Reading this book made me want to book a trip to Italy IMMEDIATELY!! Rebecca Serle did an amazing job and describing the locations, food, and culture. The emotions of Katy and Carol were felt throughout the book perfectly. Super easy read that gave me all the feels and made me want to go hug my own mother. Loved it!! Great summer read!

Gosh - this book made me want to travel to Italy, explore all the cities and eat ALL the food.

This book followed Katy after she loses her mom. She feels completely lost as her whole world revolves around her relationship with her mother. She travels to Italy to follow through with a trip they had planned together. Somehow in the middle of her time, she returns to 1992 when her mother was in Positano, meeting her mom as a young adult and learning a bit more about her.

This was such an interesting concept and such a lovely use of magical realism. I enjoyed watching Katy process her grief and come to better understand her mother and then ultimately better understand herself.

At times I couldn’t quite understand how completely entwined she was with her mother. But I could understand how a loss like that would completely rock you.

This is a sweet, quick story. And I would definitely recommend.

[cw- death of parent; cancer]

Absolutely adored this book! It's a deep and emotional story of a daughter's grief after her beloved mother's passing. It beautifully paints a vivid picture of southern Italy in a way that quenched my wanderlust, and integrated elements of magic in the most surprising and heart-warming way. I didn't love In Five Years, but I really cherished this read and would totally recommend it! Keep the tissues handy and be prepared to book a flight to the Amalfi coast when you finish!

This is a moving story that manages to tackle heavy, emotional themes while simultaneously immersing the reader into dazzling, sunlit Positano and the Amalfi Coast of Italy.

What I Liked🌿

✨The descriptions of Positano’s places, people, food, and wine are remarkably descriptive and read like a love letter to the Amalfi Coast. I felt like I’d taken a free and much-needed vacation.

✨The magical realism twist was well-written¬¬¬—equal parts shocking and enchanting.

✨The mother-daughter relationship depicted here was both beautiful and painful and all things in between.

✨The ending was bittersweet and stirring and hit just the right note for me.

What Could Be Better🌿

✨The idea of mother and daughter as soul mates and the mother as the love of her daughter’s life felt peculiar and a bit unnatural for me.

✨I did not care for the way Katy treated her husband and their relationship. I felt he deserved better.

✨Not at all a fan of the Adam character and feel that entire storyline was unnecessary. Of course, this is only a matter of opinion.

At its heart, this is a story of grief, healing and learning what really matters in a life. It’s the absolute ideal beach read, and I definitely recommend it.

My thanks to Atria Books for the opportunity to read this book before its March 1 publication date.

As a main character, Katy, was a highly unlikeable person. The book attempts to describe a 30 year old woman who is grieving over her mother who has recently passed away from cancer. Instead we meet an immature woman who has an incredibly codependent relationship with her mother. Every decision in Katy’s life had to previously be run past her mother including when to get married, how to decorate, and what to do in general. The author describes that they are each other’s main loves with a dismissive undertone about the existence of their husbands.

By the time I was 45% through this book my first thoughts were “this is a book about going out to eat”. Once Katy arrives in Italy we’re met with page after page of Katy going out to eat and drinking. We’re introduced to a love interest in Italy but readers who enjoy a “happily ever-after” will be in conflict with the fact that Katy is STILL married to Eric in California.

The character of Eric came across as a very loving and supportive individual. He wants to be there for Katy during her mother’s illness and subsequent death but Katy simply dismisses him.

The book has a nice twist in the middle which I didn’t see coming at all. Going forward the book finally took on a nostalgic, contemplative turn which is what I wanted when I requested this book off NetGalley. What do we owe our children? Who are we before or after our children are born? Where does a healthy relationship between parents and children start? Who are we independent of each other?

Since this kind of development didn’t start until nearly 65% of the way through the book I’m giving this 3 stars. The plot was enough to keep me progressing through the novel. Applause to the editor who intentionally kept this book under 300 pages. I simply would’ve DNFed it had I been forced to read 200 pages of eating and drinking.

Neither Katy nor Carol felt endearing to me. Both had moments of me simply not liking them. If you’d like a light summer read with a warm, cozy Mediterranean setting you’ll probably enjoy this book. Readers who want strong character development with a great plot will find themselves disappointed in the end.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC of One Italian Summer in exchange for an honest review.

Wow… I flew through this! One Italian Summer was my first Rebecca Serle book and it definitely won’t be my last.

I can honestly say that I loved everything about this book: from the beautiful Italian landscape that seems magical from the author’s writing, to Katy’s grief from losing her mother, and to the fun adventures that Katy goes on with Carol and someone else she meets in Positano. This book was something special & I guarantee after reading it that you’ll want to book a trip to Italy ASAP!

