With a colorful historical setting, The Fisherman's Daughter by Melinda Sue Sanchez, offers a love story set against an intriguing backdrop.  I've read a number of WWII books, but none set in Italy, so I enjoyed this aspect of the novel.  Despite its tension-filled setting, though, The Fisherman's Daughter gets off to a slow start.  A very slow start.  The action picks up in the last 3/4 of the book, but the rest of the tale is a bit of a slog.  Although both Marianna and Massimo are perfectly nice characters, they're a little too perfect, making them seem flat and dull.  Neither has much in the way of a personality.  Plus, although they talk an awful lot about the chemistry flaming between them, I never actually felt any.  To me, their relationship seems insta-lovey and melodramatic.  I appreciate The Fisherman's Daughter for its interesting setting as well as for its uplifting themes and restrained, yet realistic depictions of war; however, its slow pacing and underdeveloped characters bug.  Overall, then, this turned out to be just an okay read for me.  Oh well.