3 ratings | 3 reviews | avg rating:4.33

Debbie Romani’s Followers (10)

Debbie’s Bookshelves

to-read (3)
currently-reading (2)
read (3)
did-not-finish (0)

Debbie’s Friends

Debbie hasn't connected with their friends on Goodreads, yet.

Debbie Romani

Goodreads Author

Website

https://www.debbieromani.com

Twitter

dzubrick

Genre

Fiction, Chick Lit, Music

Member Since

June 2022

edit data

Debbie Romani is a writer living in Northern California. She reads books the way some people watch television: way too often, and for way too long.
When she doesn't have her nose in a book or her fingers on the computer keyboard, she enjoys singing with a few too many choirs, skiing if her knees and the snowpack cooperate, and swimming slowly and steadily. She loves to travel to places where she can pretend to speak the language, to bake and to eat, and to take long walks. ...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Debbie Romani questions, please sign up.

Combine Editions
Debbie Romani’s books

Average rating: 4.41 · 17 ratings · 13 reviews · 3 distinct works

	Megan Gamble, Sing Out 4.33 avg rating — 12 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mendocino Music 4.50 avg rating — 4 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Lakeview Suite it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

Debbie is Currently Reading

Debbie Romani is currently reading

Mendocino Music

by Debbie Romani (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Debbie Romani said: " Hey, this is Debbie, the author, with a little more about my book Mendocino Music.

When I first started this novel many years ago, I wanted to explore the question of what it would take for an artist to come back to her passion after a long absence. I Hey, this is Debbie, the author, with a little more about my book Mendocino Music.

When I first started this novel many years ago, I wanted to explore the question of what it would take for an artist to come back to her passion after a long absence. I figured that no one would read a novel about the choir singer who quit, so I asked myself how I could make it bigger. And I settled on the world of opera.

But if I imagined a world-class talent in a field like the opera--where passion and hard work live together--I knew I needed a very big tragedy to upend my protagonist's life. Which is how I came to tackle the truly difficult topic of the September 11th attacks. I only hope I have done this subject some justice.

Once I had my tragedy in place, I realized that I wanted to set the comeback story in a life which felt real--meaning that I wanted my protagonist Marina to have a relationship and a family to worry about, not just herself.

And so the seeds of a novel were born.

Learning about the opera was a true joy! I dove into research, and tried to understand the nitty gritty details of that world. I loved wrestling with problems like what repertoire Marina would sing, and balancing out the demands a real singer would face in highlighting her vocal abilities and her language skills and the various composers whose works she would sing. So I researched and I wrote and I thought about the road my character would take as she enjoyed her early success, suffered through her period of agony, and then attempted to claw her way back into a career in a field she loved.

Early on, I was truly fortunate to realize that one of my acquaintances had a vast amount of experience with the opera and was willing to spend hours chatting with me and then reading drafts and commenting on them in detail. What a godsend it was, to spend time with Julia! This book is so much stronger for her input.

And finally, I had a truly odd inspiration for one small portion of the story.

A few years before starting work on this novel, I audited two years of college-level Italian. In some of our final lessons, we tackled the verb tense "passato remoto," the remote past, which is used for fairy tales: "Once upon a time...." For a class assignment, I wrote a short fairy tale in Italian, about a princess who couldn't marry until she was first kissed by a butterfly. And I loved writing that story so much that I sought out classes in writing fiction, and eventually translated and expanded the fairy tale into English.

The end of my novel centers on a fictional opera called "The Princess and the Butterfly," based very much on the fairy tale I'd originally imagined in Italian. I'm currently polishing up the English version, and will make it available--free!--to my email subscribers about a month after the release of this novel. ...more "

Aug 30, 2023 02:07PM · see review

Debbie Romani is currently reading

Megan Gamble, Sing Out

by Debbie Romani (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Debbie Romani said: " I loved writing this book and going on tour with Megan and her son's band. It was just a great escape. I so enjoyed crafting this woman who finally found the courage to stand on a stage and sing her heart out. And what fun, to watch her interactions ...more "

Nov 07, 2022 10:52PM · see review

rss
Debbie’s Recent Updates

Debbie Romani made a comment on Theresa Donovan Brown’s review of Mendocino Music " Thank you for taking the time to read, review, and understand Marina! She was a joy to write about. "
May 19, 2026 07:49PM · see review
Debbie Romani liked Theresa Donovan Brown's review of Mendocino Music: "What a rush of ascending and descending emotions Romani takes the reader of Mendocino Music through. This engaging story is not exactly “fun” because we go to some pretty dark depths before we climb out, but I really enjoyed the intricate knowledge t" Read more of this review »
May 19, 2026 07:48PM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Mendocino Music by Debbie Romani. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Mendocino Music by Debbie Romani <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Debbie Romani rated a book liked it Italian Reader: Short Stories (English-Italian Parallel Text): Elementary to Intermediate (A2-B1) by Alex Kouzine	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Feb 28, 2026 03:37PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Italian Reader by Alex Kouzine. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Italian Reader by Alex Kouzine <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Debbie Romani wants to read The Lakeview Suite by Debbie Romani (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Feb 26, 2026 02:25PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Lakeview Suite by Debbie Romani. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Lakeview Suite by Debbie Romani <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Debbie Romani wants to read The Wedding People by Alison Espach	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 12, 2024 10:28PM · like
Debbie Romani wants to read The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 12, 2024 10:28PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Debbie Romani voted for Funny Story as Readers' Favorite Romance in the Opening Round of the 2024 Goodreads Choice Awards. Cast Your Vote
Nov 22, 2024 11:17PM · like
Debbie Romani rated a book it was amazing Sayulita Sunset by G. Carlos Smith (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I thoroughly enjoyed this story about parenting, family, and what it means to do the best we can for those we love. The primary setting in Sayulita was evocative and gorgeous, the fraught choices about how to best parent were sympathetically explored ...more
Jul 06, 2024 03:42PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Sayulita Sunset by G. Carlos Smith. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Sayulita Sunset by G. Carlos Smith <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Debbie Romani liked G. Smith's review of Mendocino Music: "Remembering how to Breathe As Marina can attest, it’s the soul that breathes life into art. Without that, music is little more than the abstract notations of a score—an unspoken language. So what happens when the soul of a promising artist is crushed " Read more of this review »
May 28, 2024 04:30PM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Mendocino Music by Debbie Romani. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Mendocino Music by Debbie Romani <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">