The Secret of Orange Blossom Cake by Rachel Linden

February 6, 2026

The Secret of Orange Blossom Cake by Rachel Linden

Juliana Costa is an internet influencer, hosting a weekly cooking show where she cooks retro recipes. When her co-host moves to Los Angeles for a chance at network television, Jules finds herself pretty much out of a job. To make matters worse, she has a publishing contract to write a cookbook, and her publisher has rejected her initial submission. When her mother offers to pay her expenses so she can go work on her book at the family farm in Italy, Jules feels she has no choice but to accept. The only catch is, she has to take her teenaged half-sister with her.

I'm not really crazy about magical realism but I was looking for something kind of light. This is a quick if predictable read with a warm and fuzzy vibe that centers around a magical cookbook. The descriptions of Italy and the food are the best parts of the book. Themes include healing, depression and grief, family, and love lost and found.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Orange blossom cake - looks pretty yummy!

The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce

August 20, 205

The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce

Vic Kemp's four adult children have always been obsessed with him. A neglectful father, he left them to the care of a series of au pairs while he drank, had affairs, and painted commercially successful but not critically acclaimed paintings. At the age of 76, he shocks his children by marrying a woman 50 years his junior who he met online in a chat room and had known for only four months. Shortly after the marriage, Vic is found dead at the family's Italian vacation house, drowned in the lake. The four siblings rush to Italy to find out what really happened, and more importantly, to find his will and his final painting that was supposed to be his masterpiece.

I really enjoyed the author's first two Harold Frye books as well as Miss Benson's Beetle, but this story was very disappointing. It was billed as a mystery but it's a family drama about four adults in their 30s who are completely emotionally dependent on their artist father, dealing with the fallout from his sudden death. I almost DNF at 35% because the story was so slow moving and there didn't seem to be much more to say about any of them. I did a lot of skimming after that. The story gets a little more interesting at about 65% and is essentially over at 75%, at which point it becomes a different story and goes on for another 100 or so pages before it finally fizzles out. If you like The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, you might like this too. Otherwise, can't get those hours back.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

November 28, 2022

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

Emily Sheridan and Chess Chandler have been friends since elementary school. Both are writers: Emily writes cozy mysteries and Chess writes self-help books. Following a bad period in Emily's life, Chess suggests they spend the summer at a villa in Italy where both can work on their writing. At first, the house seems like the perfect place to spend the summer. But when Emily learns that a murder occurred at the villa 50 years earlier, she begins to dig deeper into the story.

There are two timelines here, set 50 years apart, that mirror each other to a certain extent. I figured out the plot about one third of the way into the story. But there were some unexpected twists as well as two different endings, and the reader is left wondering about the truth. Quite a few of the characters are unlikeable, so it didn't bother me when they died or got killed. This is enjoyable escape fiction, well-written, that is perfect for vacation, and readers of psychological or suspense fiction will be drawn into the story.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC.

Orvieto, Italy, the setting for The Villa

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

November 6, 2021

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

Philip Ashley was orphaned as a child and was raised by his cousin Ambrose. They share a quiet life at Ambrose's Cornwall estate. Ambrose suffers from a weak chest and routinely spends the winter in Italy, away from the damp English winters, and they write to each other regularly. Shortly before Philip's 25th birthday, Ambrose writes to Philip to tell him that he has met a widowed cousin of theirs named Rachel, that they have fallen in love and married. The newlyweds have no plans to return to England.

Ambrose's letters to Philip become increasingly erratic and Philip decides to journey to Italy to check on Ambrose himself. He arrives in Florence only to find that Ambrose is dead and his new bride has left their villa. Unable to locate her, Philip returns to England, where his guardian Nick informs him that he received a letter from Rachel's man of business, stating two things: Ambrose did not have time to change his will, and Philip is still heir to his estate; and Rachel is on her way to England. She arrives at the estate and Philip falls increasingly under her spell. As his cousin's widow, he transfers the estate over to her. Philip falls ill almost immediately and it takes several weeks for him to recover. He suspects that Rachel poisoned him, but he has no proof. But he is certain that she is trying to kill him and sets a trap for her.

