Book Blurb:
On the heels of a difficult break-up and a devastating diagnosis, Shakespearian scholar Lizzie Delford decides to take one last lavish vacation on Elba, the sun-kissed island off the Italian coast, with her best friend and his movie-star boyfriend. Once settled into a luxurious seaside resort, Lizzie has to make big decisions about her future, and she needs the one thing she may be running out of: time.
She leaves the yacht-owners and celebrities behind and sneaks off to the public beach, where she meets a sardonic chef named Dante, his battered dog Lily, and his wry daughter Etta, a twelve-year-old desperate for a mother. While Dante shows Lizzie the island’s secrets, and Etta dazzles with her irreverent humor, Lizzie is confronted with a dilemma. Is it right to fall in love if time is short? Is it better to find a mother briefly, or to have no mother at all? And the most difficult question of all: What if falling in love inevitably leads to broken hearts?
A transporting, all-consuming story about love, courage, and Italian wine, Lizzie & Dante demands to know how far we should travel to find a future worth fighting for.
My Review: 5 stars
Lizzy & Dante stole my heart from the start and left me with a two-day book hangover. Once again, I knew nothing about this book’s premise, only that I wanted to jump into its cover.
This was a story of a woman named Lizzie who has given up on life, quite literally, and is traveling to the island of Elba, Italy, with her gay best friend, Grey, and movie star boyfriend, Rohan. This book took off quickly as we are led to Lizzy’s meeting a dog called Lulu and his owner Dante, a renowned chef on the island. Although Lizzie, Grey and Rohan’s history could’ve taken up an entire book on its own, I’m so glad Dante showed up.
This book was just over three hundred short pages and Bly masterly created a movie worthy plot as the book came blazingly alive as I read. Her descriptions of the island from its smells of white flowers and the sea to the taste of Elba wine and the lavishness of the yachts, I completely fell into the arms of Elba. The multi-dimensional relationships that were formed between the cast of characters were nothing short of brilliant. Dante’s daughter, Etta, was a breath of fresh air. Ruby was a welcome addition whose honesty with others, maybe not herself, was welcomed. Having Lizzie be a Shakespearian professor worked so well with Rohan’s Marvel Romeo and Juliet movie. The ideas of how Romeo should be portrayed, virgin or not a virgin, gay or not gay, or forget him and focus on Juliet had me laughing out loud.
I really appreciated Bly’s ability to trust the reader to know enough of the cultural references she brought to the page. The music, the poetry, the books mentioned, all of it brought a richness and realness to the story. (Yes, I had to look up some of the poetry.) The cancer, coming out, foster care, motherhood, loving hard, song, second chances, friendship and sex were such powerful motivators and threads woven throughout this book.
After I finished, I learned that Mary Bly, like her main character, is a Shakespearian professor at Fordham University. She’s also a New York Times bestselling author with thirty-two historical romances under her belt. Who knew? I adored this book and can’t wait for others to read it.
Quotes I liked:
Love is more complicated than who you sleep with.”
“It’s about love. The whole song is about love that poisons and drives you mad. Desdemona was mad with love for Othello and gave him that poisoned wine: love.”
“I spend most days here. I want friends around me. Books.”
“Song was a form of prayer, directed not at the heavens, but at the world.”
“The warmth of his fingers felt like a permanent imprint on Lizzie’s skin, a tattoo shared by lovers without ink or pain.”
“There are knots that cannot be untied, and love makes them.”
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