Two Good New Reads

Maybe it isn't that I am slowly reading....perhaps my expectations are just too high. I have come to the realization that some of the library books I checked out are not going to get read, so I may have to return some. I did finish two great new books by well known authors.

Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani is a good read as is Kristin Hannah's True Colors.

Very Valentine begins at the wedding of Valentine's youngest sister. Valentine is still single herself, living with her grandmother above the shoe shop she and her grandmother run. While love seems to elude her, Valentine is truly happy when she is busy designing the wedding shoes their shop specializes in. Trigiani does include a little romance in Valentine's life when she meets Roman, another Italian American who has just opened his own restaurant. The two are so consumed by their professional lives they find little time for each other and often have to try and squeeze a few moments in with each other. Valentine's own family drama is entertaining as Trigiani has included a lot of her own Italian American experience.

True Colors by Kristin Hannah was a nice, easy read. Three sisters Win, Vivi Ann, and Aurora test their sisterly bond throughout their lives as each experience love and heartache. The main story, however, is centered on Vivi Ann and her love affair and marriage to Dallas Raintree, a Native American man. The two have a son together, Noah, but shortly after their initial happiness, Dallas is convicted or murdering a local woman. Vivi Anne continues to believe in him long after everyone else has given up on him and despite the passage of time has never really gone on with her life. When Win, who is a lawyer, finally begins to realize that perhaps Dallas is innocent, their lives are once again thrown into turmoil. Hannah is able to create some suspense in this story that centers on relationships and family bonds.