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Varina Palladino's Jersey Italian Love Story
Varina Palladino's Jersey Italian Love Story: A Novel | Terri-Lynne DeFino
8 posts | 8 read | 1 reading | 6 to read
Varina Palladinos Jersey Italian Love Story is fun and funny, wonderfully exuberant, and incredibly wise. These endearing characterstheir voices and stories will be with me for a long time to come. I didnt want to say good-bye. Jill McCorkle, New York Times bestselling author of Hieroglyphics An utterly delightful and surprising family dramathink Moonstruck and My Big Fat Greek Wedding set in New Jerseyabout a boisterous, complicated Italian family determined to help their widowed mother find a new boyfriend. Lively widow Varina Paladino has lived in the same house in Wyldale, New Jersey, her entire life. The town might be slightly stuck in the 1960s, when small businesses thrived and most residents were Italian, but its population is getting younger and the Paladinos are embracing the change. What Varinas not embracing, much to her ninety-two-year-old mothers dismay, is dating. Running Paladinos Italian Specialties grocery, caring for her mother, and keeping her large, loud Jersey Italian family from killing one another takes up all of Varinas energy anyway. Sylvia Spini worries about her daughter Varina being left all alone when she dies. Sylvia knows what it is to be old and alone, so when her granddaughter, Donatella, comes to her with an ill-conceived plan to find Varina a man, Sylvia dives in. The three men of the familyDante, Tommy, and Paulieare each secretly plotting their own big life changes, which will throw everyone for a loop. Three generations of Paladinos butt heads and break one anothers hearts as they wrestle with their own Jersey Italian love stories in this hilarious and life-affirming ode to love and family.
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MemoirsForMe
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How can a Jersey Italian gombah like me NOT love this hilarious book and its colorful author! 💜 Thank you paisan Terri-Lynne for creating such funny and relatable characters like 70-yr-old sensible yet somewhat venturous Varina and her wise 92-yr-old mother Sylvia who reminded me of my own crazy famiglia. And…for reintroducing all that Jersey Italian slang back into my vocabulary. 🤭
#LitsyLoveReads

PurpleyPumpkin Omg this looks like so much fun! 📚 1y
MemoirsForMe @PurpleyPumpkin It was! And the author is also a fan of your favorite color. 😁 1y
PurpleyPumpkin 😂 I see that! She certainly makes the most of it. 💜 1y
See All 8 Comments
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Miss you!!! 14mo
TheBookHippie Just checking in! I sent a letter out! Hope all is well! 13mo
MemoirsForMe @TheBookHippie Finally back and doing well. Thx for your letter! Catching up on my pile of mail now. Yikes! 😅Hope you‘re doing great! 12mo
TheBookHippie @UwannaPublishme ♥️♥️♥️♥️ I‘m doing good! Your mamas prayers 🕯️ 12mo
56 likes2 stack adds8 comments
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Graciouswarriorprincess
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Book 90 of the year.

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Graciouswarriorprincess
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Diving into this tonight with a golden ale beer. @DebinHawaii sent me one last summer in the #staycation package and I was lucky enough to find it here in North Carolina.

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MeganAnn
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On the theme of family and food, this was another title I loved. It‘s about the Palladino family, but the title is a little deceiving - the book is not just about Varina & has multiple POVs from the rest of the family including her mother & adult children. What I most loved about this was the focus on two older women (Varina & her mother) making the most of their lives, something that is usually more common with a younger woman protagonist. ⬇️

MeganAnn It‘s about the family as a whole as much as it is about Varina herself. Every time they get together, the food on the table is made with love and underlines the family dynamics. And the Jersey Italian slang definitions at the beginning of each chapter are both fun and humorous, plus they add a layer of depth to the story with the ending. I loved it! 2y
MemoirsForMe This sounds hilarious! 😁 2y
MeganAnn @UwannaPublishme it really is!! 2y
47 likes3 comments
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dariazeoli
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Donatella explained this so well to her grandmother! My Jersey Italian self so wishes she could explain it to a family member and be received so well.

34 likes1 stack add
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ferskner
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When your book is talking about chicken piccata....

Pageturner1 YUM 😋 2y
Gissy 🥘😋mmm 2y
50 likes2 comments
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JHSiess
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📬 𝔹𝕠𝕠𝕜 𝕄𝕒𝕚𝕝 📖

𝐕𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐏𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐨‘𝐬 𝐉𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐲 𝐈𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 by 𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐢-𝐋𝐲𝐧𝐧𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐨 was a gift from @WilliamMorrowBooks & @Bibliolifestyle. She is another new-to-me author & I was hooked when I read the synopsis, so I'm anxious to read it during my upcoming mini-vacation.

I've been crazy-busy helping my son purchase & get settled into his new house. I'm ready to get back to reading!

32 likes2 stack adds
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kyraleseberg
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This is sweet. I'm enjoying the family + the food in these pages 💕