JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

A Dream of Italy by Nicky Pellegrino

Here is your chance to buy your own home in southern Italy for less than the price of a cup of coffee. The picturesque mountain town of Montenello is selling off some of its historic buildings for just ONE EURO each. To be considered as a future resident of Montenello contact the town’s mayor, Salvio Valentini.

Many people read Salvio’s advertisement with excitement. Elise is in her twenties and desperate to get on the property ladder. Edward wants to escape a life he finds stifling. Mimi is divorced and starting afresh. And there is one person whose true motivation won’t be clear for some time.

These four people all have a dream of Italy. And it’s going to change their lives. The passionate and gorgeous new novel by Nicky Pellegrino, the bestselling author of A Year at Hotel Gondola.

A Dream of Italy by Nicky Pellegrino is a romance novel about relationships, family, identity and the notion of throwing all your plans into the wind and taking a chance on something that seems utterly bizarre and crazy.

Oh my — this was such a fun novel. I had no idea I was going to love it as much as I did. I absolutely devoured it, and I churned through the chapters within hours of picking it up. The premise is fantastic, the characters are relatable and engaging, and the setting of Italy is captured so perfectly it made me want to book a holiday straight away.

“Mimi had to stop herself calling Salvio straight away. She would let what the architect had said settle in, allow herself to think and dream a little longer before making a commitment. Still, she was so close now and, even though it wasn’t hers yet, she had the urge to buy something for the house.”

All of the characters who’d been given a house in Italy had something in their lives they needed to work through. Whether it was a failed relationship or a failing one, or a life that just wasn’t what it was supposed to be. All of the characters were looking for a new direction, and the house in Italy offered that to them.

Over the course of the novel, the characters become more reassured of their decision. They learn to trust themselves more, to listen to themselves instead of others, and they grow in confidence.

My favourite storyline was Elise, whose been in a relationship with Richard for a number of years and they’ve worked so hard to buy their own property. When the home in Italy comes up, Richard is a complete killjoy. He wants to continue as they are, and Elise feels trapped. She wants to take a chance on something, and so she moves to Italy and buys the property on her own.

“Gino’s back stiffened immediately but nothing else changed. There was no lull in the conversation, the sisters didn’t remark on it, the husbands appeared not to notice. Only Gino’s father seemed to care. Edward met his gaze. The old man didn’t look unhappy, just watchful, as if he was waiting to see what might happen next.”

Just a slight negative about the book — there isn’t much renovating in the story. I thought the plot of the book would be about them getting the house, arriving, and then working on the renovation and making the houses their own. But, most of the book is the lead up to them arriving, and then the pacing starts to quicken. But we never really arrive too much at the ‘fix up’ part. I think perhaps that’s a missed opportunity, but I still enjoyed the book.

This is a fabulous read — fun and carefree, and just really fantastic. If you’re going on a holiday soon and you’re looking for the perfect vacation read, then this is it. If you’re looking for a book that’s light and carefree and will make you feel great, this is it. I highly recommend this.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

A Dream of Italy
Nicky Pellegrino
April 2019
Hachette Book Publishers

The Spanish Promise by Karen Swan

Charlotte, a wealth counsellor who knows from personal experience the complications that a sudden inheritance can bring, helps her clients navigate the emotional side effects of sudden wealth syndrome. When she is asked by Mateo Mendoza, heir to a huge Spanish estate, to fly to Madrid to help resolve an issue in his father’s will, she’s confident it will be straightforward. The timing isn’t great as Charlotte’s due to get married the following week, but once her client signs on the dotted line, Charlotte can return to her life in London and her wedding, and live happily ever after. Marrying Stephen might not fill her with excitement, but she doesn’t want to live in the fast lane anymore – safe and predictable is good.

But Carlos Mendoza’s final bequest opens up a generation of secrets, and Charlotte finds herself compelled to unravel the mystery. As Charlotte digs deeper, she uncovers the story of a family divided by Spain’s Civil War, and of a love affair across the battle lines that ended in tragedy.

