Bitten by Alan Moore (Book Spotlight and Giveaway)

Set in Florence, Italy, this thriller explores what happens when nature has had enough of man's tampering. There's also a giveaway where you can enter to win a paperback copy or one of three $35 Amazon gift cards.

Book Details:

Book Title: Bitten by Alan Moore
Category: Adult Fiction, 430 pages
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Self-published
Release date: February 7, 2018
Tour dates: June 4 to 22, 2018
Content Rating: R (Book contains profanities, intermittent sex and violence, incl. one violent sex episode, together with scenes of explicit disaster, distress and death)

Book Description:

In the not-too-distant future, Italy is in disarray. It has voted to leave the EU in an attempt to regain control of its laws, finances and commerce. Even so, the country's economy is shrinking and its national debt rising. There is a marked escalation, too, in unemployment, bank loans and immigration. Production and service companies are in difficulty. The only thriving business areas are the black market and organised crime. There is discontent and protest on all sides.

In Florence, the local Mafia boss, more accustomed to gunrunning and trading in plutonium, is involved in organising a silent auction for the sale of one of the world's most valuable lost paintings - a sixteenth-century masterpiece, which was appropriated in World War II by Stalin's Trophy Brigade. A British art expert is set to buy the picture on behalf of his client, a South American billionaire - yet surprisingly two Italian undercover intelligence agents, acting as antique dealers, submit the winning bid.

All the while, human beings continue to harm the Earth by destroying land, sea, air, animals and trees. Global climate change, polluting the atmosphere, depleting the ozone layer: these are some of man's crimes against Nature. But time is running out. Nature has lost patience with humans. Unless something is done immediately to reverse the destruction of the ecosystem, Nature will retaliate by deploying the terrifying forces at her command. And as a first step in wreaking her revenge, she instigates a reign of terror by the deadliest creature on Earth.

To read reviews, please visit Alan Moore's page on Italy Book Tours.

Buy the Book:

Amazon ~ Amazon UK

Add to Goodreads

Meet the Author:

Born in Surbiton, Surrey in 1944, Alan Moore lives in Barnes, SW London, with his wife, Amber. They have two daughters and a son, who between them have two boys and two girls with another boy expected in May. Alan was educated at Oundle School in Northamptonshire and at London University, where, as an external student, he obtained a BA degree in English. Thereafter, for 25 years, he single-handedly ran his own book publishing company, which at one stage was producing up to 20 titles a year. Now, at the age of 74, he has self-published his first novel.

Enter the Giveaway!

Ends June 30, 2018

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Dreaming Sophia: Because Dreaming is an Art by Melissa Muldoon (Book spotlight & Giveaway!)

Today I'm kicking off the book spotlight for this dreamy novel! If you love books set in Italy and need to escape for a few hours then pick up Dreaming Sophia by Melissa Muldoon. You can read my review here and see why I liked this novel so much. And scroll down to enter the giveaway for a chance to win a copy!

Book Details:

Book Title: Dreaming Sophia: Because Dreaming is an Art by Melissa Muldoon
​Category: Adult Fiction, 232 pages
Genre: Literary
Publisher: Matta Press
Release date: August 2016
Tour dates: Nov 21 to Dec 16, 2016
Content Rating: PG (Mild profanity, and mild religious expletives, exploration Italian swear words, kissing - oh my!)

Book Description:

Dreaming Sophia is a magical look into Italy, language, art, and culture. It is a story about turning dreams into reality and learning to walk the fine line between fact and fantasy. When tragedy strikes, Sophia finds herself alone in the world, without direction and fearful of loving again. With only her vivid imagination to guide her, she begins a journey that will take her from the vineyards in Sonoma, California to a grad school in Philadelphia and, eventually, to Italy: Florence, Lucca, Rome, Verona, Venice, and Val d’Orcia.

​Through dreamlike encounters, Sophia meets Italian personalities—princes, poets, duchesses, artists, and film stars— who give her advice to help put her life back together. Following a path that takes her from grief to joy, she discovers the source of her creativity and learns to love again, turning her dreams into reality.

Buy the Book: 

Amazon – print

Amazon / Kindle – ebook

Create Space

I-tunes – Apple Store-ebook

Barnes & Noble – ebook

Inktera-ebook

Watch the Trailer:

Melissa meets Sophia Loren in March 2016!

About the Author:

Melissa Muldoon is the Studentessa Matta-the crazy linguist! In Italian, "matta" means "crazy" or "impassioned". Melissa has a B.A. in fine arts, art history and European history from Knox College, a liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, as well as a master's degree in art history from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. She has also studied painting and art history in Florence.

