Lizzie & Dante (Hardcover)

There was nothing not to love about this book, right down to the simplicity of the title. I like to make a list of words that describe a book as inspiration for what to include in the review. For this book, it has to be love, friendship, grief, good food, Shakespeare, motherhood, and family. There is a wonderful, intelligent cast of characters. Lizzie and her friends are vacationing on Elba, the island where Napoleon was exiled. Lizzy is a Shakespearean professor who has some serious health issues. Her best friend Grey writes best-selling horror novels. Grey's partner Rohan is a celebrated action movie actor who has aspirations of writing a movie adaptation for Romeo and Juliet, which leads to a lot of interesting discussions. He doesn't understand much about Romeo and Juliet. Etta is my favorite character. She is about 11 years old and running wild when Dante, her dad, is busy running his restaurant. She desperately wants a mother. Her father only spends the summers on Elba, but no matter where he is, he cooks. In Elba, his restaurant appears to be a ramshackle building but it is reservation only. There are marvelous descriptions of the food, food which I would not eat as it is mostly seafood, but that Rohan swooned over. Thinking it over, one of the love stories in this book is about good food as Rohan and Dante were both passionate about it. There are two really beautiful love stories in this book, the one between Dante and Lizzy, and the attachment that grew between Etta and Lizzy. I highly recommend this book which may break your heart a little but will also put it back together again. Love is worth the pain. Thanks to the author Mary Bly, the publisher Random House, and NetGalley for the ARC. It was my pleasure to read and review this book.