Review: Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani

Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani

Publisher: Harper

Pages: 371

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  In this luscious, contemporary family saga, the Angelini Shoe Company, makers of exquisite wedding shoes since 1903, is one of the last family-owned businesses in Greenwich Village. The company is on the verge of financial collapse. It falls to thirty-three-year-old Valentine Roncalli, the talented and determined apprentice to her grandmother, the master artisan Teodora Angelini, to bring the family's old-world craftsmanship into the twenty-first century and save the company from ruin.

While juggling a budding romance with dashing chef Roman Falconi, her duty to her family, and a design challenge presented by a prestigious department store, Valentine returns to Italy with her grandmother to learn new techniques and seek one-of-a-kind materials for building a pair of glorious shoes to beat their rivals. There, in Tuscany, Naples, and on the Isle of Capri, a family secret is revealed as Valentine discovers her artistic voice and much more, turning her life and the family business upside down in ways she never expected. 

Kritters Thoughts:  The first of a trilogy that centers around Valentine who is a young woman who has decided to leave her job as a teacher and go into the family business that has been their mainstay for over 100 years.  Valentine must forgo many things to follow in her grand parents and great grand parents footsteps.  

The reason I started this book was because I am on tour for the third book in the trilogy and decided to start back at square one.  I spent one fantastic fall weekend soaking up some sun outside and reading the first two in this trilogy.  I fell in love with both Valentine and her family.  Adriana Trigiani paints fantastic pictures of both characters and setting - the reader wants to be a part of the family and go with them on their adventures.  With an older brother and three sisters, this family had plenty of drama, but never too much!

At the end of this first book, I was excited to find out that I would have the chance to spend two more books worth of time with this family.  

Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel 
(happy that it was the first of a trilogy)

Off the Shelf 2013 Challenge: 5 out of 30