A blend of flavors and textures that will entice any reader.
Ah, an Italian wedding! The perfect setting to reflect on your marriage vows. For Toni Agosti, her wedding day feels more like a million years ago rather than the decade she’s brushing up against. At first, Christian was her perfect match, an adventurous soul and fellow artist waiting for his big break in Hollywood. But ten years of hefty bills, long hours, and zero professional gratification have worn on Toni, a struggling cellist, and her film professor husband who would rather be a successful screenwriter. Either they are in a really deep relationship rut, or Toni is having an early mid-life crisis. Christian used to find her endearing, but now he is increasingly frustrated with Toni, believing her to be incapable of caring for life’s heavy responsibilities without his heavy-handed guidance. No longer romantic and spontaneous, he is logical to a fault and is more of a grumpy caretaker than a spouse, and Toni never signed up for that. Conversations with relatives while in Italy reveal an illustrious family business that was shuttered more than a century ago, and the idea of opening her own California winery lodges deep within Toni’s conflicted heart. Besides working through a troubled marriage, an unwanted potential suitor, and a stalled music career, Toni needs to figure out how to tamp down the nascent spark within or she risks losing everything.
Contemporary fiction gets a cultural boost in C.D’Angelo’s robust novel, The Gift. Crafted as a woman enduring a marriage that is going downhill fast, Toni is as relatable as a protagonist gets. She’s reasonably flawed but overwhelmingly likable, exposing parts of herself readers will empathize with. But as her husband becomes more overbearing, condescending, and cruel, Toni’s dormant inner strength rises to the surface, allowing her to shine. Part of the story feels like experiencing a whirlwind second-chance romance within a marriage and another part feels like taking a scary plunge into independence, and both of these aspects keep the story alive with the hope of opportunity or the potential for failure. Besides introducing problems that many of us face and characters that feel genuine, the novel features tantalizing culinary tastes, mesmerizing musical elements, and compelling glimpses into Italian culture. Such sumptuous writing will transport audiences, leaving them as satisfied as if they were enjoying the cacio e pepe spaghetti and torta paradiso for themselves! A blend of flavors and textures that will entice any reader, The Gift is a modern-day midlife adventure about being brave enough to find and follow our passion.
