This book was an entertaining read. Who would have thought the Sicilian Mafia was born from lemons. The characters were very well written and enhanced the story.

I first got in to Lisa Scottoline by reading her thriller/legal dramas and wasn't sure how I'd respond to her historical fiction but this one hit it out of the part for me!

Set in Italy, it follows 5 different main stories and characters. The main story is that of Franco Fiorvante who works at a lemon grove with his twin brother, but has higher asperations and ultimately creates the first mafia family. There is also Gaetano Catalano, a lawyer in the city near where Franco works, who is intrigued by the kidnapping a local boy and take it upon himself to investigate to solve the crime - even to his own detriment. We're also following Dante, the young boy who was kidnaped and is hidden away in a mental institution. Then we meet Mafada who gives birth the same day that tragedy befalls her entire village forcing her to go out on her own with her infant child, Lucia. Finally, we meet Alfredo who makes cheese for a living and struggles with keeping his secret hidden when everyone becomes obsessed with his cheese.

At the beginning these stories seems very disparate but they were written in a way that made the characters compelling where I found myself ready to get back to each story after enough chapters had passed. They each addressed the idea of loyalty to who you define as family, love, and loss in a fantastically entertaining way. And as years went on and Scottoline kept us up to date on how the characters evolved, each of the storylines coalized in an extremely satisfying way that also made me yearn to visit Italy.

Courtesy of Putnam Books and Netgalley, I received the ARC of Loyalty by Lisa Scottoline. This well researched historical novel covers the origins of the Sicilian Mafia in Palermo, early 1800's. Truly a saga with multiple and interwoven characters and families, the themes of intentions, connections, choices, justice and revenge all influence the concept of loyalty. Eventually the connections are apparent and the circle becomes complete, leading to a compelling ending!

“As long as men contained both light and dark, there would be the righteous and the felonious.”

This early account of the mafia was interesting, and I appreciated the author’s notes at the end. Lemons, who knew?

There were many characters, but they were easy enough to keep track of as the story played out. The story checked off many emotions, love, hate, greed, selflessness and envy.

Thank you to Lisa Scottoline, Penguin Group Publishing and NetGalley for an advanced Readers Copy in exchange for an honest review. #Loyalty #NetGalley

Loyalty is another historical fiction masterpiece by Lisa Scottoline! If you loved Eternal, wait until you read this one! Very much a book about class and ambition. Some people have it all - a title and the land that only extreme wealth can buy. Then you have the people that work for them who want the same things if only they were given a chance to prove themselves. But that's not how it seems to work and sometimes even loyalty is not enough! You will fall in love with this book!!!

Covering a wide range of themes including justice, revenge, and of course LOYALTY, along with faith, hope, and love, this book takes the reader on a convoluted journey made up of multiple storylines, that in the beginning come across almost as fables. The primary characters' lives eventually all intersect, including a boy that was kidnapped, a lawyer that dedicates his life to finding kidnapped children, a young albino girl who is left to wander by herself, a cheesemaker, and twin brothers who grow their businesses into the first mafia family in Italy.

At 480 pages, with so many characters, and so many storylines, this book was somewhat of a challenge to read. I enjoyed the beginning, but the middle became a little sluggish and almost lost me. However, ultimately good overcomes evil resulting in a happy ending for those who deserve it. This novel will probably appeal to readers who love sagas and enjoy books like Cloud Cuckoo Land.

My sincere thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group/Putnam for giving me the opportunity to read and review a digital ARC of this book.

I have read a lot of Lisa Scottolines work. Her books are suspenseful, and thrilling and always have me hooked from the start to see what the twist will be. They are usually set in a Philadelphia suburb, which I always enjoys because my grandparents lived there and the nostalgia of hearing about places you know in a book is always fun.

This book was a departure from Philadelphia and was set is Scilly. It is also historical fiction instead of the typical crime thriller. It has multiple stories lines which is always intriguing to me. I can’t wait to find out how they connect.

Historical fiction is not my cup of tea, but I’m glad I tried it out. Overall I had a hard time with the book, but I think fans of historical fiction will enjoy it! It had the heart-wrenching story lines and unexpected twists that Lisa in known for. It had several likable characters and good villains. The cast was pretty cumbersome, but the book provided a helpful cheat sheet.

Although my favorite books of Lisa Scottoline involve the law firm, this stand alone was very interesting. It is the history of the mafia in 1809s Sicily, but it is so much more. The characters and the storylines hold your attention. Your emotions will ride a roller coaster.

I tried to get into this one but it just wasn’t for me. The writing felt very stilted and I found it hard to follow and get swept up in the story. I ended up not finishing it.

As a fan of Lisa Scottoline’s books, I was eager to read Loyalty. However, I found it very disappointing. There are too many characters and I found it hard to distinguish and remember them if the book is not read continuously. There is also too much going on throughout the novel — kidnapping, lemon growing, magical cheese making, arson, murder, people held captive in a “madhouse “, persecution of Jews, “evil eye” superstitions, wet nursing, banishing a daughter to a convent, etc.

The novel is purportedly historical fiction which takes place on the island of Sicily in the early 1800s and depicts the beginnings of the Mafia and the code of omertà.

I thank NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read and review this novel prior to publication.

