Their lives change forever when Nonna receives a mysterious letter from Italy. It seems that a Count from her hometown of Bella Piacere died several months ago. Because the Count had no family of his own, he left his estate, Villa Piacere, to the Nonna since Nonna’s father had saved the Count’s life when he was a young boy. Gemma thinks the letter sounds like nonsense or some kind of scam, and worries that Nonna will go all the way out there to find that her “villa” is nothing more than one of those little prefab steel buildings that looks more like a warehouse than a residence — or that the place doesn’t exist at all. But Nonna convinces her daughter to take at least a month to go to Italy and check the place out.

So the three women head to Italy for what will turn out to be a very adventurous time. Nonna gets to see a bunch of childhood friends again, and strikes up a tentative romance with Rocco Cesani, a man from her past. Gemma, meanwhile, meets the handsome, intriguing American artist Ben Raphael, a longtime renter of Villa Piacere who insists that he bought the estate outright last year. So although there is a sexual attraction between Ben and Gemma, the impending legal battle looks like it might get in the way.

The rest of the book then shows how Ben and Gemma’s relationship develops despite her Cash baggage and the estate stuff. Along the way, we also see Nonna and Rocco’s relationship bloom into a marriage proposal, witness Livvie getting her first kiss, and finally hear what happened between Gemma and Cash.

Liked:

• Some of the descriptions of Italy were interesting. The book never ventures into travelogue territory, so the descriptions were actually kept to a minimum, but whenever Adler did venture to talk about the ancient sites, I perked up.

Disliked:

• I hated how the Cash stuff was dragged out through the entire novel. Adler built it up to be some kind of major revelation, so to hear that he died in a car crash and Gemma felt guilty about it because he was coming to meet her was extremely anticlimactic. I waited to hear something as clichéd as a fatal car accident!
• Some of the writing was just terrible. Consider this sentence from a scene where Ben and Gemma are eating cherries and flirting with each other:
  

  The cherry juice seemed to have slipped all the way down to between my legs.

  WTF? That’s disgusting, not sensual or sexy!

• A lot of the scenes seemed pretty repetitive, which made it feel as though the plot wasn’t moving along at all. Ben and Gemma are attracted to each other. Ben and Gemma argue about the estate. Ben and Gemma get frustrated/angry with each other. Lather, rinse, repeat. Ugh!
• None of the characters interested me in the least. I didn’t particularly like Gemma, so I didn’t care if she ended up with Ben or not. And he didn’t even seem like a real person; just the lead in a romance novel.

Rating:
I was expecting Summer in Tuscany to be a lighthearted, breezy, fun read — something perfect for a lazy August weekend. But this book was populated with dull characters and uninteresting scenes. I give it 2 stars out of 5.

Hank and True go through a whirlwind romance and end up getting married within six weeks or so of meeting. Everyone talks about how Hank must be after True’s money, given the age difference and the difference in the hotness scale. The rumors bother True, especially since she has her own misgivings about Hank — particularly when he begins to resent all the demands a marriage and family place on him.

The two start fighting all the time, and soon split up. They remain that way for a few months, even though True is pregnant and isn’t relishing the thought of having another child on her own. As the book drags on and on, however, the two start talking again, and after their daughter is born, they agree to give their relationship another try.

Liked:

• The product descriptions of the Twelve Times Blessed gifts were interesting. They sounded whimsical and cute, exactly the kind of thing I’d want for my baby.

Disliked:

