Having lost my own father two years ago, this book was very emotionally charged for me as Mia is sent away to Ischia by her dying father so that she won't be there at the end. This makes the book stand out as something different from the usual chick-lit fare and wasn't at all what I was expecting from the title. It's quite cathartic but I couldn't have read a book like this until recently. I loved the sense of place and the characters but it did feel as if there was a big black cloud hanging over the prose, despite the happy ending. Mia's crazy Italian family bring the story to life and I enjoyed watching Mia's relationship with Salvatore. I also like the way that her step-mother wasn't quite what Mia had thought either. An interesting and poignant read.

This was a sweet story about the importance of family, finding who you want to be and how you want to live, while also sharing a fun love story or two! The characters were enjoyable, the plot moved quickly, and this was a feel good read perfect for a summer day at the beach!

This was a sweet insightful story. It’s about grief, raw feelings, family loyalty and keeping promises.

Mia lost her Mother, and when young was taken to Italy by her Father to visit the Italian family and her mother’s heritage.

Now that she’s older, this time she is returning to Italy, to her mothers Italian family to fulfill her fathers dying wish. It’s painful to leave him behind weakening each day dying from cancer. His secound wife is not much older than Mia.

She’s had to break all ties, not ring, not write to her father.

Can you imagine that?

When she returns to Ishcia among her mothers family she gets a warm welcome. Apart from her Mothers, Mother. Is it because she doesn’t want her there that her Grandmother doesn’t speak to her, or is it because of language barrier or something else?

Mia revisits a store which she remembers from the first time she was there. Is that man the owner still alive?

We travel with Mia through her grief, through her emotions, finding love in the most unexpected place. Her highs, her lows and the loss of one half of her family with the gain of the other.

I read this in one sitting. An easy flowing read that you will adore.

Thank you Canelo via Net Galley for my copy

OH MY WORD - what an emotional rollercoaster! This book grabbed me from its opening chapter and by the end of chapter two I was sobbing. A lovely tale of relationships, romance, heartache, families, grief but with a good dollop of fun and laughter too. All set on a idyllic Italian island. I have to say that from my experience, having lived in Italy, the level of English spoken in a small village was quite surprising but that maybe because I live in a rural area and this is set in a tourist spot. However, it did not detract from the story. Heart wrenching in parts - you will definitely need your tissues - but easy to read - I read it in just one day. It was lovely to see the relationship developing between Mia and her nonna and though the ending was somewhat predictable, it was what I was rooting for nevertheless. A great read.

This is the second book I have read by this author, the first being Cocktails and Dreams, which I adored, and this book didn't disappoint either. It is nice to have read the first book but this book can easily be read as a standalone too.

Mia finds herself in a terrible position - her father is dying and yet he has asked her to leave the UK and go to Italy, to reconnect with her mother's family. She is not to return until he passes away. This leaves her in a quandary, of course, but she respects her father's wishes and goes to Italy. She gets to know her family a little better - her cousin Nikki, her aunt Allegra, her silent Nonna....and of course Salvatore, who is the grandson of Antonio, a man who was kind to her when she was a child. Salvatore, however, is not kind at all; he is rude, dismissive and judgemental.

I could have guessed at the general plot early on, but it speaks to the author's skill that it is all the relationships in this book which really sing. The whole book is about love: love for family in all its forms, love for friends, love of country and all that entails. Despite all of this, this is not a soppy book at all; it is poignant, emotional, funny in parts and just generally a great read!

Highly recommended read from me. 4.5 stars :)

Thank you to THE Book Club and NetGalley as well as Canelo. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

This was a nice, easy beach read! Predictable story but likeable characters.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher & author for the ARC copy of this book.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

What a lovely book to read.
Mia is a strong, sassy lady who is sent away by her father to wait for the sad news, and is enveloped into her Italian family with almost loving arms. Old memories propel her to visit the antiques shop on the hill, where she meets Salvatore, grandson of the owner. Friendship, a need for her mother's memories and for something to do to keep her mind from back home, the shop brings them together. But can they survive the turmoil that is going on in Mia's mind and heart?

Mia's father is dying, he doesn't want her around at the end to remember him that way and therefore sends her away to Ischia. She is lost lonely and sad but soon finds her way into the family she hasn't seen since she was a little girl and the community. An easy enjoyable read.

Much more depth to this book than you'd think from the cover. Mia is sent to her late mother's family in Ischia in accordance with her father's dying wish so that she avoids his final decline.

Whilst you'd expect this book to be somewhat morbid or saccharine, it's anything but with a raucous Italian family thrown into the mix.

Some rather typical Italian stereotypes surround Mia's journey of discovery but they add to the warmth and bittersweet joy of the book. Be prepared to need tissues -- there are some sad moments.

Life affirming, heartfelt and emotional, this book is a giant bear hug with a great cast of supporting friends and family.

5* took me by surprise, a quick read but great for a change of pace

I did not think I would enjoy this book, not my usual genre I thought, well I loved it. It is set in Ischia, the author describes the Island beautifully. The warmth of the Italian family and the wonderful relationships. I really this book.

Prosecco

I was hooked from the first few sentences and did not want to do anything other than read.....
Not a fizzy prosecco but a very good prosecco with the intensity and complexity of a delicious sparkling wine. There is a depth and understanding of death, loss and family relationships and the importance of loving and being loved. This book made me cry and reflect on the loss of my loved ones and reminded me to value those who I love.
So easily written that it’s a pleasure to sit and enjoy the process of reading a story, the descriptions are finely drawn, instant, not long drawn out or laboured.
Well done A. L. Michael and thank you to Canelo for giving me the opportunity to review this.

