I felt so much stress for poor Speranza with all the monetary woes! But despite, I smiled and giggled and delighted muchly in this small Italian village and its real sense of community. All the drama felt very realistic and fun, especially some of the longstanding feuds, and while some aspects were far-fetched, the emotions were all incredibly real. ( )

Signor Speranza is the self appointed mayor of Prometto, a tiny Italian village. He finds himself under pressure when plumbing issues arise for which there are not enough funds to cover the cost to repair. He becomes desperate to solve the problem so that the town of 212 people are not forced to move to another town.

I found this story to be more of a folktale with lively colorful characters. Signor Speranza has ideas and proposed solutions to the town’s financial problem that are ridiculous. He ultimately receives the town support when they believe that a famous actor is coming to their town to make a movie. Speranza goes to great lengths to create this pretend situation including setting up auditions. It soon becomes difficult for him to keep all his lies straight.

Although he seems to feel guilty by all his deception he can’t seem to stop once he starts building this story which will fall like a house of cards! It’s silly and humorous.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and Edelweiss and NetGalley for review. ( )

I listened to this book, and that may have been the problem. The heavily accented narrator made this difficult.
The story is of a small village in Italy with about 200 residents. The water pipes in the village are in need of repair, but it will be extremely costly. So a vacuum salesman who is the "mayor" of the town tries to come up with a plan to raise the funds. By claiming that a movie star will be filming a movie there, he begins to cast the townspeople in various roles. As word gets out, tourists come to the town. What could have been a cute story was disjointed and odd. I just didn't get it. ( )

The Patron Saint of Second Chances seems a perfect novel to turn into a movie which would be perfect because it would become a book about making a movie about making a movie. Signor Speranza, or Mr. Hope, is the self-styled mayor of Prometto, a town called Promise, no less. But the town is dying, people are moving away, especially the young people. Businesses are dying and the town’s water system is too dilapidated. Unless they can come up with a small fortune to repair the pipes, the water will be shut off and everyone will have to move.

But Signor Speranza is not one to give into despair, he’s not named Mr. Hope for nothing. Noting that a neighboring town had a small renaissance thanks to some filmmaking, he decided that a little lie for a good cause wouldn’t hurt anyone. So he says there will be a film made in Prometto and it will star the current heartthrob, Dante Rinaldi.

And people believe it and as often happens in madcap comedic stories, one thing piles on another on another and on another, until you can hurt from laughing.

Can a book be too cute? I think The Patron Saint of Second Chances was far too cute for its own good. It felt forced into being twee for the sake of some Masterpiece Theater production. I like madcap comedies. I like cute books. But somehow this felt forced, too cute by half, as though the book was just a pit stop on the way to film. I found myself losing interest at the forced dilemmas. It also suffered from not trusting the audience to understand motives and purposes that were not explained with the detail of a Bond villain. Still, the idea at the center of the story is cute and clever. I hope Christine Simon continues to write. I hope this becomes a film, I think it will be a much better film than it was a book.

I received an e-galley of The Patron Saint of Second Chances through Edelweiss

The Patron Saint of Second Chances at Simon & Schuster
Christine Simon on Twitter

https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2022/07/20/the-patron-saint-of-secon... ( )

Thanks to Atria Books & NetGalley for a digital advance reader's copy. All comments and opinions are my own.

This was a sweet, charming, feel-good comedy that takes place during present day in a small Italian village. The colorful bookcover hints at the entertaining story promised inside. If you like Alexander McCall Smith’s novels, you’ll enjoy this laugh-out-loud small town tale with quirky characters and themes of honesty, faith, and hope.

The publisher’s summary: “Vacuum repairman and self-appointed mayor of Prometto, Italy (population 212) Signor Speranza has a problem: unless he can come up with 70,000 euros to fix the town’s pipes, the water commission will shut off the water to the village and all its residents will be forced to disperse. So in a bid to boost tourism — and revenue — he spreads a harmless rumor that movie star Dante Rinaldi will be filming his next project nearby.”

That “harmless rumor” is just the first of many that Speranza finds himself telling, all because he cares about his village and its future. One thing leads to another as the town believes Dante is coming to make a movie with the villagers included in the cast. Speranza finds himself twisting the truth little by little, not unlike the convoluted plots of Larry David’s sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm.

This humorous novel is told from Speranza’s point of view, and I found myself chuckling, laughing, and reading parts of this to my husband because it just had to be shared. But in addition to being amusing, author Christine Simon skillfully expresses Speranza’s thoughts in a way that gives depth to this heartwarming story. “Signor Speranza was clearly in a tricky situation. On one side, there was truth. There was truth, and there was also devastation. There was losing the village. There was losing Gemma and Carlotta. There was losing his father’s shop. There was everyone he knew being chased out of their houses. On the other side? Yes, there was a lie, but there was also hope. Was hope not as important as truth?”

Despite his twisting of the truth, Speranza has a strong conscience, especially prompted by the town’s priest. Throughout the novel Speranza consults "The Compendium," a booklet listing the saints and what they specialize in, so he can petition them for a distinctive need. Who knew there was a saint just for plumbing problems?

I loved this endearing debut, and recommend this if you’re looking for a lighthearted and entertaining read. ( )