‘It Happened In Tuscany’
by Gail Mencini
Teaser Tuesday

This is a meme for all you page surfers out there!

TEASER EXTRACT

KINDLE 50%

CHAPTER 50

An invisible rope pulled Sophie and Will to the colorful window of a gelato store on the corner.

The colors alone beckoned them – pale green pistachio, white limone, blush fragola, chip-flecked stracciatella, deep brown cioccolato, and many beautiful hues with names that Sophie couldn’t decipher.

They stepped inside.

“Buongiorno. May I help you? Would you like a taste?”

“Buongiorno. Thank you.” Sophie smiled at the attractive, thirty-year-old woman with big, dark eyes and tight curls of black hair that spilled out of a high knot on her head.

Will grinned like a six-year-old. “You bet.”

He turned to face the Italian. “Miss, please describe these. They all look delicious.”

The woman smiled and pointed out the flavors: Pistachio, lemon, strawberry, chocolate chip, chocolate, double chocolate, orange, hazelnut, mocha, almond, raspberry, mixed berry, mint, vanilla, peach and caramel.

Sophie’s mouth watered at the choices and the vibrant display.

Will spoke first, with a broad smile on his face.

“I’d love to sample your chocolate, hazelnut, and peach if that is not too much trouble.”

The woman smiled. “Not at all.”

Will took each of the plastic tasting spoons in turn and settled on the hazelnut.

Sophie sampled the lemon, almond, and raspberry. She chose the almond, a flavour not carried by her favorite ice cream store in Highland, a trendy neighbourhood not far from the apartment building where she and Will lived.

“Thank you How long have you been in Montepulciano?” Sophie said.

“Ten years ago I moved here from Florence, where I had gone to university.”

Sophie decided the direct approach was the best. “We are interested in visiting butcher shops. Could you help us locate where these are on our map?”

“Stores where they cut their own fresh meat, or also markets with food ready to eat?”

Sophie and Will exchanged glances.

“Both, if you would, please,” Will said. “I suspect the butchers in town give a woman as beautiful as you all the best cuts, don’t they?”

She smiled and batted her eyes. “That I do not know.”

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If you still need to know more, check out those all important opening lines and author Gail Mencini’s great Guest Post, “How I Write My Novels” – here.

Just to help you get everything into some context – check out the premise below.

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IT HAPPENED IN TUSCANY by GAIL MENCINI

In 1945, Will Mills and his fellow soldiers in the 10th Mountain Division scaled Italy’s treacherous Riva Ridge in the frigid night to break through the nearly impenetrable German line of defense. Severely wounded, Will was rescued by Italian partisans and one, a beautiful girl, tended his injuries until he had the strength to rejoin the U.S. troops.

Tormented and haunted by his decisions and actions during wartime, Will knows he has unfinished missions in Italy to complete. The passage of time and years of carrying this unfulfilled need have molded Will into a bitter, angry man.

Seventy-five years later, Will’s spunky thirty-two-year-old neighbor, Sophie Sparke, faces disaster in her life. Everything is going wrong—her job, her love life, even her dog. Part of the problem is that confident and fiercely independent Sophie lets her quick mouth get her into trouble.

Grouchy, mean-spirited Will finagles Sophie into traveling with him to Tuscany to find the partisan who saved his life. Will also secretly hopes to confront the demons his wartime actions created. Sophie and Will comb enchanting Tuscan hill towns on an improbable and unfolding mission with few clues to aid them. Will’s passionate tenacity drives their quest and in the process exposes their darkest secrets. The journey alters the course of their lives, and Will and Sophie find more than they had imagined in the hills of Tuscany.

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Ambrosia at ‘The Purple Booker‘. Each week she shares her own teaser lines and invites other bloggers to do the same. So if you have a few moments, why not stop by and see what’s on offer this time, after all, you never know where that next great read is going to come from!

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