The writing and descriptions in this book were so lovely, and the characters were bright, funny, and completely loveable. I wanted to eat this up and adore every minute of it, but the story seemed to drag with the lack of stakes or a plot until way into the second half. I would suggest this book for readers of up-lit who also moonlight as foodies.

I expected this to be more laugh-out-loud funny, but it's the kind of funny where I'm still remembering conversations and picturing incidents and chuckling later. Small town politics can be hilarious, but there was also a lot of feeling here. There was a competition that felt really important but in the end, it was the relationships that counted. It's hard when the world is moving on and leaving your small town behind, but this was realistic and hopeful.

Tartufo by Kira Jane Buxton is a riotous, sharp-toothed delight—equal parts absurd comedy, literary satire, and heartfelt examination of art, ego, and the human (and not-so-human) condition. Buxton has a singular voice, and in Tartufo, she unleashes it with gleeful precision. The titular character—a pompous, scene-stealing dog—narrates with Shakespearean flair and a ridiculous amount of charm, skewering the world of theater and literature while accidentally revealing deep truths about love, loss, and legacy.

Buxton’s wit is razor-sharp, and her prose is bursting with clever wordplay, theatrical absurdities, and lovingly crafted chaos. Beneath the humor, though, is a surprisingly tender core. She explores the fragility of artistic ambition and the desperation to be remembered, even if it’s through the unlikeliest of narrators. The pacing is energetic, the satire lands beautifully, and somehow, amid the hilarity, Buxton manages to tug at the heartstrings without ever veering into sentimentality.

I'm a sucker for a tale set in Italy, and I enjoyed many aspects of this book. If you're in the mood for something light and set in a quirky Italian town, this may be for you. I stumbled at times over the language and the pacing was slow in spots, but I enjoyed the escape, and thank Netgalley and the publishing company for this Advanced Readers Copy.

This book was so bogged down by flowery language, over the top descriptions, and near constant similes that it was almost unreadable. Mix all of that with a staggering amount of characters and Hallmark movie humor and it all gets to be way too much. While I had to force myself to finish it I seem to be in the minority based on other reviews I’ve seen so maybe it just caught me at the wrong time.

A fu sort of slapstick comedy set in a dying Italian village. The writing was love and evocative and the characters fun and the plot silly but not a lot of substance to grab onto.

A great balance between the literary and the fluffy - it was a charming book with well-realized characters and a well-told story. Very charming and I would highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in food, Europe, or good stories.

The Village of Lazzarini Boscarino is an absolute delight—charming, humorous, and beautifully written. With a quirky cast (including a donkey nearly elected mayor and a cat named Al Pacino), decadent food, and a heartwarming small-town atmosphere, it’s a joy to read.

This is EXACTLY the book I needed to read in 2025. Cozy escapist setting, quirky characters, witty and charming as hell, and it made me cry. A small town in rural Tuscany seems to be on its way out; its population is aging, its money is dwindling, and tourists don't visit anymore. So when a local finds the largest truffle in history, it's exactly what the town needs. But are they ready for that kind of spotlight to be shined on their local drama? I haven't stopped thinking about Tartufo since I finished it. I already want to read it again.

Thank you to Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for the complimentary ebook. I hate to say that this was a disappointment for me, but it was not what I was expecting from Kira Jane Buxton. It was all fluff, overly long (and overly florid) descriptive prose, and no real bite. The characters were caricatures, and it all just felt silly. Quixotic books are NOT my jam, though. So if you like cozy, flowery, you know what you’re getting into at every turn and recognize the archetypes of comfort reads, this might be a great pick! It was absolutely not what I was expecting or endeavoring to read.😁

I LOVED this book! It was a really fun little story about a small village. The characters came to life. It made me want to take a trip to Italy. The mystery was well written and the plot fast paced.

