About this item
"Varina Palladino's Jersey Italian Love Story is fun and funny, wonderfully exuberant, and incredibly wise. These endearing characters - their voices and stories - will be with me for a long time to come. I didn't want to say good-bye." -Jill McCorkle, New York Times bestselling author of HieroglyphicsAn utterly delightful and surprising family drama - think Moonstruck and My Big Fat Greek Wedding set in New Jersey - about a boisterous, complicated Italian family determined to help their widowed mother find a new boyfriend. Lively widow Varina Paladino has lived in the same house in Wyldale, New Jersey, her entire life. The town might be slightly stuck in the 1960s, when small businesses thrived and most residents were Italian, but its population is getting younger and the Paladinos are embracing the change.
About the Author
Terri-Lynne DeFino was born and raised in New Jersey, but escaped to the wilds of Connecticut back in the nineties when her kids were babies and everyone wore flannel. She still lives in rural New England with her cats and husband, spending her days exorcising the people and places living inside her head. Library Journal Review, Finder (from Hadley Rille Books) "... Compelling characters and a fascinating world background make this a good addition to most fantasy collections."Publisher's Weekly Review, A Time Never Lived (from Hadley Rille Books) "This gripping sequel to 2010's Finder brings family drama and magical legend to life. [...] a dangerous quest across a magnificently-depicted multicultural fantasy world [...] This is a memorable saga of supernatural power and human love from the increasingly impressive DeFino."Publisher's Weekly Review, Beyond the Gate (from Hadley Rille Books) "...the story unfolds into a quietly surprising and unexpectedly satisfying conclusion."Ind'tale Magazine, Seeking Carolina (from Kensington/Lyrical Shine) One would have thought that this was a straight love story, but the underlying sub-plot of finding Johanna's mother, plus the mental illness that affects Johanna and her sister's life choices, makes the story multifaceted and interesting. It is a love story revolving around the Coco daughters and their missing mother and the secret that their grandmother kept. To juggle more than one subplot to bring the love story, between a man and a woman, and among the women of the Coco family, forward is a feat in itself which Ms. Defino does very well. She has also allowed one to see the internal conflict of each of the characters in varying degrees (including that of the secondary characters) leading to a rich tapestry of the lives and loves of the people in Bitterly, Connecticut. [...] Ms. Defino is one author to watch out for because of the beautiful stories she writes.Ind'tale, Dreaming August *Winner of the Rone Award for Best Women's Fiction 2017*(from Kensington/Lyrical Shine) "Ms. DeFino is a remarkable storyteller. Her writing style is as beautiful as it is original. One wishes that they lived in Bitterly, Connecticut in order to know Benny and Dan, as well as a host of other secondary characters that give meat to the story. These characters have their own stories to tell and are not just included in the story as props. Readers will come to love August and Mrs. Fargus and get a glimpse of what life after death must be like. Their dialogue about the great beyond is as humorous as it is bittersweet. Ms. DeFino is definitely an author to watch!"Ind'tale Magazine, Waking Savannah (from Kensington/Lyrical Shine) "Waking Savannah" is an amazing story that takes an in-depth look at the main characters' survival of violence in their lives, as they find out who they really are when the world is stripped away. The haunting s