Melissa promotes the study of Italian language and culture through her dual-language blog, Studentessa Matta (studentessamatta.com). Melissa began the Matta blog to improve her command of the language and to connect with other language learners. It has since grown to include a podcast, "Tutti Matti per l'Italiano" and the Studentessa Matta YouTube channel. Melissa also created Matta Italian Language Immersion Tours, which she co-leads with Italian partners in Italy.

Dreaming Sophia is Melissa's first novel. It is a fanciful look at art history and Italian language and culture, but it is also the culmination of personal stories and insights resulting from her experiences living in Italy, as well as her involvement and familiarity with the Italian language, painting, and art history.

As a student, Melissa lived in Florence with an Italian family. She studied art history and painting and took beginner Italian classes. When she returned home, she threw away her Italian dictionary, assuming she'd never need it again but after launching a successful design career and starting a family, she realized something was missing in her life. That "thing" was the connection she had made with Italy and the friends who live there. Living in Florence was indeed a life-changing event! Wanting to reconnect with Italy, she decided to start learning the language again from scratch. As if indeed possessed by an Italian muse, she bought a new Italian dictionary and began her journey to fluency-a path that has led her back to Italy many times and enriched her life in countless ways.

Now, many dictionaries and grammar books later, she dedicates her time to promoting Italian language studies, further travels in Italy, and sharing her stories and insights about Italy with others. When Melissa is not traveling in Italy, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is married and has three boys and two beagles.

Melissa designed and illustrated the cover art for Dreaming Sophia. She also designed the Dreaming Sophia website and created the character illustrations that can be found in the book and on the Dreaming Sophia websites.

Connect with the Author:

​Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Youtube ~ Pinterest

Enter the Giveaway!

Prizes:

Win a copy of Dreaming Sophia (print open to USA & Can, ebook int’l) One winner will also get a $10 Amazon gift card (3 winners total)

Ends March 18

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Dreaming Sophia: Because Dreaming is an Art by Melissa Muldoon (Review & Giveaway!)

Book Details:

Book Title: Dreaming Sophia: Because Dreaming is an Art by Melissa Muldoon
​Category: Adult Fiction, 232 pages
Genre: Literary
Publisher: Matta Press
Release date: August 2016
Tour dates: Nov 21 to Dec 16, 2016
Content Rating: PG (Mild profanity, and mild religious expletives, exploration Italian swear words, kissing - oh my!)

Book Description:

Dreaming Sophia is a magical look into Italy, language, art, and culture. It is a story about turning dreams into reality and learning to walk the fine line between fact and fantasy. When tragedy strikes, Sophia finds herself alone in the world, without direction and fearful of loving again. With only her vivid imagination to guide her, she begins a journey that will take her from the vineyards in Sonoma, California to a grad school in Philadelphia and, eventually, to Italy: Florence, Lucca, Rome, Verona, Venice, and Val d’Orcia.

​Through dreamlike encounters, Sophia meets Italian personalities—princes, poets, duchesses, artists, and film stars— who give her advice to help put her life back together. Following a path that takes her from grief to joy, she discovers the source of her creativity and learns to love again, turning her dreams into reality.

My Review:

Dreaming Sophia is a fantastical and charming coming-of-age tale of a young and lively dreamer who finally follows her calling to study art in Florence. Filled with artistic and cultural references of well-known Italian icons in Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and Modern Art as well as music and cinema with the alluring Sophia Loren, after whom the main character is named, readers will get their fill of Italy and its language.


Sophia suffers a tragedy early on in her story. Her deep grief along with the loss of her muse make it difficult for her to move on. Always having been encouraged to dream in life, Sophia relies on "dreaming with her eyes wide open" and conjures up famous people from the past who help her along when she has to make serious decisions or when she feels lost and needs direction. Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Eleonora de Medici, Garibaldi and Sophia Loren are among some of these colorful characters that dispense advice to our young heroine.

If you are familiar with Italian culture and history then this will be a refreshing look at Italy's beloved artists, but if you are not, it's a great and fanciful introduction to a culture and history that has touched and influenced the rest of the world. The history of the Mud Angels who helped salvage literary and art works in Florence after its 1966 flooding, for example, was interweaved into the story and will touch any who claim to love art.

