Love and Meatballs

Rating:
Summary: The paper it's printed on has more flavor
Review: Clearly the general reading public has decided they no longer need style, wit, charm, a cohesive plot, any evidence that the author actually knows how to write, or characters we can tolerate for more than .05 seconds. How else could this book get published. I realize in the wake of My Big Fat Greek Wedding (which I enjoyed, don't get me wrong), book stores would be flooded with random-ethnicity copy-cats, but there is no reason for fine, upstanding, editors and agents out there to get this desperate.

All of the characters are shallow and whining; the author seems to have mistake character details for actual character. Yes, this might be a jolly, quirky familia, but their quirks are not what's going to keep us turning the pages. The romance, if you can call it that, is like a failed chemistry lab - your basic ingredients are there but nothing's happening. If I wanted to see two people who mildly like each other converse about their rather normal lives and decide to go on a date, I could make a trip to my local Downtown area any night of the week, thank you very much. Fortunately the romance angle is left in the background for much of the book, as we follow the bland heroine in search of excitment and a reason not to immediatly donate this book to our local library.

There are any number of books out there with enjoyable, engaging people and plotlines. Just not this one. Read something else.

Rating:
Summary: Gobbled Up in One Afternoon!
Review: Forget just reading one chapter of this delicious tale about Jo Cerbone and the crazy, fun stew of her life. You will devour this book! You can't just sample it, you must partake of it fully. It's not dessert, people, it's an entree! Okay, enough of the food metaphors...

What started as "I'll just read a couple of chapters..." ended as "Leave me alone, I'm finishing this book." After reading LOVE AND MEATBALLS, I wanted to join the Cerbone family and cook Italian food (cooking is not one of my strong suits). The descriptions of food were mouth-watering and thankfully, the author included several recipes (that I might actually attempt to make *G*).

One of my favorite scenes (and there are many) is when Jo engages in battle wielding a frying pan--her nasty opponent has a heavy rolling pin. A big HURRAY for the fiesty Jo.

If you love warm tales of big families, comfort food, bouncing back when life throws you for several consecutive loops ... try LOVE AND MEATBALLS.

Rating:
Summary: A Delicious Surprise
Review: I loved this book! Which came as a huge surprise to me, especially based on the fact that it is a Romance novel, and represents a literary genre that I infrequently read. I am certainly not among the demographic target group to which these novels are marketed; being that I am male, an English Literature graduate, and more prone to reading Historical Biographies than Romances. However, this little book found its way into my hands by virtue of someone knowing the author, Susan Volland, and asking that I read it and see what I thought.

What I thought was that it was a well-constructed tale of a flawed heroine seeking love, acceptance, and independence. It was told with remarkable humor and an uncanny sense of timing and story arc development...especially for a first time author. The story's events were set at a pace that resulted in a page turning experience and conveyed a visual and emotional sense of reading a good screenplay. (In fact, it would not surprise me if this book were to be made into a movie, based on the strength of its story line and characters!)

My only concern is that the title "Love and Meatballs" would never have attracted me to pick it up to read; and I am sure that it will undoubtedly be overlooked by many others who would otherwise enjoy it. I hope that this book finds its way outside the realm of pure Romance aficionados and receives an audience that includes lovers of detective stories, readers drawn to the tales about the food industry, and readers who appreciate good humor.


Rating:
Summary: You'll be Smiling!
Review: I read it cover to cover, only stopping for an occasional fridge-raid or bathroom break. It's a laugh-out-loud, funny, comfy kinda book. It's a perfect light read. Susan Volland's sense of humor and witty details makes me think we'll see much more of this author in the future.

Rating:
Summary: A fun read!
Review: I thought this was a fun book -- I enjoyed the family, the love story, the joy of food. I would recommend this book to my friends, and it would be a great airplane book. It also would make a good movie. I wonder if the variation of Tiny Dick that I knew in grade school turned out the same way. One thing did bug me a little: As the owner of "perhaps the coolest car in the universe," I think that anybody who throws an Austin Healey into the story line should first know how to spell it.

Rating:
Summary: Well done!
Review: I was charmed by this rollicking tale of the Cerbone family. The gift of a good read, at least for me, is the charm and wit that was displayed in Love and Meatballs. A family that seemed familiar, recipes that are delicious, and gusto to round it out. I didn't want it to end. Well done!

Rating:
Summary: GREAT WAY TO TURN AROUND A BAD DAY!
Review: If life gives you lemons don't bother to make lemonade just read "Love and Meatballs". It's a great way to turn around a bad day! "Love and Meatballs" is a fun read that moves quickly through one adventerous laugh-out-loud period of the Cerbone family. So real you could expect a friend to be explaining the various complications of family and business over a cup of tea. It had me laughing on a day when I didn't think I would laugh. Excellent first novel....Where are you going to take us next Ms. Volland?

Rating:
Summary: Delicious Read
Review: Love & Meatballs is a fun and tasty read. I couldn't put it down!

Rating:
Summary: Charming!
Review: Lovely bed-time reading. Charming characters, refreshing plot, easy and a pleasure to read. *I* want to meet *the guy* though--and isn't that an effect a romance novel/mystery should have? Really charming: a romance novel without patronizing or simplistic cliche-characters, mystery without manipulation or the obvious plot. Silly, silly.. those harsh reviews!

Rating:
Summary: A Lively Mix of Food, Family and Exuberance
Review: This is the kind of novel you read for the fun of traveling around inside the head of a wisecracking, funny, moody, self confessing heroine who in the course of two or three paragraphs can be hard as a crab apple, tangy as her Bella's Bloody Mary and soft as a marshmallow. It's also fun to be plunked down in the middle of a vibrant family of restaurateurs by a writer who knows the business.