The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany by Lori Nelson Spielman

Just a quick note: I received an ARC of The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany and it has an April, 2020 release date printed on the cover (the reason I just read it in late April). I noticed the release date listed at Goodreads is November of 2020. So, I looked at Amazon and, sure enough, the release date is now November. I presume this is pandemic-related. It would be crazy to wait till November to review it, though, and it can be pre-ordered if you're interested so . . . I'm going to go ahead and review. 

The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany by Lori Nelson Spielman is about a family curse. Hundreds of years ago, a young lady in the Fontana family saw her sister kissing her beloved and cursed all second-born sisters in her family to never find love. Since then, not a single second-born female has married and some have met tragic ends when they found love.

Now, Emilia has been offered a chance to break the curse. Emilia leads a quiet life, working as the baker in her family's New York deli with her father, sister, and grandmother (nonna). She wears glasses and plain clothing, pulls her hair back in a ponytail, and doesn't even bother trying to find men to date since a tragedy in her college years convinced her the curse is real.

When her great aunt Poppy invites her on a trip to Italy, Emilia is tempted but her nonna is adamant that Aunt Poppy is evil and Emilia is to have nothing to do with her. Poppy says she is going to meet the love of her life on the steps of Ravello Cathedral on her 80th birthday and the curse will be broken. After hearing Poppy's claim that the second-daughter curse will be lifted, Emilia decides to go. Her cousin Lucy, another second daughter, accompanies them. Lucy is Emilia's opposite, the kind of girl who is trying way too hard to find love and failing. But, she's willing to go for the sake of having the curse lifted, as well. It will be fun. Poppy is spirited and upbeat, unlike her dour nonna.

Did Aunt Poppy really fall in love over 50 years ago? What happened and why didn't Poppy and her lifelong love marry? Will Poppy's true love show up at the cathedral or is Aunt Poppy hanging onto false hope? Is it really possible to break the curse or did Poppy just want company on her last trip to Italy? Will Emilia and Lucy ever find love or is the curse real? And, will the two women learn that their belief in the curse has kept them from being their true selves?

So many questions.

Highly recommended - Oh, my goodness, I loved this book. I closed it feeling like I'd spent a week or two in Italy and if not for the pandemic, I'd be ready to hop on a plane. The story goes back and forth between Poppy's tale of how she met the love of her life and they were separated to present day New York and Italy and there are lots of surprises. I loved it that I would think "this is going to happen" and then, nope, plot twist. I love a good road trip type of book (not really road trip but journey, I guess) and found that I couldn't wait to sink into The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany, each night, while I was reading it. I put it in the "great beach reading material" category because it is such a fun, escapist read, knowing the beach or other vacations may not be an option for any of us, this year. It's great for when you want to travel mentally, whether you can do so physically or not.

My thanks to Berkley Books for the review copy. I absolutely loved this story!


©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Mini reviews - The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair by J. Dicker, Parson's Green by F. Bagley, Goodnight June by S. Jio

None of the following books were sent to me by publishers and none left a lasting impression, so I'm going to just give them quickie reviews.

The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair by Joel Dicker is a chunkster at 656 pages and I do believe it could have easily been edited down to a much more reasonable length but I still found it engrossing enough to finish within just a couple days. 

Harry Quebert is a famous novelist whose protégé, Marcus, has himself become a bestselling novelist. The deadline for Marcus's second book is looming and Marcus hasn't written a word, so he goes to visit Harry, hoping for inspiration. While visiting, Marcus becomes involved in a murder investigation. Decades in the past young Nola, the love of Harry's life, disappeared and now her body has been found with evidence that incriminates Harry. Marcus believes Harry is innocent and sets out to solve the mystery.

I found the fact that both writers became fabulously wealthy very difficult to buy into and grew weary of Harry and Nola gushing about their love for each other. But I was captivated enough to ignore the book's flaws, whip through the reading and give it a 4-star rating, if for no other reason than the fact that I dislike mysteries, in general, so I figure if a mystery can hold my attention for over 600 pages, it ought to get an above-average rating. For the most part, the French author's understanding of Americans is pretty impressive, as well. The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair is an award winner in the author's home country. Recommended, but you'll probably either love it or hate it.

