Cover Image: The Italian Daughter (The Lost Daughters Book 1)

The Italian Daughter (The Lost Daughters Book 1)

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Member Reviews

This book was SO GOOD! I was approved to listen to this via audiobook.! The narrators voice was very soothing, and she talks in a place where you can understand the book very well. The flashbacks between the stories of Estee and Lily were absolutely amazing! You feel so many different emotions while listening. Soraya’s detailed and descriptive writing for each scene made me feel as if I were in making and drinking the wine, eating the food, and etc. The ballerina scenes were absolutely breathtaking. I can’t wait to read the additional books that come along with the series. Thank you to net galley for giving me the privilege of listening in reviewing this book. 5 STARS!

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I have to thank Bookkouture Audio and Netgalley for this wonderful Alc. I have enjoyed ever minute of the story. Two time lines made the book so much more. But even one was a great story. I loved the past and the present. It was so full of emotions, desire, sadness and hope at the end. It was so tender, specially first love emotions were so nice described that I melt down. Really sonething special for warm your heart.

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I was thrilled to get this advanced copy from one of my favorite authors. She is starting this new series called The Lost Daughters. As always Lane delivers one of the best historical fiction novels in the historical fiction genre. I can always count on a new view and keeps me engrossed in her books.
I enjoyed the dual time line. A group of women are called into a lawyer’s office in London. They are each told that their grandmothers were unwed mothers who delivered babies at the Hope House. They are given a letter and box with momentous of their past. Can they dig into their past? Will they find out what they are looking for?
1940’s-Felix and Estee fall in love during childhood and their future takes many complicated turns. Estee is a ballerina with dreams of joining a ballet company. Her mother is very demanding and Estee’s friendship with Felix gives her some balance, and gives her hope of unconditional love.

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A historical romantic story with dual pov.
In the present day in London, Lily a winemaker receives mail to collect a parcel from her late grandmother from a home for unmarried mothers. The content of the box makes her understand that her grandmother is Italian. Meanwhile, she accepts a job offer from an Italian vineyard and moves to Italy. She stays with the owner's family, Antonio, one of their sons helps her to find out about her grandmother's siblings and she understands she has a blood-related family.
1945, Estee a 12-year-old girl as a young ballerina with hopes of joining La Scala, a highly prestigious ballet company moves to Milan by refusing a ring from a 14-year-old boy Felix who is from a well-known Baker family. She got selected for the training. After some 8 years, she meets Felix, from that moment, her life changed completely. Lots of hopes and disappointments she encounters.
The author Saraya Lane presented Estee as an amazing strength of character and Felix as a true lover. The story is full of emotional roller coasters, you will cry, laugh and blush. You won't be bored even for a moment. I was so eager to know the next happening in Estee’s life and how lily is going to find out her grandmother's life secret.
I listened to the audiobook and the narrator Zoe Mills did a fabulous job which made me to feel all kinds of emotions.
#TheItalianDaughter is the book 1 of The Lost Daughters. Awaiting to read/listen to next book.
Tons of thanks to #Bookouture and #NetGalley for this ARC for review.

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In this heartbreaking story, In 1945 Lake Como, Estee shows amazing strength of character. Estee started off as a young ballerina with hopes of joining La Scala, a highly sought after ballet company. With a very demanding mother, and a new friendship struck with Felix, Estee finds herself torn more than once. As a child, she has big dreams, and was being taught by her mother that winning came at a price. Thankfully, she struck up a friendship with 14-year-old Felix when she was 12 years old. Her story continues with heartbreak, love and loss.

In present day London, we have Lily, who has just come back from New Zealand. Lily is a winemaker who travels to different countries learning every nuance involved in the making of wine. She got her love for winemaking from her father, and has been following her dreams ever since. Grapes, soil and every aspect of winemaking comes naturally to Lily. Lily is hoping to make another trip, but before she sets out, she finds an odd note among her grandmother's belongings. This leads her to a box that bore her grandmother's name. The contents of that box will change Lily's life forever.

Lily is about to take on a new job, working with a winegrower and his family in the Como region in Italy. Perhaps this is fortuitous, as the contents of the box she found proves that her grandmother may have been Italian. While heading off to Italy for the next several months, she hopes to ask around to try and dig up things about her grandmother's past. More than finding answers, Lily also meets Antonio, the winegrower's son in Como, and she just might finally take a chance with her heart.

Estee from 1945. Lily from present day. In what ways do their lives converge? While Lily's story was one of hope, it was Estee's story that broke my heart into pieces more than once. We find how Estee's relationship with Felix began, flourished and floundered. Along the way we realize how her heart was fully his at a time when he could not offer her the same, although the love he had for her was palpable. It was this book that finally made me understand why certain decisions are made when they come with good and altruistic reasons.

The Italian Daughter is book one in the The Lost Daughters series by Soraya M. Lane. I was fully enthralled with this story and could not put it down. I got this ebook also as an audiobook which was expertly narrated by Zoe Mills. Listening to this book brought both sadness and joy, and the narrator did a fabulous job helping my emotions to ride that roller coaster of all the feels. This wonderful story wrapped up with a wonderful conclusion and now I cannot wait for book two in this series, which I believe will be The Sugar King's Daughter. That second book will also be in dual timeline fashion.

Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

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