Finding Love in Positano by Lucy Coleman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Finding Love in Positano is a wonderful travelogue as well as a story. There was also a bit of mystery thrown in there. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Marci is extremely close to her Godfather, Richard, as is her mom and brother. But they talk and share what is occurring in their lives more often. Marci's family owns an antique auction business and Richard has an antique business in Positano, Italy. Richard suddenly makes a major change in his life and seeks out his Godchildren to request one of them help him close up his antique shop and ship everything back to the UK. It makes more sense for Marci to go since she travels more for the auction house, and she has spent more time in Italy on behalf of the business. Richard has described the work to be done as pretty simple but, when Marci gets to Positano, Richard's business is anything but simple, and the changes he has made in his life appear to be anything but simple and Marci is quite concerned.

Marci arrives in Positano to find that Richard has made a family there of the family that owns the Italian restaurant down the hill from his shop. Oddly enough, Nico and his family, treat Marci as if she is family and she is not familiar with them at all, which also concerns Marci. The entire situation has Marci questioning her relationship with Richard, what has caused Richard to change so drastically, and even looking more in-depth at her entire family's relationship with Richard.

As Marci spends more time with Nico and his family and exploring Positano, she starts to question more about her life and why Richard really wanted her to go to Positano to handle closing out his business. Positano is amazing. I only saw a very small part of it during a visit of only a few hours. I realized from reading Finding Love in Positano and mapping different parts of it while reading, that I had missed so much which warrants a much longer visit to that part of the world. It was great experiencing Italy through Marci's and local Italian's eyes. Remembering the beaches along the Amalfi Coast and the beautiful, blue water is great. What really stood out for me is how Lucy Coleman makes Positano another character and draws out the character development so well. The relationships between the characters and the development of the friendship between Nico and Marci were well-developed and draw the reader in, for example spending time with the family as they run the restaurant. If you read Lucy Coleman for the travel and characters then you will love this newest book, Finding Love in Positano.

Under the Italian Sun by Sue Moorcroft
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a phenomenal book! Excellent characters, a beautiful story, and an amazing reading travel experience.. Although Montelibertà is a fictional Italian town, I could envision parts of Tuscany and Calabria as I read the story. I look forward to reading more by Sue Moorcroft.

View all my reviews

The Bitter Taste of Murder by Camilla Trinchieri
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Bitter Taste of Murder is the 2nd book in the Tuscan Mystery series. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Nico is still living in the Chianti area of Tuscany. He spends his days working in his garden with his dog "OneWag" or as his Italian friends like to call him, "Rocco". I will leave it to the reader to find out why poor OneWag has multiple names. The great thing is he seems to answer to both names. OneWag is a character in this series in his own right. One of my favorite parts of this series is the way the stories are told. Yes, Nico is the protagonist, but, the reader also gets to see the thoughts of the key players in each book, including OneWag. I love that! We see just how intelligent he is and I would add that from his thoughts he almost seems like a person in a dog's body. I will stop there as each reader should spend time reading about OneWag to see why I describe him this way. In The Bitter Taste of Murder, a well-known wine critic, who is visiting the area, and pretty much making enemies as he walks down the street, is murdered.

Michele Mantelli is pretty much a messy individual. He is in the middle of a divorce and visiting Gravigna where he happens to own a home. He is traveling with his new girlfriend and pretty much using his articles and blog to try and bully the restaurants in Gravigna into carrying the wine he is pushing. He has a past with Gravigna and more than one resident has good reason to see Mantelli dead. Unfortunately, Aldo, Nico's landlord is top of the list. Nico, Daniele, and Salvatore team up again to investigate the murder, but, this time, a Captain who outranks Salvatore is being sent in to investigate and Salvatore and Daniele are supposed to toe the line. The Bitter Taste of Murder further demonstrates how great Camilla Trinchieri is with creating her characters, central of which, is the Chianti region of Tuscany. If you love Italy, look forward to visiting one day, or just love to armchair travel, this series should be on your list. The reader gets a great glimpse into the language, relationships, food, wine, and mannerisms of the people. I have been studying (okay, not studying enough) but, working with a tutor to learn Italian, and we always spend time on culture, mannerisms, food, etc., and not just the language. I spend a fair amount of time looking up words and pictures of the different villages mentioned in the books. If you love a good mystery, great, colorful characters, learning about regional food and drink, then The Bitter Taste of Murder is a must. I am really looking forward to more in this series.

