One Week to Win the Chocolate Maker by Timothy Janovsky

4*

This is just the kind of feel-good, cute romance I’ve come to expect with Timothy Janovsky. There’s no angst, and the two male leads are open, honest, and caring. I’m not usually a fan of Instalove, but I totally buy into the fantasy of an opposites attract couple (the heir to a chocolate empire and a poor fledgling tattoo artist from a Pennsylvania blue-collar town) who find love in a week with the backdrop of the gorgeous Italian countryside. There are no villains, no heavy angst, and no poor communication skills. It’s just plain fun. Recommended.

Thanks to Afterglow Books (Harlequin) and Netgalley for the ARC. Opinions expressed are my own.

The Love We Found (The Light We Lost #2) by Jill Santopolo

5*

This is a beautiful sequel to one of my favorite love stories, The Light We Lost. The Love We Found starts ten years after Gabe’s death, and Santopolo’s decision to use Lucy’s voice narrating the story to Gabe is an especially poignant one. I teared up at times, but not to the devastating degree I did with Gabe and Lucy’s story. This is a story of hope, navigating motherhood, blended families, and the fear and exhilaration of finding love again after loss. Dax is a worthy successor to Gabe, but as Dax said, it’s not a competition, just a comparison. If you’re looking for a mature romance between two wonderful people who, despite suffering shattering loss, take a chance on love, read this. Although it can be read as a standalone, I encourage you to read The Light We Lost first. Highly recommended.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from G.P. Putnam’s Sons through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

 

By Any Other Name by Lauren Kate

 

4*

Spoilers:

This love story within a love story is an absolute delight! It is the second contemporary romance I’ve read by Lauren Kate, and i hope she continues to write these sorts of love stories since I’m not a fan of the romantasy genre she’s better known for.

After reading Noa Callaway’s first book in college, Lanie Bloom was so inspired by her brilliant take on love that she gave up on the idea of following her parents’ footsteps into medicine and decided to pursue a career in publishing instead, becoming assistant to Peony Publishing’s editorial director Alix. After seven years of emails between Lanie and Peony Publishing’s top author Callaway (who has never been seen by anyone but Alix), in which she plays good cop to Alix’s bad cop when trying to get Noa to accept editorial changes to her manuscript, Alix decides to quit after having a baby. Lanie is “provisionally” promoted to editorial director so long as she can get Noa, who is four months past her deadline for her next book, to deliver a manuscript within 3 months. When they finally meet, Lanie is shocked to find that the real Noa(h) is a man, making her question everything she thought she knew about what constitutes “real love.”

As a way to break Noah out of his writer’s block and find inspiration for what he hopes will be a book that covers the entire spectrum of love, not just the beginning, Lanie proposes a series of encounters of lesser-known New York City landmarks like The Cloisters, Pomander Walk, and Gapstow Bridge in Central Park. It's pretty obvious from the first meeting at the Chess House in Central Park that, despite Noah’s true identity, they’ve become friends of sorts over the past seven years, playing virtual chess, sharing bits of their lives, and Noa even sending tulips to Lanie after each new book is published. So, it’s fun to see how Noah incorporates parts of their story and his feelings into the new book he’s writing.

In an author’s note, Kate says “I wanted to explore how Lanie and Noa(h) can have a stimulating intellectual argument one moment, burst out laughing the next, and share each other’s grief in the third.” I’d say that she achieved this beautifully as Lanie and Noah’s relationship segues from emails to impromptu meals where they challenge each other to train trips down to D.C. where Noah opens up about his mother’s worsening Alzheimer’s and Lanie talks about losing her mother at age 10 whose last bit of advice to her was to hold out for someone she’d “really, really love.” Noah learned about love from his romance-loving single Mom and his two “aunts” and, from that first book he wrote at age 20, Lanie discovered someone who outlined the elements that make up real love.

In addition to the central slow burn, clean romance written from Lanie’s POV, this is also a love letter to New York City, and I never tire of learning more of those out-of-the-way places that make the City so fascinating. I also really enjoyed Lanie’s grandmother, BD, a holocaust survivor and sex-positive septuagenarian who provided the maternal guidance Lanie so sorely needed. My only slight criticism is that I felt it ended a bit abruptly. I would have liked to have seen what the reaction was when Noah finally shared his true identity with his readership and what came after their kiss that we waited until the last page to get. Still a lovely romance, though, so I recommend it.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from G.P. Putnam’s Sons through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.
 