And while she is consumed in the drama of the Mendozas, Charlotte’s own tragic past catches up with her, threatening to overturn everything in her life she’s worked so hard to build.

The Spanish Promise is the latest novel from Karen Swan, a book with a split timeline and two grand love stories that transcend decades. The dual narratives in the book take place in the present day, but also 1930s Spain. The book explores relationships, family, war, wealth, privilege, legacy and secrets.

Charlotte, a wealth counsellor, is due to be married in a week. Her husband is rude and bossy, and her mother expects very little of Charlotte’s career and encourages her to quit her job. But Charlotte is very good at her job, and when a wealthy man in Spain is set to give his entire fortune to an unknown woman, Charlotte is given the task of tracking down the women and uncovering what secrets are hidden in her past.

“Nene pulled the brim of her hat low. She had stolen it from a peg in the maids’ quarters, the thin shawl and dress too. The dress was slightly too tight across the bodice and a fraction too short in the arms and length — she was so much taller than most other women — but comfort mattered for nothing right know.”

I have to admit, this wasn’t my favourite of Karen’s novels. Perhaps it was the complex and — at times — convoluted storyline or just the overall plot that had me feeling a little bored with the book. I finished it, and I didn’t mind it, but I wouldn’t say I loved it.

The two storylines didn’t feel like they realistically gelled together, and I struggled to relate to Charlotte. A wealth counsellor actually seems like quite a mundane job, and in this book, she shares very little chemistry with her fiancé and so it was pretty predictable what was going to happen with that. I think I just wasn’t the target market for this book, and my disinterest in the storyline was nothing to do with the quality of the book, and everything to do with my reading tastes.

“And then she saw that Montez still had his gun raised and pointed towards the rest of the men — that none of them dared move, neither to save her nor join her. In a flash she understood why.”

As always, Karen is particularly skilled at capturing glamorous settings. No matter the location, you always read her books and feel like you’re on holidays. She captures the feel, the atmosphere, the temperature, and the essence of the place that her books are set in.

Karen is also really great at capturing realistic dialogue and sexual tension between long lost love interests. Charlotte reconnects with an old flame in Spain, and the two of them have a lot to work through if they’re going to overcome their differences and work together on this project.

The Spanish Promise wasn’t for me, but there have been — and will continue to be — many readers who will adore this latest book by Karen Swan.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Spanish Promise
Karen Swan
April 2019
Pan Macmillan Publishers

A Universe of Sufficient Size by Miriam Sved

I have wished so many times that I had acted differently.
I wish that I had been more worthy of you…
Eventually the war will end, and then we will find each other.
Until then, remember me.

Budapest, 1938. In a city park, five young Jewish mathematicians gather to share ideas, trade proofs and whisper sedition.

Sydney, 2007. Illy has just buried her father, a violent, unpredictable man whose bitterness she never understood. And now Illy’s mother has gifted her a curious notebook, its pages a mix of personal story and mathematical discovery, recounted by a woman full of hopes and regrets.

Inspired by a true story, Miriam Sved’s beautifully crafted novel charts a course through both the light and dark of human relationships: a vivid recreation of 1930s Hungary, a decades-old mystery locked in the story of one enduring friendship, a tribute to the selfless power of the heart.

A Universe of Sufficient Size by Miriam Sved is a literary novel that takes the reader through multiple narratives — pre-war Hungary in 1938, Brooklyn in 1950 and Australia in 2007. It’s a complex and tender novel that I couldn’t help but adore.

The book explores trauma, war, family and relationships, but it’s also about a devoted group of young Jewish mathematicians in 1938 and how their choices and decisions shape not just their future, but their families’ futures decades later. Mathematics is one of the strongest links between the two timelines, connecting two major characters and allowing them to bond over their shared love and knowledge.

There’s a fair bit of detailed mathematics in the book that I didn’t understand, so I developed a habit of skipping over it. I imagine most readers would do the same, given that many people won’t understand the complex equations and formulas that the characters are discussing. But Miriam takes something that many people would find uninteresting — mathematics — and weaves a story that’s inviting and evocative.

