A little bit of magical realism and a little bit of romance.
Katy and her mom were best friends, so when her mom dies, Katy is distraught and lost. She decides to take the trip to Italy that her and her mom were going to take together, telling her husband that she wants to go alone and 'take a break' from everything, including him. Katy never expects to 'meet' her mom Carol when she gets there... but this Carol seems different than the mom and best friend she knew.

This was an interesting story and you can definitely get wrapped up in it if you suspend your beliefs a bit and imagine what could happen. This is a fast read at under 300 pages and will keep you reading and reading to find out how it ends.

Wow. This book was the best book I have read in a long time. It was certainly not what I was expecting, but the unique storyline was very intriguing. I also loved the imagery the author conveyed and found myself googling Positano, Capri, etc. to fully immerse myself in this book. I loved the unique storyline and the relationship dynamics throughout this book. My favorite two genres are magical realism and travel, so the fact that this author perfectly included them both made this a five star worthy book.

I requested this because of how much I loved In Five Years. I remember when I reviewed that book I vaguely explained the love story and how it wasn't one typically explored as it wasn't the romantic kind, but rather between best friends. This book is that way also, but between mother and daughter. I lost my mom in 2019 and this quote really hit me: “My mother, you see, is the great love of my life. She is the great love of my life, and I have lost her.” So, in this book a young woman named Katy who has just lost her mom. They were about to take a trip to Italy before she died. Katy decides to go ahead and go anyway, and in Italy she stumbles upon a 30 year old version of her mother, and she gets to bond and form a different kind of relationship with the woman she knew so well. It may sound different or weird to you, but it works; it is a story of grief and putting yourself back together and finding ones self, but at its heart, it is a love letter to motherhood. I needed this book and I actually liked it even better than In Five Years. She's just become an instant read for me.

Booking my flight to Italy as we speak! This romance book will also leave you in tears - such an emotional but beautiful read.

The setting in One Italian Summer is everything. Rebecca Serle paints a tactile description of Positano Italy. I could practically feel the summer heat as Katy, the main character, climbed the historic steps to look out over the town and the sea beyond. Katy was supposed to take the trip with her mom, who spent her own solo summer there when she was young. Desperately needing an escape to gather her thoughts, Katy goes alone after her mom dies. Shortly after she arrives on the Italian seaside, however, Katy finds herself face to face with a young version of her mom.

I was completely enchanted by Positano – the history and beauty of it, the people Katy meets there, and the atmosphere. I loved exploring with Katy and seeing her begin to appreciate the beauty around her, even as her grief simmers just under the surface. Objectively, this was a beautiful story.
My expectations were really, really high going into this one, and unfortunately I did feel a bit let down. I was fine with suspending reality as Katy and befriends the young version of her mom, but the ending felt unfinished. I was confused about what Katy had really taken away from this experience, and ended the book feeling like there were loose ends.

(Links to be added when posted)

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book early!

I absolutely devoured In Five Years by Rebecca Serle, so when I saw she has a new book coming out I was beyond excited.

One Italian Summer was an incredible journey. I enjoyed it tremendously. The scenery was so well described, I felt in love with the Italian town where the book was set. It was so beautifully described. The food, the ocean, the Italian coats, the characters, everything was just so beautiful and amazing.

I was fully invested on the story and the characters, and enjoyed every minute of the book. I highly recommend it!

Lovely and heartbreaking. This book is an exploration of grief but also a love letter to the Amalfi coast. Made me want to book a trip to Positano, ASAP.

So many thanks to Netgalley/Atria Books for the chance to read this book early!

Rebecca Serle is quite the think-tank! I'm always impressed by the unique plots with hints of magical realism she is able to create. I was highly anticipating this novel for that reason and the wonderful setting! This would certainly be a fabulous beach read for 2022!

Thankfully, despite the sadness and heartbreak at the helm of this story, the reader is not overwhelmed with melancholy, knowing Katy will get plenty of time with her mother in Italy, thanks to the blurb. I loved the concept of her meeting her mother while they were the same age, giving this story a time-travel feel, but in a way I guarantee readers haven't experienced before. This experience allowed Katy to get to know her mom as a real person, rather than just as her parent. I think as kids, most of us forget our parents are human too, a point this story hammers home.

While this book started a little slow for me, I didn't mind taking a step back to enjoy the wonderful setting, descriptions of delicious food, and the hints of romance. While reading, the descriptions of the landscape and activities of the characters were so clear, I could almost feel the warm Italian sun on my skin and taste the wine and decadent foods. I felt like I was on vacation while invested in this story, which is one of the most delightful things about reading!

I highly recommend taking this free vacation in 2022. Your mind will surely be transported!

✨Book Review✨
One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
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My first read of the year! One Italian Summer was a lovely book. Serle is an extremely talented writer, and I am a huge fan of her writing style. Her books feel like a warm cookie, if that makes any sense at all.
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The premise of this book was something that immediately intrigued me. Katy travels to Positano after the death of her mother, Carol. Positano was one of Carol's favorite places, and she spent a beautiful summer there when she was young. Soon after Katy arrives, she gets the shock of a lifetime. Her mother Carol is there in the flesh, and is 30 years old again. Katy gets to meet her mom during Carol's best summer in Italy.
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This book is exactly what it promises, so if that description sounds delightful to you, this is going to be your book. Reading this made me miss Italy so so much. There were so many beautifully detailed descriptions of the Italian coast, food, sun, water, and more.
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The only thing I didn't totally love about this book was Katy's ending, but that may be because of my personal life experiences. Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a story about love, family, friendship, loss, adventure, soul-searching, and self-discovery. It is the perfect spin on the idea that the people we love never truly leave us.