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Parsons Green by Fiona Bagley was this month's selection for my F2F book group. Cricket McLean and her mother, Claudia, have always been able to see ghosts. Claudia is a travel writer and when she decides to spend a summer helping out in a friend's bookstore in Savannah, Georgia, she is not surprised to find that her rental house is haunted. But, at least the ghosts are friendly.

Cricket doesn't want to spend all her time in the bookstore, so she goes out in search of a job and finds a position working as a tour guide in a local mansion called Chartwell House. There, a baby was murdered, the baby's mother found guilty and hanged for her crime. But, was she truly guilty? As Cricket explores the house and its history, she is able to see scenes that lead her to believe that there are dark forces at work and she must solve the mystery to put at least one ghost to rest.

I thought Parsons Green was a pretty good story, apart from the fact that a few too many people believed in or saw ghosts. My biggest problem with it was the common self-published-book problem: Parsons Green is desperately in need of a professional editing job. Had the book been much longer, I probably wouldn't have made it all the way through the reading, but it's short and the story is compelling. Recommended with a warning that the sheer quantity of errors is exhausting.

Goodnight June is the first book I've read by Sarah Jio, although I've been hearing gushy praise of her books for several years.

June is a cut-throat New York banker whose job is to take over small businesses that are struggling and sell off their assets. June moved to New York from Seattle and has not returned home for several years. She has few friends, no romantic prospects, and she works long hours. June is so stressed that as Goodnight June opens, she's in the hospital to get her blood pressure under control.  She's only in her 30's.

When June finds out her Aunt Ruby has died and left June her beloved bookstore, June travels to Seattle intending to simply sell the store and rush back home. But, she meets a handsome restaurateur, finds a set of letters connecting the bookstore and her aunt to Margaret Wise Brown's book, Goodnight Moon, and decides she must stay to save the bookstore. The store is failing and June finds herself in the same position as the business owners whose livelihoods she has heartlessly ripped away.

Goodnight June is fluffy, sentimental, beachy reading. It was the right book for the moment -- I was swept away, at first, and I enjoyed the fact that it was a quick read. But, it's more than a little far-fetched and the many strands had a "way too convenient" aspect that pulled me out of the reading. In spite of the fact that I had trouble buying into the storyline, I finished Goodnight June, so I gave it an average rating. Recommended for a fluff break with a warning that the story is extremely far-fetched.

If you've already read Goodnight June, you might be interested to know that Margaret Wise Brown's New York writing cottage, Cobble Court, is under threat and may be torn down to make space for condominiums.

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Hurricane Sisters by Dorothea Benton Frank and a Friday cat

The Hurricane Sisters by Dorothea Benton Frank
Copyright 2014
William Morrow  - General fiction/Southern
Source: HarperCollins for review

Brief note about this particular request: I've only read one other Dorothea Benton Frank book, Shem Creek, quite a few years ago. I liked the book and can still recall the setting and general storyline but I didn't love it enough to seek out any of Frank's other books. When this book was offered for review, I chose it specifically for the change of pace.

Brief synopsis:

Elderly Maisie is seen walking down the highway with a llama as The Hurricane Sisters unfolds. Is she nuts or is there more to the story? To find out, we must go back to the beginning, when Maisie's quirky family gathers for her birthday.

At eighty, Maisie is old enough that her daughter has taken away her car and hired a driver, a youngster in his sixties whom Maisie has taken as her lover.  Maisie's daughter Liz, a former model, works hard raising funds for a shelter for abused women and tries not to feel too hurt about the fact that Maisie is always bringing up Liz's long-dead sister, Juliet. Liz's daughter Ashley is an artist, like Juliet, living in her parents' beach house and working in a gallery for $10 an hour. She has visions of marrying a senator, becoming the next Jackie O whilst traveling Europe, where she'll become a famous artist. 

And, that's just the women. On the male side are Liz's workaholic husband, who spends his weekdays in New York City, where he's become entangled with a vixen, Ashley's gay brother and his partner, and Senator Galloway, who is not only full of himself but bad news, in general. What will happen when Liz finds out Clayton is straying? Will Ashley get out of her unhealthy relationship with Senator Galloway or will she go along with whatever he tells her to do, just for the sake of potentially marrying a future president? And, why on earth does Maisie end up walking a llama down the highway?

