Going to Italy!! Book Recs Please...

I'm always going on and on giving my excuses on why I've been less than present and less than a good blogger friend.


Here's excuse #1,439,385...  I have a part-time job called planning a two week trip to ITALY!

I'm super excited but the trip is literally right around the corner and less than a month away.  Eek! And... Yay! It's all so confusing.

BUT as always I need some help (I'm always begging, aren't I?).

If you have any book recommendations for Italy themed reads or great books to read on very long international flights that also happen to have an even longer layover, please post away.  You can leave a comment or you can link up a review if you've written a review on a book I'd be interested in.  PLEASE HELP!!

Thanks everyone!

P.S.  If you have traveling and/or packing tips, I'd appreciate that as well.

Review: The Supreme Macaroni Company

Source: TLC Book Tours

The Supreme Macaroni Company by Adriana Trigiani
Series: Valentine #3
Genre: Women's Fiction, Italy
Pages: 352 (paperback)
Author's Website | Twitter | Facebook
Buy it: Amazon | Kindle | B&N | Book Depo

Description:

For over a hundred years, the Angelini Shoe Company in Greenwich Village has relied on the leather produced by Vechiarelli & Son in Tuscany. This historic business partnership provides the twist of fate for Valentine Roncalli, the school teacher turned shoemaker, to fall in love with Gianluca Vechiarelli, a tanner with a complex past . . . and a secret.

A piece of surprising news is revealed at The Feast of the Seven Fishes when Valentine and Gianluca join her extended family on a fateful Christmas Eve. Now faced with life altering choices, Valentine remembers the wise words that inspired her in the early days of her beloved Angelini Shoe Company: "A person who can build a pair of shoes can do just about anything." The proud, passionate Valentine is going to fight for everything she wants and savor all she deserves-the bitter and the sweetness of life itself.

Romantic and poignant, told with humor and warmth, and bursting with a cast of endearing characters, The Supreme Macaroni Company is a sumptuous feast of delights: a portrait of a woman and the man she loves, her passion for craftsmanship, and the sacrifices it takes to build and sustain a family business while keeping love and laughter at the center of everything.

My Rating:

Double Review: Very Valentine and Brava Valentine (Audiobook)

Source: eLibary

Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani
Series: Valentine #1
Genre:  Women's Fiction, Italy, Romance
Length: 14 hours and 44 minutes
Narrator: Cassandra Campbell
Author's Website | Twitter | Facebook
Buy it: Amazon | Kindle | B&N | Book Depo

Description:

Meet the Roncalli and Angelini families, a vibrant cast of colorful characters who navigate tricky family dynamics with hilarity and brio, from magical Manhattan to the picturesque hills of bella Italia. Very Valentine is the first novel in a trilogy and is sure to be the new favorite of Trigiani's millions of fans around the world.

In this luscious, contemporary family saga, the Angelini Shoe Company, makers of exquisite wedding shoes since 1903, is one of the last family-owned businesses in Greenwich Village. The company is on the verge of financial collapse. It falls to thirty-three-year-old Valentine Roncalli, the talented and determined apprentice to her grandmother, the master artisan Teodora Angelini, to bring the family's old-world craftsmanship into the twenty-first century and save the company from ruin.

My Review:
This family focused novel has everything.  There are failed romances, family drama, health scares, marriages, and sibling squabbles.  It really has it all.  But in the center of it all is the Angelini Shoe Company, a family business focused on creating couture wedding shoes.  Only Valentine and her Grandmother are left to carry on the family tradition.  Both must fight financial woes and life changes to continue the family business into the future.  I enjoyed this story.  I didn't think the Angeglini family was as dramatic as they made it out to be but maybe it's because I've seen crazier.  The descriptions were vivid and I enjoyed the relationships between the family and friends.  I didn't love the romantic relationships though.  They didn't click for me.

On the narrator...  I love Campbell and she does a great job with the accents.  Valentine is often described as the funny sister or the funny one and I just never found her that way.  I'm thinking this has to do with the fact that I listened whether than read this book.  A few things seemed lost to my ears.

Overall, an enjoyable enough read that made me want to go buy shoes and visit Italy.