Writing fiction for the first time under her own name, Mary Bly (you may know her as Eloisa James) transports her readers to the beautiful, sunny, fragrant island of Elba off the coast of Italy in LIZZIE & DANTE, an insightful and hope-filled love story as bighearted as it is heart-rending.

Former foster child Lizzie Delford was once known for her love of sharing drinks and spirited discussions about Shakespeare and writing with her friends. With her big brassy voice, tousled curls, picture-perfect friendship with Grey and respected career as a Shakespeare professor at Fordham University, Lizzie had it all figured out. But that was two years ago, and since then, she has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. With round after round of chemotherapy bringing no success, Lizzie has slowly started getting rid of her possessions, distancing herself from her friends, and refusing new medications and therapies. Simply put, she is tired of fighting and hoping, and is ready to face each day as it comes until her last one.

It’s pure luck when Grey’s movie-star boyfriend, Rohan, decides to direct a reimagined Romeo & Juliet focused on toxic masculinity, teenage sex and the overwhelming sense of place that comes with Midwestern high schools. Who better to accompany him than Fordham’s expert on Shakespeare? It is through Rohan and Grey that Lizzie finds herself summering in a luxurious seaside resort in Elba, tanning on the beach --- it turns out that skin cancer is not a huge concern for the dying --- drinking Elba wine and...falling in love? With Elba, certainly. With Lily, the stray dog that burrows into her lap as she naps on a public beach, sure. With Lily’s sardonic owner? Not a chance.

"A powerful story about choosing to live and the courage it takes to do so, dying or not, and the extravagance of a life well-lived, LIZZIE & DANTE is without a doubt the best book of summer 2021."

When Lizzie meets Dante, she is not at all interested in flirting with a dashing Italian man --- though she has no qualms about ogling him as he runs on the beach (she is dying, after all!). Like a romantic hero fresh out of the pages of a romance novel, Dante tries to instigate a conversation about her choice of beach reading, ROMEO & JULIET. But Lizzie, under no pretenses of time or flings or impressing anyone, responds with her signature irreverent humor. Before long, the two strike up a careful friendship full of witty quips, deep conversations and, of course, rich Italian food. Dante is no random Italian stud, but a famous chef who takes his privacy on his beloved island very seriously. Eschewing the yachts and celebrities that come with traveling to Italy with a literal movie star, Lizzie finds herself spending more and more time with Dante and his precocious 12-year-old daughter, Etta.

But this is no stereotypical romance. Lizzie has two things that other romantic heroines don’t have: a terminal diagnosis of months, maybe years, and a best friend whose love for her is tempered only by his resounding anger at her stubbornness. As Lizzie cavorts with Dante, trades stories and life lessons with Etta, and challenges Rohan’s perceptions of Shakespeare, she and Grey grapple with a lifetime of friendship crammed into 30 short years. Once lovers, always best friends and now warriors in a fight against the inevitable, they have seen it all, from sex to breakups to chemo. While Lizzie is content to have one last hurrah in Elba, Grey is not so quick to give in. Mary Bly weaves Lizzie’s steamy romance with an equally love-filled journey of friendship for a combination that is full to bursting with heart and hope.

LIZZIE & DANTE is an utter gem of a novel, a glorious exploration of the power of love and the strength of one woman faced with the unimaginable masked as a beach read full of wine, sex and food. (There’s plenty of that too, don’t worry!) Bly effortlessly immerses her readers in Elba: the black sand beaches, the aromatic street fairs, and the humid beaches bordered by crystalline waters. Through Dante, she explores the rich cultural history of Elba and evokes a real sense of place for her readers, allowing the book’s plot to play out seamlessly against the sun-dappled villas and historic monasteries.

From there, Bly lets her protagonist do the talking, sweeping readers off their feet with her bold, cheeky personality and heartbreaking encounter with her own mortality. When she meets Dante, their love feels inevitable, but Bly doesn’t toy with insta-love, instead crafting a satisfying, believable love story that feels so grounded, strong and life-changing that everything else --- the gorgeous vistas of Italy, the horrors of Lizzie’s diagnosis --- almost fall away...until they can’t.

Found family is a huge theme in LIZZIE & DANTE. From foster kids Lizzie and Grey to motherless Etta and even Dante, a man fighting against his family’s name and reputation, every single character is fully realized, wonderfully relatable and, above all, an absolute delight to read. I’d be remiss to not describe Etta more fully in this review, because she was a true highlight. Mischievous, hilarious and desperate for a mother’s love, she was every bit as central to the novel as Lizzie and Dante, and perhaps 10 times as funny. As quickly as I was swept away by Lizzie’s love affair with Dante and her friendship with Grey, it was her mothering of Etta --- against the realities of time, location and sickness --- that took my breath away.

As Dante says in one of the novel’s most powerful scenes, “Grief is a gift. Grief means that you threw your heart into life and lived it fiercely. Suffering is a gift.” Reading this book is by no means an act of suffering, but there is plenty of grief and, as Dante explains it, plenty of heart, life and fierceness to match it. A powerful story about choosing to live and the courage it takes to do so, dying or not, and the extravagance of a life well-lived, LIZZIE & DANTE is without a doubt the best book of summer 2021. I cannot wait to see what else Mary Bly has up her sleeve.