Have you ever felt the Tuscan summer sunshine on your skin? If yes, then you will have a bit of an idea about the atmosphere in "Love in Idleness" by Amanda Craig. It takes place in Cortona in the heart of Tuscancy and the pages are soaked with golden sunshine and the smell of Italian herbs. I must say that I enjoyed that part of the book, it enveloped me in a wonderful summer feeling.
The author acknowledges that the plot is heavily inspired by Shakespeare's "A Midsummer's Nights Dream", it is not the first book to be inspired by this wonderful tale and it is a great plot. In "Love in Idleness" it has been updated and changed but the main topics remain.
There are several key figures: Polly the banker's wife and stay-at-home mum married to workaholic Theo, the doctor and single mother Hemani, gorgeous designer Ellen, eligible bachelor Daniel, the notorious Ivo Sponge and the meanest mother-in-law that I have encoutered in a long time.
As you can probably imagine, many many things happen and love strikes in the strangest places.
To be honest, the plot is a bit too easy to guess, I think. There really were no surprises at all and though it was great to meet Ivo Sponge again (he played a central role in "A Vicious Circle"), there was not enough excitement to really keep me interested. It is a nice, sweet story and I laughed a few times but it is a little bit too chick lit-ish for me - I preferred "A Vicious Circle".
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