Italian For Beginners – Kristen Harmel

Cat Connelly has always taken care of her family since her mother left.  She has taken care of her younger sister and father for longer then she can remember.  At her sister’s wedding, everyone on her family’s side are talking about how sad it is for the younger sister to be married before Cat.   She is an accountant, she works more than her co workers, and she hasn’t had a vacation in years.

One day, she remembers how much of a good time she had had in her senior year of high school when she travelled to Rome, Italy and met a man and fell in love.  Her father and sister have told her continuously told her to take a break and get away.  Cat doesn’t think she needs to, but then one of her co workers, and an email sent to her one love in Italy, turns the wheels in motion.  She hears back from Francesco, and her co worker books her a ticket, in three days she is off to rekindle her long lost love.

Her family is shocked, but wishes her well on her trip.  The day before, her sister calls with an emergency.  So, Cat helps her out again, and goes to Rome.  Once she arrives, Francesco isn’t his usual self, distracted and quiet.  The next day, she finds out why – Francesco thought it was another girl whose email address was similar to hers.  But, it didn’t turn him off completely.

So, after a horrendous first night in Rome, she goes to a cafe where a friend of a friend works and would have a room for rent for the rest of her stay.

Gina is one of those no holds barred Italian women.  She notices Cat sitting at an outside table and cusses her out.  But then realizes that they both have a mutual friend.  She shows her the room and settles in.  As Cat takes a sleeping pill, and sleeps, Gina bursts into her room to show her the town. From then on it is situation after situation, laughing, love, reunions, and lifelong friends.

I really enjoyed this novel, light, funny, heartbreaking at times, it is the perfect late summer / early fall novel.  Full of adventure, love, family secrets, and a realization from all characters in the novel made it one that you can take from and learn from.  I would definitely recommend it.

Read an excerpt

Ms. Taken Identity – Dan Begley

In the beginning when I received this book I was really intrigued at how a male would far in writing a “chic lit”.  In this instance I was disappointed.  The cover is quite clever, a set of male legs in a set of bright pink fluffy “girly” slippers.  Wouldn’t you be intrigued by a pair of mens legs in a pair of your fluffy girl slippers?

This is the descripiton of the book – (Taken from Publisher’s Website)

“”PhD candidate Mitch Samuel’s life isn’t going exactly according to plan: his girlfriend just dumped him (to be fair, he did forget to pick her up at the airport), his estranged father has landed in the hospital, and his literary masterpiece-one part Shakespeare, one part Steinbeck, and all parts lyrical epic-has been rejected for the umpteenth time.

However, after a chance encounter at Starbucks with the queen of women’s fiction- Katharine Longwell-who seems to take a liking to him, he senses an opportunity for literary riches, if not reputation. After telling her that his (imaginary) female cousin is an aspiring chick-lit author, he secures a promise from her that she’ll help his “cousin” get published. The only problem is, Mitch needs a manuscript, and fast.

Unfortunately, try as he might to get inside a woman’s head by reading Vogue and Cosmo, watching Oxygen and Oprah, nothing seems to work. That’s when his roommate Bradley suggests that he try a dance class at the studio where Bradley’s sister Marie takes lessons. Self-conscious about his own skills, and unwilling to reveal his true intentions, Mitch attends the first class under an alias: Jason Gallagher, pharmaceutical rep. What could go wrong?

Nothing, except that Mitch/Jason quickly finds himself hooked on dancing, and on the charming Marie. Who has no idea who he really is. Or that he knows her brother. Or why he’s there. Suddenly, his novel-writing project is becoming a lot more than he bargained for…”"

Now, it wasn’t the premise of a man writing a chic lit book, it was the way the characters were being portrayed.  In my honest opinion, it should have  been brought out as fiction with a twist.  I was disappointed when it seemed  he was trying to capture the female element of the storyline but it came through so much more manly.  The female experience wasn’t really there for me.

It was a good effort on part of the author,  it was his first novel, even in the end of the book, he admitted that it was an idea brought on by his wife, which got the “wheels turning”.  Maybe you will feel different when you read it, I tried hard to finish reading this book,  I read half of it, before I was bored that I couldn’t bear to stay with it any longer.  I am one that loves to read, and feel bad for stopping a book even part way into one, but this book just wasn’t for me.

Hachette / 5 Spot

Book Excerpt

BUY THE BOOK – Borders / chapters.indigo.ca / Books a Million / Amazon