I had not read the first in the Martini Club books, but thought this book was just incredible as a stand alone - though I’ll definitely be adding the others to my to read list!

I was able to read this book thanks to NetGalley & I just loved it. Mia was a thoroughly developed main character torn between her sadness of a dying father, and a family she doesn’t know. From her blunt & bold personality to her want to get into the history of everything, I really felt for her and her storyline.

Great read that I would recommend!

A beautiful inspiring love story that tugs at the heart strings. A most enjoyable read.

​This was an interesting book, lighthearted in parts, but with a much sadder story behind it. I loved the first book in this series so was looking forward to this one, even though this was a stand-alone novel and you really didn't need to have read the first one.

Mia has travelled to the Italian island of Ischia to reconnect with her Mother's relatives who she hasn't seen since she was a child. The only reason she is here is because her Father has asked her to go. He is dying from cancer and doesn't want her to be there at the end, he wants her to reconnect with family so she has someone around after he's gone, as her Mother passed away a long time ago. So they've said their last goodbye and Mia jets off to Ischia and meets her relatives.

Most are very welcoming and friendly, her cousin especially was lovely and outgoing, although her grandmother is very distant. Mia doesn't really understand why, but it is explained towards the end of the story.

Whilst there she bumps into Antonio who owns an old store full of dusty antiques. His grandson, Salvatore, is home on the island after supposedly a bad relationship break-up and is trying to persuade him to sell. They don't need the money as they also have a vineyard, but Antonio keeps the shop open because his dead wife loved it.

Salvatore irritated me at first. He was really cranky and rude, I just couldn't warm to him
​, but once he started working on getting the shop back in order with Mia he softened and became much better. Mia was quite an abrasive character too, so they definitely made sparks fly between them! Mia and Salvatore started getting closer whilst they were working on the shop though and everything became more laid back with a real holiday vibe to the story.

Towards the end a slight disaster happened on the island and emotions were running high and lots of unresolved things were resolved - hard to explain without spoiling the story!

Then unfortunately the inevitable happened and Mia went back home, for a while, for her Father's funeral and there were more surprises in store there with her arch enemy stepmother, but lots more things got resolved, with some amusing moments.

So really the beginning was quite sad, the middle was lighthearted, and the end was very emotional. I really grew to love both Mia and Salvatore by the end. It certainly wasn't a boring book, and we revisited the Martini Club from the first book too. I really hope we get to hear Bel's story in the next book, Martinis & Memories, the owner of the Martini Club, as she's now been in both books and seems a really fascinating character.

Mia is sent to the island of Ischia by her father, so she is not at home during his last days of cancer. Whilst there she re-connects with her mothers family and falls for local Salvatore. Both are hiding something so what will happen when Mia has to return home?

Having visited both Naples and Ischia I enjoyed his book even more as it reminded me of my holidays in the sun!

For most of the beginning of the book, most of the ending and at assorted places in the middle, I felt as though I was about to be reduced by tears. Although there are emotional parts to the book, I think my reaction was as much as to how close elements of the story felt to me.

Saying that I read the book in a matter of a few hours and the bits in Italy where Mia is learning about her Italian family, and also rediscovering her love of history were lovely to see.
I loved seeing the island of Ischia through Mia's eyes and also the day spent in Naples was interesting. There were some elements of Italian food too thankfully.

But with all this there is a great amount of sadness in the book, and Mia didn't really want to be in Ischia but it was hey dying father's last wish that she went.

I loved the few mentions of Savvy from the first book, was good to catch up with her and the Martini club briefly too. However this can easily be read as a standalone as absolutely no prior knowledge is needed to read this book.

This is another fabulous book by A.L. Michael and when I wasn't fighting back tears I was thoroughly enjoying the story. On a day where it was been snowing it was lovely to be able to through reading get a burst of heat through my trip to the island of Ischia.

Thank you to Netgalley and Canelo for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Well written but ultimately a fluffy romcom set on the attractive-sounding island of Ischia. Something to curl up with when it's cold & wet outside.

Uh, what a refreshingly beautiful novel to read in this bleak January we're currently experiencing. I really enjoyed this novel.

The cover in itself is very beautiful and colourful but doesn't give much away so I was so intrigued when this popped up in my inbox so decided to give it a go! And I'm so pleased that I did. There's something so enjoyable and fun about it. Even though I hadn't read the first one in the Martini Club series, it was so easy to read as a standalone, as this story was concentrating on a different main character than the first. Although this book and the first have character cross-overs, it wasn't confusing and it was nice to read about the characters in this book.

I did find the storyline regarding Mia's dad terribly upsetting though. So I might have got a bit teary on a few occasions! But other than that the book was a great read. I loved the fact that we are so similar to Mia in this book. Mia and the reader are both meeting her mum's side of the family with fresh eyes, where she doesn't know them and I think that shows her vulnerable side, making Mia easy to relate to.

However, the storyline was interesting and I absolutely loved the setting. It had me wishing for warmer weather and a pool to dip my feet in whilst reading it. It was heartwarming and emotional all at once. It had a great pace and I found myself smiling at parts. All the characters I found really welcoming and it was like I was there as part of the long-lost family.

One thing that I enjoyed about this novel is that it's heartwarming and enjoyable but there's also the emotional and heart-wrenching side too, with a bit of a deeper storyline. This added so much depth and I think that's what swung it for me! The characters were all lovely, I loved the location and found myself relating to main character Mia. So overall, I really ended up enjoying this novel. Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for a chance to read this novel, which I have reviewed honestly.