she is mourning, is not dead, but that the husband has given the baby away, so her grief is compounded. But, she has to figure out a way to make a living, so her search for her daughter is superseded by her need to feed her remaining twin and herself.
Thus, begins two separate journeys for the twin girls. Needless to say, the white twin, Brooklyn, has the luck of the draw. She appears white, and she has her mother’s undying love. On the other hand, Leanne, who began life rejected by her father, seemed to have a good start with what appeared to be a good adoptive Black family. But in a twist of fate, the truth came out about her adoptive family, and Leanne wounded up being orphaned and having to stay with unrelated, uncaring relatives.
This is a story of a mother’s deep abiding love and her great courage to rebuild her life. I loved this story because it is a page turner, yet it is relatable. With business elements, romance, suspense, and finally a surprising climax, this will keep the reader glued to the page, waiting to see what will happen next.
This is a tale of what it is to be marginalized by race in this country. Yet this is a story of redemption. Race is still the number one issue woven into the tapestry of this country, and this is a timely story.
March 9, 2026
I picked this up on a recommendation from my book club and finished it in one sitting with my heart in my throat the entire time. Two-Sided Heart is not a comfortable read. It is not supposed to be. And Patricia Anne Phillips is absolutely fearless in the way she goes after the most painful corners of this story.
Leah hooked me from the very first pages. That opening the whirlwind romance, leaving New Orleans behind, the intoxicating feeling of a love that seems too good to question is written with such warmth that you settle into it completely. You want this for her. You are happy for her. Phillips is very deliberately building something beautiful so that when it fractures the impact is total.
And Randal. I have to talk about Randal. On the surface he is a provider, a devoted husband, a man who seemingly has it all together. Phillips is masterful at revealing the ice beneath that surface slowly and deliberately so that by the time his true nature fully reveals itself you are furious in the way that only great fiction can make you furious because it feels real. Because you have met this man before in some form and you know exactly what he is capable of.
The twin daughters arriving should be the happiest moment in this story. The way Phillips turns that moment into something devastating is genuinely breathtaking writing. Leah's love for those babies pours off the page fierce and immediate and total and set against Randal's chilling response it creates a contrast that is almost unbearable to read. Almost. You keep reading because you have to know.
What the book does so brilliantly in its second half is show Leah rebuilding herself from nothing. No financial independence, no roadmap, haunted by a secret that colors everything and yet she keeps moving forward with Brooklyn beside her. There is nothing glamorous about her survival. It is quiet and hard and earned page by page and it is some of the most honest portraiture of a woman starting over that I have read in a long time.
The secret at the heart of this story is handled with real restraint. Phillips does not sensationalize it. She lets it sit there and do its damage slowly the way real secrets do and that choice makes it so much more powerful than any dramatic reveal could have been.
This is a book about betrayal and motherhood and what women carry alone and what it costs them and how they survive anyway. Patricia Anne Phillips writes all of that with unflinching honesty and tremendous heart.
Devastating, powerful and absolutely worth every emotion it puts you through. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Leah hooked me from the very first pages. That opening the whirlwind romance, leaving New Orleans behind, the intoxicating feeling of a love that seems too good to question is written with such warmth that you settle into it completely. You want this for her. You are happy for her. Phillips is very deliberately building something beautiful so that when it fractures the impact is total.
And Randal. I have to talk about Randal. On the surface he is a provider, a devoted husband, a man who seemingly has it all together. Phillips is masterful at revealing the ice beneath that surface slowly and deliberately so that by the time his true nature fully reveals itself you are furious in the way that only great fiction can make you furious because it feels real. Because you have met this man before in some form and you know exactly what he is capable of.
The twin daughters arriving should be the happiest moment in this story. The way Phillips turns that moment into something devastating is genuinely breathtaking writing. Leah's love for those babies pours off the page fierce and immediate and total and set against Randal's chilling response it creates a contrast that is almost unbearable to read. Almost. You keep reading because you have to know.
What the book does so brilliantly in its second half is show Leah rebuilding herself from nothing. No financial independence, no roadmap, haunted by a secret that colors everything and yet she keeps moving forward with Brooklyn beside her. There is nothing glamorous about her survival. It is quiet and hard and earned page by page and it is some of the most honest portraiture of a woman starting over that I have read in a long time.
The secret at the heart of this story is handled with real restraint. Phillips does not sensationalize it. She lets it sit there and do its damage slowly the way real secrets do and that choice makes it so much more powerful than any dramatic reveal could have been.
This is a book about betrayal and motherhood and what women carry alone and what it costs them and how they survive anyway. Patricia Anne Phillips writes all of that with unflinching honesty and tremendous heart.
Devastating, powerful and absolutely worth every emotion it puts you through. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
January 13, 2020
Great story!
I enjoyed Two-Sided Heart. The premise was engaging and kept me turning the page. However, there were small issues with inconsistencies and other things that kept me from giving the book five stars.
I enjoyed Two-Sided Heart. The premise was engaging and kept me turning the page. However, there were small issues with inconsistencies and other things that kept me from giving the book five stars.
February 23, 2018
Excellent
This was the best book I have read in ages. The different plots were a page-turner. I was sad when the book ended.
This was the best book I have read in ages. The different plots were a page-turner. I was sad when the book ended.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews