Barbara Conelli "Chique Secrets of Dolce Amore" Book Review

A Gem Of A Travel Book For Your Soul

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Follow Barbara's tour on Women On Writing

The magic of Italy came to me twice within a few weeks. The first time through WOW! Women On Writing with a copy of Barbara Conelli's delightful book on Milan, Chique Secrets of Dolce Amore, to read and review on my Book Talk Blog today.  A few days later I became a host mother to a foreign exchange student from a small town outside of Milan. I find this coincidence lovely and a sign from the universe a trip to Italy may be in my future! If I can only find a sitter for my six dogs!

Barbara Conelli's book is a charming love story to Milan. It is a travel book for the soul. While sharing her vision of her beloved city with the reader, she pulls you in with sweet vignettes. Each chapter is a small gem, like a portrait painted on canvas. Barbara's canvas is her book and she uses words, instead of brushes, to paint her scenes.

At only 158 pages, the book is a delicious feast for the reader. The illustrations are simple sketches drawn by Nella Vadlejchova and compliment the charm of Barbara's writing. This is an intimate book full of passion and life.

The author shares her knowledge of the history of many aspects of Milan, from secret courtyards, to the fashion district Quadrilatero d'Oro - or Golden Quadrangle, to buying panettone at Marchesi's.

The best panettone can be bought only at Marchesi's, the author shares this secret with us. There are three legends and a blessing attached to this pastry. We can choose which to believe. You can buy it by weight on any day of the year, but Barbara suggests you first taste it on February 3rd, on the feast of St. Biagio. On this day it has magic powers. Read further and find out why. Marchesi's has been in the same location since 1824.

Dinner at Chandelier in Via Broggi 17, brings more than a meal. The restaurant opened in 2003 and the setting changes right before your eyes. Once a year, in September, all the furniture and decorations are up for sale. The restaurant is full of the finest and most exotic antiques, but its owner changes everything annually, so the space can evolve and grow and life energy can flow through the restaurant continuously.

The chapter on Pizza was one of my favorites, because it connected me to my new exchange student from Italy in an unexpected way. Barbara writes, Modern pizza, the way we know it, was created in 1889 by Neapolitan cook Raffaele Esposito in honor of Queen Margherita of Savory. He garnished it with tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil so that his pizza glared with the colors of the Italian flag, and called it Pizza Margherita. When I asked my student if she liked pizza, she grabbed her hands and the words rolled off her tongue, Pizza Margherita. I knew what she meant! We hugged each other in excitement.

It is little tidbits as those above that make this book a treasure to read. There are a few recipes you might like to try. This is a book to read again and again when you feel the need for a journey and have to stay close to home.  "Chique Secrets of Dolce Amore" is a perfect place to stop and breath in the delights of a Milan written by an author who shares her heart with us.

Author Bio:

Barbara Conelli is an internationally published author, seasoned travel writer specializing in Italy, and Chiquenist on the mission to bring Fantastic Fearless Feminine Fun into women's lives. In her charming, delightful and humorous Chique Books filled with Italian passion, Barb invites women to explore Italy from the comfort of their home with elegance, grace and style, encouraging them to live their own Dolce Vita no matter where they are in the world. Read more about Barbara on her Author Amazon Page.

For free book excerpts and weekly Italian gifts visit Barbara’s website at http://barbaraconelli.com/. Sign up to follow her blog and you won’t miss any scrumptious travel stops!

I was given a copy of this book to review by WOW! I loved this book, as you can tell, and look forward to buying a copy of Barbara Conelli's companion book on Amazon, Chique Secrets of Dolce Vita.

Susan Buchanan "Sign Of The Times"

About The Book:

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Twelve people. Twelve star signs.

Sagittarius - Holly, a travel writer, visits Tuscany to research her next book. Seeking help when her car breaks down, she gets more than assistance when Dario, a vineyard owner, puts temptation in her path. Disappearing without explanation, he proves elusive. Bruised, Holly tries to put it behind her until a chance encounter brings her feelings to the surface again.

Capricorn – Holly’s fiancé, Tom misses her while she is in Italy and turns to an internet chat room for solace. His construction business is under threat, but could foul play be at work?

Gemini - Holly’s sister, Lucy, a serial man-eater finally meets her match, which puts her long-term relationship and career in jeopardy. Cheating she discovers, can have devastating consequences.

Libra - Holly’s uncle Jack, an eminent prosecutor, juggles a difficult teenage son with his high profile career and finds himself lacking. When his son’s school work starts slipping, he decides he needs to take control, but it’s not long before the balls all come tumbling down and Jack finds his family on the wrong side of the law.

One event binds them all…

About The Author:

Author Susan Buchanan lives in Central Scotland

Susan's Story:

I have been writing since I was very young, but really got into Creative Writing properly when I was about 11. I started writing my unfinished ‘masterpiece’, Adolescent Fun around that time. I am sure I would laugh my head off if I read it now! I still have it somewhere.

Over the years, whenever I went on holiday, I would keep a travel journal and also write stories. I tried to write short stories, but they were always too long! The first draft of my debut novel, Sign of the Times was 300K words! Yes, really! There was, however, a reason for that, because given the nature of the story, there were twelve main characters. 

In my early twenties I started to write a few novels, which I later abandoned.  Then one day, the germ of an idea for Sign of the Times appeared.  Twelve signs of the zodiac, with the personalities for each sign represented by a different character – I knew I was on to a winner.

Back then, I was still working full-time, plus doing lots of overtime and a nightmare commute. The only time I had to write was when I was on holiday. I never had any days off where I wasn’t in a different country, except weekends and those were kept for family and friends. Working as much as I was, occasionally going to the gym and having dinner took up my weeknights. I had always told myself if I had X amount of money in the bank, I would give up work for a year to write.  Prior to this I had only written half of Sign of the Times in five years. In December 2007 I took that year off. By May 2008 the first draft was finished and by October the manuscript was doing the rounds of agents and publishers. I had, in all, re-drafted the book ten times. This was mainly to bring it down to an acceptable word count for the publishers, who wouldn’t look at anything from an unknown author of more than 120K words. If only I had known that before. But, I remember being told years ago, ‘just write’ and that’s what I had done and I hadn’t stopped! 

Looking back I should have submitted Sign of the Times as it is now. The book now has around 60 chapters, whereas originally it had 13 – 12 character chapters and 1 to tie them all together. It cost me a fortune in postage!  Many publishers ask for the first 3 chapters, so for me that meant 100 pages of A4!

In November 2008, I went back to work and soon became embroiled in the day-to-day rat race again. In Feb 2012, my time in my last post finished and my other half convinced me to upload my novel to Amazon. He even went as far as creating a cover for it, although this has now been superseded by a professional cover.

Initially, nothing much happened, apart from sales to friends and family and the occasional Twitter follower. Mid-May I did the Amazon KDP Select free promo. I worked my butt off and put in three 19 hour days. On the third day, Sign of the Times hit the no.1 spot. Yippee! Since then I’ve had regular sales, although they could always be higher!

The lovely comments from readers made me dust off The Dating Game and continue writing it. It should be out October this year. Demands from readers, for a sequel to the stand-alone Sign of the Times, have made me have a re-think and there will be now be a sequel, due late 2013. So far there are six more books planned and the ideas just keeping coming! One thing is for sure, I will never stop writing again.

LINKS:

Blog: Sooz's Journal

Twitter @susan_buchanan

Like on Facebook

Susan's Author Page on Amazon

Buy on Amazon UK


Buy on Amazon US

Twelve people, twelve signs of the zodiac, twelve different stories gathered in one.