Posts

The Book Lovers Guide to Venice by Rachael Martin

Image
  The Book Lovers Guide to Venice By Rachael Martin SUMMARY Perfect for lovers of Venice and books alike, this unique guide takes you step by step through the city in the footsteps of the writers who lived there and visited. See where they lived, ate, drank, and played. Find out where the parties were held, details of their illicit encounters, and where the patrician families of Venice’s famous Golden Book gathered in their literary salons, which, after the Republic of Venice ended, were continued in the homes of American society heiresses. This is a book to be savoured slowly, from the city’s cafes and bars where writers such as Patricia Highsmith and Ernest Hemingway went, or from the comfort of your own living room, letting Venice feed your imagination, just as the writers did. Read about their lives and their words through novels, memoirs, poetry, travelogues, travel guides, and biographies. This unique travel guide tells of literary Venice within the city's story and place...
Post a Comment
Read more

Secrets of a Winter Escape by Sue Moorcroft

Image
    Secrets of A Winter Escape  by Sue Moorcroft SUMMARY: Will this be a Christmas to remember? Christmas should be the most wonderful time of year. But for Erin, who's just lost the job that she loves, it's anything but. Down on her luck, the only gift she wants is escape... So, Erin returns to Lake Como, home to the pensione she inherited from the grandmother she never met. The city sparkles with the magic of the season, and the guests provide a welcome distraction from the life that Erin has left behind. As the snow begins to fall, Erin finds herself staying in the room next door to Caleb, an injured footballer who's eager to avoid the prying eyes of the press. With emotional baggage bigger than his suitcases, he's a complication that her bruised heart doesn't need. But when Caleb lights Erin up like Como's illuminations, will she admit that all she wants for Christmas is him?   MY REVIEW: For the first time this year, I am thinking abou...
1 comment
Read more

Postcards from Sicily by Nancy Barone

Image
   Postcards from Sicily By Nancy Barone   SUMMARY: A heartwarming story about mother-daughter relationships and starting over in life, set in a luxurious Italian spa resort Olivia swore she would never grow up to be like her mother, who fled to Sicily to be with her lover when Olivia was a teenager. But now, in her thirties, the spark in Olivia's marriage has been extinguished for years; she's hopelessly pining over her attractive business partner, Markus, and her own teenage daughter barely speaks to her. So when her estranged mother offers to pay for an eight-week trip to a luxurious wellness centre in Italy, Olivia reluctantly accepts. A break will be good for her. For everyone. There's just one catch... Susan is staying in the adjoining room. Fuelled by gorgeous weather, good food and even better wine, can the two women overcome their history and form the mother-daughter bond that Olivia always dreamed of? Or is it too late for second chances? MY RE...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pinch Me By Barbara Boyle

Image
  Pinch Me  by Barbara Boyle   SUMMARY: A touching memoir filled with food, friendships, and scenes of Italy, Pinch Me is ultimately a celebration of love, of learning to see the world, as well as oneself, through a different window, and of the powerful joy that comes from building a dream. An updated twist on the classic Under the Tuscan Sun, this is the deeply personal story of how fifty-something Barbara Boyle leaves her busy and familiar life behind in San Francisco and begins taking apart a 300-year-old stone barn to build a new home--a new life--in the largely undiscovered region of Piedmont, Italy. Filled with discoveries and pleasures of the stunning places and food she encounters, Pinch Me also details Barbara's frustrations in adjusting to a new culture, as well as the startling heartbreak of being faced with a breast cancer diagnosis. But even in the midst of this crisis, she and her husband create a home out of the stone ruin they had found, form...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fire in the Mountain by AJ Aberford

Image
    Fire in the Mountain   By AJ Aberford   SUMMARY: A colleague in need Superintendent George Zammit is persuaded to go to Sicily to investigate the disappearance of his superior’s niece. There, George discovers a city overshadowed by the mighty Mount Etna, a huge volcano perilously close to a major eruption that would have disastrous consequences around the world. The magic of the volcano George finds the volcano not only provides unlimited energy, but has long been worshipped by an ancient and mysterious cult, which believes it has the power of renewal and rebirth. Strange priests and monks wander the volcano’s flanks and the old volcanic tunnels, risking the wrath of Mother Etna to keep its secrets safe. Unlimited power, unlimited wealth The dark forces of organised crime have captured the green energy of the volcano and grown rich on the profits. Others have noticed this deep source of wealth, and they gather to plot and scheme to take a share ...
Post a Comment
Read more