Brava Valentine (Trigiani)

Book Reviews
[A] sweet second act for shoemaker and designer Valentine Roncalli. Val takes over the New York family-run shoe business with feet-of-clay older brother, Alfred.... [A] startling twist of family history finally challenges an old-fashioned, insular clan to join the modern world. But it's always the endearing, unnerving and rowdy Roncallis who steal the show.
Publishers Weekly


With her grandmother remarried and living in Italy, Valentine and her brother are now in charge of the Angelina Shoe Company. She's a strong businesswoman, but family and romantic relationships knock her off stride.... Brimming over with life, [Trigiani's] latest will be essential reading for fans of humorous, touching family fiction. —Lesa Holstine, Glendale P.L., AZ
Library Journal


Valentine is one of Adriana Trigiani’s most winsome characters (yes, she even rivals the Big Stone Gap gang).... Brava, Valentine is laugh-out-loud funny...but it’s also an unexpectedly poignant examination of the power and pull of family, faith and love.
BookPage


Lukewarm follow-up to Very Valentine (2009).... A talented designer, Valentine has big plans to expand the [family] business from couture wedding shoes to mass-produced daywear.... But Valentine is...filled with the usual angst and uncertainty about how to manage love and career.... [T]his middle installment of a planned trilogy delivers a very thin plot via an endless interior monologue by Valentine. A likable heroine doesn't compensate for a lackluster narrative.
Kirkus Reviews