This is a fantastic travel romance story that was so charming. It you love Italy this is a great book for you to read because the author does a fantastic job of bringing you into the country and making you feel as though you are there without just feeling like you are reading a ton of descriptions. The characters are really well developed in this one and I liked them all for their own individual personalities. The majority of the story takes place in modern times with occasional flashbacks. Flashbacks aren't my favorite things because they tend to take me out of the story line but I didn't mind these and felt that they did add to the story. Overall I really enjoyed this one and look forward to reading more from this author.

Poppy is freaking delightful. Oh how I wish I was related to this wonderful human. She was my favorite part about this story. I could have read a whole book about Poppy. Combine love and the Italian countryside and you have an absolutely delightful read. Take me to Tuscany!

Boy, did I need to read this book! The story encompasses everything important in life: family, dreams, goals, truth, and love.
There's a family curse against the second-born daughters in their family, one that goes back several generations, one that Emilia doesn't want to believe, yet she's living her life in expectations of the curse.
Then comes an invitation from her crazy-and distant-aunt Poppy, asking her to take a trip to Italy for Poppy's 80th birthday where she will marry the man she loves and break the curse.
The story follows the two women, and Lucy, Em's cousin who is also living under the curse, as they travel to Italy. The travels through Italy were a bonus to this entertaining story. I loved traveling, and tasting, vicariously through the characters!
The story doesn't take the simple way out in several situations and relationships, which keeps you guessing. It also brings home the point of so many truths: Is being married more important than being loved? Do we make our own future or do we let others pick it for us? Do we take a chance on life-and people?
This is an entertaining story, one that will lift your spirits and give you hope.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of this great read!

How could I not fall in love with a novel that took me on a beautiful escape through the Venetian canals, rolling Tuscan fields and the enchanting Amalfi Coast villages? This story was written in a way I couldn't help but devour its pages.

The second born daughters of the Fontana family take Italy by storm with their great aunt in hopes to reverse the curse that was set decades ago. But what they find on this journey instead is their true selves without all the added family pressure and old wives tales.

I loved every part of this book, the story as a whole is one I will always remember. This was my first book by this author but definitely not my last.

International bestselling author Lori Nelson Spielman returns with her third book, The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany, a contemporary fiction set in the Italian countryside. Through beautiful prose, Lori Nelson Spielman immerses readers in the alluring setting of an even more captivating story. . .

Emilia and her cousin Lucy are confused when their estranged great-Aunt Poppy invites them on an all expense paid trip to Italy. All three are second born daughters a fate that means they will never find happiness due to a curse made generations ago. Poppy says that she can break that curse by meeting her true love on the steps of the Ravello Cathedral on the day of her 80th birthday, a date that is fast approaching. Emilia is happy with her life as a single woman but her cousin Lucy’s dreams of love and a family so they anger their family by taking this trip. What they discover while on the trip may change their lives forever.


The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany was the perfect blend of women’s fiction and the magic of romance. Any novel set in Italy has the magic of that land built in but Poppy’s tale of lost love filled me with hope. Emilia and Lucy are the grand-daughters of Poppy’s sister and so are curious about their Aunt whom no one ever speaks. Emilia who never breaks the peace within her own family decides to go on this trip and blows caution to the wind. That one moment of rebelliousness changes her inside and she can no longer go back to the person she was prior to the trip. Lucy on the other hand seeks love from everyone in the hope that someone will fall for her and the curse will be broken so she goes along willingly hoping that Poppy’s promise will come true.

Out of the three ladies, Poppy’s story is the most compelling. Mostly because she had found love, but also because she was 80 and at the end of her life. If she finds love again even the short time she has left is worth all of the heartbreak without. That is the lesson I learned from this novel. Through Emilia and Lucy’s story I learned hope. Which is just as strong an emotion as love but in this case not quite as compelling for me. I did really enjoy their newfound relationship with each other and how the three ladies grew a bond that couldn’t be broken.

