I have always found Prue Leith an interesting personality and have followed her career as a professional chef and food writer in the press so of course it will be no surprise that when she started writing fiction, I wanted to read them. I have now read four of her five novels including this one, starting with Leaving Patrick in 1999, Sisters in 2002, and The Gardener in 2008. Her novels are not great literature but they are enjoyable and realistic, as she draws on her own life…

Nicky Pellegrino is an author I only discovered in the latter months of last year and this is already the third book of hers I have read. Surely a good recommendation in itself, she writes novels that I always enjoy drifting off to another world with. So far always set in my beloved Italy but each novel has portrayed a different Italian world. This time she transports us back to the romantic era of 1950's Rome with a story woven around a real life singer from the period Mario Lanza,…

I was really out of my comfort zone with this novel which is really not a surprise now I have discovered that the author is influenced in her writing style by Jenny Colgan, Sophie Kinsella and Marian Keyes all excellent authors but not really ones I would consider myself a fan of, although I have read novels written by them all in the past. It is maybe not fair of me that I accepted a review copy from the author for review, as it is probably not one I would have selected for myself.…

The front cover of this novel states that is based on the author’s vast experience and wild imagination. She is not kidding; I hope I have taken this novel in the right spirit as I found it hilarious! It is certainly rather different from the Italy I know and love but then I am not Marilyn Wade who was looking for a new start after divorce! Marilyn just seems to attract the most incredible characters, finding herself in some strange situations! 

After her divorce she…