Book Review — A Veil of Vines by Tillie Cole

I am soon to become Prince Zeno Savona’s wife…
… or at least I was, until I met Achille.
And everything changed.

• Buy A VEIL OF VINES (Kindle)
• Buy A VEIL OF VINES (Paperback)

AWWWWW!! What a heart-warming book! A Veil of Vines is a modern-day fairy tale love story that felt both magical and romantic! It’s a forbidden romance about a girl descended from Italian royalty who is whisked away from her home in New York City to fulfill her arranged marriage to a Prince she’d never really met, but instead she defies all tradition by falling in love with a gorgeous, mysterious, and reclusive winemaker who completely steals her heart! The story had a beautiful sweetness that filled my heart with happiness and brought tears of joy to my eyes. If you’re looking for a book that will make you both smile, swoooooon, and just genuinely make you happy, read this!!

To most people, princes, princesses, counts and dukes are found only in the pages of the most famous of fairytales. Crowns, priceless jewels and gilded thrones belong only in childhood dreams. But for some, these frivolous fancies are truth. For some, they are real life.

On Manhattan’s Upper East Side, people have always treated me as someone special. All because of my ancestral name and legacy. All because of a connection I share to our home country’s most important family of all.

I am Caresa Acardi, the Duchessa di Parma. A blue blood of Italy. I was born to marry well. And now the marriage date is set. I am to marry into House Savona. The family that would have been the royals had Italy not abolished the monarchy in 1946. But to the aristocrats of my home, the abolition means nothing at all. The Savonas still hold power where it counts most. In our tight-knit world of money, status and masked balls, they are everything and more. And I am soon to become one of them.

I am soon to become Prince Zeno Savona’s wife…
… or at least I was, until I met Achille.
And everything changed.

It was actually the author’s note alone that completely captivated me with the story. In fact, I loved it so much that I’m going to share a few lines of it with you at the bottom of the review so you can see what I mean. The writing drew me in, the story intrigued me, and the tantalizing thrill of forbidden love made me heart race in anticipation.

This poor girl’s life may have been filled with material riches but I could barely stand how stifling it was. She was well-educated and clearly so full of life but duty-bound to follow a tradition that would have taken her very freedom away. I couldn’t wait for her to break free!

And the first spark began when she met Achille — a humble, quiet, mysterious, achingly sweet man who lived in the woods and made award-winning wine on her estate. When they found each other, it was like each of them had found their other half — their soul mate — but they were both bound to the confines of their world and hierarchy and in this world, someone like her could never be with a someone like him.

But their hearts didn’t care about traditions or princess and princesses. So they had stolen moment, secret meetings, and the more time they spent with each other, the more deeply they fell in love until it became clear that the only option for them was to find a way to truly be together.

My only complaint (and it’s a small one) was that this was almost too much of a happy-happy book. I prefer a dash more angst. Everything just worked out almost toooo perfectly. But hey, that’s kind of the fun of fairy tales, isn’t it?

This really was a beautiful book. A story of true love, soul mates, making the choice to break free and follow your heart, and daring to take a chance on love. This whole story FELT magical. It was completely modern-day, but the writing quality and almost ethereal nature of their story really made me feel as though I were reading an adult fairy tale! If you’ve been looking for a book that’ll genuinely just make you happy, try this!

In modern Italy no titles exist, yet this centuries-rich ancestry has not been lost. There are still princes and princesses; there are still dukes and duchesses. Just as it has always been, they look to their own.

Marriages are brokered and arranged to ensure the fortunes of the elite families remain intact and prestige is added to their reputations. Their world is exclusive, tight-knit; to those born to this life such matters are the most important of all.

This is a story about what happens when this network of power and wealth is challenged.

This is a story about what happens when the heart trumps tradition.

This is a story about what happens when two souls merge — two should that should never have even met.

Rating: 4 stars! Standalone Contemporary Adult Romance.

• Buy A VEIL OF VINES (Kindle)
• Buy A VEIL OF VINES (Paperback)