I’m keeping this review short because I don’t want to give too much away. This book comes out on 3/1 and you should definitely pick it up!

This book was short and disappointing. While I loved In Five Years by this author, One Italian Summer did not hold up. I feel that with a bit more length and development, this could have been a much better read, as it did contain a lot of aspects I normally like in books. While this is a story about Katy finding out who her mother was as a younger woman, she also leaves her husband to take this trip on her own and it does involve infidelity as she considers the life she wants in her future. She realizes that her mother was doing the same as a young woman, and if this was fleshed out more, I would have loved this book a lot more than I did.

I’ve never been blown away by the author’s books but they’re always a nice, easy read. The ending of In Five Years particularly got me. I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much and found the twist unbelievable. I did love the setting and it had my hankering for a trip to Italy!

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books, and of course to Rebecca Serle for allowing me the privilege of reading this ARC of One Italian Summer.

When we meet Katy, she is overwhelmed with grief due to the loss of her mother. After some deliberation, she decides to go to alone on the trip to Italy that they had planned to go on together, and what takes places over the next two weeks is enough to challenge Katy’s sense of reality and how she perceived life with her mother when she was alive.

Miss Serle’s writing will quite literally transport you to Positano. You will imagine yourself enjoying the food and seeing the sights because of how gorgeously she describes everything.

I’ve loved everything I’ve read by Rebecca Serle, but this book captivated me and resonated with me in ways I didn’t even know were possible.

Let me tell you that I was hooked from the getgo. I mean, just starting with the Gilmore girls scene made my heart melt!

One Italian Summer took me on an emotional rollercoaster and I enjoyed every minute of it. I loved how close Katy was to her mom. And I really enjoyed seeing how both Katy and her mom find themselves. 

However, ultimately, what made me fall in love with this book was something I rarely experience. Every time I picked up the book, I found myself feeling like I was in Italy with Katy. I’m talking salt in my hair, sand on my feet, feeling the ocean breeze there with Katy… and I absolutely loved it. Surprisingly enough, Italy has never really been on my travel bucket list but this book changed that. 

I can’t recommend this book enough.

We follow Katy as she tries to find herself and come to terms with the death of her best friend and mother. She flees to Italy on what was supposed to be a mother/daughter trip and ends up in a sort of time warp with a younger version of her mom. There are plenty of lovely descriptions of the scenery, the Amalfi coast, and the food of Italy. But I didn't like the character of Katy and found her to be selfish instead of endearing. This book deals with heavy subjects, but in a light and easy to read format. This would be a good summer beach read.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for this ARC.

Five stars. Rebecca Serle does it again, her ability to weave such a beautiful story is phenomenal. I enjoyed going into this read without knowing much and in turn wish that for future readers. I quickly became engrossed in the story as it made me laugh, love and cry. Amazing read.

After reading and LOVING In Five Years by Rebecca Serle, I’ve been anxiously awaiting a new release from her! I absolutely love Serle’s unique ability to weave very subtle/realistic magical elements into her contemporary novels, and it always ends up making for a fun read!

& that’s exactly what ONE ITALIAN SUMMER was - a super fun read that transports you to the Amalfi Coast (yes plzzzzz)

This was a great book to dive into when I was in a little bit of a reading slump. The vivid food descriptions, atmospheric setting, and unique plot were some of my favorite elements of this book. I also related so much to Katy’s relationship with her mother, so that really brought me into the story and had me rooting for Katy along the way - I saw a lot of myself in her at the beginning of the story!

Unfortunately, I didn’t love the romantic aspect of the plot line, and I found myself disagreeing with Katy’s decisions in that portion of her life. I won’t say too much here because I don’t want to spoil it, but it was tough for me to read about some of her decisions!

Overall, this was a sweet, sentimental story about mother-daughter relationships, family, and second chances.

I wasn't as moved by this book as I expected to be, but the arm chair travel was SO GOOD. The mother/daughter storyline was interesting, but didn't grab me as expected. The romance ended exactly as I wanted it to. Not my favorite Serle, but it truly transported me to Italy and for me, that's a win!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advance copy of this book. It was my first by the author so I wasn’t sure what to expect. What I got was a love letter to Italy and a story about the complexities of grief.

When Katy loses her mother after an illness, she also loses herself. She no longer knows who she is, what she likes or even if she loves her husband. Katy and her mother were set to leave on a birthday trip to Italy so Katy decides to go on her own to work through grieving her mother.