This is the review I gave for reading the audiobook version of this. Tartufo is a beautifully written novel about one of the many Tuscan mountain towns that is facing expensive, serious challenges as their way of life no longer appeals to the young citizens who have left and the ability to generate income is minimal as the population ages. And then, a lonely truffle hunter finds what may be the largest white truffle in ever found in the world. The novel has a slapstick feel quite often and I think that's why I put it down a lot because slapstick makes me nervous. The ways the truffle is in constant danger and the incredible cast of characters including the mayor, who is taking all steps she can to save the town. She barely won the office when she ran against an old donkey. There are family feuds, numerous dreams, a wacko priest outcasts, goats, a favorite cat, a former villager who took advantage of all he learned in the town to become a world famous chef. There are old decaying buildings full of history and old decaying people: same.

I found the novel slow at times but kept picking up my phone and listening some more to Carolyn Hewitt's exceptional narration complete with accents and voices that always pleased. Overall, the novel is something of a morality tale of the best kind. Of learning what was good all along even if there had never been a truffle. Of gaining sophistication and maintaining and improving relationships through the shared experience. Think of it: Truffles deteriorate in a very short time, so the need to move quickly and what it takes to make it happen is a mix of genius, reputation, luck and cooperation. I probably would rate this 3.5 stars but up to 4. I think this was personal and had to do with things that are less my thing than it might be for others. I would definitely recommend it and it did make my think of my trip to Tuscany many years ago with pleasure.

This is a review of the audiobook..

A warm hug of a novel, I completely and totally fell in love with the village and all of its inhabitants. I could read six more novels if Buxton turned into a series, and I can't wait to go to Tuscany one day - not only did she give voice to her characters, she gave a soul to the area and its nature. Just as brilliant as her first two books!

In a small Italian village, but not the one you are thinking of, there is a restaurant. It’s not the one you are thinking of. This one is closed, that one is one town over. There is also a Truffle expert, but not the one you are thinking of. The other Truffle experts live in the next town over. There is a mayor who was once a veterinarian, who almost lost the mayoral race to a donkey. Once a child running barefoot through the village, she was also the mayor’s daughter. There is a grandmother who is everybody’s grandmother, who teaches her granddaughter how to cook, took in local couple Giovanni and Paolo when family rejected them, oh and her house was almost taken out by an avalanche. That’s not forgetting the local truffle hunter, the disgraced postmaster and the volatile, somewhat, landlady of the last remaining bar in town.

In Tartufo Kira Jane Buxton paints a picture of small town Italian life that is a tapestry of the absurd and the wonderful, the insane and the beautiful. Full of endearing characters and sumptuous descriptions, we are drawn into the life of the village of Lazzarini Boscarino, and where others may only stop here for directions to the next town over, I may never want to leave.

Having fallen on hard times, the town is hoping for a miracle. When that miracle comes, it is in the form of the world’s largest truffle. As truffle mania grips the village, the surrounding towns, and the restaurant world, literally across the world, we journey with each denizen of the village, current and former, through the trials and tribulations of what it is to decline and rally again and again. What it is to truly be a community.

Part of the charm and greatness of this book is how the story unfolds, spoilers would indeed spoil it. So I will speak of the mushrooms instead of the unfolding storylines. Mushrooms have long held a fascination for me, since before The Last of Us I have been charmed by foraging for fungi, and wistfully dreaming of magical toadstools. Put a mushroom on something and I will decorate my house with it, or wear it. One of the things I love about mushrooms is the vast world that lies under the surface of the dirt. It speaks to my soul in a way that reminds me of the interconnectedness of the people around me, the life around me. Buxton is a mushroom lover after my heart, who puts words to things I have felt.

Along with fungi, Buxton enjoys writing about animals, and while Tartufo focuses on people, she uses their animals to great effect. Her first novels, Hollow Kingdom and Feral Creatures, focused on a crow at the beginning of the end of the world. Her offbeat sense of humor is just as present in the village residents of Tartufo as it was in the creatures of her first books. She uses wonderful descriptions of the animals in her books, but she also describes their relationships with the world they live in, and what they are thinking. I still have not read her first two books, though they appeal to me in so many ways, mostly because as a rule I don’t like books told from the perspective of animals. But having read Tartufo, and the beautiful and engaging thoughts of Giovannis’ dog, I am determined finally to read her earlier works. She has won me over with her words.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed reading this book. It felt comforting, like coming home on a warm Spring day, but also deep, like how a really good conversation over a glass of wine feels. I cannot stress this enough; it is the perfect piece of escapism for a world gone mad. With extensive scene setting and character introduction, the first half of the book does move at a slower pace, but once the Truffle is uncovered it quickly becomes a page turning race to the conclusion of the story. You will find yourself laughing and weeping along with the characters, and will take them with you even when you leave their pages behind. I find myself like the redoubtable Giuseppina wanting “everyone to fall for the charm of Lazzarini Boscarino. For the magic and beauty in the simplicity of small village life.”

