4.5 * Another great read by Santa Montefiore - I just lose myself in her books. I really liked the three generations finding themselves and each other at the cookery school in Italy alongside Gracie’s back story. ( )

I always love reading any book set in Italy and haven't gotten to visit there yet, but it's on my list! This was a great read , the plot moved along fine and of course ended happily. Which is something I look for right now during these tumultuous times we are living through. I've read a few more by this author and she writes a good story. ( )

If you want a one-line review, I'll say: Art! Food! Tuscany! Forbidden love! Castles! and my top favourite: Secrets!

Gracie is a 68 year old widow who lives a comfortable life in her Devon village. One day flipping through a magazine, she discovers a cookery school in a castle in Tuscany, a castle that she knew intimately in her earlier life. When she enrols in a week-long class, she alarms her neighbours, who alarm her workaholic daughter in London. Gracie's daughter and granddaughter accompany her to Italy where unbeknownst to anyone else, she had worked as an art restorer in her teens and early twenties. The novel switches from this 2010 story line back to 1950s-60s Tuscany. I could have dismissed this as "British person leaves their grey life in England and is magically transformed by the colour of Italy" but it has so much more. Multi-generational mother-daughter relationships, young love, healing, and second chances are all explored.

The Temptation of Gracie is full of lush writing, likeable characters, fabulous locations, and even some little humour. Several of the 5 star reviews at GoodReads comment "this is not the kind of book I usually like, but I loved this one" and I have to add a "me too" to that.

Why I Read This Now: I'm always saying I need to read more light, fun books. But then there's something else that I think I need to read first. 2020 decided to be a horrible year (and we're only half-way through), and I set out to find all the light, fun books in my TBR pile, and I sadly learned that in the stack of over 900 physical books, I didn't have much to choose from. So I went poking around online and found [The Temptation of Gracie]. My May trip to Italy, where I had planned to taking a cooking class, was cancelled, so this novel jumped out at me. I also adore books set in large country houses.

I thought I'd never heard of the author before, but when I entered this in my LT catalogue, I saw that I'd picked up one of her other novels from a sale table a few years ago. Hope it's as good as this one.

Recommended for: readers looking to disappear into a compelling summer read, armchair travellers looking for a trip to an Italian villa

Rating: 4.5 stars. Perfect and much-needed escapism ( )

The Temptation of Gracie by Santa Montefiore takes the reader to Castello Montefosco in Tuscany for a week of cooking lessons and delectable food and wine in one of the world's most beautiful corners. Gracie, a widow in her sixties living an ordinary life in Devon, suddenly decides to spend time in Italy. Her daughter Carina, not wanting her mother to travel alone, joins her and brings along her teenage daughter Anastasia. Both younger women are not close to Gracie or each other and the trip begins on a strained note. But the magic of Tuscany soon thaws the chill in their relationships. They find out that Gracie had lived in the area for fifteen years in her youth when she was an apprentice to her uncle, an art restorer. It has been over forty years since Gracie's stay there and Carina and Anastasia discover that she had met and left behind the love of her life. Romance novels are usually not my reading preference but I found this one well-written and entertaining. The characters are interesting and the story flows well. I would recommend it as a cottage or beach read. Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Een heerlijke zomerse Montefiore. Perfect lectuur voor deze warme dagen. Romantisch en heel Italiaans ( )