G. G. Vandagriff

I loved this book, but it took me quite a while to retain the names of the women and keep them all straight. I don't think it was anything the author did, though. I was reading this on my Kindle, and I've noticed before that it's harder to keep up with the details of the story when I'm reading an ebook.

There is a lot going on in this book. Four separate stories and four almost-strangers learning about themselves and each other during a month in Italy. Each women embraces the artist inside while discovering the love around them. They bask in the agape love of the Italians and their fellow "Crazy Ladies", and eventually discover a little romantic love, as well. This novel is set to be the first of four and I can't wait to read more to see what happens next. There were several loose ends that I want to see wrapped up.

I loved the language of this book. One thing I love about the Kindle is that I can mark passages. In some books, I don't mark any, even if I enjoy the book. This is one of those books, though, that's full of wisdom and beautiful words that you want to store in your heart to carry around and pull out when you're having a less-than-wonderful day.

"That's life, MacKenzie. We can't go back, only forward. And we can't afford to waste the past. The best we can do is reframe it. We only have so many years on this earth. They all count."

"True artists must be determined not to shy away from what they might find. She remembered a quote from Nietzche, Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it: Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."

"Remember the Duomo," he said. "Bruneschelli just proceeded brick by brick. he never knew what he would do from on day to the next. He worked in faith, and according to the legend he never doubted that the next step to creating the world's first dome would be given to him in the moment that he needed it. He never saw the end from the beginning. None of us do."

I received this ebook from the author in exchange for an honest review.

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I was looking for some angsty books and this was on a list, so I grabbed it. While the plot fit the bill, I found the execution a bit lacking. It's an okay read but the characters were too black and white. Elizabeth, the lost love and villain of the romance, comes off as cartoonish in her dealings with Felicity, the steadfast wife. Felicity cuts and runs rather than fight while her husband Alex is in the middle of the two women, often clueless and just stupid in his behavior. But it's a fast read and fine as a story.… (mehr)