 

Just One Taste by Lizzy Dent

 

3.5*

I’d give this 4*, but it didn’t capture my attention at first and I didn’t agree with Olive’s decision to sell her late father Nicky’s London restaurant or the abrupt way she shared it with Leo, the sous chef who was like a son to Nicky. As I read further, Olive’s thoughts about the restaurant, which she inherited when he died suddenly, began to shift, and I started warming up to the story. Amidst the stunning regions of Italy that Olive and Leo visited as inspiration to finish her father’s cookbook (Catania, Tuscany, and Liguria), the feelings between them began to grow. It was refreshing to read a love story between two kind and caring people that didn’t come with a heaping pile of angst or a mess due to miscommunication. Leo definitely had ideas about how to fix the dated restaurant and tired menu, and when Olive was receptive to hearing them, he shared, but he never put any pressure on her to decide to keep the restaurant if it wasn’t what was best for her. As his aunt said, he takes care of the people he loves and, unlike her father who put the restaurant before his family, Olive began to trust that Leo wouldn’t repeat her father’s mistakes.

 

In summary, this slow burn romance is a foodie’s dream and a love letter to the sights, tastes and smells of Italy. It might not be a book that keeps you up all night reading, but like a leisurely meal under the Tuscan sun, it’ll leave you feeling satiated and satisfied that all is right in Olive and Leo’s world. Recommended.

 

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from G.P. Putnam’s Sons through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

 

 

 

A Daughter of Fair Verona (Daughter of Montague #1) by Christina Dodd

 

4*

I really enjoyed this unique, creative, humorous retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, imagining that they didn’t die, and I definitely got the vibe that this is how Shakespeare’s comedies would sound if written in contemporary English. It was a treat to see Romeo and Juliet as great parents, still madly in love after 20+ years. Although the book opens with them promising their spinster daughter Rosaline (all of age 20) to an evil duke, whose last three wives died under suspicious circumstances, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Romeo taught all of his daughters how to defend themselves. So, although the medieval society of Verona was misogynistic, Romeo was surprisingly modern in his relationships with the females in his life.

There was one passage early in the book that was very reminiscent of Monty Python’s brand of comedy, and that bawdy, sometimes brutal humor was sprinkled throughout the story, including some pretty gruesome scenes as the murder mystery unfolded and the bodies kept piling up.

This is a perfect blending of a love triangle romance between Rosie, the young and handsome Lysander, and the 26-year-old scarred, but kind and protective Prince of Verona, Escalus, and a murder mystery in which Rosie takes on a detective role of sorts. My only complaint is that I found the ending irritatingly ambiguous, and then realized that it’s the first book in a series. So, I’m going to assume that any loose ends will be tied up in the next book.

If you are looking for a relatively light-hearted, multi-genre story that keeps you laughing and guessing, I highly recommend A Daughter of Fair Verona.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Kensington Books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

 

The Lost Dresses of Italy by M.A. McLaughlin

 

5*

All the best historical fiction seamlessly blends real events and people with fictional characters and, often, periods of historical figures’ lives from the author’s imagination. In this dual timeline story, McLaughlin introduces her readers to Marianne Baxter, a war widow and costume curator, who is invited to Verona, Italy in 1947 by a friend to research and restore three Victorian-era gowns for the reopening of a museum that was damaged during the war. When she finds a letter in a sleeve addressed to famed poet Christina Rossetti from her father, it begins a hunt for clues not only about the woman who wore the dresses, but also how they ended up in a walled-over room in the museum. In her postscript, McLaughlin mentions a cryptic quote from Christina Rossetti’s brother William, who accompanied her on her trip to Italy in 1865, which presumably was the inspiration for this fictionalized period of her life. “Had she [Christina] henceforth lived in Italy…she would, I believe, have been a much happier woman than she was.”

The story opens with a murder outside the museum, when a young man in the Italian Resistance is double-crossed by a compatriot who kills him for the emerald he was about to sell to raise money for their cause. In the letter, Christina’s father writes of a pendant that she would have found after his death, a probable connection to the murder. As Marianne begins to follow the clues as to what transpired during Christina’s visit to Italy, it angers the museum director, Alessandro Forni, whose cousin was the murder victim. As he tells her, “Wading into the unfamiliar waters of a foreign country, which has so recently endured a bitter war, can stir up nothing but ugly things lurking in the depths.” This foreshadows what becomes a suspenseful mystery that combines the restoration of various art forms with jewelry theft, the physical and emotional toll war’s death and destruction had on the people and the morally dubious choices they had to make to survive, and an epic love story that has faint echoes to the most famous star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet. So, it’s only fitting that most of the book is set in Verona.

