‘Wonderfully intimate and honest.’ – Pauliina Ståhlberg, Director of The Finnish Institute in LondonShe’s just fourteen. He’s twenty-one and a grown man. Is she too young to fall in love? Finland 1974. Kaisa is the new girl in town – again. When a messy divorce forces Kaisa’s mother to move to a small flat in an island suburb of Helsinki, Kaisa isn’t looking forward to another new school. But … forward to another new school. But soon she meets Vappu Noren and begins to spend all her days in Vappu’s large, chaotic house, filled with her three unruly siblings and their friends.
Matti loves Kaisa at first sight. She is just the kind of innocent girl he’s been looking for. Infatuated with her pale blue eyes, he makes careful plans to seduce Kaisa on Midsummer’s Eve.
But is Kaisa too young to fall in love?
If you like an honest and intimate true love story, you will adore this ‘Nordic Lolita’ by Helena Halme.
A standalone read, The Young Heart is a prequel to The Nordic Heart Romance Series, the Cold War love story between Finnish-born Kaisa and British Navy officer, Peter.
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A look at Kaisa’s life. Kaisa was new in town she’s 14 yrs. old and use to entering a new school she sits next to a young girl her age and they become friends Vappu, and she meets her family they live in a big house on the river and their are always kids in their house other than the ones that live there, and her parents were divorced too. She thought she was interested in one of Vappu’s brothers but when the oldest ask her out she refuses, she was young and shy. Petteri’s best friend is Matti who is also in military training and wants to be part of the Forestry Department decides that he wants Kaisa as his own. After some time during her summer work Matti comes home on leave and hears that Kaisa has to work during the holiday and he asks her out. Suspense and romance. This is an interesting story line and the characters are interesting too. I was given a copy as a gift by author without obligation. I am providing an honest review.
The Young Heart – My first book by this author and I have conflicting thoughts after reading all five books sequentially. I usually chain read as many books by one author as possible, but I had to pick up other books to take a break from Kaisa. This is introduction to Kaisa the main character and several supporting characters of the Nordic Series. Kaisa is a 14-year-old female. Her thought processes, or lack of, her experiences with her family members and her friends-to-lovers relationship with a 21-year-old man. I was fortunate to read this book before I read the other four books in the series and found the foundation set in this story explained some of her decisions she made in the other books. But it is not a must read to understand the other books.
This is an in-depth story about Kaisa and Matti’s relationship, so it may be good to read first, or not. While the book was well edited, thank you Ms. Halme, and I understood the Nordic and Russian cultures from history books and personal experience, I just didn’t care too much for Kaisa, but she is a child in many ways. This book stops and The English Heart picks the story up. There’s infrequent vulgar language and the sex is not explicit. 3*
The Nordic Heart series: I bought this set, else I would not have read the next four books. I bought the set before I read the prequel The Young Heart. Simplistic in writing, which is OK, and well edited, which is great, but I was disappointed in what could have been a great set of books. I’ve been aware of The Englishman and Helena Halme for over a year and was really looking forward to an interesting and entertaining series. I understand cross-cultures (been there, done that), alienation, abuse and misunderstandings, but her use of alcohol and promiscuous behavior along with her mindset is unsettling in how Kaisa handles life and problems. There are interesting descriptions of the different locations and the characters develop more with each book, except Kaisa she remains Kaisa, although in the last book, she does better with Peter. There’s infrequent vulgar language and the sex is not explicit. Each book continues with my review. I’m not sure which was a better deal, this boxed set or a cuppa of English coffee as described. 3*
The English Heart #1 (aka The Englishman) – Well edited and easily read with a simplistic, choppy writing style, and interesting descriptions of Sweden and Finland and some good main and supporting characters. There’s a lot of music references that don’t do anything for the story but give a timeline, if you know when the music first played. The movies help explain some of her mindset.
Picking up where the prequel The Young Heart ended, Kaisa mets her Englishman, a likable but dumb young man and begins the start of their long distance relationship. By the time I finished this book I really disliked Kaisa. She’s immature, self centered and very selfish, and doesn’t want to learn from her mistakes. She knows what not to do, yet goes full-bore and repeats her mistakes again and again. She uses everyone without regard, doesn’t consider the consequences of her actions and is about as social as a rock. 3*
The Faithful Heart #2 (The Navy Wife) – They’re married now. Kaisa thinks she a feminist so she doesn’t support her husband or her marriage. She thinks she’s being a “navy wife” if she cooks his breakfast before he leaves in the morning; she wants to sleep late and she doesn’t have a job. She won’t work on her marriage and expects Peter to do everything. Instead of communicating with her husband, she screams and rages. Instead of working out solutions to her problems, real and otherwise, she remains the immature, selfish and anti-social idiot increasing her alienation from everyone. I really, really dislike Kaisa and feel sorry for dumb Peter for falling in love with this moron. Unfortunately, he gives in to her anger, instead of telling her to grow up. 3*
The Good Heart #3 (The Good Officer) – Kaisa abandons Peter right when he needs her most. Typical behavior from her, it’s always about her. Her actions causes Peter to face a court martial, which affects his career in the Navy. Rose plays a large part in this story by helping and mentoring Kaisa with her career and life choices. Kaisa still ignores Peter’s family. 3*
The True Heart #4 – Together but still with problems, Kaisa still isn’t a likable character. She does do better with supporting Peter in his career. The past comes back to bite her hard, but she does better handling things than she did in the other books. She’s 30, she should have learned something from all her mistakes. This is probably the best of the books but only the last 50 percent. She’s still selfish, but others are supporting her. She still doesn’t interact much with Peter’s family. 3*