Review: That's (Not Exactly) Amore by Tracey Bateman + Giveaway

About the Book: When Laini Sullivan lands a job designing Nick Pantalone's coffee shop, there are two problems: one, Nick's nephew Joe hates all of her ideas and two, Laini has to admit he's right--she's a disaster at design. Still, she can't risk losing the job. To compromise, Joe brings in help on the project, while Laini continues to bake the goodies that keep his customers lining up.
Their relationship is moving along, so when new guy Officer Mark Hall implies that Joe's family is tied to the mob, Laini doesn't want to believe it. But things spin out of control when she meets the family, including "the uncles," who seem to confirm Mark's suspicions. To make things worse, Nana Pantalone makes it clear Laini isn't the kind of girl she has in mind for her grandson. Laini's not sure if she should give Joe the benefit of the doubt or just set her sites on Mark and fuhgetaboutit.

My Review: I haven't read the first two books in this series yet, but I think you can read this book easily without having read the other two. It's a fun lighthearted book that explores the ideas of whether or not God gives us dreams and if we should pursue them.

It was easy for me to identify with Laini as she wrestled with that issue. I couldn't help but feel for her as she tried to reinvent herself and found out that she wasn't particularly skilled or passionate about her new chosen career. Sometimes it takes a few tries to get it right, which was a nice reminder.

There were a few laugh out loud moments and a few moments when I just wanted to tell Laini to wake-up! But overall I found her a really sympathetic character and I love reading stories with big extended families set in New York.

Giveaway: Thanks to the overwhelming generosity of the publisher, I have a whole set of the Drama Queen books to give away! That's right...three whole books! To be eligible to win have a United States mailing address and leave a comment with a valid email address. To double your chances blog about this contest and then leave me a separate comment with the link to your post. I hope lots of you will enter...I think you'll love these books!

You can read an excerpt from That's (Not Exactly) Amore here!