Reviews for Brava, Valentine

The average rating for Brava, Valentine based on 2 reviews is 1.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-03-30 00:00:00 Sandra Capezzuto i try to read books that are interesting, engaging, that i feel enhance some aspect of my life when i'm finished with them. that said, i totally understand the need for a guilty-pleasure, easy read to mix up the pace every once and a while. a james patterson mystery, or something of that nature. that said, i thought this book might fit that category. however, it SUCKED. an atrocious read. if the weather wasn't crappy and the book hadn't been laying next to my bed, i wouldn't have bothered. the love story was the worst of it. the discussion of the shoe business was mildly interesting, and probably the only reason i didn't throw down the book in disgust. the love aspect was too contrived, too back-and-forth, will-they-won't-they, and it just didn't work. i never truly understood why they "loved" each other, excluding their immediate chemistry. and then, just at the end when she's decided she likes being single and will be happy with it (which made me almost not hate the book), the guy comes back and proposes and they end up happily ever after! ugh. in short, don't waste your time. if you're looking for a cheesy, mindless read, go elsewhere. anywhere else. seriously. buy people magazine or something.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-07-26 00:00:00 Richard Reid It sounded like a great book. Woman takes over the family business, finds true love and grows up emotionally, all at age 35. But I found the book riddled with stereotypes and disappointing characters. --The loud, brash Italian family --The gay best friend who has fabulous fashion and decorating taste and is there for supportive comments and text messages but otherwise has no story of his own --The sexy, wise older love interest who has absolutely no sense of humor (because you can't be wise and be funny) I didn't read the first book in the trilogy, so maybe it's unfair to start with the second one. But the only reason I kept going was because I loved the descriptions of the shoe-making business and the well-developed story line about how Valentine was assuming the leadership of the company and making business decisions. But I pretty much hated all the characters. Everyone inside the family and the inner circle of friends was either boring, exasperatingly annoying or a supportive gay man. Everyone outside the family/circle of friends was a jerk. I loved the scene when Alfred's wife was tearing into everyone -- they all deserved it. And then there's the love interest, Gianluca. He's in his 50s but acts like a 70-year-old. He doesn't like those new-fangled things like email and texting. Instead he writes vanilla love letters on onionskin and sends them par avion. He's very serious -- a father figure for a woman whose own father is incapable of saying big words and who lost the family's respect by cheating on his wife. This isn't the worst book out there, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone either.