Tag: Book Review

Blog, Review

Review: “To Be Loved” by Stefania Hartley

Christina Hollis

Review: To Be Loved by Stefania Hartley

Today I’m reviewing Stefania Hartley’s collection of short stories, To Be Loved. Stefania is Sicilian by birth, but fell in love with an Englishman and now lives in the UK. She writes short stories and romance novels.

To Be Loved is a collection of ten short stories, each around 2,000 words long. This makes it easy to dip in and out of the book. It’s the perfect length to take on a journey, or to read during a long wait.

Each story is complete in itself, although regular readers of The People’s Friend magazine will recognise several characters such as Melina, Tanino, and Don Pericle who have appeared in Stefania’s previously published work.

With some great contemporary themes such as how to arrange the perfect wedding, and the unexpected result of a dating app malfunction, there is a lot to love in this collection. The title story, about fish-out-of-water Amanda’s trip to the Italian capital for a dentistry conference, contains the great line: [t]he saying “When in Rome, do as the Romans” was very good so long as you knew what the Romans did.

A Fragile Heart is the touching first-person story of a child shuttled between separated parents. There’s bittersweet humour in the adults’ dark hints about what had been going on in Nunzia and Pietro’s marriage.

“Is he still living in sin?” Grandma asked Mum. “No, he lives in Trapani,” I answered.

I liked the fishmonger’s cranky statement in Lost at Sea that I don’t sell octopuses by the tentacle. It was his loss as the purchaser, Giovanna, found a wedding ring when she bought the whole creature. Delightfully, she imagines that it might be a crown for a royal merbaby, a collar for a seahorse, or a belt for a wealthy eel. Tracking down the ring’s owner leads to a satisfying conclusion.

My favourite story in To Be Loved was Written in the Stars (especially as it mentions gianduja, which is one of my favourite cakes! You can find the recipe I use here). Arianna the magazine feature writer wishes Luigi the new sub editor would notice her. When she is given the job of writing (that is, making up!) the magazine’s new astrology section, Arianna sees how he can influence him, as he checks all her work. Unfortunately, her plan doesn’t seem to work…

This is a great collection, and the perfect escape from day to day life. It deserves To Be Loved!

To Find Out More…

…about me, click here. 

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There’s an extract of my latest book, Royal Passion, here. To buy Royal Passion, click here.

white ceramic teacup with saucer near two books above gray floral textile
Book Review

Review: Hidden in the Mists

Christina Hollis

I had planned to review Hidden in the Mists by Christina Courtenay later this month. However, as it is shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists’ Association‘s Fantasy Romantic Novel Award 2023, I’ve brought the review forward.

Like Joanna Maitland’s To A Blissful Christmas Reunion (which I review here), this book is a great example of the use of a thinning veil between past and present.

Review: Hidden in the Mists

Review: Hidden in the Mists. Sea shore on Islay, Scotland. Scene of Viking raids. Good landing place for Asta's boat. Pic by Fixers Andy via Pixabay

Set on the west coast of Scotland, Hidden in the Mists weaves together two narrative threads. It does this seamlessly, moving between 2022 and AD890.

Stressed and isolated, Skye Logan is looking out over the shore close to her home. She sees a hazy female figure in strange clothing jump out of a boat. The woman carries a sack into nearby woodland.

Bleak Present and Dark Ages

Skye puts the vision down to stress and lack of sleep. Her soon-to-be ex-husband Craig has abandoned her, after alienating half the locals.

The woman Skye saw, Ásta ThorfinnsdÓttir, was off to bury the wealth of her father, Thorfinn. He has died, leaving Ásta alone, and in danger from her horrible cousin Ketill. The hoard should have guaranteed Ásta the loyalty of the men who had supported her father. Ketill has other ideas. Knowing that Thorfinn’s men killed innocent people to amass his treasure, Ásta cannot bring herself to profit by it. She even casts away a gold arm ring given to her by her father.

Skye employs drifter Rafe to help her on the smallholding for a few weeks during the summer of 2022. He is a useful jack-of-all-trades. Skye and Rafe are drawn to each other, despite each of them having guilty secrets. Skye doesn’t want to admit to anyone that her marriage has broken down. Rafe is escaping from a past which eventually catches up with him.

Viking Ketill wants Ásta to run his household, when she should be leading the settlement. Óttarr, kidnapped as a teenager by Ásta’s father, burns with the need to take revenge on his kidnappers. Two exciting climaxes, one in Skye’s world and one in Ásta’s, bring Hidden in the Mists to a satisfying conclusion.

