Varina Palladino's Jersey Italian Love Story has been described as Moonstruck and My Big Fat Greek Wedding set in NJ, and I think that's a very good description (and there are even recipes)!
Varina is in her early 70's and has her hands full with running her own Italian specialty food store, taking care of her mother, and watching over her children and grandchildren. She loves her family and their traditions, but would also like to have a little time for herself and perhaps a second chance at life....in between all her family craziness.
Varina Palladino's a fun book with great portrayals of life for older people (somewhat unusual in fiction these days) and of a large, noisy, and nosy family facing present day challenges. One of my favorite characters was Paulie, a close family friend and an important member of the family.
Each chapter starts with teaching us some "New Jersey Italian" words with an unknown (until the end of the book) author's definition of the words. That was an interesting element of the book and I liked it better than the storyline about the possessed Victrola, Vicky.
I enjoyed Varina Palladino's Italian Love Story and am now off to make a pot of pastafazool....or maybe some spaghetti with puttanesca sauce!
Thanks to Netgally, Book Club Girl Early Read Program, and William Morrow for the opportunity to read the book in exchange for an honest review.

*I received a copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this opportunity.*

VARINA PALLADINO'S JERSEY ITALIAN LOVE STORY is a hilarious and heart wrenching family drama. It's 'main character' (with that term used loosely) Varina Palladino is entering a new phase of her life, one she's struggling to come to terms with-- her time of independence. No longer a mother to her children, or even a grandmother to her grandchildren, Varina begins to set her sights on sights outside of her hometown of Wyldale, New Jersey.

Her family, a big mess of biological and unofficially adopted children, all play a large part in this story. There are several points of view, and switching between them can be a little confusing at times, and DeFino did a wonderful job of giving each character their own life with nuances that make them feel real.

This is an incredibly fun book, and a good read for anyone who likes large character casts, feel good reads (with lots of messes!), and dramadies.

I really enjoyed this story about three generations of a large Italian family in New Jersey. It follows them for a year through different trials . It was funny at times and sad at times. I would definitely read another book by this author.

Damn, this book will make you hungry. My stomach is just growling thinking about it. The plot was good but the part of me that I really used in this story was my stomach.

A fagiolo!

Thank you so much, good NetGalley people, for the chance to read an advanced reader's copy of this magnificent book. I left New Jersey in 1979 but, as you'se guys know, once a Jersey Girl, always a Jersey Girl.

This is the best book I've read this year, by far. I love, love, loved it!

* There are recipes.

I'm sorry, but I just can't do it anymore!
I have spent 2 weeks trying to get into this book (3 weeks if you count my first attempt).
I'm so disappointed. I was so excited about this book when I first learned about it. As a Jersey Italian myself, I thought this was going to be fun to read. Two weeks of reading, and I'm only at 31%.

The writing style has driven me nuts from the get-go... partial-sentences, awkward phrasing, etc. I tried to push past it and focus on the story, focusing on getting to know the characters. OMG, the characters! There are SO many characters, and they're introduced all at once... Varina, her mother Sylvia, their decreased spouses, Varina's middle-aged children (whose names all start with D, in case you weren't confused enough), their spouses, their children, and still more.

As if that wasn't bad enough, once I finally figured out who's who, I couldn't even appreciate the characters. Ninety-two year-old Sylvia, the matriarch of the family, just wasn't believable to me as an Italian nonina; she seemed more Americanized than Varina, which was odd to me. Then there's Donatella, Varina's daughter, who I found immature and unlikable... and don't get me started on the awkwardness of her relationship with her homosexual BFF who's in love with her brother. It was all so weird and icky.

Furthermore, the title is very misleading. I've barely gotten any plot development related to Varina's love story. There's just way too many storylines for that title to be fitting.

I must admit, though, that I did enjoy reading the author's notes about the etymology of dialectic terms at the beginning of each chapter. I will likely continue reading through those. Also, there were times the author captured the true essence of the culture, and those made me chuckle.

Thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow, and Goodreads for allowing me access to the ebook and print ARCs of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Varina Palladino’s Jersey Love Story is an absolutely delightful read, full of humor, warmth, family drama and poignancy. Ms DeFino’s writing is very cinematic and I can see this easily transformed into a tv sitcom with crisp dialogue and unforgettable characters in everyday life situations, outrageous matchmaking attempts, trials and tribulations.
This love story to Italian-American culture, complete with vocabulary, is definitely not to be missed. Whether or not your heritage is Italian, you will be able to relate to and be charmed by the Spini/Palladino clan as three generations experience life in the present and share with us readers soul searching recollections of the past that shaped them.
The principal characters are two matriarchs, Sylvia Spini, a 92 year widow who still exerts a strong influence on her family, and her daughter Varina Palladino, a 70 year old widow, who owns and manages Palladino’s, an Italian specialty grocery. These two are vibrant and engaged in life. Both are delightfully quirky and oh so endearing. The extended family of Varina’s sibling and her children form a cast of widely varied characters who keep life even more interesting,
I didn’t know what to make of the title when I decided to read the summary, but I’m very glad I picked this book.
Thank you to the author, Terri-Lynne DeFino, the publisher William Morrow, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an ARC.

