Looking for some Catholic romance? Check out Our Lady of the Roses by Janice Lane Palko.
Janetta Orlando’s life has been bouncing along the gutter
like a Brunswick bowling ball after a series of disastrous relationships and
bad breakups. When her girl’s getaway with her best friend, Anne, to the wine
country is abruptly cancelled, she is left with nothing to look forward to. No
vacation. No wine. No men.
Bob White is headed to Rome from Pittsburgh with his
girlfriend, Connie, who is fluent in Italian, to sell his invention to an
Italian businessman. Days before their departure, Connie dumps him leaving him
without a translator or a clue as to how to conduct business in Rome.
When Bob reluctantly arrives at Janetta’s salon, Bella
Figura, for the complete makeover Connie had scheduled for them prior to
their breakup, Janetta concludes that Bob is a hopeless loser who desperately
needs her makeover magic if he's ever going to have any chance of selling his
invention. When Bob tells her that Connie is no longer accompanying him to
Rome, Janetta lies and says that Connie must be crazy. Why any girl would love
to go to Rome with him. Janetta muses that she loves the Eternal City so much
that she’d go to Rome with Satan if he asked her.
After Bob learns that Janetta has two weeks off and speaks
Italian, he presents her with a deal: He will pay her to accompany him to Rome
to serve as his translator. At first hesitant, she agrees but soon learns that
the devil is in the details as she and Bob clash over nearly everything from
fashion to food to faith.
When they finally arrive in Rome, Janetta learns that Bob
plans to drag her along on his pilgrimage of visiting the four major Roman
basilicas. A lapsed Catholic, Janetta wants no part of this, but she acquiesces
when she learns that Bob has a dual purpose for his trip to Rome: selling his
invention and praying for a miracle for his infant niece, Anastasia, who was
born with a congenital heart defect.
Reluctantly, Janetta accompanies Bob on his tour of the
Roman churches, and her conscience and past begins to plague her, but no so
much so that she doesn’t fall for Bob’s Italian counterpart, the Italian
businessman, handsome Giuliano Legato. When her reckless ways ignite a
catastrophe that jeopardizes everything Bob has worked for and dreamed of
accomplishing, she learns that there is more depth to Bob than she’d assumed,
and that she is the one who is desperate need of a makeover—of her life.
Laughter, tears, and love flow like the Trevi Fountain as
Janetta, with the help an unlikely aide, St. Joseph, finds her true herself,
her true faith, and her true love in Rome.
About the Author
Janice Lane Palko has been a writer
for more than 20 years working as an editor, columnist, freelance writer,
teacher, lecturer, and novelist.
She is currently the executive editor for both Northern Connection and Pittsburgh Fifty-Five Plus magazines and the lead writer for the website
PopularPittsburgh.com. She has had numerous articles published in publications
such as The Reader’s Digest, Guideposts
for Teens, Woman’s World, The Christian Science Monitor, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and St. Anthony Messenger. Her work has
also been featured in the books A Cup of
Comfort for Inspiration, A Cup of Comfort for Expectant Mothers, and Chicken Soup for the Single’s Soul.
Our Lady of the Roses is a spinoff from her first
novel, St. Anne's Day, a romantic comedy. She has also written
the Christmas novel, A Shepherd's Song,
and the romantic suspense novels, Cape
Cursed and the award-winning Most Highly Favored Daughter. Currently, she is working on another
romantic suspense called Mother of Sorrows.
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