Moonlit Kiss : A Venice Romance by Amy McKinley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Gianna Bellini is an artist, as well as working on her own projects, she also restores art as well, it has always been a dream of hers to visit Italy and in particular Venice and Rome, so when she is sought out for a position restoring and completing a century-old fresco in Venice, she can think of nothing she would enjoy more, so she packs her bags and heads out on the first available flight. On her first evening there, she decides to go out and explore the city in the moonlight before heading to the apartment she will be stating in, but as she takes in the sights and although she does feel safe, she also feels an eerie familiarity with the city and hasn’t a need for the map she has already pulled up on her phone, all too soon, she arrives in the Piazza San Marco and decides to stop for a bite to eat in one of the restaurants and watch life passing in the Piazza as she enjoys a glass of wine and the orchestral music in the background.

After she finishes, she calls the woman who hired her to let her know that she has made it to Venice safely and that she will start work the next day, however employer has other ideas and has organised a Gondola ride around the city for her instead as a way of inspiring her creativity, Gianna thanks her and heads to the villa. As she walks, she becomes turned around as a dog crawls in from the sea, but when she hears a man crying out for a woman, she cannot help but respond, however, when she sees him, he too is familiar to her, but when he walks her to the villa, she thinks nothing more of it when she sees the fresco she will be working on in the moonlight before she prepares to go to bed.

The next morning Gianna prepares a cup of coffee and decides to take a look at the fresco in the daylight while she drinks it, she then reads the note which her employer has left her recommending the pains she will need in her work and decides to put the order in a the recommended shop before heading out on her tour. The gondolier takes her round the canals as he tells her about some of the history of the city and the sights he points out to her, she takes some photographs and immerses herself in the lessons until it comes to and end, when she is just about to get out of the gondola, she is crippled by a bout of sickness which leaves her dizzy and disoriented and about to plunge into the cold waters when a pair of strong arms surround her and pick her up. Gianna immediately feels a sense of comfort within the mystery man’s arms and doesn’t want him to let her go and this is heightened when she starts to talk to him. He introduces himself as Sergio Vitale and they agree to spend lunch together so he can keep an eye on her.

As the meal progresses they talk and cannot deny that they are attracted to each other, so when they swap phone numbers, it is with the intention of seeing each other again.
As the days pass and turn to weeks, Gianna spends time with her work and with Sergio, their relationship blossoms, but Gianna is plagued with vivid dreams which seem too real and as she talks about the fresco with Sergio she cannot understand how she will finish it, all the while the the dreams become more vivid and they start to encroach on her waking self as well. Will Gianna and Serdio be able to find out what the final panel should look like, or will one of the historical stories of Venice repeat itself once again? This is a romance with a historical twist where past and present collide in a mysterious puzzle which needs to be solved and will keep you guessing until the end.

Reviewed by @roxsannel

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