⇒ Download Free A Portrait of Emily Price Katherine Reay 9780718077914 Books

A Portrait of Emily Price Katherine Reay 9780718077914 Books

Download As PDF : A Portrait of Emily Price Katherine Reay 9780718077914 Books

A Portrait of Emily Price Katherine Reay 9780718077914 Books

“Francesca sported a perfect American accent--one that stretched flawlessly from Chicago to Seattle, dipping down through Colorado rather than passing up near the Canadian border.”

This…this is why I loved Katherine Reay’s Book, A Portrait of Emily Price. These characters are friends to me, now. Emily simultaneously broke my heart and warmed it with her instinct to fix everything, whether it be a pan with a loose handle or a teenager whose home Emily was restoring from a fire, whether it was her sister or her mother-in-law. I don’t do spoilers, but this instinct to fix things comes from Emily's childhood, and it is the very thing that brings her family to a boil. And solves their problems, in a way, ultimately through faith and family. I loved watching the art come out of Emily the way pizza came out of Ben, pasta out of Donata, and bread from Lucio.

And that’s the thing. Often in a Hallmark movie, a character has a job…something artsy or community-service oriented in some way. But the writers/actors fail to make that a real part of who the character is in their core. It’s kind of a token designation that a character is a florist or a poverty lawyer or whatever.

Reay has no such failure! The artsy, fix-it side of Emily, the food-and-family side of Ben made them who they are, and it made the story what it is. I want to be frowned at by Donata, fed by Ben, help Emily fix something, given a book by Lucio, watch Joseph paint. These are people I feel like I know. This is a family whose Sunday Dinners I want to join.

I was surprised not to find myself in Atlanta or Italy when I had to look up from the book…Oh, the field of sunflowers! I wanted to go sit there until they turned my direction. I want to go truffle hunting with their dog.

But the story of Emily and this family stopped my heart in places, as it frequently stopped Emily’s heart, left her not knowing what to do, panicked. As warm as these people are, as close as they are…the secrets buried in this family are heart-breaking. And heart-warming.

It’s that kind of book.

So what did I not like about A Portrait of Emily Price? The end. I literally flipped the page on my Kindle, desperate to read more, not conscious I had reached the end. But it was over. Reay does not tell us what happens with Joseph (oops, almost committed a spoiler there). She leaves us hanging, having to think it through for ourselves. Heart-warming. And heart-breaking.

Yep. It’s that kind of book.


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A Portrait of Emily Price Katherine Reay 9780718077914 Books Reviews

Emily fixes things. It’s her job as an art restorer. But after a whirlwind romance, moving to Italy and trying to fit into her new, dysfunctional Italian family, she’s finding that life isn’t as easily fixed. She’s learning that maybe she doesn’t need to fix anything, but just be there. Love those around her and let life happen as it will.

Reay weaves slower moving stories that take you on a journey/adventure to new places with interesting people. This one takes you to Italy and a huge Italian family with a secret. I liked all the unique characters in this family and how much they loved each other even with this dark cloud of secrecy over them. They are family and accept each other.

This book is so much about relationships with a smattering of Emily geeking out about art and her passions. (I could relate to Emily quite a bit.)

Art, family dynamics, adventure and love makes for a good book.
Working as an art restorer, Emily Price’s life revolves around fixing things, both in her work as well as in her personal life. Though her specialty is restoring other artists’ art, she loves to paint her own pictures and dreams of having her work featured in her own gallery show. When she’s sent to Atlanta for work, she meets Ben Vassallo, a native of Italy who’s visiting the states to check in on his estranged brother and to help revive his aunt and uncle’s restaurant. Emily and Ben quickly fall in love, marrying only two weeks after meeting one another. As they go home to Italy, Ben’s family is shocked by his whirl wind romance, offering a mixture of reactions from his sister Francesca’s delight, to his mother Donata’s outrage. Added to all this is Ben’s father, Lucio who’s health is declining. The older man takes a shine to Emily, telling her stories and offering her books that he thinks will help her. As she becomes acquainted with the family, Emily senses buried secrets that have driven a wedge between some of its members. She can’t help but meddle in the hopes that she can fix things. Yet not everyone wants her to fix their lives.