If you’re a fan of women’s fiction and Italy, because truly that land was a character in this novel as well, I’d recommend reading The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany. It is sad, beautiful, and hopeful. Emotions that compel a reaction and make you think about your own life and paths still left to us to follow.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher for my honest review and it was honest.

Three second born daughters travel to the Italian country side to break the family curse that they will never find love. They travel to Venice, the Amalfi coast and the through the Tuscan Hills to find love. Fun book!

" I'm most excited to see the film... The one we're told will flash before us when we die. I must say, I get goose bumps when I think about it. You see, my film will be part drama, part mystery, a bit of a thriller, with romantic comedy scenes tossed in for good measure. You, my dears, are still in the production stage of your movie. Make it riveting. Make every scene sizzle!"
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A HUGE THANK YOU to Berkley Pub for this ARC of The Star-Cross Sisters of Tuscany - what a beautiful story!
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The Fontana women are cursed! Well, not all of them, only the second-born daughters; they shall never marry and are destined to be old maids. Second-born daughter Emilia has never really believed in the curse, but thus far no second-born daughter has married, which has Emilia questioning everything. When Emilia's estranged great-Aunt Poppy calls (the aunt the rest of the family swears is crazy) asking Emilia to travel to Italy with her for her 80th birthday to reunite with the love of her life, Emilia is skeptical, confused, but ultimately, she can't say no. A trip to Italy? With an aunt that has always intrigued her? Done.
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What ensues is a lovely, heart-wrenching, gripping journey through Italy as well as a journey through the past as Poppy tells her story - one that you WILL NOT GUESS. I mean, DAYUM.
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What I loved: ITALY! Give me all the Italy! Pour a glass of wine and snuggle in because you will get all the love and feels and life lessons from this book. The overall message is one of promise: live life to the fullest, forgive and move on, and don't pass on a chance to love. I am just overfilled with the heartwarming-ness of this novel and recommend this read to everyone!

Family... Romance... regret... heart... hope... Lori Nelson Speilman swept me away to Italy and stole my heart with her vivid storytelling. For generations the second daughters of the Fontana family have been cursed, never to fall in love and get married. Emilia is resign to her fate, spending her days working in the family bakery and her nights at home with her cat. Lucy’s approach is a bit different, she spends all her energy trying to find a man and is constantly getting her heart stomped on. When the cousin’s Aunt Poppy reaches out to take the girls on an all expenses paid vacation to Italy they are intrigued. But their grandmother has not spoken to her sister Poppy in decades and forbids the girls to go to Italy. Unfortunately for grandma the allure of an Italian trip and the possibility of the curse being broken is too much. So Emilia and Lucy pack their bags and head to Italy. The food... the sites... the sounds... the smells... the family secrets... As The ladies travel around Italy Poppy begins to share the story of her romantic yet heartbreaking past.

I absolutely LOVED everything about this book! It is hands-down the best travel romance I have ever read. Sometimes when you read a book where travel is involved it can get really bogged down with descriptions of the food, and the sites, and all that. This book brought Italy alive, but the vivid descriptive writing did not detract anything from the gorgeous storyline. Emilia, Lucy, and poppy were such well developed characters with so much charm and heart as well as many insecurities and flaws. Most of the story takes place in current times, but we also got a generous sprinkling of flashbacks about Poppy’s lovestory. This is a story that will make you feel. I laughed, I cried, I got frustrated, I found joy. This is a can’t miss for anyone who loves the love.

This book in emojis 🐱 ✈️ 🍷 🎻 🇮🇹

*** Big thank you to Berkley for my gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ***

Fantastic! I loved this! Emilia tells the bulk of the story, but Poppy gets several chapters to convey family history that Emilia doesn't have and that informs the journey they are on to Italy. While the family romantic curse drives the characters, this really is a story of self-discovery for Emilia and Lucy and one of self-revelation in some ways for Poppy rather than a romance.