• Hank and True’s first sex scene made me roll my eyes. Am I supposed to believe that these two adults (33 and 43, respectively) wouldn’t use any kind of protection in this day and age? They even discussed it, which was the worst part of the scene. True was willing to risk a pregnancy with a guy she had “known” for all of two weeks at that time? And she actually said that if he had some kind of rare venereal disease, she wouldn’t mind catching the same thing so she could die with him??? OMFG, gag me.
• Hot on the heels of that ridiculous sex scene came an even more ridiculous, awkwardly written post-coital “talk”. This dragged on and on and on, and was not believable in the least. I’m not sure what Mitchard was trying to do there, but the result was sheer boredom. It was plain ol’ exposition disguised as a “discussion”, and it was crap.
• The dialogue was cringe-worthy in so many places that it would be impossible for me to include all the bad lines here. But they were particularly noticeable during Hank’s proposal. “Will you always be my woman — and my whore, too?” Are you serious???? If any guy said that to me, I’d slap him on the spot. Was that supposed to be sexy or something? WTF??? And what man would insult the woman he’s proposing to by asking, “Are you being deliberately dense?” when she couldn’t figure out what his cryptic high school thumb ring was for. What a dumb scene all the way around.
• I listened to the audiobook version and couldn’t stand how the reader alternated between pronouncing Guy the French way and the American way. I mean, sometimes this happened in the same paragraph, with the same character speaking. It was so damn annoying!!! How hard would it have been to choose one pronunciation and stick with it?
• Guy’s whole play storyline was dumb, boring, and unnecessary. What was the point, especially since he didn’t even perform due to his appendix problem? And why did the bitchy stage mom have to be a Christian? I am not religious, but that still rubbed me the wrong way. If Mitchard had made the woman a Jew or a Muslim, she would have been accused of being intolerant at best. But make the bitch a Christian and everything’s A-OK? Whatever.
• I never bought the idea that Hank — and his family — loved Guy as much as the author said they did. First Hank was so overwhelmed and bothered by Guy hanging around that he snapped and considered leaving, but the next thing you know, he’s adopting Guy, calling him “my son”, acting like he and the boy have a deep, special bond. This, after two months? Whatever, especially considering the fact that Guy absolutely was a spoiled brat with no sense of boundaries, just like Hank said. This is the kind of kid who manipulates his mother into buying things like a laptop or playstation 3 because she dares to pay attention to someone other than him. Also, I hated how I was supposed to believe that Hank’s parents accepted Guy into the family as the “first Bannister grandson”, giving him an heirloom and everything despite the fact that a blood-related grandchild was just born. Yeah, right.
• Don’t even get me started on how horrible a character True was. It was hard to believe that she was supposed to be a 43-year-old woman, because she acted like she was in high school. Everything had to be all about her, and if she didn’t get her way, she blew up or pouted. She was so demanding, such a whiner, so inconsiderate…. She and Hank — also a complete idiot — totally deserve to be with each other. At least it saves two other people from hooking up with assholes.
• This book was just too damn long. The only reason I even finished it was because I was on an equally long road trip (alone) and needed something to listen to. But my god, it was torture.

Rating:

Twelve Times Blessed was one of the worst books I’ve ever read (listened to). The characters are thoroughly unlikable, their conflicts were ridiculous and contrived, and the author just didn’t know when to quit. I would give this 0 stars because I hated it so much, but since I reserve that rating for books I can’t even finish, I have to give this 1 star out of 5. Do yourself a favor and AVOID it at all costs!

Her family, consisting of sisters Carol and Christine, brothers Michael, Mark, and John, and dad Billy, all think Sarah should jump back into the swing of things, so Sarah decides to answer a personal ad. Trouble is, she shows up for the date only to realize that the guy on the other end is… her father! Completely horrified, Sarah is ready for some more seclusion, but Carol convinces her to keep trying. This time, Carol will compose and place the ad herself in the hopes of getting at least a couple of good leads.

The responses to Sarah’s ad run the gamut from the promising to the downright strange. She ends up meeting one guy, John Anderson, based on the ad, but is extremely disappointed when he doesn’t turn out to be the Harrison Ford lookalike he said he was. Still, she maintains contact with him because he seems nice enough. Sarah is also interested in Bob Connor, the father of one of her preschool students. She realizes that dating him would be inappropriate, but that probably won’t even be an issue since Bob seems to be more attracted to Sarah’s beautiful young assistant June. And then there’s also Ray Santia, a handsome man that Sarah noticed — and subsequently stalked — when he was walking his dog.

The remainder of the novel shows how Sarah tries to make up her mind about which guy she would have the best future with. Along the way, we get significant amounts of time with Sarah’s highly dysfunctional yet loving family, as they all work through various issues of their own.

Liked:

• I thought Must Love Dogs was a refreshing change from those typical love-at-first-sight or never-ending love stories that seem to permeate this genre. Sarah’s scenario of not being able to make up her mind seemed far more realistic, and I liked the fact that she was leaning towards the “average guy” at the end. Not many romances would play out this way.
• Sarah was a likable character. Again, she seemed like a real woman, with legitimate concerns about finding a man and realistic expectations about the pursuit. She didn’t dream about a soul mate or anything like that, which, again, was unusual for a romance novel. Plus, Sarah had a great sense of humor and was definitely someone I would like to know in real life.
• I liked that there wasn’t a predictable, saccharine ending to this novel where everything worked out perfectly for all the characters. Sarah’s life is clearly a work in progress, and she’s taking baby steps towards achieving what she wants.

