A Very Good Read, Indeed!

So, after a much delayed start, I have started to read Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani. Just as I thought I might, I'm loving every minute of reading it.

The story here is much more dense than Viola in Reel Life. It's interesting to read two different styles (young adult, then adult) from the same author. Valentine tends to include a lot more elaborate descriptions of things, especially the Greenwich Village home that the titular Valentine lives in with her grandmother. It's a place I'd like to live, too ... even if I'm stuck in what used to be the guest room (as she is).

I still have a lot to go in the story, but right now? Valentine is an apprentice for her grandmother who makes custom shoes, mostly for weddings. I don't know a lot about shoemaking, so I'm learning something new from this book. The business is in trouble since grandmum, in order to keep the business afloat, took out a lot of loans over the years which have finally ballooned into the badness that all loans become. Valentine is trying to find a way to keep the business afloat while her evil brother (okay, he's not evil... but he is the most villainous character so far) is seeing it as his opportunity to put grandma in a nursing home and get his way. Directly after all this happened, a chance encounter with a young PA from a movie filming near their shop (who happens to have THE SAME EXACT NAME AS MY REAL LIFE SISTER!!) gets their shoes in a movie production. Will this help save the shop? I'd like to think so, but I guess I'll have to read on to find out.

They'll be a little big of a delay since real life is getting in the way of my literary one; this weekend I'm moving a few blocks away into a studio apartment. After I'm settled, I'm planning on delving into the novel completely so I can move on to the sequel, Brava, Valentine.