Lake Como
A Novel
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Hallie Elliot has a perfect life. She is an up-and-coming interior designer in one of San Francisco's most sought after firms, and has just recently become engaged to Peter, a brilliant young journalist. But when she stumbles upon Peter and her boss in what seems to be a compromising position, her trust in her perfect life is shaken.
So Hallie escapes to Lake Como, Italy to spend time with her half-sister, Portia Tesoro, an Italian blueblood dealing with the scandal of a public estrangement from her cheating husband. While staying in the Tesoro villa, Hallie falls in love with the splendor and beauty of Lake Como, and finds work designing the lakeside estate of a reclusive American tech mogul. The caretaker of this beautiful estate is a handsome man named Angus, and Hallie finds herself drawn to his charm and kindness, despite hints of a dark secret in his past.
But just as Hallie is beginning to find her footing on Italian soil, she uncovers a family secret that upends all the truths she's believed about herself, and calls into question the new life she's built in Lake Como.
Sisterhood, family, career, and sumptuous descriptions of Italian life fill the pages of this newest offering by Anita Hughes. Lake Como is a heartbreaking and heartwarming story of love, self-discovery, and the quest for truth.
Love, sisterhood, and sumptuous descriptions of la dolce vita fill the pages of Anita Hughes' Lake Como, a heartwarming story of romance, self-discovery, and the quest for truth.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hallie Elliot spent her childhood intrigued by her half-sister, Portia, the product of her mother's first marriage to an Italian prince. But Hallie's life in San Francisco where she has the perfect successful boyfriend and a brilliant career has turned out just as well as those of her Italian kin, or so she thinks, until she finds her boyfriend in a suspicious embrace with her boss, Kendra. Hallie flees to her sib-lings' family estate on Lake Como to sort out her feelings. There, Portia is caught between a crum-bling marriage and the scandal of divorce. At the idyllic Tesoro villa, with each other's support, the sisters are able to contemplate moving on. In the meantime, there's glorious scenery, gourmet food, and designer shopping galore. While Portia falls for a new man, Hallie finds a dream job designing a reclusive billionaire's home and connects with her client's business manager, Angus. But two big se-crets complicate Hallie's happiness and one of them will make her wonder if she can ever trust enough to love again. Portia's engaging subplot and a few shocking revelations lend complexity and depth to Hughes's third novel (after Market Street), but the plot is bogged down by lackluster love scenes, a too-perfect heroine, and a distracting preoccupation with designer goods.