My Cousin Rachel is du Maurier's third most popular book. Like her other books, it has a mystery/romance theme with gothic overtones. A good choice for a gloomy fall evening.

Cornwall estate

These Tangled Vines by Julianne McLean

June 12, 2021

These Tangled Vines by Julianne McLean

On her deathbed, Fiona's mother told her a secret and made her promise never to tell her father Freddie. Years later, Fiona gets a call from an Italian lawyer, informing her that her biological father (not Freddie) has died and left her an inheritance, but she needs to come to Italy for the reading of the will. Oh, and he's also left her a stepmother and two half-siblings who didn't know Fiona existed and are resentful about it, understandably, when they learn that she is going to inherit a chunk of their father's estate.

Although there are family secrets (who doesn't love a good family secret), there was a lot more romance than anything else. The first half of the book is pretty good, but once the flashbacks start in the second half, the story becomes predictable. There are good descriptions of food, wine, and Tuscany.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC.

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell

July 29, 2022

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell

In the 16th century, at the age of 15, Lucrezia di Cosimo de Medici (yes, those Medici) of Florence married Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara. Alfonso was about ten years older than Lucrezia. Less than a year later, Lucrezia was dead. Historians believe that she died of tuberculosis or some other lung ailment, but immediately after her death, rumors began to spread that the Duke had murdered her.

Maggie O'Farrell creates a fictional biography based on the limited information that is available about Lucrezia. It's an enjoyable read with a storyline that implicates the Duke but still gives Lucrezia a happy ending. But the question remains: why would the Duke want to kill his pretty young wife? Lucrezia had yet to produce an heir, but they had been married less than a year and Lucrezia was only 15. The Duke went on to marry two more times, but neither one of those marriages produced an heir either.  Was the Duke infertile or gay? He did have a very close relationship with Baldassare, his lifelong pal and consigliere.

I enjoy books about lesser known historical figures and events, and I love Maggie O'Farrell's books.

The only known portrait of Lucrezia di Cosimo de Medici.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC.

In the Name of the Family by Sarah Dunant

August 20, 2019

In the Name of the Family by Sarah Dunant

Before there were the Sopranos and the Lannisters, there were the Borgias, the original family syndicate.  Pope Alexander VI (formerly Rodrigo Borgia:  womanizer, businessman, politician) is returning from taking his daughter Lucrezia to marry her third husband in Ferrara (she's 22 years old and on husband #3).  His son Cesare (also known as Duke Valentine) was the basis for the prince described by Niccolo Machiavelli in his political treatise The Prince.  Although Cesare was generally considered to be a decent ruler, he was also mentally unstable at times and ordered the murder of Lucrezia’s second husband for political reasons.  Although she resents being used as a political pawn by her family, Lucrezia fulfills her duty for the Borgia clan and sets out to charm her new husband’s family and the court and produce the necessary heirs.

Entertaining and overall historically accurate, like “Lifestyles of the Renaissance Rich and Famous” or “Bedroom Secrets of the Borgias.”  The characters are fully fleshed, ruthless, cruel, loyal to the family.  The narrative is told predominantly from three alternating viewpoints (Pope Alexander, Cesare, and Lucrezia), with Machiavelli occasionally chiming in to comment on Borgia politics.  This title is the sequel to Blood and Beauty by the same author.

The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Juliet Grames

Monday, June 10, 2019.

The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Juliet Grames

I finished a great book yesterday, The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Juliet Grames.  It's a family epic based on the author's family legends.  The characters are great - the title character Stella really comes to life, and the supporting characters are wonderful, too.  The story starts in Stella's village of Ieovoli in southern Italy where from early childhood, Stella has a number of brushes with death.  Is Stella just unlucky, or are other forces at work?  I was bothered by the casual violence toward women by their fathers and husbands (the men who should have been protecting them) and how everyone just accepted the way that women were treated.  I highly recommend this title.

I received a pre-publication galley from author Juliet Grames in return for an honest review - she was out on a book tour at the time but was still thoughtful enough to have one of her co-workers get the copy out to me.