The first part of the book in which Sophia comes to grips with what she wants to do in life reads almost like a memoir, whereas the second half of the book is a beautiful journey into Italy's artistic world as Sophia pursues her dream and falls in love both with a country and a man who can't help but be attracted to her jubilance and sometimes adorable clumsiness.

Although the magical realism resembles fairy-tale like storytelling and may throw off a few readers, Sophia's journey while living in Italy is well worth the reading. Author Melissa Muldoon's experience with Italians, their language and their culture will resonate true to North American readers of Italian origin. Highly recommended for dreamers and lovers of art and all things Italian.

To read more reviews, please visit Melissa Muldoon's page on Italy Book Tours.

Buy the Book: 

Amazon – print

Amazon / Kindle – ebook

Create Space

I-tunes – Apple Store-ebook

Barnes & Noble – ebook

Inktera-ebook

Watch the Trailer:

Melissa meets Sophia Loren in March 2016!

About the Author:

Melissa Muldoon is the Studentessa Matta-the crazy linguist! In Italian, "matta" means "crazy" or "impassioned". Melissa has a B.A. in fine arts, art history and European history from Knox College, a liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, as well as a master's degree in art history from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. She has also studied painting and art history in Florence.

Melissa promotes the study of Italian language and culture through her dual-language blog, Studentessa Matta (studentessamatta.com). Melissa began the Matta blog to improve her command of the language and to connect with other language learners. It has since grown to include a podcast, "Tutti Matti per l'Italiano" and the Studentessa Matta YouTube channel. Melissa also created Matta Italian Language Immersion Tours, which she co-leads with Italian partners in Italy.

Dreaming Sophia is Melissa's first novel. It is a fanciful look at art history and Italian language and culture, but it is also the culmination of personal stories and insights resulting from her experiences living in Italy, as well as her involvement and familiarity with the Italian language, painting, and art history.

As a student, Melissa lived in Florence with an Italian family. She studied art history and painting and took beginner Italian classes. When she returned home, she threw away her Italian dictionary, assuming she'd never need it again but after launching a successful design career and starting a family, she realized something was missing in her life. That "thing" was the connection she had made with Italy and the friends who live there. Living in Florence was indeed a life-changing event! Wanting to reconnect with Italy, she decided to start learning the language again from scratch. As if indeed possessed by an Italian muse, she bought a new Italian dictionary and began her journey to fluency-a path that has led her back to Italy many times and enriched her life in countless ways.

Now, many dictionaries and grammar books later, she dedicates her time to promoting Italian language studies, further travels in Italy, and sharing her stories and insights about Italy with others. When Melissa is not traveling in Italy, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is married and has three boys and two beagles.

Melissa designed and illustrated the cover art for Dreaming Sophia. She also designed the Dreaming Sophia website and created the character illustrations that can be found in the book and on the Dreaming Sophia websites.

Connect with the Author:

​Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Youtube ~ Pinterest

Enter the Giveaway!

Prizes:

Win a copy of Dreaming Sophia (print open to USA & Can, ebook int’l) One winner will get the grand prize package that includes a copy of the book, calendar, mug and tote bag (USA & CAN only) 7 winners total

Ends Dec 24

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The Artisan's Star by Gabriella Contestabile (Book spotlight, author interview, and giveaway!)

Today, I want to introduce you to Gabriella Contestabile, author of The Artisan's Star, which is currently on tour with Italy Book Tours. If you want to be immersed in the Italian culture, Florence and the art of perfumery, then you need to check out the book! Read my review of it here.

About the book

Elio Barati’s perfumery shop in Florence marks its entrance with a mosaic star. This shop immerses Elio in the artisanal world he loves, but he harbors a regret. As a young man he created a full-fledged perfume of jasmine, iris, and cypress at the renowned Ecole des Parfumeurs in Grasse—a fragrance his idealism and stubbornness boxed away before ever bringing it to light. 

A second star now brightens Elio’s life, his daughter Romina, an artist. She has her father’s unrealized talent, a precise and intuitive sense of smell. She's also inherited more challenging traits of Elio's: unbridled ambition and an insatiable wonder for the world.

But changes ripple through modern-day Florence. Artisan traditions wane; and when Romina tells her father she has no intention of running the family business Elio fights to hold on to the Florence he cherishes. Confronting the lost opportunities of his youth, Elio is thrust into this journey by five spirited women: his Greek mother, Elena; his mentor Palma; his soul mate, Marina; his astronomer wife, Sofia; and finally his beautiful artist daughter, who like the city of her birth, shows him how tradition and modernity can and must co-exist. 

Now he must alter his own path by harnessing the transformative powers of the fine and artisanal arts.

