To sum this up in one word, DELIGHTFUL. The story itself was so cozy and captivating but the narration really helps teleport you to this wacky Italian village. I can’t get over how charming and quirky this little gem was. I bought a print copy as well, but the audio kept calling me back. The first 1/3 was a little slow moving but it does help set the scene for the last 2/3 where the pace picks up. So stick it out! I wish it got a little weirder but I think that’s just personal preference and I saw a lot of potential. I want to live in this community where people can set differences aside and come together for the greater good, selflessly.

I did not get the chance to finish listening to this before it was archived. I will be borrowing it from my library and then updating my review

A fun and engaging audiobook through and through, thank you to the publisher Hachette Audio/Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced audio copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Set in an idyllic and fantastical Italian town, Tartufo was a bright, humorous, and joyful novel to listen to, containing a surprising amount of depth and larger than life cast of characters.

I enjoyed the narration by Caroline Hewitt from start to finish. The only thing keeping this book from elevating to a 5-star read for me is the novel got a bit slow in the middle. I felt engaged still thanks to the imaginative writing and scenery being described in each page, but I found myself a time or two zoning out and wishing for a little more action. It was still a good listen with very dynamic characters, including perspectives from some of the animals living throughout the village.

I especially loved the storyline of the new mayor and the ending soared, leaving the book in a great place... but I could almost see a second novel or this one becoming a series, which I would definitely be interested in continuing to see what adventures the characters go on next.

This book published February 11, 2025 and I highly encourage anyone who enjoys audiobooks or is looking for a good one to try to give this book a chance.

Wow, I have never read this author before and I will absolutely be buying her other books. The sensory detail and imagery that she infuses into scene painting this little Italian village and the fantastic characters living in it really took me on a journey. Romance, humor, and little delights fill its pages and the narrator’s beautifully accented English was a real treat. Loved it!

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this book!

Wow!! I could not stop listening to this audio! It had me hooked from the very first chapter! The narrator did great! Such great writing style!

Thank you Netgalley for this arc. The narration was well done. I love the Italian and accents. The storyline was really well told and I gave this a 4 stars.

At turns heartfelt and absurd, Tartufo is the story of one town, a mushroom, and the havoc that can come from worldwide attention. Every Character is so beautifully constructed and there were so many moments that I laughed out loud. In the end, you are rooting for every single person and hoping that they can all find a way back to themselves and each other.

My post-apocalyptic book club has read and enjoyed Kira Jane Buxton's Hollow Kingdom and Feral Creatures. Though this is not a post-apocalyptic novel, I still wanted to give it a try.

I'm not really sure what genre it would fit best into. The Hollow Kingdom series is xenofiction and while we do get a few animals narrating pieces of the stories (usually scenery or scene-setting such as the bee who narrators the activity at the castle during the festival prep) Tartufo isn't totally told from the point-of-view of a non-human. I really liked the animal characters and their observations. The puppy's zest for life always brought a little smile to my face. He might never be a great truffle hunter but he will provide plenty of entertainment.

I think it was going for humorous fiction and there were a couple of scenes that could be funny. Plus the whole plot revolves around a giant, stinky white truffle, which sounds comical. I think I laughed once, maybe twice - usually at a particularly witty piece of dialogue. There is a puppy too that provides some comic relief. But it isn't a laugh-a-minute type story - there are definitely some very serious moments.

The audiobook was well done. I enjoyed Caroline Hewitt's narration. She did well with the different characters.

I felt kind of sad for the town of Lazzarini Boscarino. You might have heard that you can buy a house in Italy for $1. I'm not sure if you could buy one for just a dollar, I do know that they really do a program that allows you to buy a house for really cheap as I had a friend buy a house for something like $10,000. The reason the houses are cheap is that most need work and the the towns are dying due to the aging population and lack of employment opportunities. The town in this book actually has a castle that the owners are willing to give away to anyone willing to restore it.