The Marquess Method by Kathleen Ayers


The Marquess Method is the third installment in the Beautiful Barringtons series. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. The Barringtons are a quirky lot, a sister that is a clothing designer in secret, another that is an artist, and one that is bold and more outgoing than the other 2 sisters. This does not even take into account the half-brother that owns a gambling hall. Each of the siblings has their own story that describes how they fall in love with the most unexpected person in society. The Marquess Method is Theo's story and based upon her obvious crush on a specific man who appears to have some interest in Theo as well, but, Theo feels unable to compete with the many ladies of the "ton" that also have their eye on Lord Blythe. When Theo creates a sexy art miniature meant as a gift for Lord Blythe but, it is intercepted by Lord Haven, a battle of wills is started. Theo is dead set upon Lord Haven staying away from her and Lord Haven is dead set upon having help for his estate and sister and has realized that he also wants Theo.

The Marquess Method is a great addition to The Beautiful Barringtons series. There are so many fun spots in the book and it is great to see Theo grow and step out of her older sister's shadow, though she has always stood out. She set her mind on Lord Blythe and even spent a hilarious time and a ball trying to get his attention while not wearing her glasses. What is great is how this part of the story is written. Without giving away too much, it is great how this ball is the center of events for two of the sisters and the author does a great job of not leaving the reader hanging at the end of the second book and leaving them to wait for a conclusion in book three. There was a good transition that shows the author is pretty gifted at writing transitions and points-of-view. There are two more siblings left so I am looking forward to the next story about The Beautiful Barringtons.

These Tangled Vines by Julianne MacLean
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a phenomenal story! I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I did something slightly different since I do not currently belong to any book clubs. My cousin purchased a copy of the book and we did a mini book club together. When I remembered that this book takes place in Tuscany, I had to drop what I was reading and join my cousin in reading this since I had a copy. I adore Italy. I have not visited Montepulciano, but, I hear that it is amazing. The pictures of it are amazing as are the surrounding areas in Tuscany that I have visited. I could not pass up this armchair trip to Tuscany, especially during a time when Italy was still closed to non-Italians who did not have approved business reasons for visiting.

Fiona has a full life in the U.S. where she lives and cares for her father who is quadriplegic after a terrible accident prior to Fiona's birth. They are quite close and have assistance from some warm and friendly care workers that also are pretty devoted to her father. A sudden call from Italy unpacks Fiona's parents' past and sends Fiona to Italy searching for answers. What she finds is a biological father that she had never heard of, a mother who lived in shame after an affair, and siblings that may not want to know her. These Tangled Vines are told mostly through two perspectives, Fiona's and her mother, Anna's, past perspective. The landscape of Tuscany plays a very large part in the story, because, a very lucrative winery that was built by Fiona's biological father, Marco, is front-and-center in the will.

These Tangled Vines display the lengths people will go through to prevent loss and sometimes punish those that we love. I have to admit this book is fraught with emotional baggage. But, the story does a beautiful job of portraying relationships, especially when they are suffering from betrayal and deception. Wait, that happens in every family. Julianne MacLean demonstrated that she understands family dynamics, even broken families. Fiona was part of two broken families without even knowing it. She was a strong character, well-written and I loved the way she handled the situation in Tuscany that she walked into. She watched, learned, and was not quick to judge which was a great benefit to her and the entire situation. When family members die you would think we would all be at our best, but, it seems to bring out the worst in us, pain, finances, and all the holes in the familial relationships tend to be magnified at this time and These Tangled Vines did a wonderful job of capturing that. I look forward to reading more by Julianne MacLean.

