Summer in Tuscany

Rating:
Summary: Truly enjoyed reading Summer in Tuscany
Review: I LOVED THE CHARACTERS AND HOW THEY LIVED SO SIMPLY, BUT ENDED UP IN ITALY ON A GREAT ADVENTURE. I THOUGHT THIS WAS AN UPLIFTING, WARM STORY.

Rating:
Summary: go to Italy NOW!
Review: I normally don't go out of my way for romance~fiction, even though a plot around a love story appeals to me. In this story (an Italian adventure) you will meet Nonna, Gemma (her daughter) and Oliva (Gemma's teenage daughter). Nonna receives a mysterious letter beckoning her to Italy because she has inherited a villa. The journey begins and it is a lavish trip. Entertaining writing ~ too romancey in parts ~ wonderful ending.

Rating:
Summary: Wrong Summer in Tuscany
Review: I was reading along, wondering when I was going to get to the part about living and coping in Tuscany. This romantic, 1950s type, novel could have been called Summer in Texas for all it tells you about the life around Tuscany. Finally I came to Amazon.com, looked up the title, and lo and behold, I am reading the wrong book. I wanted "A Summer in Tuscany" by Swanson. I might try to finish this book but it is a piece of fluff better suited to the fuel the romantic fantasies of teenage girls rather than satisfying the desire of travelers anxious to learn about living in Tuscany.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing Read
Review: I was so disappointed in this book. I loved Elizabeth Adler's book, The Last time i Saw Paris and expected this book to be equally as good. Although the setting in Tuscany, was wonderful, I found little else of interest in this book. The characters were boring and the story line was weak.

Rating:
Summary: boring
Review: I was very disappointed with this book. I expected so much more after reading The Last Time I Saw Paris. I thought that the story was very boring. The fact that the story was based in Tuscany helped a little but overall, I found the book and the characters extremely uninteresting.

Rating:
Summary: Bellisimo! Do Some Armchair Travelling to Italy!
Review: If you long for the charm of the Italian countryside and revel in quaint shops and romantic cafes with a foreign flavor, pick up a copy of "Summer in Tuscany." Travel with harried New York physician Gemma Jericho, her Italian-born mother Nonna, and her punk but mannerly daughter to the romantic Bella Piacere when they discover Nonna has inherited an Italian villa. When things seem too good to be true they most often are, and the ownership of the villa seems to be in grave dispute. A hunky Long Island artist appears to have purchased it legally and as the mostly predictable plot unfolds you'll feel Gemma's pain as she loses her heart and soul to the artist while mainly behaving as a lovesick teenager. There is so much local color you'll be reaching for juicy olives and sun-dried tomatoes, deciding to have a grappa with your dinner, and maybe even scouring the stores for the latest Italian import. There's also enough steamy romance to satisfy the passionate soul, but it is Gemma's secret past that really warms the reader to this slightly ditzy American in Florence. It may not be great literature, but it is an entertaining read with charm, romance, and a multi-generational bonding experience to savor.

Rating:
Summary: Bellisimo! Do Some Armchair Travelling to Italy!
Review: If you long for the charm of the Italian countryside and revel in quaint shops and romantic cafes with a foreign flavor, pick up a copy of "Summer in Tuscany." Travel with harried New York physician Gemma Jericho, her Italian-born mother Nonna, and her punk but mannerly daughter to the romantic Bella Piacere when they discover Nonna has inherited an Italian villa. When things seem too good to be true they most often are, and the ownership of the villa seems to be in grave dispute. A hunky Long Island artist appears to have purchased it legally and as the mostly predictable plot unfolds you'll feel Gemma's pain as she loses her heart and soul to the artist while mainly behaving as a lovesick teenager. There is so much local color you'll be reaching for juicy olives and sun-dried tomatoes, deciding to have a grappa with your dinner, and maybe even scouring the stores for the latest Italian import. There's also enough steamy romance to satisfy the passionate soul, but it is Gemma's secret past that really warms the reader to this slightly ditzy American in Florence. It may not be great literature, but it is an entertaining read with charm, romance, and a multi-generational bonding experience to savor.

Rating:
Summary: Just another romance
Review: If you really enjoy romance novels, this is a good choice for you. It's light, with oh-so-nice characters, a roguish, impossibly handsome hero, a love-starved but unselfish heroine, and a picturebook setting. Dr. Jemma Jericho is a single mother with a depressing string of romantic failures, who therefore has walled herself off from everything in the world except her tiny family and her stressful career. I suppose her cynical nature is understandable, but who could visit Italy and enjoy so little of the experience? Nonna, Jemma's mother, is a boringly stereotypical Italian- American widow who for 20 years has worn nothing but black. The Italian peasants in Tuscany are uniformly warm, happy, salt of the earth types who cook better then Emiral. Life in Tuscany is simple and idyllic. Jemma's daughter is a cute but derivative teenager. Why the love interest, an artist who is actually named Raphael(!), falls for Jemma, is a mystery to me - could it be that her endearing klutzyness overpowers her dowdiness and lack of any sex appeal? Guess so....
But for lovers of the genre, this might be your cup of tea - or cappuccino! Wish I could have liked it better.






