Love and Meatballs

by Susan Volland

Struggling to keep her sanity while working in her family's restaurant with her large and loving Italian family, thirty-something Jo Cerbone finds herself torn between two very different men, while struggling to preserve her family's livelihood and trying to get up the courage to transform her life. A first novel. Original.

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit, Contemporary Romance

232 pages, Paperback

First published August 3, 2004

About the author

A Seattle native, Susan Volland is a classically trained chef and served as recipe editor for Nathan Myhrvold’s Modernist Cuisine projects. She works as a teacher, recipe tester, and food writer. This is her first solo cookbook.

Reviews

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Silly and frivolous, but full of good food descrption, a good light read for a busy night.

[Timothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A whodunit chick-lit with food as the center point. You can almost taste the food described...

[Nana Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blah! The story is bland and the characters are underdeveloped. Just skip it.

[joanne torres · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a quick, cute read... kept my attention!

[Kristal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, this is in no way a classic but sometimes books just mean so much to you at a certain time in your life or just give you that warm & fuzzy feeling inside. Well, that's what this one did for me. I am an only child and have a very small immediate family. I have often times wondered what it would be like to be part of a large family. I got to feel that in this book. This is the second book of Ms Volland's that I have read. I look forward to read more from her.

[AmyK · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, cozy style mystery/romance. Story centers on the Cerbone family who are at the brink of their third generation of running two Italian restaurants on the West Coast when they are hit with a bogus lawsuit by an employee claiming unsafe work conditions.

I would read more by this author, or any other stories following this family. I haven't looked to see if there are others out there currently or not.

[Stacey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this more than I did. This cozy-like book is a fun read. At the center is the Cerbone family and their Italian restaurant. Giovanna or "Jo" is the narrator and I never warmed up to her. There's a lot going on at the restaurant when an employee sues for unsafe working conditions and there's trouble with her lawyers. Mayhem follows. The love interest portion is fine, but it fell off the rails for me and not quite believable for a portion of it. Overall it was good.

[Alycia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Over the top but fun. Reminded me of most of the girls from high school. I do wonder if such an Italian family would be able to make it in the Pacific Northwest but it's fiction so...
The recipes at the end look pretty good.

[Happy Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frothy chick lit, a guilty pleasure

[Molly]

Funny quick and easy read. And the recipe in the back actually is fabulous! :)

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Total mindless fluff.....I loved it!

[Margie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute read. I needed a relaxing read and this was it.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable, light book.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring book that seemed to drag out the story line and action. Only decent thing was the recipes at the back of the book.

[Stefanie Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

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[Laila · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fluff, a decent read for a plane ride if only because of the food talk. Extremely predictable.

[Eli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick, enjoyable read.