Having read Katherine’s other novels, I started this one wondering which classic novel would be the base for the theme. The further I read, the more I saw resemblances between Emily and Emma Woodhouse from Jane Austen’s Emma. I don’t think Emily was as self-centered as Emma, but she definitely had the match-maker, meddlesome quality. It was a little annoying at times, but I started to feel sorry for her, knowing that she felt like she had to fix everything all the time.

I really liked the Italian setting of this book, as well as Ben’s family. They were so life-like and diverse; it really set this book apart from Katherine’s other novels. The Vassallos were an imperfect family, but underneath all they’d been through, they still loved each other. Lucio was a sweet character; he loved everyone and really helped people to see things in new perspectives. He offered the perfect balance for Emily as she tried to settle into life in Italy, countering the anger that Donata didn’t try to hide. And the descriptions of Italy and the food were great; it was like a vacation in a book.

Overall, A Portrait of Emily Price was a nice book, full of life with a beautiful setting. Fans of romance mixed with the arts, culture, and travel will love this book.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.
When an art restorer and an Italian chef get together on a renovation project, the results are lots of creativity and support, true love, and pasta.
Katherine Reay creates settings that are realistically flawed- even broken- and tackles the challenge of guiding her characters through them on a journey to find purpose and belonging past their work, lifestyles, and shortcomings, ultimately back home to their families in a beautiful and touching way.
As I did with "Dear Mr. Knightley", the best way to give an overall review of a work like "A Portrait of Emily Price" is with words; words like inspirational. Cultural. Bookish. Artistic. Flowing. Tasteful. Authentic. Vibrant. White on white. Cappuccino. Loyalty. Murals. Vespa. Architecture. Classic. Pizza. Traditions. Sisters. Family. Feuds. Forgiveness. Acceptance.
Restoration.
“Francesca sported a perfect American accent--one that stretched flawlessly from Chicago to Seattle, dipping down through Colorado rather than passing up near the Canadian border.”

This…this is why I loved Katherine Reay’s Book, A Portrait of Emily Price. These characters are friends to me, now. Emily simultaneously broke my heart and warmed it with her instinct to fix everything, whether it be a pan with a loose handle or a teenager whose home Emily was restoring from a fire, whether it was her sister or her mother-in-law. I don’t do spoilers, but this instinct to fix things comes from Emily's childhood, and it is the very thing that brings her family to a boil. And solves their problems, in a way, ultimately through faith and family. I loved watching the art come out of Emily the way pizza came out of Ben, pasta out of Donata, and bread from Lucio.

And that’s the thing. Often in a Hallmark movie, a character has a job…something artsy or community-service oriented in some way. But the writers/actors fail to make that a real part of who the character is in their core. It’s kind of a token designation that a character is a florist or a poverty lawyer or whatever.

Reay has no such failure! The artsy, fix-it side of Emily, the food-and-family side of Ben made them who they are, and it made the story what it is. I want to be frowned at by Donata, fed by Ben, help Emily fix something, given a book by Lucio, watch Joseph paint. These are people I feel like I know. This is a family whose Sunday Dinners I want to join.

I was surprised not to find myself in Atlanta or Italy when I had to look up from the book…Oh, the field of sunflowers! I wanted to go sit there until they turned my direction. I want to go truffle hunting with their dog.

But the story of Emily and this family stopped my heart in places, as it frequently stopped Emily’s heart, left her not knowing what to do, panicked. As warm as these people are, as close as they are…the secrets buried in this family are heart-breaking. And heart-warming.

It’s that kind of book.

So what did I not like about A Portrait of Emily Price? The end. I literally flipped the page on my , desperate to read more, not conscious I had reached the end. But it was over. Reay does not tell us what happens with Joseph (oops, almost committed a spoiler there). She leaves us hanging, having to think it through for ourselves. Heart-warming. And heart-breaking.

Yep. It’s that kind of book.