Very Valentine

Very Valentine
By Adriana Trigiani
Harper Collins, 2009. 371 pgs. Fiction

Valentine Roncalli, one of four children in a loud Italian-American family living in New York has discovered her calling in life is to make shoes. She works for her grandmother in the Angelini Shoe Company which has made custom wedding shoes since 1903. The company, however, is on the verge of financial collapse and her grandmother is too old to turn the company back around. While fighting with her brother, who wants to sell the shoe company, Valentine meets and starts a relationship with Roman Falconi, head chef at an up-and-coming Italian restaurant. The problem is that both Valentine and Roman are too dedicated to their careers to put much into a relationship that has the potential to be amazing.

Even though I have read other books by Adriana Trigiani, I at first wrote this book off as Chick-Lit. I quickly discovered that there is much more complexity to this novel and the characters in it to put it in that category. This is a good book about a woman trying to follow her dreams and the difficulties that can bring with family and relationships.

AJ