THE NINE LIVES OF TITO D’AMELIA by Ettore Farrattini Pojani- Book Blog Tour: Feature and Giveaway

THE NINE LIVES OF TITO D’AMELIA

by Ettore Farrattini Pojani

Italian Literature / Historical Fiction

Publisher: Bayou City Press

Pages: 326

Publication Date: October 11, 2024

SYNOPSIS

This is the first (and only) English-language version of the award-winning Italian novel, The Nine Lives of Tito d’Amelia. Nine Lives is a love story about a cat, a family, and an Italian town. Mixing fiction with fact, Nine Lives tells the story of the town of Amelia, Italy, throughout the 32 centuries of its history. In fact, Amelia is considered the first organized city of central Italy, being four centuries older than Rome. The author uses the multiple lives of a cat named Tito as the way to span the centuries.

Author Ettore Farrattini Pojani is the heir of the Farrattini dynasty, a centuries-old family in Umbria whose family palazzo is in Amelia, north of Rome. Tito’s first life occurs in pre-historic Umbria, and his ninth is in the future. Tito’s mission through all nine of his lives is to help the town and the family to succeed.

A changing cast of characters traces the Farrattini line through the centuries, with Tito joining up with a Farrattini in each generation. Using his feline wiles, Tito bends humans to his will, helping them through many challenges from drought to wars to lovelorn marriages to selfish politicization of joint crises.

In this highly imaginative novel, the author mixes fictional lives with non-fictional information about historical figures as well as the Farrattini family and the town of Amelia. Readers are left wondering about details, such as what is fiction and what is fact. The last chapter will evoke surprise, though a clue that the surprise is coming is contained in the very first chapter. Originally published in Italy in 2022, this first English-language translation is published by Bayou City Press in Houston, Texas, and includes additional drawings, maps, lists of characters, a listing of foreign words and special terms, and notes on sources.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ettore Farrattini Pojani is the heir of the noble Italian Farrattini dynasty, whose family palazzo is in Amelia, Italy, north of Rome. A music expert and critic, Ettore has published extensively on music topics and currently is a collaborator on the website Broadwayworld.com.

This, his second book, was published in Italy in 2022 and has won numerous awards. Prior to focusing on writing, Ettore studied art restoration and specialized in furniture restoration. For almost 20 years he had a workshop in Rome in which hundreds of valuable, unique pieces were brought back to their splendor thanks to his dedication and expertise. In 2001 he transformed the family palazzo into a hotel de charme, which he personally ran for 15 years until it was damaged by the 2016 earthquake.

A dedicated traveler, Ettore is fluent in French and English besides his native Italian.

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WILDFLOWER WEDDING by Becki Willis – Book Blog Tour: Review and Giveaway

The Sisters Texas

WILDFLOWER WEDDING

With a Killer Reception
The Sisters, Texas Book 8

by

BECKI WILLIS

Genre: Cozy Mystery / Romance / Women Sleuths
Publisher: Clear Creek Publishing
Date of Publication: June 1, 2019
Number of Pages: 284

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Synopsis

Wildflower Wedding

It’s the most anticipated wedding of the year in The Sisters, when Madison Reynolds and Brash deCordova finally tie the knot!

Wedding preparations are underway, but the aisle to the altar gets rockier by the minute.

Their support is humbling, but the community’s enthusiasm soon threatens to hijack the wedding. Squeeze in a suspicious death during a Texas Independence Day celebration, the needy new widow Madison befriends, and an unscrupulous politician trying to unseat Brash as chief of police, and the path seems littered with obstacles.

Madison will move mountains, however, to marry the man of her dreams. All they really need is each other, their children by their side, and a preacher to make it official. In an effort to please everyone, the couple opts for a private ceremony followed by a public celebration. It’s the perfect Wildflower Wedding, but who knew it would end in a killer reception?

Cantankerous Nigel Barrett hired In a Pinch Professional Services to find his estranged family, but it takes more than a home DNA test to locate his next of kin. Madison suspects he was searching for an heir, but when the wealthy rancher is killed at their reception, she’ll settle for finding someone to attend his funeral.

From the author of Forgotten Boxes, Plain Roots, and the Spirits of Texas Cozy Mysteries, enjoy book eight of the award-winning reader favorite The Sisters, Texas Series.

