The Garden of Letters - Alyson Richman

Plot

Portofino, Italy, 1943. A young woman steps off a boat in a scenic coastal village. Although she knows how to disappear in a crowd, Elodie is too terrified to slip by the German officers while carrying her poorly forged identity papers. She is frozen until a man she’s never met before claims to know her. In desperate need of shelter, Elodie follows him back to his home on the cliffs of Portofino.

Only months before, Elodie Bertolotti was a cello prodigy in Verona, unconcerned with world events. But when Mussolini’s Fascist regime strikes her family, Elodie is drawn into the burgeoning resistance movement by Luca, a young and impassioned bookseller. As the occupation looms, she discovers that her unique musical talents, and her courage, have the power to save lives.

In Portofino, young doctor Angelo Rosselli gives the frightened and exhausted girl sanctuary. He is a man with painful secrets of his own, haunted by guilt and remorse. But Elodie’s arrival has the power to awaken a sense of hope and joy that Angelo thought was lost to him forever.

Thoughts

I have been stuck in Italy lately. Not just Italy, but the 1930's - 1940's Italy. Have you ever just loved a place you haven't been to before? It's an odd kind of love. I know that one day I will be able to travel there, but until then, I'm only able to experience Italy through books.

The Garden of Letters is by far my favorite novel based in Italy. Alyson Richman's writing was so captivating. The way she explained music and food enchanted me. Every passage of Elodie playing her cello broke me to tears. It was as if I could hear her playing. I'm not sure how to explain it because it wasn't really me hearing music it was more me seeing the colors and emotions of her playing. It was beautiful. Elodie was just the type of character you wish you knew, because then you'd have the honor of hearing talent in person.

Between the beautiful descriptions of the food, scenery, love, books, and music I couldn't pick a favorite part in The Garden of Letters. 

Reading about Angelo and Elodies lives before meeting was so incredibly heart breaking. The writing may have been beautiful but Richman's characters and story was what brought the novel depth. I wanted happiness for both of these characters. Whenever they experienced heartbreak or pain I experienced it with them. I was so engrossed into the story it physically hurt me to put it down between reading.

So I guess when the time comes for me to finally travel I will definitely be visiting Portofino, Italy. 

FOLLOW THE AUTHOR ALYSON RICHMAN

BUY THE BOOK AMAZON / BARNES & NOBLE / BOOK DEPOSITORY

Garden Spells - Sarah Addison Allen

PLOT

The women of the Waverley family -- whether they like it or not -- are heirs to an unusual legacy, one that grows in a fenced plot behind their Queen Anne home on Pendland Street in Bascom, North Carolina. There, an apple tree bearing fruit of magical properties looms over a garden filled with herbs and edible flowers that possess the power to affect in curious ways anyone who eats them. 

For nearly a decade, 34-year-old Claire Waverley, at peace with her family inheritance, has lived in the house alone, embracing the spirit of the grandmother who raised her, ruing her mother's unfortunate destiny and seemingly unconcerned about the fate of her rebellious sister, Sydney, who freed herself long ago from their small town's constraints. Using her grandmother's mystical culinary traditions, Claire has built a successful catering business -- and a carefully controlled, utterly predictable life -- upon the family's peculiar gift for making life-altering delicacies: lilac jelly to engender humility, for instance, or rose geranium wine to call up fond memories. Garden Spells reveals what happens when Sydney returns to Bascom with her young daughter, turning Claire's routine existence upside down. With Sydney's homecoming, the magic that the quiet caterer has measured into recipes to shape the thoughts and moods of others begins to influence Claire's own emotions in terrifying and delightful ways. 

As the sisters reconnect and learn to support one another, each finds romance where she least expects it, while Sydney's child, Bay, discovers both the safe home she has longed for and her own surprising gifts. With the help of their elderly cousin Evanelle, endowed with her own uncanny skills, the Waverley women redeem the past, embrace the present, and take a joyful leap into the future. 

THOUGHTS

Magical Realism is a fiction genre in which magical elements blend to create a realistic atmosphere that accesses a deeper understanding of reality.

Magical Realism is my favorite genre. With these types of books we are given clever ways on how magic (and things that the world of science tells us shouldn't exist) exists in our world. It's amazing! Garden Spells gives us not only a family of women but a whole town, who are convinced they all have their own "family given gifts". The strongest men in one family, the seductress women in another, and the Waverleys who were a family of strangely gifted women. The entire novel is magic! There's romance, enchanting recipes, and sister bonding. This is literally everything I could ever want in a book! (If I seem overly excited with all my exclamation points I'm sorry. I just love this book!) 
The characters may have magical talents, but they are still so relatable. Think Practical Magic, with a family of Witches, a lovable aunt, a handsome stranger, and two sisters who have their differences, but also love each other. 
If you know me you'd know that I have a twin sister who means the world to me. We may only be 26 but we've had our fair share of petty differences and had to find our way back to each other on numerous occasions. So any book about sisters has always held a soft place in my heart. 
Please read this, each page is magic.




FOLLOW THE AUTHOR SARAH ADDISON ALLEN
BUY THE BOOK AMAZON / BARNES & NOBLE / BOOK DEPOSITORY

China Dolls - Lisa See

PLOT

In 1938, Ruby, Helen and Grace, three girls from very different backgrounds, find themselves competing at the same audition for showgirl roles at San Francisco's exclusive "Oriental" nightclub, the Forbidden City. Grace, an American-born Chinese girl has fled the Midwest and an abusive father. Helen is from a Chinese family who have deep roots in San Francisco's Chinatown. And, as both her friends know, Ruby is Japanese passing as Chinese. At times their differences are pronounced, but the girls grow to depend on one another in order to fulfill their individual dreams. Then, everything changes in a heartbeat with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Suddenly the government is sending innocent Japanese to internment camps under suspicion, and Ruby is one of them. But which of her friends betrayed her?

THOUGHTS

I am obsessed with Lisa See, she could easily be my favorite author. Every book is a stab to the heart (in a weird good way haha!) Every book she has ever written has brought me to tears, which is why I usually try my best to mentally prepare myself before starting any book written by her. (It doesn't work but I still try.) 
Now here's the thing, just because you have loved an authors other work does not mean you will love every single one. I had actually started this book and simultaneously gave up on it half way through (gasp!). 
Now listen Lisa See  has a way of not only bringing out your emotions but making you feel them ten fold. China Dolls brought out my anger and I couldn't handle it. I needed a break from these characters. It wasn't until five months later - I know that's a while, but I needed time until I built up the courage - before I could pick the book back up. 
The characters didn't feel like friends, more like co-dependent enemies. They were too much for me and I was relieved to finally finish so that I could move on to another book. 
BUT HOLD ON A MINUTE. Just because I had an issue with the characters, their relationship, and their personalities did not mean I didn't enjoy everything else.
The book is set in the 1930's - 1940's of San Francisco! How amazing is that!? We are given a vivid glimpse into the old world of China town. The food, the people, the fashions, the talent, the history! It was amazing. I live an hour away from San Francisco, and I'm ashamed to say I have never been to China Town. (Ugh I know! I'm terrible!) 
If you think you can handle the three divas in the novel then China Dolls is the book to read when you need to experience San Francisco's China Town in the most glamorous time in our history. 




FOLLOW THE AUTHOR LISA SEE
BUY THE BOOK AMAZON /  BARNES & NOBLE /  BOOK DEPOSITORY

Photography

I might like my legs way too much haha!