Helpful Score: 7
The descriptions of Tuscany are wonderful, the writing is, as always, excellent, the characters are skilfully and sympathetically portrayed. I enjoyed this one very much!
Helpful Score: 4
A 5-star book. Very entertaining and it holds your interest. It helps you remember to "breathe" and live life. A really good mystery unfolds also with some humor along the way.
Helpful Score: 3
I loved the heroine's spunk. Ms. Phillips gives you a nice tight plot, and snappy writing.
Helpful Score: 3
The familiar tricks of the trade are refreshingly revamped in this lively contemporary romance set in Tuscany. Lorenzo (Ren) Gage is a devilishly handsome movie star, best known for his villainous roles onscreen and his playboy antics off. Isabel Favor is a tightly wound self-help guru and author of The Four Cornerstones of a Favorable Life whose own perfect life has recently come crashing down around her. Both have come to Italy to escape the endless rehashes of their latest misfortunes in the public eye, and the equally endless drone of self-criticism. Ren and Isabel meet under what can only be described as unusual circumstances, leaving each of them thinking, thankfully, they'll never see the other again. Imagine their surprise when Isabel turns up on Ren's doorstep, her much anticipated rental villa belonging to none other than her ill-advised one-night stand. As might be anticipated, their fiery antagonism soon breeds sparks of a different kind. The relationship develops in a somewhat familiar fashion, but the development of Isabel and Ren as characters makes their story shine. Meanwhile, at the villa, all is not as it seems, and the two lovers find themselves playing amateur detectives, trying to untangle the strange behavior of the townspeople and of Ren's hired caretaker. As if things weren't complicated enough, Ren's ex-wife, Tracy, suddenly appears on the scene pregnant and with several kids in tow. Tracy's appearance ushers in a touching subplot centering on the nature of marriage in the real world an unexpected and affecting treat in the midst of this steamy, lighthearted romance. With this intriguing combination of the fantasy and reality of romance, Phillips has created a very modern and textured tale: witty, moving, passionate and tender.
Helpful Score: 3
Susan Elizabeth Phillips is kind of a hit-and-miss author for me, but this was one of her better ones in my opinion. The ending was a little hokey, but the setting was beautiful and the secondary characters were just as interesting as the main characters were. I would definitely recommend this one.
