About the Book
Book: VINNY
Author: MaryAnn Diorio
Genre: Contemporary Romantic Suspense
Release Date: April 15, 2026
VINNY by MaryAnn Diorio
Book 1 in The South Philly Italians Romantic Suspense Series
Vinny Morello is on track for a promising career in the fine arts. But when tragedy suddenly hurls him headlong into a life-altering crisis, he faces a frightening fork in the road. Which one will he take? The road that leads to life or the road that leads to death?
VINNY is an edge-of-your-seat, romantic suspense story where tragedy and triumph merge into transformation. Don’t miss it!
Click here to get your copy!
About the Author
MaryAnn Diorio writes award-winning fiction from a quaint small town in New Jersey where neighbors still chat while walking their dogs, families and friends gather on wide, wrap-around porches, and the charming downtown finds kids licking lollipops and old married folks holding hands. A Jersey girl at heart, MaryAnn is a huge fan of Jersey diners, Jersey tomatoes, and the Jersey shore.
More from MaryAnn
All Things Italian
by MaryAnn Dorio
I grew up in a home where Italian was my mother tongue. My late mother, one of the first war brides of World War II, was an immigrant from the romantic city of Naples, Italy. When I was born, she knew no English. So, we communicated in Italian. Although my mother eventually learned English, she and I always spoke in Italian until she passed away.
When I went off to college, I majored in French and minored in Italian. After I graduated, I spent a year of study at the University of Florence in Italy, earning my Master’s degree in Italian Language and Literature. Afterward, I taught Italian at the university level here in the States.
From my earliest days, Italy was a big part of my culture and of my heart. And it still is. It is no wonder then that I gravitate to writing fiction with an Italian flair. This is the milieu I know and understand best. It is the milieu I love. And I want to share it with you through my stories.
But, my fiction is far more than Italian. It is universal. In other words, it deals with issues that pertain to all of us humans. Issues of pride, rebellion, lust, and greed. Issues of deception, betrayal, hatred, and fear. Issues that result from our failure to love.
When you read my stories, you will travel to the deepest places of the human heart. Places you might not want to go to because they are places of pain, of confrontation, of facing our past and our sin. But they are also places of truth where you will find the freedom from the past and from sin that only truth brings. For my stories not only explore the deepest issues of the human heart; they show you how to overcome them through Jesus Christ.
Won’t you join me on this entertaining journey of exploration and transformation? If you do, I have a feeling that at the end of my stories, you will discover that you have become a far better person than you were at the beginning.
Interview with the Author
- What literary pilgrimages have you gone on?
While I haven’t gone on formal literary pilgrimages per se, I have visited all of the settings which I write about in my stories.I lived in Italy for year and visited areas of the entire peninsula as well as Sicily. My trilogy titled The Italian Chronicles reflects my experience living in this beautiful, exotic country. Also, my mother is a native Italian with whom I spoke in Italian all of my life. Italian is my native tongue.Currently, I live about 10-15 minutes from South Philly’s Little Italy, about 30 minutes from where I was born and raised.
I have also spent summers at the Jersey shore, the setting for my series titled The Wives of Old Cape May.
- What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel?
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn - How do you select the names of your characters?
Most of the time, they just pop into my head. In my current romantic suspense series, The South Philly Italians, I chose names common among Italian-Americans, especially Italians from Little Italy in South Philly. - What was your hardest scene to write?
The scene when Vinny has to identify his dead brother’s body at the morgue. - What is your favorite childhood book?
The Bobbsey Twins series. - If you had to do something differently as a child or teenager to become a better writer as an adult, what would you do?
I would seek the mentorship of an author who writes fiction. - What comes first, the plot or characters?
The character. Plot flows out of character. - Who is the author you most admire in your genre?
DiAnn Mills - What do you like to do when you are not writing?
I love to paint in oils and acrylics. - If you could invite one person to dinner, who would it be and what would you cook?
I would invite a homeless person from the streets of South Philly, and I would cook filet mignon with seasoned roasted potatoes, buttered broccoli, a tossed salad, and cannoli for dessert.
Blog Stops
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, May 9
Simple Harvest Reads, May 10 (Author Interview)
Texas Book-aholic, May 11
Artistic Nobody, May 12 (Author Interview)
For Him and My Family, May 13
Guild Master, May 14 (Author Interview)
Blogging With Carol, May 15
History, Hope & Happily Ever After, May 16 (Author Interview)
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, May 16
Pause for Tales, May 17
Fiction Book Lover, May 18 (Author Interview)
Cover Lover Book Review, May 19
Books, Books, & More Books, May 20 (Author Interview)
A Modern Day Fairy Tale, May 21 (Author Interview)
Mary Hake, May 21
Books Less Travelled, May 22 (Author Interview)
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour MaryAnn is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon Gift Card and a print copy of the book!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.