For maximum enjoyment, follow the series from the beginning. Readers say, “It’s like visiting with old friends!”

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Wildflower Wedding (2)

I can’t believe I’m only reading this series now. A rollicking fun of a whodunit, Wildflower Wedding, Book 8 of The Sisters Texas, is a wonderfully entertaining read.  I enjoyed it so much I immediately downloaded the seven books before this even though Wedding can be read as a standalone. I want to see Brash and Madison’s journey into love from the beginning. I can tell from their kids’ speeches during the rehearsal dinner and the vows they wrote themselves that the road has been adventure-filled and the tales quite possibly as hilarious as this one, if not more so.

The Sisters meme

Ms. Willis is a fantastic storyteller. She obviously knows Texas incredibly well and had me agog with all the trivia (“It’s against the law in Texas to curse in front of a corpse.”) and factoids on Texians, mineral rights, DNA testing, and royalty rights, among others. I learned so many new things about my residence state, I can recommend this as a reference book.

Wildflower Wedding 3D

The characters in Wildflower Wedding are many and varied and all of them managed to capture my interest. Aside from the leads, the secondary characters are well-developed with involving, if not engaging personalities. Even though I suspected the identity of the murderer early, I still had a good time reading about their motivations and the actions they undertook to achieve their goal.

Like the characters, the subplots are many: Bobby Ray’s death and his widow’s neediness, a challenger for Brash’s position as Chief of Police, Maddy’s search for Nigel Barrett’s next of kin, and solving the mystery of his sudden death during their wedding reception. But none of them distracted from the main story – the wedding of Brash and Maddison. The vows were beautifully written and prove why this book is categorized as a romance.

For all the things I mentioned above, I give Wildflower Wedding four-and-a-half stars. I highly recommend checking out the other books in the series, reading the reviews by my colleagues at LSBBT, and joining the giveaway. Happy reading and good luck!

4 Four-half-stars

 

AboutTheAuthor

Becki Willis

Becki Willis, best known for her popular The Sisters, Texas Mystery Series and Forgotten Boxes, always dreamed of being an author. In November of ’13, that dream became a reality.

Since that time, she has published numerous books, won first place honors for Best Mystery Series, Best Suspense Fiction, Best Women’s Detective Fiction, and Best Audio Book, won the 2018 RONE Award for Paranormal Fiction, and has introduced her imaginary friends to readers around the world.

An avid history buff, Becki likes to poke around in old places and learn about the past. Other addictions include reading, writing, junking, unraveling a good mystery, and coffee. She loves to travel but believes coming home to her family and her Texas ranch is the best part of any trip. Becki is a member of the Association of Texas Authors, Writer’s League of Texas, Sisters in Crime, the National Association of Professional Women, and the Brazos Writers organization. She attended Texas A&M University and majored in Journalism.

Connect with Becki below. She loves to hear from readers and encourages feedback!

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GRAND PRIZE: Signed Copy of Wildflower Wedding + $20 Amazon Gift Card
2nd Prize: $10 Amazon Gift Card
June 20-30, 2019
(U.S. Only)

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VISIT THE OTHER GREAT BLOGS ON THE TOUR:

6/20/19 	Chicken Scratch, #1 		StoreyBook Reviews 
6/20/19 	When the Stars Fall, #2 	Tangled in Text 
6/21/19 	Stipulations & Complications,#3 Max Knight 
6/22/19 	Home Again: Starting Over, #4 	Reading by Moonlight 
6/23/19 	Genny’s Ballad, #5 		Bibliotica 
6/24/19 	Christmas in The Sisters, #6 	The Clueless Gent 
6/25/19 	The Lilac Code, #7 		Hall Ways Blog 
6/26/19 	Wildflower Wedding, #8 		Book Fidelity 
6/26/19 	Wildflower Wedding, #8 		Carpe Diem Chronicles 
6/27/19 	Wildflower Wedding, #8 		Chapter Break Book Blog 
6/27/19 	Wildflower Wedding, #8 		The Librarian Talks 
6/28/19 	Wildflower Wedding, #8 		Forgotten Winds 
6/28/19 	Wildflower Wedding, #8 		Nerd Narration 
6/29/19 	Wildflower Wedding, #8 		That's What She's Reading 
6/29/19 	Wildflower Wedding, #8 		Sydney Young, Stories

 

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