Loyalty
by Lisa Scottoline
Pub Date: March 28, 2023
G.P. Putnam
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this great historical fiction book. I have read all of
Scottoline's books and this one did not disappoint. I was drawn to this book by the title, cover and author. '
Lisa Scottoline presents Loyalty, an emotional, action-packed epic of love and justice, set during the rise of the Mafia in Sicily.
Loyalty can save a soul—or destroy one.
Franco Fiorvanti is a handsome lemon grower toiling on the estate of a baron. He dreams of owning his own grove, but the rigid class system of Sicily thwarts his ambition. Determined to secure a better future, Franco will do anything to prove his loyalty to the baron. But when the baron asks him to kidnap a little boy named Dante, Franco makes a decision that will change his life—and even the history of Sicily—forever. I highly recommend this book. I was concerned at the beginning about the long list of characters . You will need some patience before the main characters come together.
4 stars

WOW! I so loved the characters and how the story grew around them! We read about the birth of the mafia in Sicily and how greed and the lust for power governed. Young boys were kidnapped, the kidnappers being paid for the kidnapping and the young boys were put in the madhouse and treated abominably. One of the young boys, Dante, does eventually get free after 15 years. There is Alfredo who has four goats and makes cheese that everyone thinks is magic. Franco and his twin brother Roberto were the original Mafia Dons. The story was captivating!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I would like to thank Putnam and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book as an ARC. I have never read one of Lisa Scottoline's books before and was intrigued by the short blurb /synopsis on line. I was first caught by the setting- Sicily. My grandparents and my husband's grandparents were born in Sicily. In 2019, we spent a little over two weeks traveling in Sicily, including the Palermo area where much of the story takes place. I was also interested to see that two of the surnames prominently used in the blurb, Fiorvanti and Catalano , were surnames of friends of mine. The author noted that the use of the names was fictional, of course, but it was still interesting to me.
The book is long and sprawling. It starts with several separate and seemingly disparate stories. There is a lawyer in Palermo who is involved in a secret society, trying to do good. There is a man who is picking lemons for a rich man, who wants to better himself, through any means. A child is kidnapped at a festival for St Rosalia, in Palermo and sent to an insane asylum. There is a Alfredo, who has goats he refers to as his daughters, makes cheese and has a secret. There is Malfalda and Lucia, mother and daughter, who have only each other to rely on , and trust. For the first half of the book, the stories remain isolated. This is a bit confusing at times, as it was sometimes necessary to go back a few chapters to refresh my mind on the characters.
The book begins to tie the stories together just past the halfway point. There is a time jump and storylines begin to entwine. The main story, for most of the book is that of Franco Fiorvanti and his brother Roberto. Franco gathers his friends and his brothers to start charging protection to local farmers and barons to protect the lemon crops from thieves. Franco wants to be the big boss- "Capo di tutti Capi" and will let nothing and no one stop him.
The book takes several twists and turns, and does tie up all of the stories by the end. It is brutal, dark and twisty - much like Sicily. It is also redemptive , loving and believable. I really enjoyed this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book by one of my favorite authors! I was a little bit intimidated when I started reading because of the extensive list of characters at the very beginning. (I often have a hard time remembering characters when there are a lot of them.) However, I was captivated from the first chapter in which a kidnapping occurs during the St. Rosalia Festival. Scottoline then masterfully introduced each wonderful character in short chapters, making it easy to follow. I kept wondering how they would all tie together. She weaves the stories together seamlessly when the story jumps ahead 15 years. Everything comes together and the concept of loyalty is explored in several forms throughout the book. I enjoyed the descriptions of Sicily and the story of the beginning of the mafia. Kudos to Scottoline for a great work of historical fiction.

I struggled to finish this book. I am a HUGE Lisa Scottoline fan but this one just fell flat for me. I read it to 50% and had to quit. I will read the next book Lisa publishes.

I recently started this on a plane ride, could not wait to get to resort to finish it. Lisa keeps you enthralled with what is happening. She added just the right amount of history so you could enjoy the story line.

How did the Mafia begin? Lisa Scottoline has taken this historical question that we didn't know we needed answered and provided a historical fictional account that not only captures our attention but takes us on a thrilling journey. The complexity of the community is brought forth through the diverse characters and the Sicilian landscape. She researched her topic thoroughly and turned it into a great novel with themes of jealously, revenge, control, power, redemption, salvation, retribution, justice and so much more. Definitely a winner!

This is a well researched book about the beginnings of the mafia in Sicily. As always the author does a tremendous job transporting you to the lush landscape of the island. Impeccable research is evident throughout the story but I had a hard time caring about any of the characters. This was not my favorite book by the author but I am a fan and look forward to all her books. I love the way she pours herself into the research! #Loyalty #LisaScottoline #NetGalley

Loyalty is set in Sicily around the inception of the Mafia. The descriptions of the surroundings are magical, and invoke the warmth of the island. Young boys are being kidnapped, and a young lawyer, Gaetano feels morally bound to find these young victims at the expense of his own family and freedom. On the other side of the law is Franco and his brother Roberto who create a "family" through brutality and intimidation. These characters are very well-drawn, and it is evident that Scottoline did extensive research.

‘Loyalty’, is my second book by Lisa Scottoline , and she is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. ‘Loyalty’ takes place in Sicily and takes multiple storylines and neatly ties them all together. I could not put this book down, so happy I selected this book to kick off my 2023 reading. I will definitely look into reading Ms. Scottoline’s prior books.