On the last Friday of every month, Carol at Reading Ladies Book Club hosts Captivating Characters where you can share your post about the most captivating character (real or fictional) you encountered in the past month.
This Month's Captivating Character: Nonna Bruna
Published by Berkley on September 30, 2025
Age/Genres: Adult, Enchanted Realism
Rating:
Goodreads
A magical cookbook and a summer on her family’s Italian olive farm help a brokenhearted social media chef cook up a satisfying new life in this delectable novel from the bestselling author of Recipe for a Charmed Life.
Rising star Jules Costa loves re-creating vintage recipes for her popular online cooking show. But when personal and professional disaster strikes, her only chance of saving her career is to complete her new cookbook before the end of the summer. Panicked, Jules returns to her family’s beloved olive farm on the shores of Italy’s stunning Lake Garda. Seeking culinary inspiration, she's hoping to convince her spunky eighty-year-old Nonna Bruna to share her precious collection of family recipes.
Jules’ plans quickly go awry as she discovers Nonna’s cookbook has magical and unpredictable powers. It only reveals one recipe at a time, offering a cooking experience guaranteed to satisfy the chef’s palate and bring clarity to their life. Yet it remains stubbornly blank for Jules. To make matters worse, the olive farm is in deep financial trouble, and Jules soon uncovers a web of family secrets involving the cookbook and a lost recipe for orange blossom cake that holds the key to everything. And Nicolo, the boy next door who broke her young heart, is now all grown up, even more attractive, and the only person poised to help her find answers.
In a whirlwind summer beyond her imagination, Jules begins to unravel the mysteries baked into her family’s history and discovers the essential ingredients to create the future of her dreams.
This may not have been Nonna's story, but she certainly stole the show. Nonna commanded my attention every time she was on page. With her wisdom and wit, she captivated me. I adored her and her sass, but I also found her to have a lot of grit. After losing her husband, she dug in her heels and would do whatever it took to save the olive farm. I admired her spunk and energy and determination. I also found her hilarious. She never disappointed me during this tale, and I was so happy that Linden gave her a great storyline.
[review]
Let us know in the comments!
She sounds like a great character.
ReplyDeleteA though but funny senior Italian woman - what's not to love? 😉
ReplyDeleteExactly! She was a gem.
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