Review: A Special Experience Worth Having
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 9, 2014
4 Art House, Sculpted, Living Breathing Real Stars * * * *This was unexpected... I had no clue as to whether this was for me or not. I had read the blurb... had an idea of a romantic situation... artsy/ fartsy set up... with wine mogul and art student... so I was set and ready to read...But oh wait... this is different... the voice of the character... and she is describing how she knows she was never that model type and it was ok.... here she was at 22, a NYU Fine Arts grad student; comfortable in her own skin, knew her art was good and would be fine pursuing that in the purest sense....Wait no whining, no woe is me... Oh...I am really on board for this now. .So as I continue to read this, the voice is fresh and I am connecting even though I may not be the target audience...but then again... what is that exactly when we read romance... but I digressThe voice is Jules and she has this way of communicating which can sometimes feel like she is tongue tied... then she has moments of pure brilliance mixed with references that come from life's moments we all share; whatever media darling who has gotten their sound bite or a referral to a TV show which was the rage... but here's the thing... for me, it wasn't cheesy or too cute... it just was... it was her life experience, her reference points and they worked.In the Florence museum where her love, David (the Statue), resides, she meets Mr. Beautiful; he is enough to be muse worthy... she literally bumps into him. He is tall, dark, and handsome; has these aquamarine eyes which look at her as though they see everything... he helps her up, touching her innocently enough yet branding her skin... short circuiting her brain.... making speech difficult... thinking even harder but knowing this....She will never be the same and neither will he... we learn later.Jules is back from Florence, doing her classes and part time job at a local coffee house. She has a perfect roommate in Ian...her once college crush that didn't play for her team morphed into a brother from another mother. He is a photographer, art model and biggest fan of Jules' talent. They are presented perfectly... connection, love and support between them is there.Jules' talent is extraordinary; she has the ability to capture, feel, then put pencil to paper and create this living breathing work of art. The description of how she sees things and how the world just drops away while she is creating puts you right there. You get that sense of timelessness... of the sun moving across the sky and suddenly it is dark and she doesn't know why. I totally bought into this woman and loved her for all of these parts.Mr. Beautiful comes into the picture in New York... he orders a 4 shot espresso Iced Americano and the machine promptly blows up causing Jules and him to become drenched. A Pattern develops... Jules klutzy due to circumstances beyond her control and difficulty speaking around him. She does find out who he is though and by the end of this event... she has taken said drenched jacket for dry cleaning and is determined to make amends.As the story progresses, it turns out Ian's big photographic break of shooting a major series for a first rate magazine is of Mr. Beautiful, Leo Carducci of Carducci Wines- Sienna, Italy and New York. He is in the trades, flashed on the net, heir to this Wine dynasty and is moving to a position of taking it over and getting their name out there.Ian, being Ian... takes a drawing Jules did of her remembrance of Leo's body she saw when he was drenched... all of the six pack was visible through the clinging soft cotton fabric... so the sketch revealed Jules' talented vision and depth... the texture of the wet cloth... the ripples of the defined muscles... it was all there and Leo wanted that vision to be used to create a new label for the wine... with the use of the bust of the founder Renaldo Carducci, his great, great, so many greats grandfather. He offers Julie a lifetime experience to go to Florence, be on the vineyard do the label art as an employee and fulfill her requirements for her graduate program. The tale takes off from there...This was one of the sweetest yet not cloying reads I have read in awhile. This is not the typical blah blah ... they have chemistry... they get all hot and bothered... then there is conflict... pout and then fixed ... ta da happy ever after story...This was special... the way we are in each of their heads... the way Julie is who she is... how she expresses herself and feels things... her passion for art and ability to see objects and things is conveyed to the reader so well ... it just takes you there...And then the love .... It is all over the page... love for the land and wine... love for each other ... love for being the people you need to be in life and the best... learning to risk everything... to love and if it breaks your heart... than at least you did love...I am now a fan of this writer... she did very unique (for me) set ups, plot points and gave me a wonderful experience. If given the chance... I think she will do that for you too....A gifted copy was provided by author/publisher for an honest review."