Loving Roxie by G.G. Vandagriff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well, it's Florence, Italy. Who wouldn't love to read a book based in Italy? I know that is what attracted me to it. I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review from eBooks for Review. Roxie and her friend who has just lost her husband and is suffering another personal loss, Georgia, decide to go to Florence, Italy looking for healing when they have a particularly bad session at their group therapy meeting. They check into an awesome family owned B&B and meet some great people, Beta, the owner of the B&B and her son, Cosimo, and Stefano. It turns out that Roxie is also suffering from a personal loss. The problem is she is not quite able to name the loss. It's right at the tip of her memory but, she cannot reach it. Of course, the problem is she really does not want to reach the memory.

Stefano, a professor, and researcher at two universities in Italy. He and Roxie seem to have hit it off but, Roxie is not stable, but, Stefano is really interested. The reader is drawn into the ups and downs of Stefano trying to find a way to possibly build a life with Roxie, but, so many questions arise. Will Roxie go back to the US? Can she get through the trauma she has obviously suffered and let Stefano in so they can possibly be a couple?

One of the best parts of this book is the imagery of Florence, Siena, and the Tuscan countryside. I will be visiting all of these places in a couple of months and Loving Roxie just drew me in and made this book even better for me. There are some really heavy topics handled in the book, and the author handles it very well. The reader is able to still enjoy the beautiful parts of the book even with all of the dark topics that are handled. I am definitely interested in seeing more from this author.