>While reading Don’t Sing at the Table: life lessons from my grandmothers by Adriana Trigiani, I decided to read one of Adriana Trigiani’s many fiction works, Very Valentine was my choice. What exactly is Valentine in love with, her work, her family, her heritage, or her lover? Valentine’s dream is to become a shoe designer in her Grandmother’s shoe shop. Does she have time for love? Valentine’s boyfriend is so busy running his own Italian restaurant, and she is so busy making custom wedding shoes, that their time together is sparse. Italian flavor runs throughout the story including a trip to Italy to purchase supplies for the shop, but not without love.

While reading Very Valentine I noticed that the story was sounding familiar and I realized Trigiani had used situations from her family’s life that I had read about in her non-fiction work, Don’t Sing at the Table. It was fun to parallel the two books as I read. If you haven’t read either I suggest that you start off with Don’t Sing at the Table and then read Very Valentine. Valentine’s life doesn’t have to stop there, you can continue in her life by reading Brava,Valentine. Divertire! Godere!