Review: Brava Valentine by Adriana Trigiani

Brava Valentine by Adriana Trigiani

Publisher: HarperCollins

Pages: 352

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  As Brava, Valentine begins, snow falls like glitter over Tuscany at the wedding of her grandmother, Teodora, and longtime love, Dominic. Valentine's dreams are dashed when Gram announces that Alfred, "the prince," Valentine's only brother and nemesis, has been named her partner at Angelini Shoes. Devastated, Valentine falls into the arms of Gianluca, a sexy Tuscan tanner who made his romantic intentions known on the Isle of Capri. Despite their passion for one another and Gianluca's heartfelt letters, a long-distance relationship seems impossible.

As Valentine turns away from romance and devotes herself to her work, mentor and pattern cutter June Lawton guides her through her power struggle with Alfred, while best friend and confidante Gabriel Biondi moves into 166 Perry Street, transforming her home and point of view. Savvy financier Bret Fitzpatrick, Valentine's first love and former fiancée who still carries a torch for her, encourages Valentine to exploit her full potential as a designer and a business woman with a plan that will bring her singular creations to the world.

A once-in-a-lifetime business opportunity takes Valentine from the winding streets of Greenwich Village to the sun-kissed cobblestones of Buenos Aires, where she finds a long-buried secret hidden deep within a family scandal. Once unearthed, the truth rocks the Roncallis and Valentine is determined to hold her family together. More so, she longs to create one of her own, but is torn between a past love that nurtured her, and a new one that promises to sustain her.

Kritters Thoughts:  The second book with the Angelini family that is still centered around Valentine, but with her family taking a close second.  Valentine must decide in this book how to take the family shoe making business to the next level, but also how to work in the shop without her grandmother and with her brother.  Fantastic family drama ensued!

I raved yesterday about the characters and the setting that Adriana Trigiani has in her books and with this review trying to keep it mostly spoiler free - I have to say that I love how Trigiani balances the story and the way she moves it forward effortlessly.  With the second book in the series, I was concerned that it may falter and stall out, but instead, I was just even more invested in how these characters were going to interact.  I didn't wait one minute when I finished this one to start the third!

The second book in this trilogy and trying to make my reviews short and spoiler free.  NOTE - on tour for the third book tomorrow, review probably won't be able to be spoiler free!

Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel
(happy the second book was part of a trilogy)