McLaughlin chose a dual POV, featuring two creative women eighty years apart who went to Italy and found love when they weren’t looking. Their trajectories were different, but their time there profoundly changed them. Don’t be surprised if you end up going down a rabbit hole Googling information about the Rossetti family, especially after reading the conversations between Christina and her more famous brother, Dante, both of whom their mother referred to as the “storms” (versus their other siblings, William and Maria, who were the “calms”). The Lost Dresses of Italy is a compelling story with vibrant characters driven by greed, obsession, passion, and grief, one that you won’t quickly forget. Highly recommended.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Alcove Press through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

The Girl from Venice by Siobhan Daiko

 

3*


Lidia de Angeles is a medical student in her early 20s when Mussolini and the Italian Fascist party ally themselves with the Nazis. She is in love with her childhood friend Renzo and is living with her doctor father in a beautiful apartment in Venice. On the first day of the new semester, she finds that Jews will no longer be allowed to study at the university which is a huge red flag about the future treatment of Jews in Italy. Renzo’s parents heed the warning and move the family to Switzerland, but Lidia’s father, ever the optimist, refuses to believe they’re at risk until the inevitable happens. Soon, Lidia (with a new identity as Catholic Elena) escapes the city and eventually joins the resistance fighters.

The parallel story in this time slip novel is about her granddaughter Lottie, a history teacher in London, who, upon her grandmother’s death, finds a Jewish prayer book, photograph, and cache of letters that reveal a snippet of Lidia’s past. She never shared what happened to her during the war, so Lottie decides to use her summer break to investigate. Conveniently, the two women who are able to share their memories are both still alive and in their nineties.

Although this story is compelling and heartbreaking as so many books about World War II are, I found the writing style problematic which made it difficult to remain engaged. Lidia’s story is from a 3rd person POV while Lottie’s is first person which generally wouldn’t be a problem. However, the transitions between the two timelines as well as the abruptness from one event to the next without enough details gave me whiplash. The tone was also too familiar, for lack of a better word. It would have been better if Lottie had narrated her own story without also writing her own dialogue (ex., “‘Wow. Just…wow,’ I said.”)

There are also plot points that strain plausibility. For example, why did Lottie wait until after her grandmother’s death to ask why she and her only child (Lottie’s mother) were estranged? We never get a satisfactory answer, even after Lottie uncovers Lidia’s past. All her mother says is that Lidia’s refusal to share her past made her feel like part of herself was missing. Why did Lidia tell Lottie that her daughter, who Lottie describes as an “ice maiden”, took after her husband in both looks and personality when David seemed very warm and loving? Why is Lottie’s breakup with her boyfriend described so dispassionately, especially if she uses it as an excuse to put off Alex, her new romantic interest? In fact, all of the romantic couplings in the book seem rushed with no evidence of chemistry but with declarations of love coming just a few days or weeks after meeting.

Since this book is based on actual events, why did the author used a fictitious name for the town where Lidia’s friend Rosina (the writer of the letters) lived? I always like to look up places, especially since the distance between Venice and Sant’Illaria becomes significant towards the end of the book. It makes me question which parts of the story are fictitious rather than true history.

As a huge fan of both time-slip novels and historical fiction, I was excited to read this story. Unfortunately, there were too many flaws for me to immerse myself and enjoy it. If you’re looking for books that do a much better job, consider Sarah Jio’s All the Flowers in Paris and Susan Meissner’s Secrets of a Charmed Life.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Books Go Social through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Dreaming of Tuscany by T.A. Williams

After a horrific accident on the Siena, Italy set of a movie on which she’s serving as a consultant, historian Bee Kingdom wakes from a coma in the hospital with a shaved head and some serious injuries. At the request of the production company, she and the film’s star, Mimi Robertson, who was also slightly injured, are sent to recoup in an isolated Tuscan villa. Over the course of a summer, Bee falls in love: with the countryside and its historic sites, a lovely black Labrador named Romeo, the friendly employees and neighbors on the estate, and an emotionally damaged estate manager named Luke. When the summer and her recuperation come to an end and she’s offered a new job far away, will she choose her career or the chance for love?

Williams has written a lovely, light romantic novel that should leave all of his readers “Dreaming of Tuscany.” His luscious descriptions of Italy, including its rich history, delicious food, and warm people paint a vivid picture of paradise. There’s nothing emotionally wrenching or earth-shattering about the book; just a fun story that leaves readers ready to book a trip to Italy themselves. Bella Italia!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Canelo through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.