​Join us for this tour from April 23 to May 11, 2018!

Book Details:

Book Title:  Sass, Smarts, and Stilettos: How Italian Women Make the Ordinary Extraordinary by Gabriella Contestabile
Category:  Adult Non-Fiction,  201  pages
Genre: Travel / Arts / Fashion / Self-help
Publisher:  Sumisura Publications
Release date:  November 2017
Format available for review: print & ebook (PDF)
Will send print books out: internationally
Tour dates: April 23 to May 11, 2018
Content Rating: G (No violence. No swear words. No sex scenes.)

Book Description:

Ah, that inimitable Italian style. It’s embedded in an Italian woman’s DNA. Fashion doesn’t define her. She defines herself. She knows an extraordinary life is not about status, money, or achievement. The only mastery it requires is one her heritage has given her, the irrepressible passion to make art of life itself.

Ask an Italian woman where she gets her sense of style and she will tell you it’s not about labels. It’s tethered to humble roots; humanity, community, conscious consumerism, and a profound appreciation for art in all its forms.

Sass, Smarts and Stilettos takes the reader on a journey from the humble hill towns of Abruzzo to the revered fashion capitals of Milan and Rome, into the artisan workshops of Florence, and the humanistic business practices of Luisa Spagnoli, Brunello Cuccinelli, and Alberta Ferretti, from the emergence of Italy’s fashion industry after WWII, to slow food and sustainable fashion initiatives taking root around the world.

Life lessons echo in the words of the author’s mother and grandmother, in the voices of Italian film divas, designers, tastemakers, writers, and artisans across generations, from the first Sala Bianca in Florence to the game changing design ethic of Franca Sozzani, Miuccia Prada, and Donatella Versace.

​Learn how to live fully within your own philosophy of living. Say good-bye to mindless consumerism, emotional clutter, and others’ expectations. Create a personal style that fits like a custom blazer by Ferrè and enchants like the colors of a Sicilian sunset. Then go on to craft an extraordinary and empowering life made-to-measure for you alone.

Buy the Book:
Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Chapters Indigo ~ Kobo
Add to Goodreads
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Meet the Author:

Gabriella Contestabile is the author of the novel, The Artisan’s Star, and owner of Su Misura (Made to Measure) Journeys; a boutique travel concept for the female traveler who relishes off-the-beaten-track adventures that celebrate the Italian way of life.

​The book/travel initiative has its roots in her pre-writer life as a foreign language teacher, later as Executive Director and Vice President of International Training in a number of global companies (including Estee Lauder, Shiseido, and Prada Beauty) where she would create immersive and unconventional learning experiences in unique settings around the world.

One of her favorite pastimes, wherever she is in the world, is to scout out the best, and most ‘Italian’ espresso in the hood. It requires multiple tastings, but that’s the idea. Gabriella was born in Italy, and raised in Ottawa and New York City, where she currently lives with her husband, her mother, and a furry Shih Tzu named Oreo.

Connect with the Author: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Instagram ~ LinkedIn

BOOK TOUR SCHEDULE:

April 23 - Working Mommy Journal - review / giveaway
April 23 - Writers and Authors - book spotlight / guest post
​April 24 - Essentially Italian - book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
April 24 - Olio by Marilyn - review / author interview / giveaway
April 25 - Two Points of Interest - review / giveaway
April 26 - Library of Clean Reads - review / giveaway
April 27 - Cheryl's Book Nook - review / giveaway
April 30 - #redhead.with.book - review / giveaway
May 2 -    Rockin' Book Reviews - review / guest post / giveaway
May 3 -    Suko's Notebook - review
May 4 -    Jaquo Lifestyle Magazine - review / giveaway
May 7 -    Jaquo Lifestyle Magazine - author interview / giveaway
May 7 -    Svetlana's Reads and Views - review
May 8 -    Thoughts on This 'n That - review / author interview
May 9 -    Ishiee's Book Blog - review / author interview / giveaway
May 10 -  Teabags and Happenstance - review / author interview
May 11 -  Jessica Cassidy - review / author interview / giveaway
May 11 -  30-something Travel - review / giveaway
TBD       -  The Book Maiden - review

Enter the Giveaway!
Ends May 19, 2018
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Join us for this book tour from April 20 to May 8! If you're interested in this tour leave a comment or contact us.