GeekMom received a copy of this book for review purposes.

Kira Jane Buxton’s Tartufo is a hilarious and unexpectedly heartwarming novel that reads like a love letter to eccentric small-town communities, truffle hunting, and the absolute chaos that ensues when a village stumbles upon something that just might change their fate.

Tartufo delivers plenty of laugh-out-loud moments alongside surprisingly tender reflections on community, resilience, and the strange magic of nature. If you love books that mix humor, heart, and a little bit of chaos, this one is well worth the read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers Copy of Tartufo by Kira Jane Buxton!

This book was a good time! This is a cast of hilarious characters that have you cheering them on! Funny circumstances could be seen as ridiculous but it totally works here!

Included in BookTrib Chill Quill monthly round-up: https://booktrib.com/2025/01/29/the-chill-quill-witches-hauntings-and-dark-thrills/

Lazzarini Boscarino. A small Italian town on the brink of death because all of the young people move away, leaving only a precious few. Struggling to keep the town alive, the new mayor searches for a way to keep things going. When the largest ever white truffle is rooted out nearby, this tiny town is about to be bombarded by the worldwide media, celebrity chefs, and thieves. Will Lazzarini Boscarino survive? You'll have to read this to find out!

I have followed Kira Jane Buxton since her first book Hollow Kingdom. Her offbeat sense of humor is always present-she's hilarious. But what I like most about her work is its connected-ness. We are all connected to the world. We do not exist as islands, the things we do as individuals and as a people have ripple effects throughout. This concept is at the heart of Hollow Kingdom and its sequel. That concept is not the heart of this story, but it is here. Perhaps in the form of a bee, flying from room to room in search of tasty treats and overhearing the human conversations as she buzzes by. Perhaps in the form of a street cat named Al Pacino as she flows through the tiny streets of town, pregnant once again, and privy to many small town secrets. Perhaps in just the intoxicating scent of a white truffle as it floats through the air, pheromones inciting romance...and other things.

The cast of characters here was positively delightful and I especially admired Guisepinna, the fiery town bartender and rather obnoxious beauty. The recently widowed Giovanni just wanted to be left alone with his truffle hunting dogs because that's all he had left. The entire town was charming as hell and this reader couldn't help but fall in love with this tiny corner of Tuscany.

Full of laughs, nature's beauty, terrific Italian dishes, and fiery Italian tempers, Tartufo was utterly delightful. Beautifully written with a love of humanity and nature, I think this is going to be one that I read over and over again.

My highest recommendation!

*ARC from publisher

There's a lot going on in this lively tale about a giant truffle invigorating the denizens of a down-on-its-luck Italian village. There's a large cast of characters--many zany and memorable--and a steady, if uneven, narrative. I enjoyed it.

The residents of Lazzarini Boscarino don't know what to do anymore. No tourists visit their sleepy enclave--unless the GPS leads them there by accident on this way to Borghese, the thriving down near them which includes a Michelin-starred restaurant run by Umberto. The local bar is run down and the villagers are uninspired and just going through their daily motions. Yet, when a local truffle-hunting dog discovers a big white truffle, the town must protect it from nefarious forces so they can cash in and reinvigorate their town.

Small-town hijinks ensue and many of them are funny. I still found that the extensive description and quirky cast of characters, at times, took away from the emotional component of the book. Still, if you're a fan of whimsical comedic tales and the endurance of the human spirit, check out this one. You might enjoy it!