"Luca Amore runs a cooking school in the baroque Sicilian mountain town of Favio. He's taught many people how to cook the dishes passed down to him by generations of Amore women. As he readies himself for yet another course he expects it to be much like all the others. He will cook, he will take his clients to visit vineyards and olive groves, they will eat together, become friends, and then, after a fortnight, they will pack up and head home to whatever corner of the globe they came from. But there is a surprise in store for Luca. This time there are four women booked in to The Food of Love Cookery School. Each one is at a turning point in her life. Each one is looking for something more than new cooking skills from her time in Sicily. A divorcee, a widow, an exhausted working mum and an unfulfilled top London barrister come together for this idyllic escape into the sun-drenched Sicilian hills, and a tantalising culinary adventure. Sparks fly, friendships are made and secrets and stories are shared. Luca doesn't realise it yet but this group of women is going to change his life. And for Moll, Tricia, Valerie and Poppy, after this journey, nothing will ever be the same."This book is far away from my usually genre but I was lured in by the beautiful cover and foodie blurb, I was not disappointed.
A light read, but nonetheless quite satisfying. An especially nice read in the grey depths of winter! I gobbled it up like the Sicilian delicacies that pepper the pages.
Pellegrino does a phenomenal job of describing the locations, surroundings, events, and all the amazing Italian food that they buy or cook. My mouth was watering every time she would begin to talk of a new dish that they were going to cook, or one that Luca was making. It was well researched, well described and really did a great job of making me feel like I wanted to holiday in the South of Italy.
The story itself was creative and it flowed nicely, it seems like the perfect kind of novel to read when you are looking for something entertaining but not too deep or difficult to read. I’d say its the type of book you would throw in your handbag during a holiday.
The end of the book includes a range of different recipes that are made or described during the book which is a plus because it did have me googling the recipe for “maltagliati”.
In my personal opinion, however I’ve never enjoyed books that jump around between too many characters. It makes it difficult for the reader to get a good grasp on each individual personality in order to really enjoy them. For this reason, jumping back and forth between four different women and periodical chapters based on the male protagonist, Luca, bothered me a little bit.
The love story that begins to bloom is unrealistic and poorly developed. The characters are supposed to be there for two weeks and a full blown, loving relationship develops between two characters and you can’t really understand why they liked each other at all, or when they even had the chance to start feeling like that. Luca is a weak character and doesn’t really appear as the heart throb that his character is intended to be.
Age Rating 14+. One character has questionable morals and it is an adult book.
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