Pick Up Italy Ever After Illustrated By Leonie Mack Issued As EPub

only is this cover bright and beautiful but so was the story, In these times of uncertain travel books are great escapism and this was exactly that, The descriptions and settings were really well done but the characters conversations did feel a little stale sometimes and a bit repetitive.


I was sent this book by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, Loved reading this while I waited for my next months book club meeting, It was a light, fun, and a little inspiring to her a recently divorced woman rediscover herself and a new outlook on life! This story is full of great characters and has a gorgeous backdrop of Northern Italy.
Its a wonderful warmhearted read and I loved seeing Lou regain her self confidence as she supported her daughter, Edie on the music camp.
The chemistry between Lou and Nick is brilliant, gently simmering away behind the music story and the writing, so emotional as both characters learn to move on from their respective pasts.
Do you know, Ive rarely come across an opening chapter that filled me with such rage, When Lou meets with her husband theyre now estranged, and she needs his permission to take her talented violinist daughter Edie on a music camp at Lake Garda he casually presents her with the divorce papers, questions her motives for being one of the parents going on the trip as a “helper”, has the audacity to berate her for being “ordinary and talentless”, and ends the meeting with his usual kiss on the cheek.


I was fuming, and it told me everything I needed to know about both characters particularly the way such constant criticism and belittling must have made her feel about herself, and I was immediately firmly in her corner.
And when neither he nor his ballet dancer girlfriend turn up for Edies important concert before the trip departs, I was ready to run him through what a thoroughly obnoxious but entirely believable character, and its sadly not the last time we see him.


Getting to know Lou better, you discover that while she may have had the stuffing totally knocked out of her by her marriage, doubting herself at every turn, shes a character you soon grow to love.
Shes a great mother, nurturing her daughters special talent while her father sees it as an “obsession” she should move on from: and she has a wonderful selfdeprecating sense of humour, coupled with a tendency to speak her thoughts before putting her brain in gear, that only makes you love her more.


Ill admit that I was slightly worried about the way the story would unfold when I saw it was about a music camp I thought the focus might be on the children, and that would have been something I might not have enjoyed as much.
But other than a nice focus on the relationship between Lou and Edie, it doesnt its far more about Lous personal growth and development, her search for a “talent”, and her developing relationship with Edies quite wonderful music teacher Nick, all against the backdrop of Lake Garda and the build up to the final concert at La Scala in Milan.


The setting is vividly and beautifully drawn yes, another destination added to my bucket list and I loved the music theme that runs through the whole story, all the emotions attached to it, the lows when performances dont go as well as they should and the fear of failure, the exhilaration at every small triumph.
And I equally loved Lous search for her talent, filling her days with workshops making perfume thats one that went particularly badly, cheese, jewellery, the perfect satchel and her disastrous and very funny attempt at standup paddle boarding.


But perhaps the element I enjoyed the most was the extraordinary chemistry between Lou and Nick, As well as being the most wonderful teacher, with a warmth and caring approach to his students bringing out their best and drawing it out through their performances, he has a special musical talent of his own that he hides from others because of his own personal demons.
Theyre two damaged people who are clearly meant to be together and I absolutely loved the way the author managed their slowly developing relationship.
The dialogue is just superb they feel their way towards each other, light exchanges filled with humour but with a subtext that you can really feel, and I so wanted to push them together so that they could help each other heal.
The books emotional climax is totally glorious yes, there were tears with the emotional impact of that final concert with all its many undercurrents, and the uncertainty as to whether there will be a happy ending for both Lou and Nick or whether they might depart in separate directions.


I so loved the romance you can tell, cant you! but I also really enjoyed Lous difficult journey towards increased self esteem and happiness, her growing understanding that she really is good enough and far better than her toxic husband has always made her feel.
And I also loved Nicks journey, his passion for music, his torment as he strives to overcome his deepseated fears and reach his own state of contentment.


Id expected this book to be a light romance with a welldrawn Italian Lakes backdrop, and I knew there would be music but it was so much more than that, it entirely engaged my heart.
Very highly recommended and Leonie Mack most definitely added to my list of “must read” authors,.Stars I felt drawn into this story from the first few pages and the book didn't let go of his hold on me until I reached the end.
I felt instantly at home with these characters, and they are all brand new to the reader, it's just the writing is so comfortable that you can't help but feel you knew these characters.


