This is a book about a woman finding herself while grieving for her mother. along the way, she realizes that she needs to step of her mother's shadow, and confidently make her own life decisions. A great book!

Rebecca Serle has done it again with this book. #partner @atriabooks

Katy’s mother, Carol, has died and left Katy to take their trip to Positano alone. When Katy leaves she is uncertain about everything and whether she will return to her marriage.

Then, the impossible happens, Carol appears at Katy’s hotel. She is in perfect health and thirty years old. She is not the woman Katy thought she knew. As she gets to know her mother, she realizes more about herself. Beautifully written and a must-read.

WHEW. This book. Made me cry and also made me extremely, irrationally, mad at the main character. It's hard to write this review without spoilers so I am going to spoiler tag the second half of the review. I need to get these feelings out!

So this book is extremely unexpected, but also extremely predictable. There were things I loved: the beautiful way it deals with grief, the location, the way it portrays finding yourself and who you are/want to be. But there was so much I truly disliked:

Katy primarily. She is extremely difficult to root for when she dives into the infidelity. Cheating is something I never like in books - legit ever - and I truly hated it here. Katy was my least favorite character, especially her reactions to learning about Carol.

Overall, I think this is a tear jerker in a variety of ways, but frustrated me just as much as In Five Years (actually probably more). But more importantly, it made me want to go to Positano.

I am not quite sure how I ended up reading this one. If I'd read the synopsis I might have realized that a) this is a book about a woman whose mother just died, and for me, that topic hits a little too close to home at the moment and b) this, like Rebecca Searle's other books, is magical realism/fabulism, which is not a favorite of mine and c) I was the one person who found In Five Years deeply disturbing.

BUT I did read One Italian summer and I am not sorry that I did!

The Positano setting was so lovely and Katy's initial grief was movingly portrayed. The magical realism aspect was a little mind-bendy (does the synopsis explain it? *checks* YES, so I can talk about it). Katy decides to take a trip to Italy that she and her mother had planned, and runs into a thirty year-old version of her mother (Katy seems to sort of fall into some physics wormhole and into the 1990s).

I feel like Katy's running into her mom did make this a little less of a grief book and for me, that was okay. I can see that some readers didn't like Katy and I can understand that even if she didn't bother me.

There's one really great reveal - I was not expecting that and it was a nice touch.

If you enjoy Italy and slightly dreamy, very tear-jerky books, you should definitely read this.

After reading One Italian Summer I feel like I have traveled to Italy. Life on the Amalfi Coast must be beautiful and full of incredible food if Rebecca Serle is accurate.

Katy's mother has just died and she is lost. Her mother was her best friend and her everything. The death of a parent is usually tragic but Katy is ready to throw her entire life away. She's been married for five years and by her account, Eric is a loving and caring husband. She just seems sick of him and her life. She heads off to Italy for a trip that was supposed to be for her and her mother, a dream trip that they had talked about for years. Her mother had spent a summer there shortly before she met Katy's father and she has always wanted to share it with Katy.

By some magic that was never really explained, Katy heads down to the lobby her second day and there at the counter is her mother when she was 30 years old. It is an interesting take on really getting to know your parent as they were not as they are as your parent. Can we really ever know and understand our mother when we only know them as this mature adult?

The descriptions in the book are wonderful and Katy's understanding of herself and what she wants out of life in the end are fulfilling. My critiques are that I really didn't like Katy for a good chunk of the book and there was no clear clues as to how she spent all this time in her mother's past.

Thanks to NetGalley for this advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

The wonderful descriptions of Italy and the food really made me feel like I was right there, sipping on some wine and culture🍝🍷🌊There’s an unexpected magical realism aspect that you question at first, but then you quickly learn to appreciate the magic🥺

The way Rebecca describes Katy and Carol’s relationship makes me want to call my mom ASAP. I found my heart reeling along with Katy as she goes through one of the toughest times in her life.

Overall, I did enjoy IN FIVE YEARS more than this one, but I’m not sure if that’s because I set the bar really high—IN FIVE YEARS was one of my fave 2020 reads. I also feel like if you’ve visited the Amalfi Coast you’ll appreciate this one A LOT, so I’m going to visit and then revisit and really appreciate this one more later.

Read for:
✨magical realism
👩‍👧mother-daughter bonds
🍝drool-worthy food descriptions
💕romance

Katy’s world is turned upside down when her mother passes away. Katy and her mom, Carol, were super close and had a trip to Italy planned together. Katy decides to go on the trip alone and ends up running into her mom back when Carol spent a summer in Italy. Katy learns a lot about her mom and herself all while enjoying the beautiful Italian coast.

