Friday, Dec 19, 2008

Book Review: Dating da Vinci

Living La Dolce Vita

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I have been so behind in my reading and reviewing… to be honest, I owed this book my attention over 6 weeks ago. I finally got around to it this week and was looking forward to some good “chicklit” fun.

The premise of the book according to the back cover:

A gorgeous young Italian, with nowhere to go…

His name just happened to be Leonardo da Vinci. When he walks into Ramona Elise’s English class, he’s a 25-year old immigrant, struggling to forge a new life in America-but, he’s lonely, has nowhere to live, and barely speaks English…

She knows she shouldn’t take him home…

Picking up the pieces of her life after the death of her beloved husband, linguist and teacher Ramona Elise can’t help but be charmed by her gorgeous new student. And when he calls her “mona Lisa” she just about loses her heart…

malena

The Review:

Title: Dating Da Vinci

Author: Malena Lott

Author’s Website: www.malenalott.com

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca

Publisher’s Website: www.sourcebookscasablanca.com

Type: Fiction

Number of Pages: 275 Paperback

ISBN #: 978-1-4022-1393-9

This book is a woman’s journey of finding herself again. The handsome men, like Leo da Vinci are the push that she needed to get her started on her journey. Ramona is a widow who, after 2 years had passed since her husband’s death, is still living a life of a woman in mourning. She clearly wasn’t ready to view herself as a sexy, young, and successful woman who would find love again. Rather, she succombed to being a permanent widow and one who questioned her late husband’s faithfulness, at that. Ramona, an English teacher for immigrants meets da Vinci in class. He is, of course, a complete stud-muffin! When he asks her for help on food, work, shelter, etc., she brings him home and rents out the studio in her backyard to him for a mere $200/month. From what I read, this wasn’t Ramona’s typical M.O. Rather, he was just so stunning and foxy that she couldn’t resist.

From a “crush” to “dating” they go. Along the way, the reader gets to meet her best friend, Anh, along a host of characters. The characters include her ridiculous sister, Rachel, who is a Blonde Ambition Tour all in herself. Rachel is an on-air fitness guru with a penchant for devouring the male species. Michael, her ex-husband, seems like a cool cat and a perfect match for Anh. Then, there’s Courtland the anesthesiologist whom her mother attempted to set her up with, however ended up, a bit predictably, dating her sister. Ramona has two boys Bradley and William, whom she seems to just dote on. But, it is her dead husband, Joel, that I think the readers get to know the most. And, like the rest of us, he has a past, one that Ramona cannot seem to let go of obsessing over. Which leads us to Monica, his ex-fiance who is, of course, perfect in every way that Ramona is not. Sounds like the makings of a good “chicklit” book and it was.

However, and there’s always that “however” with me (forgive me), this book had a bit of a slow start for me. Around Chapter 5, I was involved in the book to the point where I wanted to know what happened. I suppose you could say that, for me, that is when the book started getting good. The ending is solid, albeit a bit predictable. But, with good chicklit books, you want a happy ending and you get one with da Vinci. I think that another obstacle I faced is that recently I have read 3 other books in which the heroine’s/protagonist’s husband has passed away. More specifically, I just read a book of 23 women’s stories of their loss of their spouse. So, I think that being the case, I may have had just too many of these types of books in a row.

The premise of the book is cute and I liked Malena’s style. You felt very at home with Ramona and as though you could understand her decisions. I think that Malena’s website is fun and funky… plus, she’s SUPER pretty! Lucky gal!

Favorite Quote of the Book:

“To enjoy – to love a thing for its own sake and no other.” -Leonardo da Vinci

A Little Italian:

Hello: Ciao

Goodbye: Arrivederci

Please: Per favore

I would like pasta: Vorrei pasta
I would like a glass of wine: Vorrei un bicchiere di vino
Good morning: Buongiorno
Good night: Beona notte
My name is: Mi chiamo
I really like you: Mi piaci veramente tanto
I love you: Ti amo.
Kiss me: Baciami
I want you: Ti desidero molto.

A Recipe From the Author:

Dating da Vinci’s protagonist, Ramona, has a Girls Night In with her best friend Anh and they share their woes and hopes over Flirtinis! Make pink Flirtinis for your next Girls Night In.

1 oz. raspberry vodka

2 oz. Champagne

2 oz. pineapple juice

2 oz. cranberry juice

Touch of Triple sec

Lime juice squeeze (optional)

Sugar rim (optional)

Fresh raspberries for the bottom of your glass (optional)

Makes 2 martinis or one tall highball drink. Double recipe as needed. Drink responsibly.

IDEA: Make these drinks at your next book club!

Sher’s “Out of Ten” Scale:

For the “chicklit” genre, my rating is in comparing this read to the others that fit in the same category this year: Jane Porter, Jennifer Weiner, Maria Murnane, Bridget Asher, Anne Brashares, and Nicholas Sparks. That being said, I think that I would give this book a rating of 7 out of 10. I have a strong feeling, however, that Malena’s writing style will be one to watch. I think that as she continues to publish future chicklit novels, we will see great things out of her.

Add: On the Library Thing & Amazon.Com Rating: ♥♥♥ and 1/2 ♥

Where To Buy The Book:

Click here to purchase this book for $11.01 at Amazon.Com

7 Responses

Alyce

December 19th, 2008 at 10:30 pm

Great review! I love how you did the images, and I have to say, “Vorrei pasta per farvore, preferably with lots of cheese!”
Menagerie

December 19th, 2008 at 11:22 pm

I can’t take credit for the cool pics. I got them from Malena’s website. Although, I liked them so much that I may consider figuring out how she did them and start doing it myself!

Sheri
Kathy

December 20th, 2008 at 6:29 am

This is in my TBR pile – I hope to get to it soon.
Anna

December 22nd, 2008 at 8:28 am

I can see how it would be hard to read so many books in a row dealing with the death of a spouse. I recently finished two sad books in a row, and I’m finding the light reading I’m doing now to be refreshing.
Shana @ Literarily

December 22nd, 2008 at 7:13 pm

Sher, I love that box with the cover image and synopsis. Darn, girl, you’re getting good at this design stuff!!!
J. Kaye

December 22nd, 2008 at 7:35 pm

This sounds like tit would work out perfect for the upcoming ChickLit challenge. I’ll keep it in mind!
Ramya

April 15th, 2009 at 10:08 am

I started reading this one sometime ago and then couldn’t get into it ..so I happily put it down when something more interesting came in the mailbox.. but after your reading, I want to give it another shot. Maybe once I pass the five chapter mark, I’ll get into it as well!:)