Disliked:

• I thought Bob, John, and Ray were all a little too vanilla for the purposes of this story. I mean, I finished this book a few days ago, and the only thing I remember about Bob and Ray is that Sarah thought they were both very good-looking. I know John was supposed to be vanilla, so I could accept that. But having all three guys be this bland was not a good choice.
• I could have done without so much family drama. Yeah, I get it: the Hurlihys are one of those big, crazy families where there’s always a hundred different things going on. The 70-something dad is getting more action than his kids, there are troubled marriages, troubled teens, etc. It was a little over the top.
• All the family drama took away time from Sarah’s dating adventures. I expected this book to be mostly about the men that she would meet from her personal ads, which would have been a fun read. We needed to see some rejects along with the three guys Sarah went out with. For instance, where was the 40-year-old loser still living in his parents’ basement? Or the grossly overweight guy in need of a visit to www.cholesteroltreatments.com? There were a lot of ways Claire Cook could have taken this storyline. But the dating angle only was only a small part of the plot. Most of the attention seemed to be on the family, not the potential boyfriends, and that didn’t work so well.
• The story unfolded a bit too slowly for my taste. Some parts were interesting, so I had no trouble moving right along, but others were downright boring and I ended up setting the book aside for days at a time.

Rating

Although I liked how Must Love Dogs wasn’t a conventional love story, I think some of the unconventional elements ended up getting in the way of a decent plot. A few of the family situations were funny, but most were just boring, which affected my overall enjoyment of the book. As a result, I’m giving it just 3 stars out of 5.

Since Nina has a full-time job at a small publishing house, she can’t be around to take care of Fred during the day. So she trains him to use the fire escape to go down to the alley from the third-floor apartment. Problem solved — until Fred accidentally wanders into the second-floor apartment after one of his bathroom breaks instead of going all the way up to 3. But this gives Nina a chance to meet Alex, the hot 30-year-old single doctor living right below her.

Nina and Alex hit it off as friends. They’re both classic movie buffs and dog lovers, so they spend a lot of time simply lounging around Nina’s apartment watching TV, eating Oreos, and playing with Fred. Nina is definitely attracted, but she doesn’t think a relationship would work because of the age difference. And besides, her body sags and droops in all the wrong places, so Alex would never be interested in her in that way.

But he is. He loves how down-to-earth and “real” she is. She might not have a closet full of Fendi bags and designer shoes, but he’s had his fill of women like that. But since Alex can’t work up the nerve to tell Nina how he feels, they interact with each other as friends for most of the novel, while each secretly longs for the other. Finally, they get to a point where they rip each other’s clothes off and give in to the passion that’s been consuming them.

Liked:

• I liked both Nina and Alex, and enjoyed their pre-relationship banter. The dialogue and scenes were funny and entertaining, which was something I didn’t really expect here (this was my first Crusie novel).
• This was a very quick read and the storyline didn’t get bogged down too often. I could have done with less angst about Alex choosing a specialty, but all in all the boring parts were kept to a minimum.
• For a “chick lit” romance novel, the main relationship developed at a believable pace. At least it wasn’t the “everlasting love at first sight” crap that Nicholas Sparks spews out all the time!

Disliked:

• I listened to the audiobook version downloaded from my public library, so I had no idea that this was a Harlequin title. As a result, I was a bit unprepared for the rather graphic descriptions of the sex scenes. I’m not a prude or anything, but for a book with relatively clean language all the way through, the sudden switch to the explicit sex scenes was pretty jarring.

Rating

I’d have to say I was pleasantly surprised by Jennifer Crusie’s Anyone But You. It wasn’t great literature or anything like that, but it was an entertaining read. The thing I hate most is finishing a book and feeling as though I just wasted my time. That didn’t happen here. I give it 3 stars out of 5.

The relationship progresses very quickly, as it must since John will have to return to Germany in one week. During their time together, John and Savannah get to know each other, declare their love for each other, and even become unofficially engaged. John has one year of service left before he can be honorably discharged, so the two promise to wait for each other.