And Lou and Nick are both flawed characters, they aren't the most confident in their own abilities, or elements of their personalities, and as a result they are very relatable to them.


And Edie what a star she is, central to the book, to how Lou and Nick respond to things but also not the most vocal of children, but just when she is in a scene she adds a lot.


And the trip to Italy, accompanying a music camp is a new situation for me which I loved.
I enjoyed seeing how Lou is keen amongst all these talented children to try to find her own talent and thus takes part in various workshops with differing degrees of success.


I enjoyed the setting so much and the simmering chemistry between Lou and Nick even if for large amounts of the book they were both trying to ignore it.


I enjoyed the ocassional bits of Italian being spoken, to add to the flavour of the setting, and meeting Nick's grandparents was really lovely too.


It's a story that I just thoroughly enjoyed reading and this book cements my opinion that Leonie Mack's a fabulous writer who seems to love all elements of music and stunning settings.
If she keeps up like this she will be a must read author for me, without even looking at the blurbs.
I'm enjoying her writing that much,

Thank you to Boldwood Books and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily, Recensione presente nel blog sitelinkwww, ragazzainrosso. wordpress. com
Il matrimonio di Lou è finito, Adesso deve ricostruire la sua esistenza di donna single e badare a sua figlia Edie, la quale ha un grande talento musicale.
Quando si presenta la possibilità di iscrivere sua figlia a un campo estivo per giovani musicisti in Italia, per Lou, che farà da accompagnatrice, sembra essere giunto il momento di rilassarsi un po esplorando i paesini che si affacciano sul lago di Garda.
A rendere ancor più piacevole il soggiorno è la presenza di Nick Romano, giovane insegnante di musica, sul quale la mammina Lou ha messo gli occhi.


“Se non

vorrai dirmi nulla lo rispetterò, ma guardarti suonare è stato come trovare un pezzo mancante, ”

Punti di forza del romanzo sono indubbiamente lambientazione e le tematiche affrontate, I paesi che si affacciano sul lago hanno il loro fascino, specie per quanti non abitano in zone lacustri, con i loro borghi e bellezze, rappresentano unottima meta estiva e, in questo caso, sfondo per le vicende narrate.
Il romanzo pullula di riferimenti a problemi sociali di grande importanza quali: il bullismo il divorzio e le ripercussioni che questo evento ha il voler trovare la propria strada fino ai rapporti genitorifigli.


A mio parere ciò che rende lopera debole è la caratterizzazione dei personaggi, Lou e Nick, infatti, non riescono a essere incisivi ai fini della narrazione,

Lou è una giovane donna che ha fatto della bellezza la sua fortuna, basti pensare quante volte nel romanzo venga ripetuto che possiede dei meravigliosi capelli.
Conduttrice di un tg grazie allinfluenza dellex marito, non riesce a essere mai se stessa, In un mondo che impone a chiunque di avere competenze, passioni, Lou non riesce a capire quale sia il suo talento, cosa sia in grado di fare anche a causa dellex marito che coglie ogni pretesto per mettere in evidenza quanto sia inadeguata.
Se da una parte non si può non parteggiare per lei quasi “difendendola”, dallaltra ci si rende conto di quanto, talora, i suoi comportamenti non si addicano a una persona adulta.


Nick ha un grande talento, che, però, non sfrutta come dovrebbe, Memore di alcuni traumi vissuti durante linfanzia e ladolescenza, si è chiuso in se stesso e ha scelto di mantenere le distanze da ciò che potrebbe metterlo in imbarazzo.
Nei confronti di Lou, almeno inizialmente, mantiene la distanza docentegenitore, poi man mano inizia ad aprirsi e ad avvicinarsi a quella donna che, forse, gli mette un velo di soggezione.
Rispetto a Lou, il suo è un personaggio psicologicamente più completo, tuttavia non si riesce a provare empatia nei suoi confronti.


Un piccolo cenno merita Edie, la figlia di Lou, unundicenne che nei comportamenti sembra essere molto più grande della sua età, quasi come se i ruoli madrefiglia siano sempre pronti a invertirsi.


Lo stile della prosa è semplice, fluido e scorrevole e il ritmo della narrazione abbastanza veloce, Come dicevo pocanzi, il lettore segue le vicende narrate ma non riesce a immedesimarsi nei personaggi poiché li avverte “freddi”.


Un romanzo con delle buone premesse che, secondo me, non riesce a conquistare, .