Review of Moonlight Over Florence

[OTrain Disene]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Moonlight Over Florence" by Peter Palmieri.]

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5 out of 5 stars

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Love is a strange, wonderful thing that pulls us apart and pulls us close when it wants to. Most times, we tend to think that we are in control, but love proves us wrong. Love is in control. It controls us like puppets, and we have no choice but to dance to its tune. As William Shakespeare eloquently put it, “the course of true love never did run smooth.” This romance fiction titled Moonlight Over Florence by Peter Palmieri paints a tale of two lovers who are separated, but love and fate are determined to put them together.

David is an American novelist who has just released his book to critical acclaim. But now he is going through the worse writer’s block, and he doesn’t know what to do because his literary agent is pestering him to send her the new manuscript for his next book. David vents to his agent that maybe his writer’s block is worsened by the feeling of loneliness he has been having lately. He has just divorced his wife, and he doesn’t have kids. His ex-wife is pregnant. His agent suddenly remembers something. She tells him about this genetic company that can trace your family back to old age. She even tells him they have connected lost cousins. David is sceptical at first but agrees to do it for her sake.

It is later revealed that David has a brother in Italy. David goes there to meet him. But it seems like there is something more to this trip than David going to meet this brother he doesn’t know. Is there someone else? Has David been to Italy before? How will this simple trip change David’s reality as he knows it? Will he find love and maybe start writing another book?

Answers to these questions can be found inside this marvellous book. The author wrote a spectacular love story with a different approach. At first, as you might have noticed from the summary above, it is hard to tell where romance feats in a story that seems like human drama. But it does. This trip to Italy unimaginably moved David. David had to face the past since forgotten. The love he had thought had long diminished proved to be well alive, kicking and strong, and ready to connect him to his soulmate, with perks, even.

I love the touch of mystery and suspense the author employed in telling this story. Along the way, the author made sure to drop hints that you may miss as you read but will make sense at the end and make you go, “aha!” All the characters had a role to play. Their appearance contributed greatly to the plot, and some worked well on subplots to keep you entertained while you waited for the bigger picture to unravel.

I have never been to Italy, but the author managed to paint the picture so vividly that I saw myself walking in the streets with the people of Italy, enjoying their culture and learning their traditions. The switch from English to Italian made the book more authentic. I loved that this wasn’t frequent to turn off the Italian non-speaker. It was sparingly to entice you and keep you interested. This was wonderfully executed.

The plot made sense and was moving at a steady pace. It didn’t feel rushed or like it was moving at the pace of a snail. It was just spot on. The dialogue was flowing smoothly. It was balanced with narration, which provided exquisite descriptions. My favourite character has to be Spider. I didn’t know who he was in the beginning, but in the middle, I figured it out, and it was amazing. He was entertaining because of his rowdiness and spontaneity. You just couldn’t keep up with him. His appearance lightened the book.

What I can say I disliked was that the character of Spider could easily be mistaken for an adult, not a child. The way he was talking to David, sometimes I forgot he was a kid and talking to an elder. How he spoke wasn’t typical of a teenager. His speech sounded like a well-calculated adult. I also disliked how the subplot of Aquaviva was discarded. I felt like there was more that could be done with it.

Other than that, this was a perfect book, deserving of this rating I am giving it, which is five out of five stars. There were a few errors, which didn’t take away the quality of the book in any way. I would strongly recommend it to people who love romance with happy endings. This is one of them.

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Moonlight Over Florence
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[Kendal Low]

This sounds like a very intriguing book with many twists and turns. I would love to see if David figures out how to get past his writer's block!