Brava, Valentine

A. Trigiani is a genius when it comes to story telling! She has the reader feels as if s/he is there, sitting among the characters because the characters seem so real. I have read this book several times and each time I have laughed out loud, cried, and felt the prickly goosebumps/ fluttering butterflies of romantic love whenever the characters have their dialogues. At the heart of the story that keeps me glued is the romance between Valentine and Gianluca but their love story seems so real, so complex, and so human, not mushy and cliche. I find myself wincing as one romantic mishap happens after another. I sympathized with the hard choices and the self revelations that the lead character experiences. Also, the setting of the story is so descriptive and beautiful that I could picture artists such as Van Gogh and Claude Monet had collaborated their brushstrokes onto the canvases of each setting. I hope there's another installment of Valentine's storyline. I going to go back to read the first book. through.