This is a heartfelt story abouth an Italian family. It is more than three generations. It shows how they look out for each other and care so ddeply. Even when there are struggles they still come together.
I really enjoyed this story it made me laugh and cry,.

I love unconventional main characters, so this book focusing on the lives of a grandmother and great-grandmother was refreshing and interesting. Full of mischief and exasperation, this story of an Italian-American family in New Jersey played on the stereotypes you would expect (coming from the author's personal experience as a Jersey Italian) but softened them with the nuances of the individual personalities of everyone in the family. I loved that at the end of the book, Varina got a happy ever after that was just right for her. I also liked the message that no matter your age, companionship and love are important and can show up at any time and take many different forms.

Overall this is a story about a big, messy family with big, messy personalities, and while things aren't always perfect, time and love keep everyone together. Multi-generations, family secrets, found family, and acceptance are all themes of this book. It was a warm, sweet, and delightful story.

Only suggestion: The first quarter of the book was confusing because of all of the characters being introduced and the range of generations. Trying to figure out who everyone was and where they fit in the timeline distracted from the beginning of the book and made for a laborious start. A family tree in the front of the book would have been extremely helpful, and would not have spoiled any of the plot.

Varina Palladino’s Jersey Italian Family Love Story by Terri-Lynne Defino is a fabulous book. I cannot relate the best parts as they would contain spoilers. Let it just be said that this, like so many families, is made up of an amalgam of humanity, some blood-related, some not. Some straight, some not. Some old, some not. Plenty of stories to tell and done so beautifully by Defino. She should be proud of this book for so many reasons. It made me laugh. It made me cry. It made me shake my head. It is family.

It is basically the brood of Carina and her late husband, with in-laws, and hangers-in. She is fabulous character who “runs” the family with love and understanding. She has three children, two sons and a daughter. The daughter is much younger than the sons and has always been a free spirit. The successful members of the family know that and roll with it. The story takes place over a period of years and really had no plot, more of a slice-of-life. The vignettes at the front of each chapter, explaining vocabulary were comic relief as well as educational. Fabulous. I can’t say how much I enjoyed it.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of Varina Palladino’s Jersey Italian Family Love Story by William Morrow, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #WilliamMorrow #TerriLynneDefino # VarinaPalladinosJerseyItalianFamilyLoveStory

Want a book that will make you (literally) laugh out loud at times? A book that will make you crave the foods described in the pages? A rom-com that is full of well-fleshed-out characters? A book where you can learn a little bit of Jersey Italian slang? This is exactly that book. You will root for the members of this family because they are not perfect, they struggle with real-world issues. This is much more than a romance-filled comedy, it is a book about family, a book you will be glad you picked up.

This book was charming, heartwarming, and funny - all without being cheesy and contrived. I adore this family and wish they'd make a TV show about them!
Varina is a widow still running a small local grocery in the Jersey neighborhood she's lived in her entire life. Her 92-year-old mother Sylvia is concerned that she has no love life and spends a lot of time caring for everyone but herself. Varina is perfectly content with running the store, caring for her mom, and being the peacekeeper for her large Jersey Italian family ...but she is secretly planning a big vacation for herself, which is threatened when the three generations of Palladinos argue, break hearts, and make their own love stories.
A sweet story about love and family with lots of Jersey Italian definitions/phrases and food - lots and lots of food!
Thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Varina Palladino's Jersey Italian Love Story was released on February 14, 2023.

A feel good read bursting with family dynamics and life's overall messiness. The cast of characters are relatable and lovable, and the oftentimes funny dialoge had me cracking up throughout.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this as an ARC. Are you in the mood for a charming feel good novel about life, love, family, and growing up Italian-American in New Jersey? This is the perfect novel for you. I really enjoyed this charming story. In fact, I read it about a month ago, and I can still see the family house, the apartment, and the family store in my mind. The book moves back and forth between the perspectives of many family members. We have Varina Palladino, Sylvia (her spunky elderly mother), the men of the family, and their sister Donatella. I found one storyline in particular to be very touching- without saying too much, it is the storyline of the lifelong unrequited love. The loyalty and care they have for each other is heartwarming. I would love to see this book turned into a Netflix show.