I really enjoyed the descriptions of Italy. Between the food talk and the scenery, I could almost picture myself walking along the stairs, visiting the ocean and eating the food. Unfortunately, the story with Katy herself once she sees her mom in the hotel lobby wasn’t executed in the best manner. I am all for a good magical realism story but I just felt like this one was a bit forced, especially in how it ultimately resolved itself. It was confusing and left me pondering the definition of cheating as I tend to define it.

I do think the story handles grief well. How do you go on when the person who was your entire world is no longer here? When your rock is gone, who do you turn to and how do you define yourself in their absence? Overall, I gave the book three stars as I did like it, I just had a hard time with Katy/Carol/Adam’s entire arc.

One Italian Summer comes out March 1, 2022.

Katy is lost and rexamining her life after her mother's death, and she goes alone on the trip to Positano that they had planned together. While there, Katy befriends her mother at 30 years old. Through their friendship, she learns more about who her mother was as a person and a woman, separate from the mother figure Katy is lost without. She also has a lot of really fun travel and food adventures that were a joy to read about.
This was beautifully written and felt like a vacation to Italy, along with examining the relationship between mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, and the sacrifices you make of your individual needs and desires as life goes on and you become a partner and/or a parent.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have mixed feelings about this book. Katy Silver travels to Positano, Itay after her mother, Carol, dies -- a trip that both Katy and Carol had planned for a long time. Despite her grief, Katy decides to go forward with the trip, and while she's there, she meets Carol, not as a woman in her 60s, but rather as a young 30-year-old woman.

A lot of the book centers on this new (and somewhat odd) friendship between Katy and Carol as well as Katy's involvement with Adam Westbrooke, another guest at the hotel. While the magical realism of Katy seeing her mother as young woman was interesting, the storyline felt drawn out at times. And the writing style throughout the whole book could only be described as choppy. Only toward the end of the book, does Serle provide some interesting twists that put the book back on track for me.

I would like to thank #NetGalley and Atria Books for providing an electronic ARC of #OneItaliamSummer.

I don’t normally cry during books but then but this was a special occasion. The book follows a young woman who has just lost her mother to cancer. She has been planning to travel with her mother to Italy because her mother had traveled there long ago and wanted to share it with her daughter. The daughter decides, despite her situation, she will take the trip alone in her mothers honor. However, when she gets there, she meets… her mother.
This story was so beautiful and touching that I didn’t want it to end. It made me hungry, made me want to go to Italy, and it made me especially miss my mom. I think this book is for anyone who has a dream to do something out there and isn’t sure how to go about doing it. If you love a trippy time travel book and seeing the world through a different lens, pick this beautiful book up. I definitely recommend this book.

One Italian Summer is a delight for the senses. It is the perfect escape to the Italian coast when you are in the dreary days of winter, or would make a great beach read.

Serle tackles many tough and interesting topics in this novel, such as grief, the relationship between a mother and daughter, what happens when an all-consuming relationship ends, and how well one person can really know another. It made me think differently about the relationships in my own life.

While I loved the wonderful descriptions of the scenery and food, I found it hard to connect to the main character. I get that her mother, the person she is closest to in the world, has just died, and that grief can cause people to do all kind of things. However, I felt her to be a bit too self-indulgent for my liking. I tried to think about what I would do in the same situation, had I felt the same way, and I just couldn't get behind her choices.

I liked exploring how drastically people can change once they enter a new phase or relationship. It made me think about how I have changed since both getting married and again since having children, and wondered the same about my parents. It also made me wonder what I don't know about my parents from when they were young before marriage and kids. However, I did not like that it seemed to be sending the message that even when you have responsibilities at home and people who depend on you, running away to find yourself will work out in your favor.

Overall it wasn't a bad read, and I would recommend it if you are looking to escape to the Italian coast. Some suspension of disbelief is required, but it is a nice story to get lost in.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria books for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own and given freely.

ONE ITALIAN SUMMER

California had a heatwave this past week and I spent my afternoons sunning and reading the latest by Rebecca Serle, ONE ITALIAN SUMMER.

When I intentionally pick up a book with a focused setting like Italy I’m looking for an immersive experience. I want to be transported to the fantasy destination by details in the book.

This one was incredibly immersive. The author expresses Italy in the book by creating textures from the sights, sounds, foods, location-specific details, weather, and personalities of the characters.

I felt like the setting was inextricable from the plot and I enjoyed that very much.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for the advanced copy!

This one comes out on March 1, 2022.

Add it to your Tbr if you like adventuring through pages.