Book Review: Brava, Valentine: A Novel by Adriana Trigian

International Romance and Shoes

A Modern Day Fairy Tale

Meet Valentine, a single woman working on bringing her family's tradition of making shoes to the next level with mass production and affordable merchandise for the discerning masses. Valentine is smart and artistic, committed to keeping her shoe factory in business and growing. The matriarch of her family, her grandmother, taught her everything she knows about shoe designing and making but now it's time for her spend time her her true love. That new life means a move to Italy and leaving the shoe business in Greenwich Village in Valentine's capable hands. However, there's a twist, the grandmother has also brought Valentine's brother into the business as an equal partner and Valentine does not get along with her business minded brother Alfred.

All work and no play? Well it turns out Valentine is pining for her own love. . . Gianluca, her grandmother's husband's son. Problem is, he lives in Italy too and he's much older, with grown children.

Sounds a little bit like a soap opera doesn't it? In some ways it may be but the book comes through with humor as Valentine narrates the story. Apparently this is a sequel to Very Valentine but I was able to catch on without having read the first and not having all the background of the plot was just fine.

An amusing little read with lots of humor, romance, and international travel. It was a pleasant distraction that was quick to complete.