My thoughts:

The Hurricane Sisters is pure crazy Southern fluff with wacky characters, an interesting setting, some typical dilemmas and a not-so-surprising twist at the end. I did love finding out the deal with the llama but Ashley's relationship just drove me bonkers.  I wanted to swat some sense into her.  However, as in real life, it took a long time before Ashley wised up, with a little help from friends and relatives.

While the writing in The Hurricane Sisters was extremely light, the timing was good. I'd been having trouble focusing on much of anything and (apart from the annoying prevalence of "y'all" in every conversation -- which is just reality in the South), I appreciated the writing for the levity and liked the way all the storylines were wrapped up in the end. I do admit to feeling a little annoyed that everyone was either wealthy and beautiful or desired to be both. That gets a little tiresome. I prefer characters that are realistically flawed, physically as well as emotionally. But, it was the right book for the moment.

Recommended but not a favorite - A very light, beachy read about a quirky family with a serious theme about abuse of women that runs through the book like an undercurrent rather than being thrown in your face. Loved the typically nutty Southern characters.  While beachy reading material is not my normal reading fare, The Hurricane Sisters was the right book for the moment and I don't regret reading it although, in general, it's just average.

Since it's (almost) Friday, a cat photo is required:

Clearly, there's an excellent reason for my aloe vera's spindly looks.

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Thinking of You by Jill Mansell

Thinking of You by Jill Mansell

Copyright 2013 (orig. published by Headline in 2007)

Sourcebooks Landmark - Chick lit

424 pp.

Source:  ARC from Sourcebooks, a May 2013 release

What it's about:

I'm not sure how to describe what Thinking of You is about, because Jill Mansell's books always have so many strands but Ginny Holland is the main character.  She has just become an empty nester and is missing her daughter Jem's company so much that she decides to take on a renter.  She falls for a charming user (don't want to give too much away, here, so I won't go into detail about who she falls for) and so does her best friend, Carla. And, Ginny's renter is turns out to be a bit of a pain.  To get out of the house and away from her depressed renter, Ginny gets a job. Her new boss, Finn, just happens to be a man with whom she's had a bit of a nasty encounter, so she must win him over to keep her job.  Finn has recently had his heart broken and . . . I think he looks like George Clooney?  Or, maybe I just pictured him that way.  There's friendship and betrayal, misunderstanding that leads to a few slapstick scenes, romance and heartbreak and happily-ever-after for anyone deserving.

What I loved about Thinking of You:

Oh, sigh.  I just love Jill Mansell's books.  I started reading Thinking of You because the Boston bombing followed by the Texas explosion and idiocy in Congress started getting me down.  Jill Mansell's books are always uppers, so I knew reading one of her books would be the perfect remedy for a crappy week.  Thinking of You is no exception, although I found myself wanting to shout at Ginny and Gem and Carla, a few times.  Sometimes those plot twists and heartbreaks can be a little angst-inducing, but I closed the book with a smile on my face.  Ginny is a great heroine and I love the depth of the friendships in Thinking of You.  It's admirable the way they forgive and forget wounds inflicted upon each other and I love the reliability of those happily-ever-after endings.

Also, she used the word "malarkey" in there, somewhere.  You know how I love that word. 

What I disliked about Thinking of You:

The characters who are deceitful in Thinking of You are a little too obvious -- enough so that you want to reach in and shake the characters whom you know to be cruising toward disaster, but since everything turns out well in the end there is nothing at all worth complaining about.  

Recommendation:

Highly recommended, especially for escapist, beachy-type romantic reading.  I've been reading Jill Mansell's books since the 90's and they are reliably complex but light-hearted tales.  Her heroines tend to be very much alike in personality -- perky, witty, fun, sometimes clumsy or eccentric, always likable.  It never fails to surprise me how many twists Mansell throws into her books and how utterly she snookers me.  I had an idea who Ginny would end up with, but Jill Mansell is such a pro.  She always makes me doubt myself enough that I'm still pleasantly surprised at the end.  

Favorite photo of the day:

Sometimes you feel like a nut.

©2013 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.