I adored these characters. Emilia's family is INFURIATING. They left me seething and cursing almost any time they were on the page. I was happy to spend time with Emilia in Italy if only for the fact that her grandmother and sister didn't want her to go. But Emilia's journey was supremely satisfying, as was Poppy's and Lucy's. I would read this one again - it's a delight! (Language, LGBTQ+)

This is a delightful romp through Italy as three single women from one Italian family try to end a 200-year-old curse on their family. If you like romance and travel and Italy, you’ll love this book.

I love when a book tells the history of a family while also telling the present story of the same family. For me, it gives me insights as to why a family is the way they are while also letting me see the changes as generations grow up and things change. The Fontana family has a 200-year-old curse on the second daughters of each generation. They cannot fall in love. The current generation of 2nd daughters are determined to change that and find the love that they had been told they cannot have. I loved seeing Emilia and Lucy step out of the paths set for them and make their own paths that take them traveling far away with an outcasted aunt.



Poppy is amazing. She had been cast out by her family many years ago but never gave up having a relationship with her nieces. The trip to Italy with Lucy and Emilia was a dream trip for her and the reason behind her needing to go at this time was so wonderful. I love how she did not give up on family, life, or love. She took her love of life and pulled her nieces in and showed them that as second daughters they had the chance to live as they wished.



The descriptions of Italy brought the country to life. I could picture them arriving at the airport and riding the gondolas. The descriptions of the places they visited, the people they met, and the food they ate let me picture what the characters were seeing. Lori Nelson Spielman did an amazing job sharing the beautiful country of Italy with her readers.



I recommend picking up your own copy of The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany. It is a book that you will not be able to put down.

Emmie Fontana created a world that she is perfectly comfortable in. She works at her Brooklyn family bakery, and lives alone in her little apartment. Comfortable. Content... or is she? She does everything her overbearing and strict Nonna says like the dutiful granddaughter she is. Emmie dresses comfortably, with no regard to modern styles or fads. She replaces her eyeglasses the same style for years. This woman exists in predictability. Yep, she is perfectly comfortable. Her outspoken cousin and best friend, Lucy, thinks Emmie is simply settling because it's ... well, comfortable.

Both girls are second-born daughters, and they believe the Fontana Family Curse that says all second daughters will never find love. Well, Emmie insists she doesn't think it's true, but deep down she wonders if there isn't some validity to it. Emmie, came across a family tree when she was a child, and sure enough, all second-born daughters were old maids.

One of the cursed women is her old Aunt Poppy, Nonna's sister. Nonna raised both Lucy and Emmie, and has made it clear that no-one is not to have any contact with Poppy. Apparently, Poppy was blamed for kidnapping a baby ... Emmie's mother.

Emmie wrote to her Aunt Poppy, but Nonna found out and demanded she cut off all contact. So, as always, Emmie did as she was told to escape Nonna's wrath. But she missed her eccentric Aunt.

Then her 80-year-old eccentric Poppy comes into Emmie's life again, and this is where the story really takes a turn. Emmie, and her cousin Lucy accept an all expense paid trip to visit Poppy in Italy. Nonna is furious, but Emmie grows a backbone and goes anyway. The adventure that follows is filled with surprises, growth, and uncovered secrets.

A must read for sure. The generations of the Fontana family is a mixture of so many types of people; loving, controlling, free-spirited, lovelorn ... you name it.

5 Stars

I received this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Not one of the second born Fontana sisters has found love. This generation of daughters is determined to prove that false.

Then an old aunt of theirs invites them on an expense paid trip to Italy. She's to meet the love of her life there on the church steps on her 80th birthday.

Berkley and Net Galley let me read this book for review (thank you). It is being published today.

As they travel through Italy, there are sexual encounters and temporary love but nothing log-lasting.

Their aunt's love never shows up but they find out he's ill. Poppy goes to visit and he gets better. Their love is still alive.

