"Daughter of Mine" is a captivating story about family, friends, loyalty, love, self-discovery, understanding and forgiveness. It is a story that will sweep you away with its beautiful descriptions and imagery, and will tug at your heart and won't let go until the very last word.

I found the whole storyline both realistic, and at the same time, enchanting. The descriptions of Italy were amazing and gave the book an almost magical feel. Honestly, after finishing the story, I wanted to take the next flight out to Italy!

The characters were well developed. Tiziana is an endearing character and her parents, especially her father, had that wonderful "old world" appeal. Those characters were so realistic, that I was reminded of my own grandparents.

I enjoyed everything about this novel: The air of mystery kept things very interesting, the descriptions swept me off to another place, turning it into a type of mini-vacation, and the struggles that Tiziana dealt with gave it a nice balance of realism. Laura Fabiani's beautifully written story is definitely one that I will be giving to my daughter to read. I'm sure it will capture her heart as it did mine. ( )

Tiziana Manoretti is shocked when, as the only child of her parents, she is informed that she was adopted when a medical emergency threatens her mother’s life. So begins the journey of Tiz to discover who she is and where she comes from, which leads her from the shores of Canada to sunny Italy. As Tiz is getting closer to the answer, suspicious events start happening and no-one will tell her the truth. To make matters worth, Tiz’s best friend Chris has been sending signals that he wants to change their relationship to be something more. Just when Tiz is starting to think about pursuing a new relationship with Chris, she meets an intriguing and sophisticated Italian man who is taking an interest in her.

Daughter of Mine by Laura Fabiani is a great novel of self-discovery and the power relationships have. Fabiani’s description of the Italian countryside is magical, it makes me want to hop on a plane and fly there immediately. However, the dark undercurrents in the beautiful setting kept me hooked sitting on the edge of my seat as Tiz fought against the roadblocks in her way. I also loved the relationship with Chris, where a best-friend relationship moves into something more with both parties unsure about how to progress and fearing the change will hurt their existing relationship.

Fabiani beautifully explores what it means to be family and the lengths people are willing to go to protect their family from secrets that they mistakenly believe will hurt individuals. Also, the lengths individuals will go to learn those secrets and how the heart has the capacity to love. Great read and I recommend it! ( )

Tiziana Manoretti is a successful young engineering technologist who lives with her parents and leads a happy, active life until she discovers a long-held secret about her origins. She feels betrayed and angry, and decides to go on a trip to Italy, and specifically Gaeta, the village where she was born. There Tiziana hopes to find some answers and reflect on the revelations recently gleaned from her parents. While there she wastes no time in meeting new people and experiencing the local cuisine and culture.

This novel contains romance, suspense, humour and a hint of mystery. The chapters are fairly short and the plot moves along at a fair pace; it kept my interest. Occasionally, I found elements of the story a bit hard to believe but certainly not enough to hinder enjoyment of it. The characters are distinctive and well developed, and although I did find a few of the physical descriptions of the males slightly ‘cookie-cutter-ish’, the character of Giacomino (a man whose mother tries to find appropriate and newly arrived tourists to marry her son) lent quite a humorous touch. The descriptions of Naples, Rome and Gaeta were vivid, colourful and made reading the novel feel like one had recently visited the country. I also enjoyed reading about the local cuisine and life in Italy where...

“…Italians sped, ran through red lights, and honked other drivers out of their way, hurrying along to jobs where service to the public was always in slow mode.”

Daughter of Mine is a charming, engaging novel complete with several twists and turns to keep the reader’s interest. Anticipation of what will happen next also keeps the pages turning and ends the story with a satisfying conclusion. ( )