Book Details:

Book Title: The Artisan's Star by Gabriella Contestabile
Category: Adult fiction,  308 pages
Genre: General Fiction
Publisher: Stelle Publications
Published: Aug 24, 2014 
Available in: Print and e-Book format (mobi - for Kindle)
Will send books: Internationally
Tour dates:  April 20 to May 8, 2015
Content Rating: PG

About the book:

Elio Barati’s perfumery shop in Florence marks its entrance with a mosaic star. This shop immerses Elio in the artisanal world he loves, but he harbors a regret. As a young man he created a full-fledged perfume of jasmine, iris, and cypress at the renowned Ecole des Parfumeurs in Grasse—a fragrance his idealism and stubbornness boxed away before ever bringing it to light.

A second star now brightens Elio’s life, his daughter Romina, an artist. She has her father’s unrealized talent, a precise and intuitive sense of smell. She's also inherited more challenging traits of Elio's: unbridled ambition and an insatiable wonder for the world.

But changes ripple through modern-day Florence. Artisan traditions wane; and when Romina tells her father she has no intention of running the family business Elio fights to hold on to the Florence he cherishes. Confronting the lost opportunities of his youth, Elio is thrust into this journey by five spirited women: his Greek mother, Elena; his mentor Palma; his soul mate, Marina; his astronomer wife, Sofia; and finally his beautiful artist daughter, who like the city of her birth, shows him how tradition and modernity can and must co-exist.

Now he must alter his own path by harnessing the transformative powers of the fine and artisanal arts.


Buy the Book:

Amazon
Barnes & Noble

Meet the Author:

Gabriella Contestabile is an author, educator, and owner of SU MISURA JOURNEYS, a boutique travel company connecting people to the artisans of Florence. She emigrated, with her parents, from Italy to New York City in 1959. In her pre-writer life, she worked as a foreign language teacher, management development specialist, and fragrance/cosmetics executive. Gabriella is a strong advocate of the arts, of multiculturalism, and of social justice—a passion inspired by reading Dickens and Dante at a very young age. She has been an active volunteer with Dress for Success for over eight years and is a member of the Slow Food NYC Food and Farm Policy Task Force. She lives on the Upper West Side with her husband, her daughter, her mom, and a furry Shih–Tzu named Oreo. ‘ The Artisan’s Star’ is her first novel. She is currently working on a collection of short stories, also set in Italy, and a screenplay.




Connect with Gabriella: Website  ~ Twitter  ~ Amazon Author Page  ~  Su Misura  ~  Facebook


Tour Schedule:

April 20 - Library of Clean Reads - review / interview / giveaway
April 20 - Sarah Rehmatullah - review
April 21 - Working Mommy Journal - review / giveaway
April 22 - Book Stop Corner - review / author interview / giveaway
April 22 - allthingsbookie - review
April 22 - Packabook Travel Novels - review / author interview
April 23 -#redhead.with.book - review
April 23 - Essentially Italian - book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
April 24 - Young in Rome - review
April 27 - Il Mio Tesoro - review
April 28 - Studentessa Matta - review
April 30 - Griperang's Bookmarks - review / author interview / giveaway
May 1 - Hello, my name is Alice - review / guest post
May 4 - Italophilia - review / guest post
May 5 - Rockin' Book Reviews - review / giveaway
May 6 - Svetlana's Reads and Views - review
May 7 - Musings from Sri Lanka - review
May 8 - The Discerning Reader - review / giveaway
May 8 - Roughseasinthemed - review



Enter the Giveaway!