I really enjoyed this one! A real tear-jerker. Katy was such a great protagonist. I found myself feeling mad when she was mad, sad when she was sad, and happy when she was happy. Thank you Netgalley and Atria Books for the egalley in exchange for my honest review.

I requested this book because I really enjoyed In Five Years by the author. I am sad to say that this book just did not work for me at all. While I consider my mother to be one of my best friends, I thought certain aspects of Katy's relationship and thought process surrounding her mother to be a bit strange. The ending was also a complete bust for me and was just glossed over.

This book also had a trope that I do not enjoy and quite honestly feel like I have already read too much of this year alone. I am fairly sure that I will be an outlier in my feelings on this book, but I honestly would have DNF'd it at the 30% mark if I had not received an E-Arc.

I do appreciate the opportunity to read and review an early copy! This in no way means that I will not immediately pick up the authors next book.

A big thanks to NetGalley and Atria for allowing me to read this book!

Any book that makes me tear up in the best way gets a five star review.
This fast, short and sweet story was such an unexpected joy to read. Katy finds herself in a trip to Positano, Italy after a loss and finds herself, well, finding herself. I won’t give too much away because the meaty center is so good but this book had me craving pasta Al dente, limoncello and the beach the entire time, it was so well written, very heartfelt and what I can only describe as very clean line by line level writing. Great for a beach read, bookclub or anyone who daydreams of Italy like myself.

If I had to pick one place in the world I'd want to visit, Italy would be at the top of my list. It would be standing there in bold, capital letters and set off my fireworks. Too much? Too bad. It's true.

I've always been completely in awe of all things Italy. The scenery, the food, the culture, the language, etc.

Put me in a house on a cliff that is filled with bright colors, where I can sit on my patio, overlooking the water, eating a diet of wine, pasta and cheese in that order and I will be living my best life.

Hence, when I saw a book with Italian in the title you know this gal did not stop at go.

Thank you #netgalley and #atria for the eARC of this latest novel. I haven't read In Five Years, so this is my first novel by this author.

This was a super quick read.

I absolutely loved reading about Positano, where this book is set, as well as, Capri, Naples and all the other places the reader was able to enjoy.

I loved reading about the food, the people, all the things that allowed me to live vicariously through the main character.

I'm not going to say much about the plot to avoid any spoilers, but it was just ok for me.

I would consider this a coming of age story about a woman who is not really sure what she wants in life.

It was a little too unbelievable for me, but I was so mesmerized by the talk of all things Italy that I still enjoyed this book.

I really enjoyed this book. I love the time hop trope of this author. In Five Years was one of my top reads in 2020! I think there is a major audience for this title. Loved the colorful descriptions of Positano the city and also the restaurants/menu items too! I ended up Googling the town because Serle described this magical place in such a perfect way. Women of all ages will enjoy this book.

I have seen a lot of mixed reviews, but there's something about Serle's books that totally work for me. She writes about grief so well and I'm always drawn to stories with this theme. I was super excited that this one specifically focused on the loss of a mother - something that I absolutely connect with. It's been about 8 ½ years since I've lost my own mama, so I would love to be able to "go back in time" to spend more time with her. I especially loved the angle of getting to know my mama before me. And the Italian setting makes me want to book a trip ASAP!

While I enjoyed reading this book, I did have mixed feelings at the very beginning. I understood Katy’s extreme grief after losing her mother, as I’m sure anyone would, but I felt her pain was misdirected toward her husband. I have to admit, I was thoroughly confused by her suddenly wanting to end her marriage, and her husband seemed caught off guard as well.

I think the trip to Positano was exactly what Katy needed to heal and feel closer to her mother, Carol, but she didn’t expect to literally run into her mother while she was there. The strange twist, though, is that she was meeting a much younger version of Carol and she wasn’t quite who she imagined she would be. There were some choices that Katy made while on her trip that I didn’t agree with, so much do that I questioned whether or not I would finish the book, but I was happy with how the story ended.

My opinion of this book flip-flopped throughout the story, mainly because of Katy and certain decisions she made, but overall I think it was worth reading, and I loved all of the beautiful references to Positano.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4572462003

I finished this book in one day. I could not put it down. I was so intrigued by Katy and how her life would continue after losing her mother. She took the trip to Italy that they had planned together and I was hopeful that she would find peace and acceptance that her mother was gone but she still had her memories.

Rebecca Serle, author, did an amazing job bringing Italy to life for me. I have never been there but I could picture the hotel Katy was staying at, the places she visited, and the people she met. I could the accents as they spoke Italian, taste the food that she ate, and feel her pain as she visited the places that she had planned on seeing with her mother. It is not often that I find a book that comes to life for me, but One Italian Summer did just that.