Takeover by Evelyn Sola
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Takeover really was a surprise read for me. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I have to be honest and admit that this book had a couple of firsts for me. I am not going say specifically what they are since they are not on the summarization of the book. Also, because how the author handles these topics speaks to her writing skills. The reader will know what I am referring to when they dig into Takeover. Tara and Ethan have an immediate repulsion to each other the minute they meet. Tara dislikes Ethan because he interrupted her career plans when her father sold his company to Ethan. Ethan dislikes Tara because he thinks she is a rich, spoiled brat. What ensues are some seriously funny moments where it is almost like they are crashing into each other rather than running into each other up to the point where they realize there might be more attraction than dislike between them.

Ethan is a single father, and his life situation definitely does not fit into Tara's life plans, as well as her dating rules. But Ethan pretty much is a whatever I want I find a way to get kind of person and eventually he realizes he wants more than just the toy company he is purchasing from Tara's father, but he has his work cut out for him to convince her to look past her rules for dating.

Tara has a plan. She is not single when the book starts out and she is dating someone that fits in her plans for a specific type of couple. I am amazed at how we have a specific type that we prefer to date which often gets thrown out of the window after dating several individuals of that "type" and finding that maybe we missed the mark with our list. I did it as a teenager and I believe most of us do make that list when we start dating. It would be interesting to see how many of us still hold to the original list.

One of the best things about Takeover is Tara's family. They are a close-knit unit and when you hear someone say they 'have your back', this family really means it. At times it is hilarious, but it is enviable and when things get tough for Tara, she really does not have to question who to turn to because she has great family support. Her stepmother is this amazing combination of mother and friend is colorful and what every stepchild wishes they had in a stepmom. Tara's relationship with her siblings that are twins is also fun to read about. They pretty much seem like triplets and anyone that crosses one of them should watch out for being jumped by three. There are some great conversations between the three of them that I really enjoyed reading. Actually, it is worth mentioning that the witty repartee in Takeover is something that takes this book to the next level.

I am imagining that the next book, hopefully, will be about one of the siblings and I really look forward to that.

He Started It by Samantha Downing
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I literally do not know how to rate this book. Does hating everyone in the book mean I hate the book? Doesn't there have to be at least one character that the reader can cheer for and hope they come out on top? Doesn't there have to be a hero or heroine? I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. What I can unequivocally say is that this author knows how to write characters and write a story that keeps the reader engaged. I can honestly say that I found not one of the characters redeeming. Beth had some positive qualities, i.e., her love for her sister and the desire to find her and support her. Outside of that, the age of the family members did not matter, and I am willing to bet that if there were any children in that family they would be just as despicable as the adults.

He started it depicts a repeat road trip that three siblings are taking to mirror a road trip they took with their grandfather when they were younger. So, the story switches between telling the story of the trip that occurred when Beth, Portia, and Eddie Morgan were young and now when they are trying to step through the same trip as a condition of their grandfather's will in order to secure their inheritance. What is amazing is that I can truthfully admit that Samantha Downing is a great writer. If her intention was to pit the reader against the characters and see who comes out on top, she really excelled at it. These characters all managed to make me wish I could physically hit every one of them. If I had been reading from a physical book, it would have hit a wall more than once. I love my iPad so I would not throw it but, there are times I screamed out loud and yelled at all of them. What is even more interesting is that it had me considering nature versus nurture again. Every last one of these people are psychopaths. I literally mean that. Where does a reader go when they are stuck in this story that feels like a car crash that they cannot look away from? Forward! We dig in and work our way through the story just to see what happens. We have no choice. Thanks a lot, author! Am I being sarcastic? I just do not know. It is still raw as I just finished it last night. I had nights where I sat on the edge of my chair with my head in my hand saying out loud what is happening here. I literally said 'WTF - spelled out' out loud while on a conference call with family. Luckily, they love a good story. All I could say was 'I don't understand. What is happening here? Who in the heck are these people? They are awful'. I did my best not to give one spoiler as you have to see it for yourselves. I should also mention that one of my favorite things was the moment the reader gets to see how the book gets its title. This is a story meant to be individually experienced.