I’m not really big into chick-lit. In fact, I think I can count on one hand the number of chick-lit novels I’ve read, and still have fingers left. I can only recall one other one off the top of my head. Compared to that other one (Austenland), this book was awesome.

It was still only a middle-of-the-road book for me, though, because despite enjoying the story, I have issues with a lot of things in chick-lit in general: “plucky” main women characters, “zany” sidekick women characters, the general chattiness of the writing style, the extraordinary predictability of the plot, and the utter unbelievability of all the happily ever afters.

This book had all of them. I would have LOVED this story as a regular, non-chick-lit love story, which I was hoping it would be when I came across it randomly at my library. It wasn’t, of course, but I still read it, because I love so many of the elements of the story: Venice, particularly in 1999 (when I was there), soul mates, love legends.

It was a fun book, an enjoyable read, but nothing life-changing, which is perfectly okay, because it wasn’t meant to be. I haven’t read anything in a few weeks now, and it was a great book to pick up and throw myself into on a rainy afternoon.