G459 Book Review of Venice in the Moonlight by Elizabeth McKenna

Name of Book: Venice in the Moonlight

Author: Elizabeth McKenna

ISBN: 9781492720195

Publisher: Self published

Type of book: 1753, Italy, mystery, murder, carnival season, Venice, romance, matchmaking, secrets, money, leaders, playboy, Giacomo Casanova

Year it was published: 2013

Summary:

After her husband’s untimely demise, Marietta Gatti is banished from the family’s villa by her spiteful mother-in-law. She returns to her hometown of Venice and her only kin—a father she hasn’t spoken to since her forced marriage. Her hope of making amends is crushed when she learns she is too late, for he recently has died under suspicious circumstances. Grief-stricken, Marietta retraces her father’s last night only to discover someone may have wanted him dead—and she may be next. When the prime suspect turns out to be the father of the man she is falling in love with, Marietta risks her future happiness and her life to avenge the death of a man she once hated.

Elizabeth McKenna’s latest novel takes you back to the days of eighteenth century Carnival, where lovers meet discreetly, and masks make everyone equal.

Characters:

I have to admit that I loved the character of Nico who happened to descend from a powerful father and used to be a playboy. What I liked about him is his sense of humor, his lightness, and the fact that he has a disability, which is pretty unique in a hero. Nico is stronger than other characters in the book. Marietta is the main character who is recently widowed. She has negative perception of romance and relationships and is clever, brave and very resourceful. She also treats people with respect and doesn't look down on them, which I've liked. Other characters include Nico's younger sister who wants to be with a famous playboy by name of Giacomo Casanova and Nico trying to learn to let his sister grow up as well as Marietta's servant who willingly gave up her position just to take care of Marietta, then Raul, Nico's tutor/eyes/friend who is very loyal to him and does the best he can.

Theme:

Love and acceptance come in all forms

Plot:

The story is in third person narrative from Marietta's and Nico's points of view. The story has an interesting balance of mystery, romance, intriguing culture and fascinating characters against the backdrop Venice in 1753 during the famous Carnival season. I do admit that I briefly heard of the Carnival season, primarily from Cristianne Serruya's books and I'm pretty sure I've heard of it from Cry to Heaven as well as Mozart's Wife, but I liked to learn more about it, which I've liked. Also at one point I thought that the husband's and father's deaths related to one another, but it wasn't the case at all.

Author Information:
(From Italy Book Tours)

Meet the Author:
Elizabeth McKenna works as a full-time technical writer/editor for a large software company. Though her love of books reaches back to her childhood, she had never read romance novels until one Christmas when her sister gave her the latest bestseller by Nora Roberts. She was hooked from page one (actually, she admits it was the first love scene). She had always wanted to write fiction, so she combined her love of history, romance and a happy ending to write her debut novel Cera's Place. Her short story, The Gypsy Casts a Spell, is available for free on herwebsite. She hopes you will enjoy her latest novel, Venice in the Moonlight, as much as others have enjoyed her previous works.

Elizabeth lives in Wisconsin with her understanding husband, two beautiful daughters, and a sassy Labrador. When she isn't writing, working, or being a mom, she's sleeping.

Connect with her: Website  ~  Facebook  ~  Twitter

Opinion:

There are a lot of things I enjoyed about the book and the story: a strong and unpredictable male character, a clever heroine, fascinating time period and culture and I also enjoyed the mystery element, even though who had done it was revealed early, it was still interesting to find out the motive for why it was done. I have to admit that although I like the cover, the dress that the woman is wearing isn't historically accurate which bugged me more than it should have. Its also pretty cool that there was even an appearance by the infamous Giacomo Casanova who was friend of the hero. The elements of romance, mystery, history, cultural intrigue were balanced out well and its also a short book if you're pressed for time.

This is for Italy Book Tours

Tour Schedule:

Oct 27 - The YA Lit Chick - review / interview / giveaway
Oct 27 - Blissful Book Reviews - review / interview
Oct 28 - Rockin' Book Reviews - review / giveaway
Oct 28 - Deal Sharing Aunt - review / interview / giveaway
Oct 29 - Griperang's Bookmarks - review / interview / giveaway
Oct 30 - Real Army of Moms - review / giveaway
Oct 31 - Walking with Nora - review / giveaway
Nov 3 -  All Things Bookie - review / interview
Nov 3 -  Back Porchervations - review 
Nov 4 -  Bookfan - review 
Nov 4 -  Svetlana's Reads and Views - review / interview
Nov 5 -  Il Mio Tesoro - review / interview / giveaway
Nov 5 -  Lady in Read - review / giveaway
Nov 6 -  Reviews by Molly - review / interview / giveaway
Nov 7 -  Like a Bump on a Blog - review / interview / giveaway
Nov 7 -  Dalene’s Book Reviews - review / interview / giveaway
Nov 7 -  Library of Clean Reads - review / giveaway

4 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)