While Tartufo is not what I was expecting, I did enjoy listening to it. By the way, I looked up tarufo to see what it meant. It is an Italian recipes made with gelato. All Recipes has an easy recipe that uses ice cream that looks pretty easy if you like to pair a snack with your reading.

My review will be published at Girl Who Reads on Wednesday - https://www.girl-who-reads.com/2025/02/tartufo-by-kira-jane-buxton-audiobook.html

I love Italy and have visited twice, so I enjoyed the idea of this small Tuscan village and the characters that make up the community. Parts of the story were drug out a little too much, but overall this was a fun, easy read.

Gosh, I hate writing this review. I LOVED Kira Jane Buxton's debut "Hollow Kingdom" so much. I pressed it into so many hands after finishing. I was thrilled to learn last fall that she had a new standalone novel coming out. I was lucky enough to snag an ALC via Netgalley and immediately dove in... only to be left wanting. I don't know if it was the narrator that didn't work for me or the book itself, but I am leaning mostly narrator. The voice just didn't match the narrative for me. However, I also felt as though there were far too many characters to juggle and keep track of, with some standing out more than others. I thoroughly enjoyed the truffle hunter and his dogs (Buxton writes outstanding animal characters), and the newly minted mayor, but others were hard to keep straight. Perhaps if I revisit this in print my opinion will change, as I've often read and enjoyed slice of life novels about similar small towns. For now, I am giving it 2.5 stars as it felt like I had to drag myself through it, but am reserving the right to change that upon a second reading!

Tartufo is a charming story of a Tuscan village's quest to sell a gigantic truffle to fund the repair of a beloved Nonna's home. It took me about a second to get into, around the 15% mark. The prose is very descriptive, often from the point of view of an animal or a fungal spore, and that did take getting used to. The characters are captivating, and I adored them early. The humor of this could be subtle at times, and then there were outright fart jokes. These characters are somehow both caricatures and simultaneously believable in their absurdity. A universally beloved donkey almost winning the election to be mayor just makes sense, as much so as the actual mayor regretting her decision to run in the first place. This is a feel-good, cozy story of love, truffles, and small town revival. I wholeheartedly recommend this one.
I both read the ebook and listened to the audiobook. There are a lot of Italian words sprinkled throughout the text. I read Italian a lot better than I understand it when spoken, so I enjoyed the ebook more at no fault of the narrator.
Thanks to NetGalley, Grand Central Publishing, and Hachette Audio for this delightful ARC!!!!

Thank you, NetGalley, for an advanced audio copy of Tartufo in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton, so when I saw a new book from her I had to check it out.

What I liked:
-It was charming with lovable characters
-The voice given to the animal characters is utter perfection
-The audio narration was fantastic. I know I would have been mispronouncing most names and places, so the authentic Italian narration was 👌🏻

What I didn’t love:
-It wasn’t as LOL funny as Hollow Kingdom
-Character centric focus (vs plot) to start, which was harder to get into

I really wanted to love this one - the cover is gorgeous, the description sounds like so much fun, etc. etc., but the writing style just wasn't working for me. I had a hard time getting engaged, and I think, in part, the audio version + cast of characters at the beginning made it hard to figure out what was happening.

Tartufo by Kira Jane Buxton is a fantastical, uproariously funny romp through a dying Italian village that feels both charming and absurd. The story follows the quirky residents of Lazzarini Boscarino, where nearly losing the mayoral election to a wildly popular, elderly donkey named Maurizio sets the stage for a series of delightfully bizarre events. Buxton paints a vivid picture of a town in decline—abandoned ristorantes, disgraced postmen, and a town hall overrun with misfortune—while the local hangout, Bar Celebrità, becomes the heart of the community.

The twist comes when truffle hunter Giovanni Scarpazza unearths a giant, otherworldly truffle that promises to either be the village’s greatest blessing or its worst curse, depending on an admittedly murky psychic reading. While the idea is delightfully offbeat and the ensemble cast of characters is as colorful as they come, there are a few hiccups along the way. Some plot elements feel a bit overcooked, but the overall blend of satire, whimsy, and heartfelt reflection on life's interconnectedness shines through.

