The Italian House

Rating:
Summary: Very Enjoyable
Review: I listened to the audio version of this book. It was an enjoyable "read" with a twist at the end. I appreciated the descriptions of Italy. Carrie Stone is a bit too trusting and at times a little unbelievable. I also wish that Ms. Crane would have developed some of the characters a little more. The romantic scenes in the book remain relatively romantic and don't become too bawdy. Overall, it was a good book and well written. I would recommend it and I plan to read additional works by Ms. Crane.

Rating:
Summary: Very Enjoyable
Review: I listened to the audio version of this book. It was an enjoyable "read" with a twist at the end. I appreciated the descriptions of Italy. Carrie Stone is a bit too trusting and at times a little unbelievable. I also wish that Ms. Crane would have developed some of the characters a little more. The romantic scenes in the book remain relatively romantic and don't become too bawdy. Overall, it was a good book and well written. I would recommend it and I plan to read additional works by Ms. Crane.

Rating:
Summary: Extra Star Awarded for Tuscan Ambiance
Review: In the early 1920s, Carrie Stone, trapped in a drab existence with a stodgy punctilious husband, dreams of the halycon days of her youth which she spent at her grandmother's mountain villa in a small Tuscan village. When her grandmother dies, Carrie pleased to inherit the house, struggles with mixed emotions regarding her own need for freedom and her determination to be a good wife. Her husband wants the house sold quickly and complains about her need to settle Italian legalities in person. However, his avarious nature lends to allowing her to undertake the trip without his company. Upon her arrival, Carrie senses real freedom for the first time from her husband's imposed mediocrity. She finds sexual release in the form of her handsome yet WWI battle-haunted cousin, Leo and mystery in the secrets kept by her grandmother's long-time companion, Maria. Carrie finds her actions strangely paralleling those of her grandmother; only through her own strength does she find the courage to combat the obstacles set in front of her and follow her own path.

Crane's language is simple; the story unfolds from Carrie's perspective although it is not told in the first person. We sense Carrie's unhappiness perhaps a bit repeatedly; Crane's background information regarding Carrie is a bit trite, something any reader of romance is over familiar with. Carrie's eventual understanding of the situation between herself and her cousin dawns slowly and painfully; the denouement is not as knife-sharp as one would wish, nor are Carrie's musings quite so relevant at the end of the novel as she sits pondering in her grandmother's garden.

Perhaps it is because I have read so many romances, that I found this one so easy to pigeonhole. However, that does not detract from the overall tone or sense of place that Crane renders so well. I recommend this small sad little story to new discoverers of the romance genre---those interested in an operatic plot with little bodice ripping will be quite pleased.