Assured, with a degree of surprise, by both my daughter and the librarian who stamped the book, that Adele Parks was 'better than you'd expect' this was a bit of a disappointment. I found the heroine self-absorbed and blinkered to a ludicrous degree and the situation she found herself in stereotypical (as, to be honest, several characters accused her of being)Obviously the genre has a wide following, but is not one I shall pursue. From a very young age and after a family trip to Italy, Elizabeth decided that she wants 2 things in life: an Italian husband and lots of babies. She manages to fulfill her first dream and ends up marrying Roberto an Italian man however after many years of trying to conceive, she still has no babies. After Roberto loses his job, they are forced to leave London and move to Italy to help in running the family business. Elizabeth couldn’t be happier and she believes that Italy will be the place where she will conceive.But soon she finds out that Italy is not exactly how she dreamt it would be. Roberto’s mother, Raffaella, is not very fond of Elizabeth and is determined along with Roberto’s beautiful Italian ex-girlfriend to ruin the marriage. Elizabeth becomes very desperate to have a baby but to no avail.Alone and isolated in Italy, she meets an American tutor Chuck and the two become friends but this friendship ends up turning the story in different directions.Elizabeth is not the character one can easily relate to; she has no interests, no goals and is so obsessed with the idea of having a baby. The novel is a bit slow to read being very descriptive in many passages so it gets a bit dull especially the huge emphasis on Elizabeth’s efforts to have a baby.Overall it’s a good read with a happy ending.
Do You like book Tell Me Something (2009)?
Really good book, throughly enjoyed it from start to finish. Adele Parks is one of my fav authors.
—losnoche
Pretty good book. I really enjoyed it. Was a quick and captivating read from beginning to end.
—pixie
Enjoyed this bookLoved reading about Italy
—slcrawford1955
