This was a decent read but not as good as I had anticipated. An old Italian curse on second daughters' never finding love haunts Emilia and her cousin Lucy, until her Aunt Poppy proposes a trip to Italy to break the curse. The author weaves together Poppy's life story with Emilia's story in the modern day trip. I pretty much had it figured out about halfway through the book; I kept on reading to see how the author would come to the ending. The descriptions of Italy are nice, but some of the things that happen seem a bit far-fetched and too good to come true. ( )

Boy, did I need to read this book! The story encompasses everything important in life: family, dreams, goals, truth, and love.
There's a family curse against the second-born daughters in their family, one that goes back several generations, one that Emilia doesn't want to believe, yet she's living her life in expectations of the curse.
Then comes an invitation from her crazy-and distant-aunt Poppy, asking her to take a trip to Italy for Poppy's 80th birthday where she will marry the man she loves and break the curse.
The story follows the two women, and Lucy, Em's cousin who is also living under the curse, as they travel to Italy. The travels through Italy were a bonus to this entertaining story. I loved traveling, and tasting, vicariously through the characters!
The story doesn't take the simple way out in several situations and relationships, which keeps you guessing. It also brings home the point of so many truths: Is being married more important than being loved? Do we make our own future or do we let others pick it for us? Do we take a chance on life-and people?
This is an entertaining story, one that will lift your spirits and give you hope.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of this great read!

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Lori Nelson Spielman's novel drifts between romance, Italian sight-seeing, a mysterious curse, and family dysfunction without mastering any of those integral elements. Your tolerance for these type of hallmark hall of fame type books, will impact your enjoyment. The LGBTQ friendly relationship does add a sweetness that may just be enough to make this a worthwhile read. ( )

3.5 stars. Overall, the storyline was cute, and there were some good messages about following your heart. The story was entertaining, and I loved the parts that take place in Italy. However, the constant referring to a ridiculous curse and whether or not individual characters "believed in" the curse or could break the curse was just super annoying. And the author attempted to give the just plain mean characters (one character in particular) a background story that helped explain why they were so awful, but I just didn't buy it as an excuse for decades of inexcusable behavior towards certain family members. ( )

This book was wonderful. Sad in parts, yes, but beautiful and the type of book that really touches your heart. ( )