Rating:
Summary: Delicious Food, Glorious Scenery and Great Characters!
Review: Leave it to Elizabeth Adler to write one of the best books I've read in the past few weeks. Then again from my earliest days of reading this author with books like Leonie, Peach, The Rich Shall Inherit and The Property of a Lady, Ms. Adler has never failed to entertain me, educate me and even introduce to me to some of the most unforgettable characters. Recently the author has written a couple of books in the romantic suspense genre but it is Summer in Tuscany which is perhaps her most intriguing book recently which blends romance, a bit of mystery and the description of a country I now hope to visit.

Gemma is a 40 year old emergency room doctor concerned about both her rebellious 15 year old daughter Livia and her 60 year old widowed mother Nonna. Exhausted from her intense life at the hospital, Gemma has little time for a social life other than the traditional Italian Sunday afternoon feast at her mother's house with their small family and a few friends. While Gemma daydreams about changing her life, she feels stuck with her life and finds she has little to look forward to. But then at Sunday dinner, Nonna announces that she has inherited a villa in the town of her birthplace located in Tuscany.
The deceased Count of the villa has left the estate to the surviving family member of a man who saved him from downing many years before. Nonna who left Italy with her parents many years before can't wait to return to her village and take possession of the villa. But first she must convince both Gemma and Livia to make the trip with her. At first Gemma won't even consider the idea but then thinks a summer away from New York may be the perfect opportunity for Livia, Nonna and herself to bond.

Arriving first in Rome, Gemma makes the acquaintance of a gentleman and hois young daughter. Almost immediately, Gemma feels something for this man. These are feelings she has long denied herself. But when she meets up with this man a few days later in Tuscany, he claims that he purchased Nonna's villa and he is now the rightful owner. Now while Gemma's relationship is heating up with this gentelman, the search is on for the owner or the villa or the heir to it.

While I loved the plot and many colorful characters, I think it was the description of Rome, Florence but most of all, the Tuscan region that found me reading late into the night. And when I wasn't picturing the Ponte Vecchio, Colosseum or the streets of a Tuscan village, my mouth was watering from the many wonderful homegrown foods and restaurant meals. There is even the appearance of Luchay, a bejeweled parrot with a wonderful history whom readers of Elizabeth Adler's previous book the Rich Shall Inherit will remember along with his owner Poppy Mallory.

It has been many years since I read my first book by Elizabeth Adler. But now having read and loved Summer in Tuscany I have this great desire to reread all of the books I previously read by this author. And if that isn't enough, I am seriously considering a trip to Tuscany this summer. Where else would I go after falling madly in love with this place after reading this book which takes place there.

Rating:
Summary: Delicious Food, Glorious Scenery and Great Characters!
Review: Leave it to Elizabeth Adler to write one of the best books I've read in the past few weeks. Then again from my earliest days of reading this author with books like Leonie, Peach, The Rich Shall Inherit and The Property of a Lady, Ms. Adler has never failed to entertain me, educate me and even introduce to me to some of the most unforgettable characters. Recently the author has written a couple of books in the romantic suspense genre but it is Summer in Tuscany which is perhaps her most intriguing book recently which blends romance, a bit of mystery and the description of a country I now hope to visit.

Gemma is a 40 year old emergency room doctor concerned about both her rebellious 15 year old daughter Livia and her 60 year old widowed mother Nonna. Exhausted from her intense life at the hospital, Gemma has little time for a social life other than the traditional Italian Sunday afternoon feast at her mother's house with their small family and a few friends. While Gemma daydreams about changing her life, she feels stuck with her life and finds she has little to look forward to. But then at Sunday dinner, Nonna announces that she has inherited a villa in the town of her birthplace located in Tuscany.
The deceased Count of the villa has left the estate to the surviving family member of a man who saved him from downing many years before. Nonna who left Italy with her parents many years before can't wait to return to her village and take possession of the villa. But first she must convince both Gemma and Livia to make the trip with her. At first Gemma won't even consider the idea but then thinks a summer away from New York may be the perfect opportunity for Livia, Nonna and herself to bond.

Arriving first in Rome, Gemma makes the acquaintance of a gentleman and hois young daughter. Almost immediately, Gemma feels something for this man. These are feelings she has long denied herself. But when she meets up with this man a few days later in Tuscany, he claims that he purchased Nonna's villa and he is now the rightful owner. Now while Gemma's relationship is heating up with this gentelman, the search is on for the owner or the villa or the heir to it.

While I loved the plot and many colorful characters, I think it was the description of Rome, Florence but most of all, the Tuscan region that found me reading late into the night. And when I wasn't picturing the Ponte Vecchio, Colosseum or the streets of a Tuscan village, my mouth was watering from the many wonderful homegrown foods and restaurant meals. There is even the appearance of Luchay, a bejeweled parrot with a wonderful history whom readers of Elizabeth Adler's previous book the Rich Shall Inherit will remember along with his owner Poppy Mallory.

It has been many years since I read my first book by Elizabeth Adler. But now having read and loved Summer in Tuscany I have this great desire to reread all of the books I previously read by this author. And if that isn't enough, I am seriously considering a trip to Tuscany this summer. Where else would I go after falling madly in love with this place after reading this book which takes place there.