As an Italian American who grew up in Northern New Jersey, I had to read this book as soon as I saw it! I loved Varina Palladino’s Jersey Italian Love Story! Three generations of Jersey Italians living life in North Jersey.

Varina misses her late husband Dino like crazy, but she’s kept busy with her family deli and her crazy kids. But her mother and her daughter think she needs to move on and they post fliers around the neighborhood without her knowing advertising to date Varina. Eligible men keep coming to the restaurant and asking for specific foods, and Varina notices, but is also enjoying the attention. She has also been planning a dream cruise vacation to Europe for just herself and makes a friend at the travel agent that becomes her confidant. Varina also had her mom Sylvia who is hot stuff- she’s 92, but she is still active!

All her kids are up to something and I especially loved Varina’s “adopted” son Paulie. His own family threw him out when he shared he was gay, and Varina had no problem bringing him into her family. He’s had relationship in the past with Donatella, Varina’s daughter, but they were better friends. Donatella needs lots of help and guidance, she drinks too much and gets into bar fights. But her bff Paulie is always there to help. Varina’s two sons are also around- Dante owns the construction business that Paulie works for.

The author starts each chapters with Italian phrases and how it’s used among Jersey Italians. I recognized so many of these and I guess I never realized other families use these words too! I identified with so much in this book. I highly recommend this book if you love older MCs and if you love big family stories.

Thank you so much @williammorrowbooks and @terrilynnedefino for my gifted ebook.

Varina Palladino is taking care of her 92-year old mother and trying to keep her family together. After her husband died young, she tried to keep her 3 children and their unofficially adoptive child together as a tight-knit family. She loves her small community in New Jersey where she runs her shop selling Italian specialties. Her sons have done well for themselves as well; one running his own chain of salons and the other a construction-turned-renovations business. Her youngest, Donatella, was the accident child and was always a firecracker. She was always in motion and always running. In all of this, Varina finds friendship, family and learns to enjoy her life and her Italian family through all of the hiccups. I enjoyed the reveal of the narrator at the end of the story. It gave the book a new perspective.

It is a love story....but not just Varina's. And it's not a rom-com, although there are hilarious moments and some romance.

Varina Palladino is a seventy year old widow, running her own business, caring for her 93 year old mom and riding herd on her adult children. And she is tired....and looking for a change.

If you love loud, messy family stories this one is for you. It also has depth as the family struggles with some serious issues.

The real love story is the love of family. There are secrets, fights and feuds, but they all work their way back to each other.

Bonus: Each chapter starts with a Jersey Italian language lesson.

Many thanks to the author, NetGalley and William Morrow Boos for the advance digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

I now have a new favorite book. Terri-Lynne DeFino captured parts of my memories and heartbreaking milestones in Varina Palladino's Jersey Italian Love Story. On page one, I laughed out loud four times. Fortunately the cat was the only one around and he knows I'm crazy.

Despite what you might think from the title, title character Varina does not find new romantic love; instead she finds a whole side of herself that blossomed because of a friendship. The only reason I give that one spoiler is because I don't want someone to pick up the book expecting one thing and being disappointed. Regardless, there is so much love in this book, if it were a cup, it would runneth over.

Of course as a fellow Jersey Girl, I came to DeFino's book with a critical eye. I've seen New Jersey so terribly portrayed with stereotypes that no one knows what it's really like here. First thing is that her setting is on the side close to the Hudson River and New York City where I still have a twig of the family tree connected to that region. My family relocated to the "sticks" on the western side closer to the Delaware River when I was 10. Somehow, all the goddamn planes going to Newark fly over this backyard too.

I was also ready to pick apart DeFino's Jersey Italian (or J.I. as she calls it) representation the way Sherlock Holmes would a crime scene. Here's the thing: I don't have one drop of Italian in me, but we were raised with a heavy dose of it because of my Gram's husband, the only grandfather I ever had. They were married before I was born. Anyway, he and his family were the dark-haired, tan-skinned, food-centric Italians from Elizabeth, New Jersey. I preferred all those pastas, cheeses, basil, and garlic over any of the meats of my other people. When my father would make London Broil, I would cover it in ketchup and milk (no even kidding) and swallow it like a snake because I could not chew that vile leather he called food. My mom, however, is a A+ cook.