A thoroughly entertaining read that left me smiling despite a couple of rough patches—definitely a 4-star adventure worth savoring.

A very fun and comical listen about a down on their luck Italian village and the events that ensue to try to turn it around! Definitely worth the fun listen with a chaotic and hilarious cast of characters

Clever, charming, and (mercifully) far less absurdist than I was expecting.

I really did not love Hollow Kingdom but decided to give Buxton’s work another try after seeing the premise for this one, and I’m so glad I did. This is just an infinitely better book, especially if (like me) you really hate nonsense fiction.

This is, to begin, actually very funny. It’s clever and a bit of a spoof without veering into full absurdism, and it’s also a very sweet story about friendship and companionship and how they don’t always show up in the forms we expect.

Despite all being a touch ridiculous save for our protagonist (the story’s straight man to his supporting cast’s comedic roles), the characters are fairly well developed and likable rather than irritating, as comic fools can unfortunately sometimes be.

My lone complaint is that this book is significantly too long for the style and type of story. I actually think all comic novels need to be short, but that’s especially true of anything that touches on farce.

Tartufo is a quirky novel about a giant truffle and a dying rural town in Italy. There is an interesting band of characters, human and animal alike, that tell this story. I had a hard time getting into this story at the beginning as I did not relate to it. As the story went on it was much more engaging for me. The audiobook was a better option for me and added the authenticity of the Italian experience. The narrator was well chosen for this novel as she added an authentic sound.

Thank you NetGalley, Kira Jane Buxton and Hachette Audio for the opportunity to preview this audiobook and the opinions shared are my own.

I love Italy and the Tuscany region is beautiful. This is the setting for this book. It is a quirky cast of characters in this small and dying village. Giuseppina, who works at the ristorante, sees a psychic who tells her things are about to change in a big way. Giovanni, the local truffle hunter, is out searching for truffles and comes across the most rare and valuable white truffle, worth a fortune. According the Guiseppina's psychic, this will change things but for the better or it could be a curse.

The narration was entertaining but for me it was a bit far-fetched and hard to follow - the importance of smells, pheromones, bugs that pee or fart on plants and change the flavor - a little too fantastical for me.

My thanks to Net Galley, Grand Central Publishing and Hachette Audio for an advanced copy of this audio book.

Tartufo is a slow meandering story. I love the author's style, how spot on her metaphors are and how beautifully this novel is written. There are sections of the book that shine with wit and insight - sometimes long scenes and other times a random sentence. The narrator of Tartufo is fabulous, I highly recommend the audiobook. Thank you to NetGalley for this advanced audiobook in return for my honest opinion.

Happy pub day to this quirky read! Thanks to Grand Central, Hachette Audio, and NetGalley for early reader and listener copies in exchange for my honest opinion. I started by listening to the audio, and I thought the narration, including the Italian accents, made the story more fun, so I mostly listened, following along in the ebook at times.
Tartufo translates to truffle, and this book follows the discovery of a massive truffle and the auction that the unknown town of Lazzarini Boscarino, which is in need of money, holds to sell it. If you aren’t aware, truffles are some of the most expensive foods, as they are hard to find and grow, and they do not last for a long time, so time is of the essence in this book. While it took a little while to get going, I really enjoyed this story and giggled quite a bit while listening.
I’ve had truffle fries and pasta with truffles, and I personally love truffle cheese. Trader Joe’s makes an excellent one - it’s super flavorful! I have heard about truffle hunting, but this book gave a good mix of information along with a fun story. One of my favorite parts of the story were the interactions between the humans and the side character animals: Aria the truffle-hunting dog, Maurizio the donkey that ran for mayor, and, my favorite, Al Pacino, the seemingly always-pregnant female cat
This was my first time reading this author, and I have seen great things about her previous book, Hollow Kingdom, so I’ve added that to my TBR. The book is available now, and I recommend it and the audiobook!