posted at 01/05/10 - 11:19 AM
Night Owl Review/December 29, 2009
4.5 stars out of 5 - Reviewer Top Pick
Full of colorful characters and hilarious situations, A Fist Full of Ashes is just plain fun. The humor is slapstickish but clever. Vita's character, an elderly woman with a fast cane and a sharp mind, is a
hoot. There were many colorful characters in the story including a python named Fluffy. The author did a good job of making them come alive. If you like Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels, you'll like this series by R. Ann Siracusa. It's spunky and well-told. Definitely kept me entertained.
Romance Junkies Reviews
December 17, 2009 - Rating: 4
Leslie, Reviewer for Romance Junkies
Once again author R. Ann Siracusa has written a comical romance tale that will take you on another adventure to solve an enthralling mystery in Italy. Harriet Ruby is a tour director with The Adventure Seekers Travel Agency. Even though being a tour director is fairly straightforward, Harriet seems to find trouble wherever she goes.
In ALL FOR A FIST FILL OF ASHES, Harriet takes an American-Italian family on a tour of Italy to transport the remains of one of their ancestors back to his homeland to be laid to rest. The mayhem this family creates is hysterical and funny, as well as mean, tiresome, tactical, and even treacherous.
William Talbot, Harriet’s love interest and spy, has one of the family members under surveillance as a suspect in an assassination plot. By charming Vita, the matriarch of the family, Will engineers an invite to join the tour with the family. The eccentric family members trek through Italy leaving turmoil, amusement, and peril wherever they go. In ALL FOR A FIST FULL OF ASHES you will travel with them as they journey through Italy. Along the way, you’ll discover a great deal about Italy while you are being amused.
ALL FOR A FIST FULL OF ASHES is the second book in Siracusa’s HARRIET RUBY series. It is full of trickery, murder, romance and comedy. You will be smiling by the variety and assorted characters that charm the pages. Take a trip with Harriet and Will on their romantic journey through Italy in quest of a lost grave, a murderer, and of course, love.
Coffeetime Romance and More
November, 2009 - 4 Cups
Maura, Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance
This story is outrageously funny and over the top in every way. I do not think that there is a more obnoxious family on the planet than the Spinella/Mazza clan. I loved Vita and her deadly accurate cane and the green-haired Eric, but the rest of the bunch has few redeeming qualities. The scene in the airport with the Italian officials smoking some of Uncle Carmelo’s remains is hilarious. Harriet and Will’s relationship is complicated, since he keeps everything about himself a secret, but their love scenes are pretty hot. Harriet manages to keep her head, if not her control, for most of the journey, and you will enjoy her efforts to keep the group from destroying the luxury hotels of Italy, to keep the teenagers out of jail, and to help Will keep someone from assassinating the Pope. All in a day’s work for a tour guide. Not! The turmoil that this family can cause is at times hysterical, frustrating, strategic, funny, mean and even dangerous.
In "All For A Fist Full Of Ashes," you will follow them in expert detail as they travel through Italy and you will learn a lot about Italy and the Vatican while you are being entertained. This novel has everything - intrigue, murder, romance and some comic relief, and you will be immensely entertained by the various and diverse characters that grace its pages. A fun book that you will truly enjoy reading.