Title: Lake Como by Anita Hughes
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Length: 288 pages
Book Rating: B
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley
Summary:
Hallie Elliot has a perfect life. She is an up-and-coming interior designer in one of San Francisco’s most sought after firms, and has just recently become engaged to Peter, a brilliant young journalist. But when she stumbles upon Peter and her boss in what seems to be a compromising position, her trust in her perfect life is shaken.
So Hallie escapes to Lake Como, Italy to spend time with her half-sister, Portia Tesoro, an Italian blueblood dealing with the scandal of a public estrangement from her cheating husband. While staying in the Tesoro villa, Hallie falls in love with the splendor and beauty of Lake Como, and finds work designing the lakeside estate of a reclusive American tech mogul. The caretaker of this beautiful estate is a handsome man named Angus, and Hallie finds herself drawn to his charm and kindness, despite hints of a dark secret in his past.
But just as Hallie is beginning to find her footing on Italian soil, she uncovers a family secret that upends all the truths she’s believed about herself, and calls into question the new life she’s built in Lake Como.
Sisterhood, family, career, and sumptuous descriptions of Italian life fill the pages of this newest offering by Anita Hughes. Lake Como is a heartbreaking and heartwarming story of love, self-discovery, and the quest for truth.
Love, sisterhood, and sumptuous descriptions of la dolce vita fill the pages of Anita Hughes’ Lake Como, a heartwarming story of romance, self-discovery, and the quest for truth.
The Review:
In Lake Como, Anita Hughes brings Italy vibrantly to life during Hallie Elliot’s impetus visit to her half-sister’s magnificent family villa. In the midst of lavish and romantic surroundings, Hallie uncovers a long hidden family secret and reconnects with her half sister, Portia Tesoro, while she contemplates her future.
Hallie Elliot has a pretty charmed life. She has a close relationship with her socialite grandmother, she is an up and coming interior designer and her live in boyfriend Peter adores her. But when she catches Peter in a romantic embrace with her boss, Hallie impulsively travels to Italy to lend some much needed moral support to her sister as Portia deals with the fall out from her separation from her philandering husband. A meeting with fellow American Angus Barlow leads to a prestigious and advantageous career opportunity for Hallie and their friendship soon crosses over into romantic territory. Already reeling from a startling revelation about her mother, Hallie is devastated when she learns Angus has been keeping secrets of his own.
Overall, Lake Como is a light-hearted and fun read. This fast-paced and engaging story presents readers with an in-depth view into Italian royalty and the influential role of the family’s matriarch. The characters are well-fleshed and three-dimensional. Their issues are serious, but they are resolved with little drama or angst. The setting is brilliantly detailed and provides an exquisite backdrop for the unfolding story. Glitz, glamour and the lifestyles of the rich and famous are hallmarks of an Anita Hughes’ novel and she always provides readers a wonderful escape from everyday life.
