Rebecca Serle has an uncanny ability to make you feel all the feels! One Italian Summer follows a woman who has just lost her mother and decides to take the trip of a lifetime that they had planned to take together. The setting is sublime and, being a lover of food, the descriptiveness of the food and drinks is masterful. I so want to travel to Italy and experience even a small bit of the magic that Serle weaves into this novel. Anyone who has lost someone will feel a bit heartbroken that we can't experience the same. Magical!

4.5/5 ⭐️

I’ve been transported to Italy and I’m not ready to come back.

Katy has lost her mother, who was her best friend and is taking the trip they planned to take together in order to try and grieve her loss and figure out if she wants to remain in her marriage with her husband, Eric. Katy is struggling to cope with her immense loss and is feeling like her life is falling apart without her center.

I thought the relationship between Katy and her mother, Carol, was a tad codependent, but as someone who is very close to her mom as well, I felt it was believable to feel those deep emotions and that ragged pain that comes with a loss of someone so important to you.

I loved the atmosphere Serle brought to this book. I felt like I was traveling alongside Katy and couldn’t get over how real it all felt!

This was my first book by Rebecca Serle and I’m glad I started with this read. I hope there’s more goodness coming from her in the future.

Thank you NetGalley and Publishers for the review copy!

In One Italian Summer we see the impact one woman's death has on her adult daughter. It beautifully portrays the pain one can go through despite the age of a child when a parent passes away. But even more poignantly we see the history of the mother in magical realism when the daughter befriends the younger version of her mother. And secrets are unveiled. In a uniquely written book, Rebecca Serle has given readers great points to ponder about how we are all ducks just paddling like mad under water despite how calm we look on the surface, and the impact that can have on relationships. This makes a terrific book club read for everyone because there are so many nuggets in the book it can relate to many people.

A wonderful summer read. The descriptions of Italy and its experiences provides the reader an armchair vacation with a unique storyline where Katy magically meets the younger version of her mother. For those who are willing to suspend reality.

One Italian Summer is the perfect beach/vacation read. I was transported to the Amalfi Coast and enjoyed every minute of my literary trip. Themes of grief, the bond between mother and daughter, and what would happen if we could go back in time and have a glimpse our parents before they were ours.

Light, easy read but with deeper themes - just what I love about Rebecca Serle's writing!

I loved Rebecca Serle's previous two books, so I was looking forward to this one. Then I heard from several people that it wasn't great, so I put it off. I think my low expectations helped me. I thought the main character was very immature and I had a hard time empathizing with her. There is an element in this book that would've made it an instant DNF, but I really like how Serle writes. There were quite a few lines in this book that really resonated with me, so I'm giving it three stars.

aside from the beautiful characterization of the Italian countryside/waterside, i found the MC's view on relationships, while i guess sweet, was odd, in that believing your mom was your one true love in life and not being able to open yourself up to a different relationship that can also bring you love (i am also a believer in having multiple loves in your life and all of them exist both in tangent and separate from the ones of your past) really bothered me. i found the mc to be closed off to the point of annoyance and it didn't give what it was supposed to give i think

This was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I loved the descriptions of Italy. And I cannot wait to venture their one day.
I enjoyed Katy’s character but the grief from her loss just overshadowed the book. Having lost my own mother I was not in a mind space to share grief with Katy.

I loved Rebecca Serle’s previous book In Five Years so I know how amazing this author’s work can be. This one just wasn’t a good fit for me. But I will definitely be watching for her next!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books

Katy Silva has always been close to her perfect mother, Carol. When Carol passes away a devastated Katy decides to take the trip to Italy that they planned to take together. Much like Rebecca Serle's other books there is a magical fantasy element to the book, as shortly after Katy arrives at the hotel on the Amalfi Coast, she meets her mother. A younger version and they have a wonderful time. She learns more about her mother and her life when Carol was a new mom. The characters are interesting, and the mystery surrounding Carol's appearance made me keep reading. The descriptions of the Amalfi Coast were devine and made reading this book amazing. Want to visit the Amalfi Coast but can't get away? Read this book.

While I enjoyed the virtual travel to Positano and the Amalfi Coast, this is my least favorite of Rebecca Serle's books. Which is a shame since I was really looking forward to reading this. I think the only reason I kept reading it was because I wanted to see how it ended, but honestly, I felt the mother/daughter relationship bordered on obsessive and a bit dysfunctional. And I'm saying this as a daughter. My mom and I have a very close relationship, but Katy and Carol's relationship just felt like too much to me.

Unfortunately this one didn't work for me. The time travel aspect of this book was okay, but the story just overshadowed that part.

I received an advanced copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The draw of this book was the setting on the Amalfi Coast. I did enjoy this one, but I am not sure I really liked the character of Katy's mother. I could not tell if she was a ghost, a figment of Katy's imagination, or what, but it just did not work for me. I won this in a giveaway, so I do not think this is one I'd have bought myself.

This didn’t make sense to me. A grown woman divorces her husband… because her mother was the love of her life?? Everyone processes grief differently though. I just couldn’t connect or relate to the main character all that much.

One Italian Summer at its heart is a story about a mother-daughter relationship and a daughter grieving the loss of the one person who made her feel whole. When she travels to Italy to try to find herself on a trip she'd originally booked with her mother, she ends up finding bits of the woman who shaped her in stories she never knew.

Serle's ability to blend magical realism with romance and life's obstacles in this novel felt like a love letter, and she wove it all in together so beautifully.

I have some mixed feelings about this book. It was definitely well written and tugged at the heart strings, but I didn't love the main character. The setting was amazing, though, and I loved all the descriptions.

I enjoyed reading One Italian Summer especially since I had just returned from Italy! This story made me want to go back and see the sites and try the food again. I enjoyed reading about the relationship the character had with her mother. There was some unexpected twists and turns but it was an enjoyable ride.

I unfortunately did not enjoy this book, I was very disappointed because I saw how others were giving it high ratings but I really don't understand where that is coming from. I wasn't able to connect with the main character so there was no way to save the story from there. I don't think that I would recommend this book, unless they already like her other stories

I'll start by saying that I didn't love this one as much as In Five Years. I also think I'm just not really into magical realism in general. The whole magical twist was unnecessary for me, to be honest. I was interested in the messy realities of Katy's emotional turmoil, though. I can't relate to the weirdly close relationship she had with her mother, and I SUPER can't relate to her (borderline inhumane) treatment of her poor husband, but maybe that's why I found her to be an interesting character.

The real charm of this book is the way it makes you feel like you're really there, in this idyllic Italian coastal wonderland. I immediately added Positano to my travel bucket list, and looked up Youtube videos of all the areas/places mentioned in the book.

All in all, this was a quick and atmospheric read, but not one I'd likely go out of my way to recommend or pick up again. I enjoy Serle's writing style and pacing, and I will definitely continue to check out her future work.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

A charming story and a pleasure to read! It was a touch predictable, but it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the book.

A love story to Italy and the mother/daughter relationship. The entire book was written in a way that you felt you were in the Almalfi coast right alongside the characters. The time travel twist was a cleaver way to twist the plot and I loved every second of this adventure.

I know this book is everywhere and it seems to be making a lot of lists but I was turned off instantly by the over emotion of the main character.