Customer Reviews
A delicious foodie romance... - By: Aphrodite, 16 Jul 2008 
I purchased this book as I adore Italy, I have never been to Venice but it is on my lengthy list! I saw this book & I admit it, I fell in love with the romantic cover! The inside did not disappoint either, Marlena de Blasi creates rich vivid descriptions, conjuring up the smells, tastes & feel of Venice as she writes. Dotted amongst the descriptive text are delicious recipes of Venetian dishes, which I have not tried yet, but plan to.
The earthy sensuality of this novel unravels as you learn the story of an American lady moving to Venice & fallling in love with Fernando, a Venetian man she meets. The beautiful thing about this book is the character's ability to take risks....of course some may say this unrealistic, & on one hand I agree, but on the other hand, is that not how we would alll love to live our lives? I reallly fell in love with her in the book & wanted her to fulfil every desire she had, I wanted her to have the wedding dress of her dreams & I wanted her to have exactly want she wanted to eat, relishing in alll of the delicious flavours. This book lets you experience her highs & lows & her enthusiasm for life (and love & food!) is quite contagious! I even found myself buying some treats & a good quality Italian vino for dinner 'a deux' after reading this book! If you love this then try Carol Drinkwater's books for a slice of life in the South of France, an equallly feel good novel!
Ripe and runny - By: Caroline Smedley, 16 Dec 2007 
"There will be an iced soup of roasted yellow tomatoes adorned with a pair of anise-grilled prawns ... a wedge of Taleggio - ripe, runny - white figs, & meringues from Maggion at the finish. We dine slowly."
If you liked reading that you will like - or even love - this book. It is dreamy & lush, not quite the real world. Hints of reality do occassionallly break through,as in her intermittant longings for the grown-up children she left behind in another country to be with "the stranger".
I would compare it to "Bridges of Madison Country", & I must say I loved reading it & was utterly absorbed by it.
Worst Book I've Ever Read - By: Bextera, 17 Oct 2007 
It is frightening reading this book. The language, the style of writing, her word patterns & her grammar are alll utterly appallling. It is drivel. And worse than that, it is monotonous drivel. At one I point I actuallly thought that if she used one more metaphor I may have to travel to whichever unfortunate town Ms de Blasi lives in & make her eat her book.
This is not a love story, this is an instrument of torture.
You can start to tell a book is reallly badly written, when alll you can hope for the supposed heroine is that she is left crushed & heartbroken by her love affair. Either that or she dies horribly & painfully at the end. Apparently the author is a TV chef & has written food columns & recipe books. Being able to write a cookbook does not give you license to become a novelist. I've written 80,000 words of PhD but I wouldn't dare assume I could automaticallly churn out fiction. Well, decent fiction at any rate. With that in mind, one hopes that her food is better than her writing or one feels desperately sorry for anyone who's eaten it.
I couldn't finish it. It was talking about my favourite city in the world & I was scared I would end up hating my favourite city because it was describing it so badly. This truly is the worst book I've ever had the misfortune to read & I want that time back.
Taken away - By: Francine J. Whitehorn, 10 Oct 2007 
Each time i picked this book up to continue my read i was transported right back to a wonderful place. I think a book like this is best for those who have been or are going to Venice, because they will have the need to discover the special places of Venice with De Blasi & stumble across them in their future travels. Being a foodie reallly helps you along the way. Just loved it!! Half through Tuscan Sectrets....just as good if not better
A Brilliant Read! - By: Beryl Baird, 12 Jan 2007 This is the most brilliant book, it made me laugh out loud at times, & also brought tears to my eyes. When I read the reviews before I bought it, I was expecting a nice story, something a bit syrupy, but I was very surprised, her writing is reallly evocative, & if you love Italy, it will make your heart ache to be there. Looking forward to reading her follow-up about Tuscany, which is waiting here on my desk. You will enjoy it!