Where to buy the book

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

An Interview with Gabriella Contestabile

Please help me welcome Gabriella as she discusses her book and her writing.

LF: Gabriella, welcome to Essentially Italian. There are many books out there about Italy. What makes yours different?

GC: One cannot say or write enough about Italy. I’ve drawn inspiration from writers who’ve ventured into this gorgeous territory before me, (Mary McCarthy, Frances Mayes, Anton Gill, R.W.B. Lewis, Bernard Berenson, Francesca Marciano). I have always been drawn to the sense of place and the way it influences the way we feel, think and act. I love to see, re-visit, and describe the sensory detail around me, while traveling, or just walking around familiar streets. So “The Artisan’s Star” is both a novel and a travelogue. The characters inhabit artisan workshops, cafes, wine bars, and country vistas that continue to draw the curious traveler to Florence and surrounding Tuscany.

Throughout my life I’ve wanted to travel to the places I saw made real through literature. Reading about a character in a setting, following his thoughts, her revelations, their observations, makes one feel present in that very spot. It all comes together; the visual detail, the smells, the memories and fears that play against the backdrop. Setting is a character unto itself. In ‘The Artisan’s Star” present day Florence joins with Romina to wake Elio up; force him to confront his fears and regrets, and embark on a new dream.

LF: I enjoyed your book and of course, its setting. What advice would you give budding writers?

• Make time to write. No matter how demanding your life may be. Everything is material. Even that moment when you feel the entire world is conspiring against you is an opportunity to put thoughts to paper. Someday one of your characters will face a similar conflict and those thoughts become insights.

• Don’t let fear in. There are stories out there that need to be told, yours among them, and very often it’s art, not traditional news, that enables us to fully understand the world we currently live in. There are sparkling new voices and resonant older voices. There are emerging new literary styles and conduits. It’s a very exciting time. 

• Ask for feedback. I owe my writing teachers and my developmental editor a million thank yous for their unsparing feedback. Their goal, and mine, was to create a meaningful and transformative reader experience. They kept me focused on that vision and, in the process, taught me my craft. 

LF: Excellent advice. Do you have another profession besides writing?

GC: I’ve had a number of career incarnations; foreign language teacher, international training and education executive, free-lance writer. Somehow I’ve always ended up doing something that involved, writing, teaching, travel, and languages. So I suppose that in an unfocussed way I have followed my dreams, or taken all sorts of crisscrossed paths to get here.

Right now I’m on a three-tiered path. I’m going to keep writing both fiction and non-fiction. I’m also President and Founder of a boutique travel company that specializes in artisan-inspired tours of Florence. And, as a result of my volunteer work, with Dress For Success, I’ve designed a series of training workshops related to the world of work. Once a trainer always a trainer I say. Empowering women and girls through education and training is one of the initiatives I’m most passionate about.

Again, all these pieces interlock. They’re about ‘work’ in its many forms, our connection with it, how we shape our life choices around what we do, don’t do, or want to do. It took me awhile to see the connection but it’s there. And I go back to the philosophy that one’s life is a work of art, to be continually sculpted, shaped and re-imagined, around the life events we encounter along the way.

LF: You are one talented lady! How long have you been writing?

GC: Since second grade in Ottawa, Canada. It’s a funny story. Back then in Catholic schools we took some serious penmanship classes. We had to learn free-hand cursive without resting our wrists on the desk. I was so bad at it my mother made me practice all my letters everyday. I got bored writing those same letters so I started writing stories instead. And I haven’t stopped. I remember the day I started, at a round wooden table in our 6th floor walk up apartment on Bank Street, on a snowy day.

LF: I didn't know you spent part of your childhood in Canada! Do you write every day?

GC: Yes. But the length of time varies depending on my schedule. I make it a ritual to write in my big notebook/journal when I first wake up. It’s when my ideas flow more freely. Just the feeling of waking up to a new day provokes fresh thinking.

LF: Thank you, Gabriella, for taking the time to answer my questions and for allowing us to get to know you better.

About Gabriella

Gabriella Contestabile is an author, educator, and owner of SU MISURA JOURNEYS, a boutique travel company connecting people to the artisans of Florence. She emigrated, with her parents, from Italy to New York City in 1959. In her pre-writer life, she worked as a foreign language teacher, management development specialist, and fragrance/cosmetics executive. Gabriella is a strong advocate of the arts, of multiculturalism, and of social justice—a passion inspired by reading Dickens and Dante at a very young age. 

