Review: Very Valentine

Thirty-three year old Valentine Roncalli lives and works with her grandmother in Greenwich Village.  Valentine is an apprentice in her family’s custom made wedding shoe business, Angelini Shoes.  The company has been in business for years, but is on the brink of bankruptcy.  Valentine’s brother is a successful businessman and he thinks he knows all of the answers, even though he’s never worked in the shoe business.   When a movie being filmed nearby is desperate for shoes, Angelini Shoes provides them with a pair.  This leads to an invitation to compete for a place in Bergdorf Goodman’s Christmas window.

Valentine sees the Bergdorf competition as a chance to save the company.  She works on a design and travels to Italy with her grandmother to select the finest materials to make the shoes.  She discovers a wonderful secret about her grandmother and learns much about herself on the journey.

Along with trying to save the  shoe company, Valentine has to deal with two sisters, her parents, her brother and a new boyfriend.

Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani is the first book in a new trilogy.  No one can write about families the way Trigiani can.  She reveals the love, frustration and loyalty that all families share.  She is also a master at creating characters that you become emotionally involved with.  This book has wonderful descriptions of food, clothing and shoes.  It made me want to travel to Capri to buy a pair of custom made shoes.  This was not my favorite of Adriana Trigiani’s books (that would be Lucia, Lucia) but I thought it was very enjoyable and I look forward to the next book in the trilogy.

Here’s a video of Adriana Trigiani talking about the book:

Review copy provided by the author’s publicist.