Thank you to William Morrow and Netgalley for an ARC of this book! I’ve willingly read and reviewed it. All opinions are my own.

I’m always searching for great books set in my home state of New Jersey (especially when the state isn’t treated as the butt of a joke!). So when I saw Terri-Lynne DeFino’s VARINA PALLADINO’S JERSEY ITALIAN LOVE STORY available for reviewing, I immediately requested a copy without reading the synopsis.

I was surprised to find that the romance I was expecting the title character to experience wasn’t at all what I had imagined and didn’t focus on just Varina, but her entire family. In the book, we do get portions from Varina’s point of view as an overworked, 70-year-old mother and businesswoman who takes it upon herself to do everything for the family she loves, but also from her 90-something year old mother, and her “adopted” son, Paulie, whose biological parents disowned him when he came out as gay (TW for instances of homophobia).

These three narratives are intertwined throughout the book, allowing the reader to see the characters evolve as they deal with new experiences, love, and the bitter-sweetness that comes with every family, found and made.

And while the story definitely kept me entertained (I was incredibly invested in Paulie, in particular), and I loved getting some more background into the phrases I’ve grown up using as a Jersey non-Italian, there were parts I felt could have been handled differently. First, as many reviews have already stated, it took me a bit of time to keep the many characters straight. And though I loved being dropped into this huge, loud family, there we so many names thrown out in the first chapter that I had to keep flipping back to remember who was doing what. I also wish certain story lines had been fleshed out more—namely Paulie, Donatella, and Dante’s!—and others had made room for them. Though love comes in many shapes, in the end, I was left wanting more romantic love in this Jersey Italian love story.

Loved the fact that this one was three generations of Jersey Italians. Which is quite different from the Brooklyn Italian family members that I have. So in many ways it was like reading my family but it was also different but in a good way.

Since I'm a Jersey girl, although not Italian, I thought I would love this book. And there were things I really liked, the Italian Jersey slang and the definitions (I've heard a lot of these words, even used some), the modern/old-fashioned large family, the sympathetic take on mental health. However, there were too many characters and it took a while to remember who was who. The writing was just okay for me. I found myself losing interest about half-way through the book.

My favorite part of this #arc was the Jersey Italian definitions at the beginning of each chapter. Being partly raised by JIs, I was hoping the story would be just as delightful.

There was a lot of point of view switches throughout that somewhat muddled the storyline, with some things set up and never really paid out. Why don’t we get to hear about Varina’s trip? Why were there all these hints that the baby is too big to be early aka no actually Paulie’s for no reason? Why did we have to wait the entire book for the Dante/Paulie resolution for Dante to still only be in halfway and not see them actually together?

As a Jersey Italian, I felt immediately drawn to this story. I'm happy to share that Terri-Lynne DeFino NAILED this big, loud, messy Jersey Italian family.

It was a little tough in the beginning to keep everyone straight, but the bold characters truly come through once you get to know them. The widowed matriarchs were so similar to my mom and grandmother, their dynamic just made me smile in recognition.

But my absolute favorite details of this book are the chapter intros of Jersey Italian terminology. I can't tell you how much I looked forward to them! I may not have been familiar with all of them but I kept yelling them out to my husband, who about halfway through started brainstorming ones he remembered and asked if I got to them yet!

I really appreciated how the author recognized the old-school Italian dynamics while also modernizing the family as well. It's a tough balance that I felt was done really well.

Varina Palladino's Jersey Italian Love Story takes the traditional family drama you know and love but adds a "La Famiglia" touch.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the advanced copy and the opportunity to share my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The story was entertaining and the characters were larger than life. However, the ending of this book was just lacking for me.

Such an entertaining book!

Focused around a large, extended Italian family in Jersey. Varina is the main character - she's in her 70s, owns a neighborhood speciality grocery store, lives in the family home with her 92 yr old mother and rents her upstairs rooms to Paulie, who's family disowned him when he came out. It's a big, confusing storyline of all the family but it's very entertaining. The main theme is Varina decided to do something special for herself and books a river boat cruise in France. While at the travel agency, she befriends Ruth and they make plans for the cruise. Ruth also begins to influence the rest of her life, too. However, after she leaves for the cruise - the storyline follows what's happening back at home, so we never get to experience the cruise. A little odd because it'd led up to be such an important part of the story. The characters are well crafted and larger than life.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a temporary, digital ARC in return for my review.

I was disappointed with this book. The writing is jumbled and not clear.



********************I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest opinion.********************

Words cannot describe well enough how much this novel moved me, it was cathartic and heartwarming. I wholeheartedly adored Varina Palladino’s Jersey Italian Love Story ❤️ From the first chapter, I was engrossed and charmed, tearing up and then laughing. I truly, truly loved Varina and her entire family, and I absolutely recommend this title.


While I do wish that some storylines had been more in depth, and with more of a definitive tie-up, this was still wonderful. It bothered me enough to point it out here, but not anywhere near enough to detract from my rating.

The characters are so fleshed-out and realistic - I can’t get over how truly real these characters seem, they reminded me so much of my own crazy Jersey family - Varina Palladino could have been my mother - same age, grew up on the Jersey shore, we were also, in fact, Italian, we used to have holidays and Sunday dinners all together, with near constant utterings of “mangia, mangia!”. My grandfather was a presence in town, an in demand stone mason, a weekly usher at our local Catholic church, a grower of wine grapes, a maker of wine, a maker of root beer, an award winning tomato gardener (his tomatoes made for the best rye toast, mayo, slice of tomato, with salt and pepper sandwich ever), he was a mensch, and an even more amazing grandfather than I could have dreamed up. Everyone knew and respected him and his family in the way only a small town can) he had been on the journey from southern Italy to a tiny town in New Jersey along the shore tucked away, hidden from everyone. He was born at home, and at more than 14 pounds, I feel for his tiny mother, whom I also have vague memories of - she was tiny, a wizened, old woman who had been through too much, always dressed the part of the Italian widow (which she was), she went to church (the same one my grandpa later ushered at) daily, and always gave me the cookies whenever I saw her - the ones that used to come in the blue tin (which was later often used as a place to keep crafting/sewing supplies, or at least it always was in my childhood). As a child, I always heard that we were related to every other person that came over from the same village in Southern Italy - I still think of people I have absolutely no relation to as my cousins. My Jersey grandparents are gone (my wonderful grandpa in ‘22-‘03 and my daily missed grandma ‘26-’18), I no longer live in NJ and haven’t since my own children were babies, but this novel brought me all the way back and made me think of my family, immediate and extended. Thank you for that gift, Ms. DeFino.

As for me, I’m definitely planning on reading more of the author’s work.

I'm not Italian, but I am from NJ, and have many Italian friends. This is SPOT ON, heart-warming, and a real page-turner. I opened the book and didn't stop till it was over. This was great, and I can't wait to purchase it for our library and share it with my romance readers.

Funny, heartwarming and totally entertaining -- this is a book that I look forward to recommending to readers who love lighthearted family stories with a lot of heart. Varina is in her sixties, widowed, and running the family store as well as taking care of her ninety-something mother and her adult children and basically the entire small New Jersey town she has always lived in. But things are changing -- for Varina and all the people she cares for. Lots of love for this totally enjoyable treat of a read.