But then September 11 happens, and John, riding a wave of patriotism, decides to re-enlist. This stings Savannah, but she understands his motivation, and continues to wait. However, John notices that their letters to each other become less frequent and Savannah’s become less intimate. Soon enough, he gets the dreaded “Dear John” letter notifying him that Savannah has fallen for someone else.

John doesn’t respond to that letter. Instead, he throws himself into being a good soldier, re-ups yet again, and stays away from North Carolina for 3 more years. It’s only when he returns home for his father’s funeral that he decides to look Savannah up again. That’s when he learns that she married longtime friend Tim, who is stricken with melanoma. As John and Savannah become reacquainted while Tim is stuck in the hospital, John has a chance to truly evaluate his feelings for Savannah. He decides that he wants her to be happy, which means not breaking up the marriage. He anonymously donates money for treatment that will save Tim’s life, and then checks back in a couple years to see that that Savannah and Tim are indeed happy.

Against the backdrop of John and Savannah’s relationship, we also get some insight into John’s relationship with his father, who is probably afflicted with Asperger’s. Mr. Tyree’s one great passion in life was collecting coins, which is something John could never understand. But after Savannah points out that the man might have Asperger’s, John comes to look at his father differently, finally accepting him for who and what he is.

Liked:

• I liked that this didn’t have the traditional happy ending that Sparks seems to favor so much in his novels. As soon as Tim gave his blessing for John and Savannah to be together if he died, I was worried about what the ending might hold. But Sparks gave readers a bit of a twist there.

Disliked:

• The characters weren’t very believable or likable. Once again we have these two people, these complete opposites who are at very different stages in their lives, declaring their undying love for each other within a few days of meeting. Are there any Sparks novels that show love developing over a longer period of time, which is how it most often happens in real life? The love-at-first-sight scenario is so played out.
• John was the prototypical Sparks leading man: rough around the edges, a seeming lunkhead who would be more interested in modding his ride with cool car accessories than cultivating his relationship with his girlfriend, from a poor or working-class family, who really has a heart of gold. Borrrring!
• Since I wasn’t at all invested in the characters, I didn’t really care if they ended up together or not. In fact, both of them were so annoying by that point that I just hoped they’d both be miserable. Since John was flat-out stalking Savannah in that last scene, I guess at least half my wish came true!

Rating:
Nicholas Sparks doesn’t deliver anything fresh or original in Dear John. If you’re familiar with his other works, then you’ll probably already “know” these characters and their situation. The non-happy ending was a bit of a surprise, but by the time you get there, you probably won’t care anyway. I give this novel 2 stars out of 5.

Cannie ends up joining a “fat study”, where participants go to get counseling on how to lose weight, like by controlling portion size and exercising on a treadmill, and gain access to experimental drugs. The leader of the group is Dr. K — Peter — a friendly man, who takes a liking to Cannie almost immediately. Dr. K’s advice, along with help from best friend Samantha, allow Cannie to at least proceed with her life.

Things start looking up when Cannie meets movie star Maxie Ryder in the bathroom of a downtown hotel. The two become unlikely friends, and after a drunken night on the town, Cannie takes a chance by giving Maxie the screenplay she had written. The screenplay sells, which propels Cannie’s life in a whole new direction.

It’s not all sunshine and roses after that, however. Cannie learns that she is pregnant by Bruce, and sends him a letter letting him know about it. He never responds, instead choosing to wrap himself up in his own life and his new girlfriend. This indifference devastates Cannie all over again, as it brings to the surface deep-seated issues she has with abandonment thanks to her father.

After a fall precipitates baby Joy’s premature birth, Cannie adopts a whole new outlook on life. She lets go of her anger towards Bruce, accepts Peter’s personal advances, and heads off in a new direction.

Liked:

• Cannie was a likable protagonist, despite not being your stereotypical gorgeous, together woman. She seemed like a regular person, was completely relatable, and was the kind of character you could imagine having as a friend.
• There were some very engrossing sections in the book where I almost couldn’t put the thing down. It’s odd to think about Good in Bed this way, because the overall effect wasn’t that great. But there were definitely stretches where I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next.
• I have mixed feelings about Cannie’s friendship with Maxie. On the one hand, how likely is it that a movie star would become fast friends with a Philadelphia reporter who was nothing like her? On the other hand, I think we all have had that fantasy at one point or another, the one where we’re sure that a favorite celeb would be friends with us if they only had a chance to get to know us. It was cool reading about this friendship between a movie star and a regular gal, so I was willing to suspend my disbelief about how the relationship started.
• The “Good in Bed” columns were realistic and seemed like something I would read in one of those cheesy women’s magazines that Moxie was clearly supposed to mirror.