Really enjoyed this story. Magical realism isn’t always for me but this was good. A few issues with the story and one relationship but for the most part it was a good read.

I really enjoyed the vivid description of Italy which made up most of the plot but didn't like the romantic relationship that went on. I only thought it was a okay read.

I loved this book. It had me feeling so many feelings. From sadness, to mad, to happiness. This was just beautiful. I dream of going to Italy and this just makes me want to go even more. I love the relationship with Katy and Carol. I hope to have the same relationship with my daughter.

“My mother, you see, is the great love of my life. She is the great love of my life, and I have lost her.”

This is a story about the strong, invisible bond between mother and daughter. Katy's mother passes away just before they about to take their life-long Italy trip together. Katy is a complete mess: dealing with her grief, unhappy at work, and starting to question her marriage with divorce on the horizon. What does she do? Gets on that plane and take the summer to explore Italy just as she had planned with her mother.

But quickly, she realizes, she has some how found a pocket of magic when she arrives in Italy.... and meets her mother; but it is a younger, youthful version of her mother of when she visited Italy for a summer. Together, they become fast friends and Katy gets to know a side of her mother she never knew, a young women full of surprises and culture and life. At the same time, Katy is pursued and begins to question what is love and what is her life back home. This is a story that is somewhat bewitching and really somehow heartbreaking full of grief and loss but also full of life and love.

Also, it will 100000% make you want to plan a summer in Italy!

I really enjoyed the premise of this, but I found I didn’t connect with the characters after the first third or so, and found that the plot itself was a bit rushed at times.

After reading In Five Years, I knew I had to read anything Rebecca Serle writes and after finishing this, I think it might have loved this novel even more.

Katy just lost her best friend, her whole world, her mom. They had planned a mother/daughter trip to a place in Italy that her mother had spent some time in before Katy was born. Unfortunately her mom passed away before they could take that trip. Feeling lost, Katy decides to take the trip on her own and what she finds is so much more then a way through her grief.

I had all the tears reading this one. Rebecca Serle really portrays the hurt of grief as well as the light of getting through.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review,

4.5 stars
I really enjoyed this book; the places, the characters, the plots were all great! It was centered around a woman figuring out who she was independent of others. I loved that it was a love story between a daughter and her mother, yet still managed to have other love stories within it. Katy went to get her mother back and found out who her mother was as a person and not just "mom".

This book has beautiful descriptions of Positano and I felt like I genuinely took a vacation while I was reading it. Katy’s relationship with her mother had me rolling my eyes at many points but ultimately I enjoyed the book and the “twist”, and the complexity of realizing that your parents are full people(though Katy was a little late to that realization in some ways.)

A shorter read, but it felt complete with Serle’s beautiful ability to build out full characters quickly.

3.5 stars

This book had an interesting premise and the writing/description of Positano was beautifully done (it made me want to visit Italy so badly)
I also loved getting to see Katy’s mom when she was younger.

I feel like Katy could have used some more character growth. She seemed very ambivalent to her husband, which I understand was the grief, but the fact that it just seemed to fix itself without much shown on paper about it, kinda rubbed me the wrong way. And the fact that the thing she did in Italy (I’m going to speak vague as to not spoil anything) was built up then literally never resolved or brought up again. Idk. It’s not the fact that the situation happened, I actually understood that, it was the fact that it was literally never resolved and she didn’t answer to anything.

I feel the MC came off very selfish at times and immature and I didn’t feel like there was enough growth shown on paper. Like, I’m glad she got her appetite back and I’m glad she found her happiness again but there’s so much work she needs to do on herself that has nothing to do with the grief (dependency issues, selfishness, thinking her parents life revolves around her despite being an adult, to name a few)

Overall, even though parts of the story felt
incomplete for me, I can’t take away from the fact that this author’s writing is simply beautifully.

The first thing you will find with this book is the vivid, beautiful and rich descriptions of Italy and the Amalfi Coast. Katy had planned to make the trip to Italy with her mother, her closest friend and confident but when her mother passes before they can take the trip, Katy decides to make the trip alone.

Though the gorgeous scenery and descriptions are incredible, the story itself felt a bit of a stretch for me. I had trouble identifying with Katy and at times made it hard for me to continue reading, but continue reading I did. I really wanted to love this book but just couldn’t.

I appreciate #netgalley and #atriapublishing for giving me the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.

I received this book as an ARC through Net Galley and this is my honest opinion.
I thought this would be a quick romance read that I could just pick up during the holidays for a few minutes here or there, I was wrong. There is so much to this novel that sets it apart from anything else and while the story is not a difficult one to read it has a boat load of emotional baggage with it.

First, the descriptions of the Italian coast are so lush with detail. The last trip I took before COVID shut us all down was the Italy and Greece. Specifically the Isle of Capri and the Amalfi coast. It all came rushing back and I was plunged back into that world. Serle imbues and delivers this novel with touches of magical realism so that the elements that are borderline questionable for plot devices succeed.
Secondly, the reckoning of the relationship daughters have with their mothers was heart wrenching. Stories with family secrets, especially, always draw me close but learning something so profound after your mother has died will set the world on fire.
Finally, the reckoning of your evolving roll in the social order when a parent dies and the change the death brings to you as an adult are depicted. It was at this point that I thought the story got a bit whinny and I could not find any empathy for Katy. I mean a woman, raised by someone with taste and panache, can not find a way to go on without her. Just too many holes there. The novel, however, succeeds despite this pitfall.