She has been an active volunteer with Dress for Success for over eight years and is a member of the Slow Food NYC Food and Farm Policy Task Force. She lives on the Upper West Side with her husband, her daughter, her mom, and a furry Shih–Tzu named Oreo. ‘ The Artisan’s Star’ is her first novel. She is currently working on a collection of short stories, also set in Italy, and a screenplay.

Connect with Gabriella: Website ~ Twitter ~ Amazon Author Page ~ Su Misura ~ Facebook

Giveaway!

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Book Spotlight: FLORENCE: A Travel Guide to Fabrics, Frames, Jewelry, Leather Goods, Maiolica, Paper, Woodcrafts & More and ARTISANS OF FLORENCE: A Shopper's Companion - Laura Morelli's Authentic Arts Series (plus Giveaway!)

Hi Everyone! If you like to travel, especially to Italy...and especially to Florence, then you have to take a look at Laura Morelli's new Authentic Arts series. Today, I am spotlighting the second set of books in this series.

"Laura Morelli has set out to make you an expert in handmade crafts." --American Style Magazine

About the Book

Going to Florence, Italy?

Don't buy anything in Florence until you read this book!

If you're traveling to Florence, Italy, you want to go home with a special souvenir: a leather handbag, a piece of gold jewelry, hand-printed stationery, or one of the city's famous luxury fabrics. But selecting which jacket or which wallet to buy can be an intimidating experience. How do you know if you're buying something authentic, something made in Florence, something made in a traditional way? How do you determine if you've fallen prey to one of the city's many tourist traps?

Florence boasts some of the most famous artistic traditions in the world. Here's what you need to know about them.

Laura Morelli leads you beyond the souvenir shops for an immersive cultural experience that you won't find in any other guidebook. This indispensable guide includes practical tips for locating the most authentic goods in one of the busiest tourist destinations in the world. Packed with useful information on quality and value, and with a comprehensive resource guide, Laura Morelli s Authentic Arts: Florence is the perfect guide for anyone wanting to bring home the unique traditions of the capital of the Renaissance. 

Artisans of Florence is the companion to Laura Morelli's Authentic Arts: Florence: A Travel Guide to Fabrics, Frames, Jewelry, Leather Goods, Maiolica, Paper, Woodcrafts & More . Put both books together and you'll be the most knowledgeable traveler in Florence!

About the book

Artisans of Florence is the companion to Florence: A Travel Guide, bringing you inside the workshops of several dozen of the most accomplished makers of Florentine fabrics, hand-carved frames, and other treasures. Put both books together and you'll be the most knowledgeable traveler in Florence! 

"Laura Morelli has set out to make you an expert in handmade crafts." --American Style Magazine

Laura Morelli, an art historian and trusted guide in the world of cultural travel and authentic shopping, leads you to the best of Florence's most traditional arts. Laura Morelli's Authentic Arts series is the only travel guide series on the market that takes you beyond the museums and tourist traps to make you an educated buyer--maybe even a connoisseur--of Florentine leather, ceramics of the Amalfi Coast, Parisian hats, Venetian glass, the handmade quilts of Provence, and more treasures. 

Bring Laura Morelli's guides to Florence with you, and you'll be sure to come home with the best of Florence in your suitcase. 

Where to buy the books

Amazon: Florence Travel Guide

Amazon: Artisans of Florence

Meet the Author

Laura Morelli holds a Ph.D. in art history from Yale University, where she was a Bass Writing Fellow and Mellon Doctoral Fellow. She authored a column for National Geographic Traveler called “The Genuine Article” and contributes pieces about authentic travel to national magazines and newspapers. Laura has been featured on CNN Radio, Travel Today with Peter Greenberg, The Frommers Travel Show, and in USA TODAY, Departures, House & Garden Magazine, Traditional Home, the Denver Post, Miami Herald, The Chicago Tribune, and other media. Recently her art history lesson, “What’s the difference between art and craft?” was produced and distributed by TED-Ed.

Laura has taught college-level art history at Trinity College in Rome, as well as at Northeastern University, Merrimack College, St. Joseph College, and the College of Coastal Georgia. Laura has lived in five countries, including four years in Italy and four years in France.

Laura Morelli is the author of the guidebook series that includesMade in Italy, Made in France, and Made in the Southwest, all published by Rizzoli / Universe. The Gondola Maker, a historical coming-of-age story about the heir to a gondola boatyard in 16th-century Venice, is her first work of fiction.

Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ about.me

Giveaway

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