Review: Italian for Beginners by Kristin Harmel

Aug 18, 2009 by shanyn

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Title: Italian for Beginners
Author: Kristin Harmel
Publisher: 5 Spot
Publication Date: August 13, 2009
Paperback // 352 pages

From publisher:

Cat Connelly plays it safe. She’s an accountant with no debt who lives near her family in Manhattan. She’s also thirty-four, unmarried, and with nothing promising on her romantic horizon. After a humiliating incident at her sister’s wedding, she throws caution to the wind and flies off to Rome to find Francesco, the man she’d fallen in love with thirteen years earlier on a trip to Italy.

When Francesco turns out to be a dud, Cat is adrift on the streets of Rome, no safety net in sight. With the help of an eccentric waitress with a spare apartment to rent, the handsome restaurateur who calls her Princess Ann, and the family secrets only Rome can unlock for her, Cat discovers that happiness can be found on the back of a speeding Vespa… but only if you’re willing to take a few risks.

I’ve been working more and went on a trip this weekend – I actually finished this book last week (before I posted the giveaway)!

I thought that Italian for Beginners was a great summer read. It wasn’t entirely fluffy (the main character Cat deals with a few issues during the course of the book), but was very easy to follow.

The thing that I noticed most at the end of the book was how slowly the days seemed to move – Cat only planned to be there for a few weeks, but it seemed to me like so many things happened while she was there that she was actually there for months. I did consider that she didn’t have a job or many other responsibilities while she was on this vacation, though, so it is plausible that the events could happen in the time frame.

The plot summary from the back of the book marks it dead on – if you’re at all interested in Italy or need another summer read (with some romance), I’d recommend Italian for Beginners.

Look for an interview from the author, Kristin Harmel, coming soon! And don’t forget to enter the giveaway for this book!

Book Cover: 4/5
Book Title: 3/5
Plot: 7/10
Characters: 7/10
Writing: 8/10
Ending: 8/10

Overall: 37/50