They learn many family secrets, some not so nice. As the others get ready to go home, Emilia decides to stay. She's tired of her mother running her life. She's inherited an apartment and after the papers have been signed, she goes to visit it. A man stops her and swears he's met her before. She doesn't remember him but takes his phone number. While she's looking at the apartment she realizes he was the one she called an avocado. She calls him to remind him. Who knows, maybe she can find love in Italy...

Two stories that perfectly weave in and out, one in current day as Emilia is taking a big trip to Italy with her great-aunt Poppy and her cousin Lucy as they try to reverse a curse on their family that has impacted second daughters for generations and generations. The other storyline goes back in time to a young Poppy as she is trying to fall in love with the family curse looming over her shoulder.

I love a story with two storylines and I love when the reader knows from the beginning the link between the two, but doesn't know everything and there are still great details to evolve as the story goes on. It also helps when the characters are great to follow and I quickly fell in love with all three of the main ladies and couldn't wait to keep reading to see where they would each end up and if they could end this crazy curse that this family has been passing on from daughter to daughter.

Another "character" in this book was the setting. Italy is probably my top place that I would love to visit, so the way the author wrote this setting, made me want to visit it even more - probably didn't help reading it during COVID quarantine when travel doesn't seem anywhere in the future. I felt the romance that could happen in this ancient city and reading this book made me google images so I could "see it for myself."

This was my second read by Lori Nelson Spielman and I loved this one just the same as the other. I only have one in her backlist that I want to read soon to complete my read of her work.

I love when a story can sneak right up to you and punch you in the feels and take your breath away. When you aren't expecting much of anything and yet get everything.

Such a beautifully heartbreaking tale told in a back and forth pattern of the then and the now of a family as it has both overcome and succumbed to old prejudices, curses, and struggles from a time and place when women still had very little to say in what their life would be like. A story of three strong women trying to overcome family dynamics, world issues, heartbreak and most of all, trying to make a way in this very confusing world with nothing but each other.

This story spoke to me, made me feel and completely enchanted me with its tale.

Review will be posted on 11/17/2020

The Fontana family believes in curses, especially when it comes to their family. The second-born daughters in the family are cursed; love never works out for them. Emilia and her older sister don't believe in their family's curse though that is until they looked at a family tree. To their horror, every second born daughter remained unmarried dating back 200 years. Could there actually be some truth to this curse? Even their cousin, Lucy, a second born daughter, can't keep a boyfriend around. Emilia doesn't care though...at least she thinks it doesn't bother her. She enjoys her life working at her family's bakery in Brooklyn. Lucy lives in an apartment within her family's home, which means her Nonna still keeps an eye out for her. When Great Aunt Poppy tries to communicate with Emilia, her Nonna refuses it. But why? This means much more to Emilia then some old family grudge as her Great Aunt Poppy loves to talk about Emilia's deceased mother. In fact, she is the only one in the family who is comfortable enough to do so! Great Aunt Poppy continues to contact Emilia and even invites her and Lucy to an all-expense paid trip to Italy to celebrate her 80th birthday. Great Aunt Poppy even says there is a way they can break the family curse. Emilia and Lucy wonder if this is even possible, but either way how can they refuse a paid trip to Italy? While on their trip to Italy, Emilia learns more about her family, the truth about the family curse, more about her mother and in turn, she learns more about herself. If you love Under the Tuscan Sun and Adriana Trigiani's books, you will especially appreciate Lori Nelson Spielman's The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany. I loved my escape to beautiful Italy and all the family secrets it held for the Fontana family.

Speilman does a wonderful job bringing the Fontana family to life. There's many flashbacks to Italy before the family immigrated that really tied the story together. I loved the multi-generational aspect of The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany and especially the scenes that gave us glimpses into Emilia's grandmother and Poppy's life in Italy. Spielman brings us readers back to present day, but is able to tie the time periods together well not only through their common ancestry, but also through family secrets and of course, the ominous curse. I was rooting for Emilia from the beginning and desperately wanted her to take this trip regardless of how angry her grandmother would be.