One Italian Summer is a book that I will recommend over and over again. I cannot wait to talk about it with my book friends. I highly recommend picking up your own copy and traveling to an amazing place while meeting wonderful characters.

Happy Book Birthday to One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle!
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I finished last night and all the descriptions of Italy and the food made me want to jump on a plane! Hopefully someday, as Italy is one of my dream trips. A huge thanks to @atriabooks and @netgalley for the advanced readers copy. The book begins with Katy having lost her mother and then embarks on a journey to Italy for what should have been a mother-daughter trip. Katy grows a lot on her journey and we see her open up and explore who she is.
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There’s one plot point I don’t completely understand, maybe it is wasn't fully explained in the ARC but I can’t say anything without giving it away. I just don't know how it took place and as a result, I'm confused.
Overall, I loved the descriptions, Katy's journey, and the writing (as always) is amazing.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this beautiful story.
3.5 for the plot point I can't figure out - rounding up.

This is an amazing lovely story about mothers and daughters!!! I loved this book so much. Rebecca Serle has another bestseller hit in this readers opinion with this one. It will pull at any daughters heartstrings.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 
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At first, I wasn’t totally sure how I would feel about this book because I couldn’t get hooked. I couldn’t tell you if it was because I wasn’t in the mood or what, but about 20% in I was completely HOOKED and read this book in one sitting. @rebecca_serle always gets me, her writing is beautiful and her storytelling is stunning. If you haven’t gotten your hands on a copy, DO IT, you won’t regret it!

After reading Rebecca Serle's In Five Years, I was thrilled to get my hands on One Italian Summer! This book follows Katy Silver as she explores life after the loss of her mother who she was extremely close to.
Katy feels lost, her marriage is in trouble and in an attempt to find herself she goes on a solo trip to Italy – the trip that she and her mother always planned to go on.
It did seem a bit unusual to me for a woman of Katy’s age to be so dependent upon her mother in every aspect of her life and it did bother me a bit how dismissive she was of her husband. That is just my personal perspective though.
Serle has the magic touch of including a bit of magical realism/time travel into her novels and this one is no exception. During this trip, Katy runs into a younger version of her mother.
The descriptions of the sights, sounds and tastes of Italy are very well done. You will feel as if your transported there while reading. I enjoyed this book – it was a short and fast easy read.

Katy Silver is suffering. Her life’s foundation is fractured after the recent loss of her beloved mother. She’s left her job, left her husband, and left her life in Los Angeles far behind to go on the Italian adventure she’d been planning with her mother, Carol. Now Katy’s alone in one of the most beautiful, most romantic places on the planet. Soon after arriving, she meets a handsome American, Adam, to who she’s almost instantly attracted. But he’s not the only stranger who’ll play a role in her Italian adventure. A vibrant mystery woman will soon capture Katy’s attention, making it hard for her to see the truth that’s been right in front of her all along. In the end, Katy must face the fact the woman she knew as her mother is gone. In her place, a complex, multifaceted woman emerges from the ashes like a phoenix, born on the shores of Positano. ⁠
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Anyone who’s been to Italy knows it’s pure magic. And sometimes authors capture that magic in the pages of a novel. It’s a beautiful work about grief, friendships, and internal struggle wrapped in a pretty package of lovely words and a magical setting. This book has a little something for everyone. It’s contemporary and fresh with lots of fun references to Los Angeles and modern life. This novel’s also full of complex family dynamics and deep female relationships, just like its predecessor, In Five Years. There’s also romance with a sprinkle of steam for the romance fans out there. And, to top it all off, there’s a fantasy element that is reminiscent of The Time Traveler’s Wife, another one of my favorites. Don't sleep on this lovely book!

My favorite parts of this story were the descriptions of Positano and the Amalfi coast: the delicious food and drink, the magic of the atmosphere and spirit of the people. I was there about 20 years ago and Serle's descriptions felt very authentic.

I also felt some strong emotions about Katy losing her mother and feeing stuck and devastated by her absence. There were quite a few lines that I highlighted because they rang true about living life beyond what you are used to and how choices impact the outcomes in life. Yes, they might not be new concepts, but Serle's used language that made it accessible to the reader.

At first I wasn't sure about the "magical realism" twist to the story, but then really enjoyed the idea of imagining what someone was like years before you knew them. All the pieces and parts as you knew them to emerge as a younger version. I wasn't too keen on some of the plot and character choices in the fantasy part but it didn't take away from the overall love-letter between Katy, her mother and Italy. Perfect escape novel...wish I could go to Italy right now! :)