A Great Read

I thoroughly recommend this book. Hidden in the Mists combines the dual timelines perfectly, and the heroines and their heroes are believable and likeable. Their intertwined stories are rich with detail. Christina Courtenay describes smallholding and foraging well, and I couldn’t resist Skye’s dogs, Pepsi and Cola.

I loved the Viking-period detail. Things like Ásta’s bitter curse The trolls take Ketill, and bathing wounds in sea-water really stuck in my mind.

There was only one thing about Hidden in the Mists I didn’t care for. That was Rafe’s man-bun. I like contemporary heroes to have short hair!

You can find out more about me here, and see some of my own books here.

Blog, Book Review

Review: Stanley Tucci’s ‘Taste’

Christina Hollis

Um…Stan Lee…Stan Lee…Stanley Tucci?*

Only a few months ago, the name Stanley Tucci meant nothing to me. I’d heard him mentioned in The Big Bang Theory*, but that was it. Then Tucci’s Searching for Italy aired on TV. As I love both Italy and food, I watched every episode (sometimes more than once). What follows is a review of the No. 1 Sunday Times Best Seller, Stanley Tucci’s ‘Taste’.

So Who is Stanley Tucci?

Stanley Tucci is an award-winning actor, writer, director and a food obsessive. He has also worked in restaurants. Unlike some celebrities who are famous simply for being famous, when it comes to food, cooking, and ingredients, he knows what he is talking about.

A ‘Taste’ of Italy…

Both the first and second series of Searching for Italy have won Emmys. It’s easy to see why, and how. Stanley Tucci is a hugely likeable personality. He is enthusiastic about every aspect of food: its regionality, seasonality, and the joy of eating together. He knows his way around a kitchen, and brings out the best in everyone he meets. He also knows how to turn his knowledge and affable nature into words.

Stanley Tucci, Chef

Once I’d watched the TV programmes, only one thing stopped me buying Tucci’s Cookbook and The Tucci Table. It was the groaning shelves of cookery books already lining both my kitchen and living room. I use them all (with one exception) but I really don’t have the room for more…unless they come in the form of Christmas or birthday presents, of course!

Taste is a different matter. Although it contains recipes, it isn’t a cookery book. It is an exploration of how food has affected Tucci’s life and relationships. That may sound odd, but as you read this book you see how closely food affects so many areas of life. I hadn’t realised how fascinating the ritual, social, and celebratory aspects of cooking and eating could be.

I never expected to use this book stoveside, but I did. The recipes Taste does contain are good, easy to follow, and delicious. I tried almost all, and can recommend them. Sadly, I can’t endorse any of the drinks. The cocktails sound amazing, but the occasional glass of wine with dinner is now my giddy limit!

The Nightmare Begins

Taste is a clever title. From Chapter Twenty onwards it becomes a verb, as well as a noun. Mr Tucci helped his first wife struggle through terminal breast cancer. Then in 2018 he was diagnosed with oral cancer. He says of that nightmare, “I was stunned to the point of almost fainting”. Food plays such an important role in his life the discovery that the cancer hadn’t spread beyond the tumour in his mouth didn’t mean he was out of the woods. He had to endure the loss of taste, and the enjoyment of food—a huge part of his life.

His treatment regime was punishing. Despite the painful details he manages to inject some moments of humour. When Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds accompanied Stanley to an appointment to give moral support, the staff were so star-struck one of them almost forgot a vital part of the medical procedure.

I’m very glad I’d watched all those episodes of Searching for Italy (filmed in 2021/2) before I started reading this book. If I hadn’t watched Stanley Tucci on film munching away, talking with such animation, and looking so well I would never have been able to carry on reading. Even so, there were bits where I felt like crying.

A Happy Ending…

Taste is a great book. It has real enthusiasm for its core subject—food. It works on several levels. It’s part autobiography, an examination of extended family ties, a small window on the world of acting and directing, and it contains some excellent recipes.

Last but by no means least, if you have a hypochondriac in your life, try reading aloud to them from Chapter Twenty onwards. If that doesn’t make them pull up their big girl/boy pants and count their blessings, then nothing will.

Long live Stanley Tucci!

(Extracts from Review: Stanley Tucci’s ‘Taste’ have also been posted elsewhere online)

*The Big Bang Theory (Prady, Holland and Ferrari: Series 3, Episode 16, The Excelsior Acquisition).