I always look forward to reading Danielle Steel’s latest book. I have been reading them since I was twelve and they provide a nice break from reality. Palazzo by Danielle Steel sweeps readers to Italy where Cosima Saverio at the age of twenty-three takes over the family business as well managing her two younger siblings. I enjoyed the European setting. The descriptions of Rome and Venice were beautiful including the family palazzo. I could understand Cosima’s desire to keep it in the family. The vivid pictorials of France were equally compelling. I liked Cosima, Allegra (Cosima’s younger sister), and Olivier (Cosima’s love interest). They were friendly, likeable characters. Of course, there are two bad guys that cause all sorts of trouble for their relatives. Palazzo is an easy story to read. I quickly finished it in a couple of hours. It had a satisfying ending (which is expected from a Danielle Steel novel). I would have loved some of the handbags described in the book. I could understand why Saverio bags were so coveted (the workmanship sounded exquisite). Palazzo is a moving story with family drama, second chances, romance, and new beginnings. ( )

All things Venetian

Switching between Rome, Venice and Paris, this tale depicts the struggles of three siblings to survive in the mad rush of haute couture life.
Cosimo, her brother Luc and sister Allegro inherit the family run Italian business, Saverio leathers making handbags for the elite. Unfortunately their parents were killed and younger sister Allegro injured in an horrific boating accident. Cosimo at once took over the running of the family business. Her driving ambition is to look after her siblings and maintain the stands of her Saverio heritage. A beautiful woman, but it’s her inner beauty that makes her glow.
Luc becomes a high rolling, shallow playboy, wanting nothing to do with the business except to be given money to indulge his life style and gambling habit. His petulance and entitlement attitude says it all.
Allegra, left in a wheelchair after the accident, is absolutely lovely and a talented designer just itching to fly. She faces life head on, enjoying all it can offer her. Her disability doesn’t define her.
Oliver Bayard runs a middle range handbag business out of Paris. He has two sons. Max who is somewhat like Luc, and Basile a street artist of some renown. Oliver’s always admired Saverio handbags. He meets Cosimo at a party given by the rich Texans who’d rented the Savario Palazzo. That will only be the first crossover of others in their lives as the plot develops.
A second chance romance, a crumbling family palazzo in Venice, and the breeze of change blowing through Cosimo’s world of haute couture design bringing disaster and triumph.
A fairly predictable and comfortable read incorporated into an entrancing world of glamour, belying the hard and delicate balance of work and economics, of risk and chance.
A look at family dynamics, love and jealousies, universally experienced and understood.

A Random House-Ballantine ARC via NetGalley. ( )