Late Summer in the Vineyard by Jo Thomas - Very Funny, Very Touching, and Altogether Delicious!

Jo Thomas' books are so interesting that with her, I've learned how to cultivate oysters in The Oyster Catcher; olives in The Olive Branch and now wine in Late Summer in the Vineyard! Although nobody could ever hope to make wine from the wild grapes in this photo, Emmy Bridges, heroine of Jo Thomas' new novel, proves that with determination anything is possible.
Emmy has a dead-end job at Cadwallader's call centre, and by accident is included in a twelve week trip to France to learn all about wine so she can sell it over the telephone. The other employees who go with her: Nick, Candy and Gloria are in competition for the job of team leader and a big bonus which would help Emmy pay off her father's mortgage after her brother-in-law borrowed and lost all her dad's savings in a business venture.
Charlie Featherstone's father has had a stroke, leaving Charlie in charge of finding a fresh new vintage wine to sell in supermarkets, and he employs Isaac, an American, who moves from wine region to wine region developing new products.
Emmy finds a purse in the market place and, borrowing a bike, returns it to Madame Beaumont. She is an old lady who has been tending her vines at Clos Beaumont on her own for years. When she falls and is hospitalised, Emmy is left to harvest her grapes and make the wine by herself.
Charlie's plan is to buy up Mandame Beaumont's vines and mix her vintage with the other local ones to make a winning blend and, to this end, he is very friendly to Emmy.
Isaac, on the other hand, wants to help her, but doesn't always agree with Madame Beaumont's advice for Emmy to follow her instincts. So there is a will she, won't she situation that keeps you guessing right until the end.
It's a great read. I was totally transported to France, witnessing the purple tinge to the early morning mist, smelling the rows of ripe grapes and tasting the local dishes that Gloria cooked. Sometimes it was very funny and at others very touching, but altogether delicious!
I loved it and can't wait to read Notes from the Northern Lights  due out on Kindle on December 15th 2016.

The Villa Girls by Nicky Pellegrino - A Gentle Story, Full of Italian Sunshine and Warmth

The Villa Girls wasn't on my Summer Reading List this year, but it was on my bookshelf! I've had it some time because I loved Recipe for Life and The Italian Wedding which I have reviewed here and here, and it has links to both: The Villa Rosa in this one is the same as in Recipe for Life, and, Addolorata features in The Italian Wedding as she is the sister of Pieta, the girl who makes wedding dresses.
The other reason I read it is I love reading about Italy!
The story is told from from two points of view: Rosie, in the first person and Enzo, in the third with alternate chapters telling their stories, and I particularly liked Addolorata's comments and thoughts about Rosie at the end of each of her chapters too.

Not Triento, but enough pink villas for anyone!

The novel is set somewhere in the seventies or eighties; there are no mobile phones or any email, and life is lived at a slower pace. Rosie is coming to terms with her parents' death in England and, in Italy, Enzo Santi is growing up in privilege on his parents' olive farm. (I now know a lot about olive farming, having read this and The Olive Branch by Jo Thomas which I reviewed here!)
She becomes part of the Villa Girls when she goes on holiday with Addolorata, Lou and Toni to a villa in Majorca, and they like it so much that they rent the Villa Rosa in Triento and meet Enzo. But Rosie's fledgling holiday romance is shattered when Toni discovers what the Santi family have been hiding in their barn.
This is a gentle story, full of Italian sunshine and warmth, which follows Rosie and Enzo through the years. Will the promise of true love come true for them despite all the problems they have to surmount?

The Olive Branch by Jo Thomas - A Perfect Book to Warm up a Chilly Autumn Evening!

The Olive Branch by Jo Thomas was on the top of my pile of summer reads (see my blog post  here), but I waited until I was actually in Italy to read it!
The blurb said that 'olives and romance might just flourish in the warmth of the Mediterranean sun'. A perfect book to read on holiday!

Fuelled with Prosecco, in her empty flat that she once shared with her ex, Ed, Ruthie Collins buys an Italian farmhouse on eBay.
What a great start to a story!
If you enjoyed The Oyster Catcher, Jo Thomas' first novel, (review here) you will enjoy this especially because the cold wet west coast of Ireland has been swapped for sunny southern Italy.
But it doesn't start out like that because Ruthie arrives in torrential rain, only to find a grumpy goat blocking her front door. At least the weather gets better eventually and she meets her next door neighbours, the Bellanouvo family, but why aren't they pleased to meet her? And why is Marco Bellanouvo so angry that she's bought his grandfather's house? And how do you grow olives, anyway?
Jo Thomas has drawn her characters so well, including Ryan, the helpful Australian; Nonna, riding on the back of a Vespa; Luigi, Mrs Luigi and Young Luigi, that by the end I felt that they were old friends.
This book would make a wonderful heart-warming film. I read it on holiday in Italy, but it would be perfect to warm up a chilly autumn evening at home!