Friday, June 5, 2015

“A Book of Short Stories” 2015 Challenge; THAT’S AMORE! by Janelle Denison, Tori Carrington, & Leslie Kelly


“When the moon hits your eye, like a big pizza pie
 That’s amore…
When the world seems to shine like you’ve had too much wine
That’s amore…” 
 
I’m going to let you all in on a little secret.  Shhh!!  It was a secret dream of mine to marry an Italian man, dance around our kitchen singing that song, and making spaghetti.  Yeah, I can hear it now, “That’s so cute,” or “Kids have the best imaginations.”  Ha! I was daydreaming of this when I was nineteen.  Then I met my stubborn German, and fell in love.  Even to this day though, I still look back at that dream and smile.
 

THAT’S AMORE!
       With stories by Jenelle Denison, Tori Carrington, and Leslie Kelly
 
 
 
BOOK DESCRIPTION
It’s way too late to elope!
 
MEET THE PARENTS by Janelle Denison
Like all dutiful Hawaiian daughters, Leila Malekala is expected to marry a Hawaiian groom handpicked by her parents. But guess what, Mom and Dad? Leila has wedding plans of her own. The groom is California bad boy Jason Crofton… and the bride is pregnant.
I DO, DON’T I? by Tori Carrington
Efi Panayotopoulou is about to marry her childhood sweetheart Nick Constantino. Everything should be perfect. But their families seem hell-bent on turning the wedding into a farce – or Greek tragedy. And Efi is about a baklava flake away from running offwithout her groom.
THERE GOES THE GROOM by Leslie Kelly
Luke Santori is engaged to “a nice Italian girl” from his Chicago neighborhood. But wedding plans get tossed – like unbaked dough at his familys pizzeria – when Luke falls for blond-haired, blue-eyed Rachel Grantthe dressmaker designing his fiancée’s bridal gown.
 
MY REVIEW
4 out of 5 *Stars*
 
It had been so long since I read one of these feel good books that does nothing but make you smile.  I used to read a ton of them.  Almost every short story romance book is one.  Once I got into the hard core suspenseful reading, I put them completely to the back of my mind.  When I picked this book up, it took me a little bit to get used to the feeling of not having that nail-biting suspense.  It was as if I had forgotten what it was like to just let loose and breathe easy while reading.
That’s exactly what this book did.  Each story was unique and different, but yet it tied into each other through a company that had sent the wrong wedding favors to each bride and groom.  Therefore, it made a book that technically was sectioned off into three parts, be connected to make one single story.
All the stories were well written and succeeded in drawing in the reader.  We get to see the many difference between Hawaiian, Greek, Italian wedding traditions.  Out of all of them, I believe that the second story was my favorite.  I don’t know whether to be grateful or sad that I’m not Greek.  Their traditions sound totally off the wall, extreme, and maybe a little suffocating at times.
 
“The marital bed was prepared by the single women.  Rose petals for romance.  Sugar-covered almonds to indicate the bitter sweetness of love and life.  Even her Cousin Helen’s baby was rolled across the mattress for fertility reasons.”
 
However, then there’s the aspect of being surrounded by family and so many people there to love and support you, no matter how crazy they might be.  Like a crazy grandfather Kiriakos that is arrested the day before your wedding for grand larceny.
 
“The officer stared at her. ‘It means he crashed his car through the window of a local furniture shop and made off with some of the goods.  When the responding officers caught up with him, he was dragging a dining-room table on a blanket on the street behind him.’
Her wedding gift of a dining-room table…”
 
I laugh even now remembering that scene.  I swear, the story was a lot like the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding but with the added look into hidden emotions and thought.  I kept wanting to pull out and read next to a bottle of Windex.
Anyways, I liked all three stories.  The first had some steamy love scenes, and the love story in the third felt really rushed but still fun and carefree at the same time.  Once returning this book to the library, I immediately walked back and got another short story romance book.  We’ll have to wait and see if the new one has the same effect on me.  Till next time…
 
22 books down, 30 to go!
Happy Reading, Everyone!!                  
 

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