“The day the photo was taken was stamped bright in my memory: an early autumn day in our first weeks at the university. We went on a hike in the hills around Buda: not just the five of us but the whole large crowd in which we moved during those week. I felt very glum around that time.”

The characters are one of the biggest strengths in the book. They’re three-dimensional, relatable, engaging and Miriam Sved has crafted a book that completely draws you in.

In 1938, Europe is engulfed by Nazism and they’re on the brink of war. These Jewish university students don’t quite realise just how much their lives are going to change. They’re experiencing a shift in how they’re being treated and what they’re allowed to do because of the Hungarian government’s anti-Jewish laws, but of course they don’t realise the scale of change that’s coming. They’re idealistic, hopeful, and actually really naive.

There was a small flaw I couldn’t help but come across in the story. Every now and then there was something in the 2007 timeline that didn’t quite work with the time period. For example:

“Josh strokes the phone screen. If he could just get the phone out of his pocket and download some more apps — there’s supposedly one for Myspace and another for Facebook — he might even be able to update his page here and now without leaving the reception.”

I’m fairly certain apps didn’t exist in 2007, much less the ability to download an app on an iPhone. In fact, The App Store wasn’t launched until July 2008. I’m not even sure if Myspace had its own app until much later on.

Despite this, I really enjoyed the novel. I’d recommend this book to anyone with a particular
interest in wartime novels — novels about love during difficult times, and how circumstance plays a
huge role in friendships and relationships.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

A Universe of Sufficient Size
Miriam Sved
April 2019
Pan Macmillan Publishers

Gravity is the Thing by Jaclyn Moriarty

Abigail Sorensen has spent her life trying to unwrap the events of 1990. It was the year she started receiving random chapters from a self-help book called The Guidebook in the post.

It was also the year Robert, her brother, disappeared on the eve of her sixteenth birthday.

She believes the absurdity of The Guidebook and the mystery of her brother’s disappearance must be connected.

Now thirty-five, owner of The Happiness Café and mother of four-year-old Oscar, Abigail has been invited to learn the truth behind The Guidebook at an all-expenses-paid retreat. What she finds will be unexpected, life-affirming, and heartbreaking.

Gravity is the Thing is an exquisite novel from Australian author Jaclyn Moriarty, a charming, heartwarming story about family, love, and hope. It’s about self-discovery and self-worth, and it’s about the complexities of relationships. This is one of my favourite books this year.

I fell in love with Abigail Sorensen from the very first page, from her trip to the airport all the way through the book until the very final moment. She’s observational, witty and hilarious, but she’s also caring and compassionate. Her voice is instantly relatable and she invites you into the book with her storytelling.

She’s also emotionally scarred. When she was a teenager, Abigail’s brother went missing and she’s never let go of him from her mind. She’s never given up hope that she’ll find out where he went or what happened to him. This retreat she’s been invited to seems like a ridiculous venture with no useful outcomes, but Abigail feels like she might get some answers by going. She feels drawn to this retreat. She somehow feels like Robert’s disappearance and The Guidebook are connected.

“Now we are in a field. Wilbur is handing out sacks that smell of horses and hay. He is shouting instructions. We are climbing into the sacks, lining up side by side for a sack race. Unexpected! The strange awkward loping of a sack race. (I am winning the race for a moment! Then tipping sideways into rutted grass. Bruising my hip. Coming in last. Oh well.)”

Abigail’s journey in the present is intercepted with flashbacks to the past — to Robert’s disappearance, to her marriage and its subsequent breakdown, to the birth of her son. The transition between past and present is effortless and allows for ease of reading.

The book is also peppered with chapters from The Guidebook that Abigail has been sent through the years. The Guidebook chapters have a habit of reflecting Abigail’s life, and they’re a timely delivery to her door each time.

Additionally, the mystery surrounding Robert’s disappearance does get solved by the end of the book, and it’s one of the major things that drives the pace of the book. As Abigail’s experience with the retreat continues, little clues are dropping into her life and she starts to feel like she may be able to solve the mystery, all these years later.

“Much of my sixteenth birthday was wasted being furious with Robert, at the same time as secretly thinking that his absence meant a surprise party for me, at the same time as being faintly frightened that something was wrong.”