Also, The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany is the perfect book for those of us who miss traveling and would love an Italian escape. I first read this book during quarantine and it was the exactly what I needed. Spielman brings to life Italy beautifully and captures Italian culture very well. The descriptions of Tuscany and the Amalfi Coast had me swooning.

The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany is about family secrets, love, and truly living your life. There are aspects to the story that reminded me of a modern fairy tale and since this year has been one disappointment after another, I truly appreciated the heartfelt escape.

Rating: 3.25/5

The Fontana family curse that has been passed down over generations. It is said that all Fontana second-born daughters cannot find lasting love. Second-born daughter, Emilia Fontana, doesn’t believe in the curse or at least, she has convinced herself that she doesn’t. Her younger cousin, second-born daughter Lucy, desperately believes in the curse. The two are propositioned by their estranged great aunt Poppy, another second-born daughter, to travel to Italy for her 80th birthday, where she claims the curse will be lifted once and for all.

After much familial drama and hesitation, the two set out for Italy with Poppy, an unlikely trio embarking on a journey to set themselves free from their own fears.
Poppy’s story is hands down my favorite part of this book. Her love story is tragic and the breakdown of her relationship with Rosa is even worse. Still, she somehow possesses the wisdom and positive outlook of a woman who has lived a full and passionate life.

Poppy was full of grandmotherly advice and this quote resonated with me: “Being lost is where the beauty lies. Lost in a book. Lost in someone’s eyes. Lost in a symphony so sweet it brings you to tears... Lost in a beautiful floating city on a starry night. This is magical, yes? It’s being found that’s the disappointment.” It’s funny how being lost can sometimes be terrifying and other times exhilarating.

I found the other characters-- Emilia and Lucy--to be pretty grating, but in my opinion, Poppy mostly made up for their storylines.

Thank you to Berkley Romance and NetGalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It is never too late to change your fate, as Emilia finds out when she accompanies Great-Aunt Poppy to Italy to celebrate her eightieth birthday. The premise will draw you in and the characters will keep you reading. A perfect escape read.
4.5 stars

The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany by Lori Nelson Spielman is a standalone novel. 200 years ago, Filomena Fontana cast a curse on her sister that no second born daughter will find a lasting love, and over these years, not one has. Emilia Fontana, our heroine, is content to have her own apartment, and a cute cat named, Claws. She works for the family deli/bakery, making cannoli’s, and doesn’t mind being bossed around by her Nonna. Then one day Emilia gets a letter from her Aunt Poppy, whom she hasn’t seen in years. Poppy wants to go to Italy and is offering Emilia an all expenses paid vacation to go with her; eventually Emilia will decide to go, and her cousin Lucy will go with them to Italy. Poppy ensures the two young ladies that she will break the curse while they are in Italy.

Both Emilia and Lucy recognize that Poppy is ill, and this trip was for her to meet her old love, Rico at the Ravello Cathedral, after a promise they made to meet over 60 years ago.
Poppy, was a blessing for the girls, teaching them how to let go, and learn to enjoy life and open themselves up to the feeling of love and life. We did get a POV between Poppy and Rico’s time together during the war, as she would tell the girls about her wonderful love, and in doing they will learn some terrible betrayals, secrets and lies among the family during their journey through Italy. We the reader also got a beautiful eyeful of Italy, as Spielman gloriously described all the wonderful sites as they toured places like Tuscany, Venice, Milan, Naples, etc.

What follows is a heartwarming journey of discovery, as both Emilia and Lucy embrace life, love and happiness. The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany was not only entertaining, but emotional as well. I loved Poppy, Emilia and even Lucy, and how their lives changed for the better, though there were some sad parts. This was a very well written enjoyable story, with three fantastic women who truly became a true sisterhood. I recommended you read The Star Crossed Sisters of Tuscany and enjoy the ride.