Love, Al Dente by Jenna Lo Bianco is a wonderful read full of fun, romance, family, suspense, and … pasta!
Alessio Ranieri feels as if his life is in ruins. Everything he has worked for has gone, and his award-winning restaurant in Melbourne is closed permanently due to the pandemic shutdowns. Alessio is over the long hours, his high standards, and the anxiety attacks and has vowed not put himself under any more pressure. He plans to never cook again.
Instead, he has decided to research his Italian heritage. His Nonna Immacolata is from Impastino, Southern Italy. She has never talked about her life or her family before coming to Australia to marry. Alessio wonders if she has secrets from the past that she hasn’t shared with her family.
Alessio has booked an apartment in Impastino for the three months of the Italian summer. On arrival, he discovers his apartment is on the upper floor of a restaurant, Trattoria dei Fiori, which is situated in the town’s square. In fact, it is surrounded by three other restaurants. Not a relaxing environment for someone who has vowed never to cook again!
Francesca Fiore, one of the owners, is a passionate, free-spirited cook who lives and breathes pasta. Her father has recently passed away, leaving her Nonna Maria and mother Elena running the restaurant.
On meeting Francesca, Alessio finds her presence alluring and wonders if she will be a distraction during his time in Impastino. He has explained to Francesca that he was a chef, but is not currently working. Francesca sees this as a sign from her papa.
Impastino holds an annual Festa della Pasta, a centuries-old cooking competition between the four restaurants in the town square. Francesca’s father has won this competition many times, and she longs to compete. However, the rules are that the candidate has to be the male head chef of the family.
Francesca’s brilliant idea involves a little white lie!
What will happen when Alessio discovers that Francesca has nominated him to represent Trattoria dei Fiori, telling the town he is a second cousin from Australia?
A friendship grows between Alessio and Francesca, they have a shared interest and respect each other’s skills. Will their relationship survive as events connect them in the present and a connection to a secret from the past?
The characters are fantastic – Alessio, Francesca, and Nonna Maria.
The cover draws you in with its design and description, “One uptight chef, one passionate cook. Mix together vigorously. Will it be love at first bite?”
It is a great read, hard to put down. You learn a lot about Italian culture, pasta, and tempering chocolate! Five stars. You may also like Venetian Lessons in Love by the same author.
A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club members are reading Love, Al Dente by Jenna Lo Bianco. You can read their comments below, or add your own review.
I love to read, any book on any topic. I now love ebooks as they are easier to store, I was running out of bookshelves! My other interests are family, gardening and our beautiful King Charles spaniel dog who is my reading companion.
Love, Al Dente by Jenna Lo Bianco
Love, Al Dente is a charming, feel good romance that had me hooked from the very first pages. Set against a mouth watering Italian food backdrop, this story is full of warmth, humour, and just the right amount of spice.
The main characters Alessio and Francesca are complete opposites, which makes their relationship both frustrating. Alessio, the uptight former chef, and Francesca, the passionate, free-spirited Italian cook, clash beautifully especially in the kitchen. Their banter is clever, their chemistry is undeniable.
What I really loved about this book was how the food is written perfectly into the story. Pasta isn’t just food here it’s all about history, tradition, family, and love.
This is an easy, enjoyable read.
It’s perfect if you enjoy romance with humour, strong characters, and an Italian flavour.
Thankyou Beauty and lace For the chance to read Love Al Dente .
Get ready to be transported to Italy and feast your senses on all things pasta with Love, Al Dente by Jenna Lo Bianco.
Alessio, once an award winning chef in Australia has travelled to Italy to trace his Nonna roots, Francesca owns a restaurant with her Mum and Nonna, her one true passion is pasta making.
Alessio gets more than he bargains for with his accommodation above the restaurant, forcing him to face the demons of his past and an undeniable attraction to Francesca.
A little white lie by Francesca throws them together, where they try to fight there attraction.
An engaging read, with a passion for food at the forefront, lots of chemistry and some spice thrown in, I really enjoyed this book.
The link to Alessio’s Nonna was an interesting little detail that I felt could have been expanded on a little to add a bit more depth to the story line.
I need to add Jenna’s past books to my to be read pile!
Thank you Beauty and Lace and Pan Macmillan for this delightful book to read.