I’ve read a few of Jaclyn’s books, and I love how well she weaves everything together and brings it to a close. Any loose bits of information are answered or explained, and the reader feels complete when they close the book.

I highly recommend this to readers. Gravity is the Thing is poignant, filled with beautiful writing and glorious characters. The premise is incredibly unique, and will draw readers in and keep them hooked until the very final page.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Gravity is the Thing
Jaclyn Moriarty
April 2019
Pan Macmillan Publishers

The Aunts’ House by Elizabeth Stead

Sydney, 1942

Recently orphaned, Angel Martin moves into ab oarding house populated by an assortment of eccentric and colourful characters. She’s befriended by the gregarious Winifred Varnham – a vision in exotic fabrics – and the numerically gifted Barnaby Grange. But not everyone is kind and her scrimping landlady, Missus Potts, is only the beginning of Angel’s troubles.

Angel refuses to accept her fate and focusses her affections on her two maiden aunts. Despite their resistance, she is determined to forge a sense of belonging. Her visits to the aunts’ house on the Bay soon expand her world in ways she couldn’t have imagined.

Elizabeth Stead brings her classic subversive wit and personal insight to this nostalgic portrait of wartime Sydney. In Angel Martin, she has created a singular and irrepressible character. A true original.

Literary fiction novel The Aunt’s House is a quirky, charming tale of family, legacy and identity. Sydney author Elizabeth Stead brings warmth and wit to the novel, and a three-dimensional protagonist who readers have no choice but to adore.

The novel is set in 1942, and eleven-year-old Angel Martin is an orphan and the newest addition to a boarding house run by Missus Potts. Her father died many years earlier, and her mother has just passed away whilst living in a sanatorium. Angel is unwanted by her paternal aunts because they believe her mother was responsible for their brother’s death years earlier.

The novel was a bit of a slow start for me, the direction of the story a little unclear and my faith in the story wavering. But, over time, I grew to love little Angel and her resilient personality. The book is written from Angel’s perspective, but in third person, and so we learn to love her voice. It’s a bit stream of conscious, but also really hopeful and glass-half-full. She’s quite a quirky, strange girl and so her narration reflects that throughout the book.

There are moments of humour peppered throughout the story, amidst moments of darkness. A few of the men in the boarding house either try, or succeed, to sexually abuse Angel. She doesn’t seem to dwell on the assault much and pushes it out of her mind, and perhaps this is her method of avoiding and ignoring what happened so that she doesn’t have to confront the events.

“Angel liked to think B and K truly loved each other — she wanted them to love each other and she wanted them to be married and have lots of babies. But perhaps the whole thing might have been just a dream and nothing happened at all. It might just have been hearts on fire at first sight between stops.”

Mental illness is a strong theme throughout the book. Angel’s mother was living in a sanatorium when she died, and a lot of people in Angel’s life think she’s inherited her mother’s mental instability. Angel does what she wants, when she wants, and people find her tough and hard to manage.

Another strong theme is family and companionship. Angel forms friendships with numerous people in town and their bonds strengthen over the course of the novel. In the boarding house, she strikes up a friendship with the insightful Barnaby Grange, and the interesting and eccentric Winifred Warnham. She also regularly takes the tram to see her Aunts, who do not want her in their home. But Angel is determined and loveable, and soon, a connection is formed.

“She tried to remember what her father looked like before the accident but her remembrance was more a smell. Not a tram smell. Sunday was a tram smell, the electric smell of wood and rails and hot cables. No, the smell of her father she remembered was motorcycle racing fuel and the sight of it in leaked black patches on the backyard grass.”

The Aunt’s House is about the complexities of humans, and the importance of not passing judgment onto others. The characters in the book are all very unique, but they’re a clever and fun bunch of characters and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about them all.

I’d recommend this to readers of adult fiction and lovers of literary works. This is incredibly character-driven, and so perfect for fans of complex and dimensional fiction.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Aunts’ House
Elizabeth Stead
April 2019
UQP Publishers

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