Disliked:

• At times, the plot seemed to just meander all over the place. Maybe it’s just because I’m used to reading crime novels, where there’s only one overriding goal (catch the killer) throughout the entire book, but I had a hard time figuring out what was supposed to be going on here half the time. In some places, events just piled one after another; in others it seemed like nothing was happening. The book was very uneven overall.
• I didn’t like how everything worked out perfectly for Cannie. I mean, everything. Her baby recovered, she got a nice man, she sold her screenplay, she became friends with a Hollywood starlet… she even lost all her extra weight before deciding that wasn’t who she really was. I don’t know, maybe this is the norm for chick-lit, but it just felt like too much for me.

Rating:
Good in Bed was the first Jennifer Weiner novel I’ve ever read, but it probably won’t be the last. It wasn’t a great book or anything, but there were enough positives to leave me open to trying another title from this popular author. I give this book 3 stars out of 5.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): The story opens in the present, with 60-year-old Adrienne Willis worrying about her recently widowed daughter Amanda’s condition. Amanda hasn’t been able to function since her husband died eight months ago, and that has of course had an adverse effect on her children. Adrienne wants to do something to get Amanda going again, so she decides to tell her daughter story from her past, something that she’s never told anyone before.

Adrienne’s narrative flashes back 15 years to a fall weekend that she spent in the small town of Rodanthe on the Outer Banks in North Carolina. She had just gotten divorced from Jack, her husband of 18 years, and still hadn’t come to terms with the idea of raising her three kids on her own, or of possibly jumping back into the dating pool at the age of 45. Her friend Jean thought it would be a good idea for Adrienne to get away for a while, so she asked her to come and run her small bed & breakfast for a few days. Since it’s the off-season, there will only be one guest, which should be easy enough for Adrienne to handle.

The guest turns out to be 54-year-old surgeon Paul Flanner, who also happens to be recently divorced. Paul is instantly attracted to Adrienne, and while she feels something for him too, she can hardly believe that a good-looking man would be interested in her. The two get to know each other over coffee and dinner, their mutual attraction growing as they open up about personal subjects. A huge storm traps them in the B&B together, essentially sealing their fate as they both fall in love.

After spending a memorable five days together, Paul drops a bombshell: he must go away to Ecuador to work on a Doctors Without Borders project in order to patch up his relationship with his son. Though devastated, Adrienne understands why he must leave and promises to wait for him. Paul will return in exactly one year, he says, and while he’s gone, he’ll write to her as often as possible.

The narrative then comes back to the present. Amanda — and the reader — can’t help but wonder why Paul is not in Adrienne’s life anymore since they both seemed so in love with each other. The answer to the question, and indeed the entire story, are enough to get Amanda in gear and get her life back on track.

My Reaction: Nights in Rodanthe didn’t annoy me as much as some of Sparks’ other novels have, perhaps because it wasn’t as chock-full of sappy sentimentality as some of the other ones. Sure, there was the usual love-at-first-sight encounter (something that I usually abhor), but Sparks didn’t write about it in such an extreme way this time, which made it much easier to take.

I actually liked both Adrienne and Paul, and found myself wanting their relationship to succeed. I was even a bit disappointed to learn that they never got back together, especially because the reason — Paul dying in a Jeep accident in Ecuador shortly before he was due to return to Adrienne — was a bit on the melodramatic side. But it wasn’t enough to turn me off the book completely, so I consider that progress for my “relationship” with Sparks (as a reader, I mean).

One thing I couldn’t understand though is why Sparks chose to have Adrienne still be alone 15 years later. Paul was supposed to have had this profound effect on her life, giving her confidence in herself and restoring her faith in love, etc. And yet she stayed single even after it was clear that he was never coming back. Why? That made her pretty much the same character that she was in the beginning of the book, didn’t it? I think it would have been better to have Adrienne be with some other man, one that she also truly loved, in order to show that she really did change because of Paul.

Overall, Nights in Rodanthe was a decent little love story. It’s rather formulaic if you know Sparks’s other works and a bit on the predictable side, but it has good characters and is a very quick read. Perfect for a long afternoon on the beach! I give this book 3 stars out of 5.