DeFino gives readers four generations (at least) of Jersey Italians of the Spino-Palladino family. Transport to a town that's really a city—where the population is still small enough that everyone knows everyone's business. If people didn't move when they grew up, there are grudges and feuds that go back to grade school. Such is the case for the main gay character Paulie Vittone. When Paulie came out to his parents, they kicked him out and the Palladino's took him in without a second thought. He and Donatella Palladino had been best friends their whole lives and it's their relationship that carries the story from beginning to end.

Sylvia, the great-grandmother or Nonina, is an absolute spitfire at age 92. She and Donatella have a special bond which eventually comes out in one of Nonina's chapters, but otherwise is a deep secret no one alive in the family knows. Keeping secrets is something that's done. It's a practice that eats away in bites so small and slowly moving that one day, you realize a big chunk of your heart has been carrying that painful weight your whole life.

Sylvia's daughter and Donatella's mother, Varina is in her 70's and she's not looking for love. She's looking for change. She's waiting for one day to be different. One week where she doesn't know exactly what steps her feet will take as she runs the Italian specialty market, Palladino's, which she and her husband Dino had started as a young couple.

In the story, Dino has been dead for quite some time. Varina has her biological kids plus Paulie and grandchildren; a brother Thomas and his family; one son's ex-wife Pandora (a Greek!) who is strangely still part of the family and at all their functions; of course her mother Sylvia; and Gabriella is Dante and Pandora's only child. When Varina makes a friend for the first time in her life since she was a child, she's so out of sorts with the idea of it, that keeps Ruth Cooperman a secret from her family for a couple of months.

Ruth and Varina meet at a travel agency which apparently still exists. They discover they're booked on the same cruise through France. They become best friends from that point forward bringing Ruth's highfalutin Manhattan and Jewish style to the Palladino's world—and it works incredibly well.

Paulie's sexuality takes up a lot of real estate in the book as he and Donatella get their own chapters. DeFino approaches it with care while still exploring what it was like for a boy to grow up being called slurs and getting beat up regularly. Paulie is also able to accept Donatella and her erratic behavior. No one ever knows if she's coming or going. She's always in trouble. She's even stolen from the family—la familigia—the people who try to have each other's backs for life and in death. DeFino comes up with a plausible and contemporary explanation for Donatella's behavior which others view as selfish or self-centered; she's bipolar. When Donatella takes off, she does it because she truly things her familigia would be better off without having to deal with all her shitty problems. Yet, she crawls back when she has nowhere else to go where people would love her. Paulie is that compass point for her. They love each other so much. She's the only woman that would define Paulie as bisexual rather than gay. Ultimately, while she's a love for him, she's not the love of his life. Who is ends up being a huge character evolution.

Each chapter begins with DeFino's vocabulary entries. They are hysterical! Readers who are interested in slang and pidgin languages will certainly appreciate these. DeFino explains what pidgin is as a mash-up of languages such as Italian and English with specifically regional dialects like whether a Jersey Italian lives closer to New York or Philadelphia.

Whether these classic slang entries are supposed to be from author DeFino or Varina's grandson, Vincent, I honestly don't know for certain. The epilogue focuses on a teenage Vincent and how he collects words he hears his family using. The reason I wish I knew whose perspective it's from is because of the entry for basil (bas'nigol). There's an anecdote for the word bas'nigol instead of an etymology lesson. I want to quote the best part, but I'll let you read it for yourself. GO READ THIS BOOK!

Summary:

Read this book! My brain is stuttering trying to find the words to summarize this reading experience. DeFino makes telling a multi-cast story appear effortless. She presents characters with their own baggage and mistakes as well as family drama that makes for some tense Sunday dinners. It's brilliant.

Rating: 5 stars (I'd give it more if possible)

This was a light and fun story about the Palladino family. It spans several generations and all the stories are all interesting. I particularly liked Sylvia's storyline. If you are looking for a good family story that isn't heavy and dark then this is the perfect book. Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC.

Pub date: 2/14/23 (out now)
Genre: contemporary fiction, family drama
Quick summary: 70-year-old Varina Palladino is sandwiched between her nonagenarian mother Sylvia and her rebellious daughter Donatella - and when the two team up to find Varina a boyfriend, things get even more complicated.

I like reading books about older protagonists, so I was happy to meet Varina and Sylvia. I come from a small family, so it was fun to read about a much larger one - the comparison to My Big Fat Greek Wedding is spot on in tone. Unfortunately, there was a little too much going on here for me - there were a lot of B plots, but not one clear narrative arc for me to follow. From other reviews, it seems like Italian-American readers enjoyed this one more than I did!

Thank you to William Morrow and @bookclubgirl for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.