Love, Al Dente by Jenna Lo Bianco (Pan MacMillan) is a light and fun read, with a liberal sprinkling of Italian phrases throughout, and plenty of mouth watering Italian food talk! The author’s background as an Italian language educator and advocate certainly shines through!
The two main characters are Alessio and Francesca. He is a disillusioned master chef, who has lost his zest for life and cooking, and has gone to the tiny town of Impastino in Puglia where his Nonna grew up to understand his family history but also to ‘find’ himself.
She is a free spirited, passionate cook who, following the death of her father, has been struggling. Her father was her mentor and the backbone of their family restaurant- a business Francesca fears will fail without his guiding hand.
From the moment they meet there is a special chemistry between Alessio and Francesca, with each of them helping the other to overcome their personal issues. Together they seem to be a perfect foodie recipe, a fact that becomes particularly pertinent to the outcome of the story.
A fun filled romance, which treats you to a delightful ‘taste’ of Italy as well!
Thank you Beauty and Lace for the opportunity to read Love, Al Dente by Jenna Lo Bianca.
I really enjoyed this romance/ drama.
Alessio is a top chef, but his life has fallen apart, so he goes on a holiday overseas to find connections with his family.
He meets Francesca and his world changes.
This is a feel good romance.
Highly recommend ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Love, Al Dente is not the first of Jenna Lo Bianco’s books I have had the pleasure of reading and I am sure it wont be the last. I love that she uses both her knowledge of Ausztralia and Italy together.
In this book Alessio has ventured to a small Italian town in the hopes of finding information on his Grandmother who has since passed away. The accommodation that he has pre-booked turns out to be above a Resturant and one of the cooks is Francesca who is stunninly beautiful. Alessio feels a little uncomfortable about the Resturant as he is a chef or as he demands a former chef who has zero desire to cook ever again.
Fate has different plans and with crazy turns of events he ends up cooking and at the same time falling in love.
This is a wonderful Summer time read.
Love, Al Dente by Jenna Lo Bianco has me wanting to head to the south of Italy and eat loads of pasta! This delightful will they won’t they romance has it all – a beautiful setting, delicious food, a town full of history and rivalry, and most importantly, Alessio and Francesca.
Alessio is a former chef from a renowned Australian restaurant. He is uptight, pedantic and never wants to cook in a commercial kitchen again. Francesca is an Italian cook who runs a pasta restaurant and needs a male to save her. More specifically she needs a male chef to cook in the pasta competition for her.
Alessio is in Impastino to recharge, stay away from kitchens and find out his Nonna’s history. The last thing he wants is for the apartment he has rented for the Summer to be above a Trattoria. Francesca, caught up in the moment spins a little white lie that changes the course of the summer for them both.
The chemistry between Alessio and Francesca is as obvious as their love of good food, but can it handle a pasta competition and the lie Francesca has spun? This is a delightful, easy read that had me reading long into the night to see if Alessio and Francesca got their happily ever after or not.
Thank you to Beauty and Lace and Pan Macmillan for the opportunity to read and review this great book.
I have just had the pleasure of reading Love, Al Dente by Jenna Lo Bianca, which I found to be a light, enjoyable and totally engaging romance novel.
Main characters Alessio and Francesca share their family roots in Puglia, Impastino in Italy, where Francesca and her family run a pasta restaurant as they have done for generations. Alessio is a very serious Chef of significant standing in Australia who has travelled to Impastino for an escape, after having vowed never to work in a restaurant again. Impastino was the perfect place for him to go being on the other side of the globe and where his Nonna, Immacolata, had originated from, which gave him the opportunity to find out more about her and her history while removing himself from the restaurant environment. Little did Alessio realise that the one-bedroom apartment he had booked for the summer sat right above the Trattoria dei Fiori where Francesca was the head, unqualified Chef, working alongside her mother and Nonna, after her father had passed away the year prior.
The storyline drew me into the beauty of the Impastino landscape and traditions while unveiling the personalities and lives of both Francesca and Alessio, highlighting their differences and undeniable similarities, and predictably leading into a delicious romance that would change them both forever.
This was a lovely read, hard to put down and a real credit to the author who only published her first novels in 2024. Definitely going back to read previous books written by Jenna Lo Bianco and highly recommend Love, Al Dente to anyone who enjoys a romance novel with a colourful storyline. Thank you to Beauty and Lace and Pan Macmillan Australia for giving me the opportunity to read and review Love, Al Dente by Jenna Lo Bianco.