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By Andrea Peskind Katz, Great Thoughts Great Readers

This month’s book recommendation from Great Thoughts, Great Readers

The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany by Lori Nelson Spielman

Rarely do you run across a book where you highlight quote after quote, smiling as you do so? The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany by Lori Nelson Spielman is that book. This is the trip to Italy that is so needed in 2020. Per Publisher’s Weekly, “Fans of An Affair to Remember, Under the Tuscan Sun, and the like will be enthralled.

From the publisher:

“A trio of second-born daughters sets out on a whirlwind journey through the lush Italian countryside to break the family curse that says they’ll never find love, by New York Times bestseller Lori Nelson Spielman, author of The Life List.

Since the day Filomena Fontana cast a curse upon her sister more than two hundred years ago, not one second-born Fontana daughter found lasting love. Some, like second-born Emilia, the happily single baker at her grandfather’s Brooklyn deli, claim it’s an odd coincidence. Others, like her sexy, desperate-for-love cousin Lucy, insist it’s a true hex. But both are bewildered when their great-aunt calls with an astounding proposition: If they accompany her to her homeland of Italy, Aunt Poppy vows she’ll meet the love of her life on the steps of the Ravello Cathedral on her eightieth birthday and break the Fontana Second-Daughter Curse once and for all.

Against the backdrop of wandering Venetian canals, rolling Tuscan fields, and enchanting Amalfi Coast villages, romance blooms, destinies are found, and family secrets are unearthed—secrets that could threaten the family far more than a centuries-old curse.”

To give you a sense of why this book is truly something special, here are a few quotes from this amazing novel

“Never underestimate the blueprint for a dream”

“Please, my dear girl, avoid saying no so quickly. You’ll find life is much more interesting when you learn to say, ‘It’s possible.”

“To me, love is more like a lending library. To keep it, we must continually renew it. Otherwise, we pay a hefty fine.”

“It seems you take pleasure in painting storm clouds.”

“Being lost is where the beauty lies. Lost in a book. Lost in someone’s eyes. Lost in a symphony so sweet it brings you to tears. Lost in a beautiful floating city on a starry night.”

The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany centers around Aunt Poppy, her long-lost love, and her two nieces. The vivid descriptions of Tuscany make Italy a fabulous character in the book as well. This is armchair travel at its finest. The book is delightful and funny but achingly poignant at the same time. Spielman reminds us to believe in fairy tales and that there are happy endings, especially in Italy. Brava!

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About the author

Lori Nelson Spielman is a New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling author whose novels have hit #1 in six different countries. Formerly a homebound teacher in an inner-city school district, she holds master’s degrees in speech pathology and guidance counseling. She lives in Michigan with her husband. Learn more about Lori Nelson Spielman here.

About GREAT THOUGHTS, GREAT READERS founder, Andrea Peskind Katz

Andrea Peskind Katz runs Great Thoughts, Great Readers, a Book Salon presented via her private FB group where approximately 5000 prolific readers and authors interact. She also founded Greatthoughts.com, a lifestyle website blog focusing on Great Books and Great Travel. To quote Robert Frost, she created her “second act” career to “unite my avocation and my vocation”. After 20 years in high pressure sales, Andrea retired to spend time doing what she loves best: hanging with her family, reading good books