Kissing in Italian

January 15, 2014
The story continues in slow, meandering fashion for Violet, the heroine of Flirting in Italian (2012). Determined to forget Luca, the Italian boy who might be her half brother, Violet resolves to discover if she is adopted. While waiting weeks for that answer, there's a surfeit of issues to keep Violet occupied. Among her fellow students on a summer study course in Italy, Kelly struggles with her perceived outsider status, Kendra starts a romance with their art teacher, and Paige flirts and shops. But when Kelly tells Catia, their guide, about Kendra's romance with Luigi, it damages the relationships among the four girls. This development is nothing more than filler--the real heart of the novel is Violet's forbidden romance with the remote, one-dimensional Luca. Violet seeks solace in her artwork and waits for her mother to tell her the truth. But when Violet's parents tell her what she has long suspected, it turns out that's not the end of the secrets, as Violet and readers learn in a credulity-straining twist. Violet's character is fairly well-drawn, and the other girls are relatively interesting, although Kelly's sad-sack persona quickly grates on the reader. Unfortunately the plot moves as slowly as an Italian summer afternoon, leaving one to wonder at the lack of urgency in a novel billed as suspenseful. (Mystery/romance. 14 & up)

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April 1, 2014

Gr 8 Up-Violet continues the journey she began in Flirting in Italian (Delacorte, 2012), hoping to discover why she looks nothing like either of her parents and exactly like the portrait of an 18th-century Italian noblewoman. In search of this information, Violet is spending the summer with three other teenage girls, theoretically learning about Italian culture and language but, in fact, learning more about Italian boys. A romantic development between the main character and Luca began in the first book, causing some confusion in this sequel, because "something" happened to thwart the course of their true love. After a great deal of teen angst and backbiting, as well as subplots that come out of nowhere, Violet discovers her ancestry, and love ultimately triumphs. Adult figures are flat, and the portrayal of the teen characters is stereotypical-particularly the Italian boys. The sequel doesn't really stand on its own, but girls who enjoyed the thrilling excitement of the first novel will doubtless want to know the outcome of the romance. The ending hints at the possibility of further drama.-Sharon Grover, Hedberg Public Library, Janesville, WI

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