DATING DA VINCI

Author: Malena Lott ISBN: 9781402213939 11/2008 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: SOURCEBOOKS

A linguist and English teacher, 36-year-old widow, and mother of two, Ramona Elise starts to fall for one of her students—a gorgeous 25-year-old Italian immigrant whose name just happens to be Leonardo da Vinci. She knows she shouldn’t take him home, but he has nowhere to live and barely speaks English. She helps him forge a new life in America, and he helps her to find joy again after grieving her beloved husband. Together they come through a difficult transition, re-awakening to life and love.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

DATING DA VINCI is one of those books where you cheer for the heroine right from the start, simply because she so desperately needs a cheering section! Ramona is a language teacher who is struggling to move on after her husband's death. While her husband's been dead for a couple of years, Ramona's sense of self hasn't returned. She is unbalanced and needs to find a new life for herself and a way out of the rut she's nearly buried herself in. When a handsome, smart Italian walks into her class, her life begins to perk up—literally. He has no where to live so she takes him home with her.

I loved watching Ramona find herself. She was so horribly sad at the start of this book, so tragic, it nearly made me cry. While taking home a stranger might not be the most practical, safe or realistic thing for a widow to do, this is fiction so I didn't dwell overmuch on the poor judgment issue. I just let Ramona have her fun, and hoped she would find a happy ending.

While the book is well written and the characters intriguing, I have to say I was pulled out of the flow of the story time and again by some of the baser details. Plainly put, there was an inordinate amount of vomit and other bodily fluids in this tale. I have to admit, it was off-putting for me. Romance where someone loses their lunch in chapter after chapter? Just not my idea of romantic. And after I'd cheered for Ramona's replacing her lumpy marital bed with a brand new, beautiful bed her Italian lover—well, I won't even tell you what he does on her bed. If you really want to know you'll have to read the book, but I warn you, I doubt you'll find it romantic, either.

If there had been less vomit I would have loved DATING DA VINCI. Still, this is a heartfelt, well written account of a woman's search for self after losing her husband. Malena Lott is a skilled writer and I look forward to reading more from her.

Kay James