This one was a slow start for me (Rosie and her husband bounce around a lot in the beginning and seem particularly inept with their money) and things early on bounced between too much detail and giant jumps in time. But things picked up and I did enjoy this one, especially once I got more attached to the family and once they made the move to Italy. Although it does take all of the book before they actually have bought that rundown villa. This one's a memoir which makes the fact that they are only just getting their business in Italy up and running and have just started buying the villa (what a process!), when Covid hits all the more intense.

This book was a little bit disappointing to me. I read the synopsis and was looking forward to reading it so much- Italian countryside , a move, a renovation project. Come to find out that the large majority of the book takes place in Ireland without really getting to the above subject matter. For this reason, as it ended up being very different than what I expected I found it hard to get through and had to pick up and put it down multiple times.
This book just wasn’t for me, unfortunately.

This is a cute telling and personal journey of hopes and dreams as well as faults and foibles. All the best to the author in this journey.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

This was a cute story about the trials and tribulations of finally finding home. It was a long trip across many countries with many moves. Yet it was so worth the trips.

I found this scenes well developed and the characters a lively bunch that made me smile and laugh. I really enjoyed this book

I want to thank NetGalley and Spurce Books for this advanced reader copy and this is my honest opinion.

This book is very hard to read. The story is depressing and didn’t draw me in as I expected it to from the description.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks for the advance electronic copy of this title.

I'm not sure what drew me to requesting this book. It really isn't my usual genre, but I did enjoy it. Rosie is an excellent writer and brings humor to some difficult topics, covid, addiction, and death. These were not the primary topics of the book, but they were certainly relevant to the story.

I enjoyed reading about Ireland, as I plan to visit in the coming year, and I did visit Italy in my childhood, so I felt a connection to the locations. I somehow missed that covid was going to be part of the story, so when it reared its ugly head, I was immediately transported back to the early days of the pandemic, when we were shown footage of Italians on their balconies serenading each other.

I expected the villa in Italy to be the primary story line--apparently this book is just the beginning of the story. Will I read the rest? Perhaps. I do intend to look the author up on social media and hope to find photos of the villa!

The author, her husband and two kids live in Ireland, but want to move to Italy. This is easier said than done when their family all live in Ireland , they don’t have a lot of disposable cash and then the pandemic hits. This was an interesting memoir that reminded me a little of Under the Tuscan Sun because they buy a big old house in need of many renovations.

I enjoyed this book and my biggest take from it was that it is possible to live the life you dream of with hard work. This family kept their eyes on the prize and managed to accomplish their goal. There was more to the book too including the death of the author’s sister which had a big effect on her and her family. I recommend this for anyone who enjoys memoirs or needs a push to focus on their goals.

What an interesting read! I really appreciated the author's ability to make a non-fiction memoir feel more like fiction - she had a really wonderful way of weaving her own story into a beautiful, chaotic journey.

Highly recommend! Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy.

Rosie Meleady makes Italy sounds like heaven. If I hadn't wanted to go to Italy before, I certainly do now. Although the story is peppered with some sadness, it's a beautiful tribute.

Ever since reading Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes in high school, I have (maybe not so) secretly dreamed of buying a house in Italy and fixing it up--even though I have no money to do such a thing and no knowledge/experience in how to do any kind of renovating 🏚️.⁠
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So when I saw Rosie Meleady's book about doing just that, A Rosie Life in Italy, I knew it was a book for me.⁠
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After a series of life changes--some pretty traumatic and heartbreaking, Rosie and her husband are ready for a fresh start, so they make good on their promise from years ago to leave rainy Ireland 🌧️and buy their dream home in Italy ☀️. Of course, it's never as it easy as it sounds, but Rosie still finds moments of beauty and humor.⁠
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Rosie's ability to insert humor in just the right place is actually what carries this book. I'm also impressed with her strength, her relationship with her husband, her sense of adventure, and I, personally, really enjoyed reading about how she built her destination wedding business.⁠
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I will say, though, that this book is more about Rosie's life *leading up* to buying a house in Italy than it is about actually *buying and renovating* a house in Italy. (At least much more than I expected.) But I was okay with that because I like Rosie, I like her family, and I like her writing.⁠
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Book: A Rosie Life in Italy⁠
Author: Rosie Meleady⁠
Format: Digital⁠
Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir⁠
Places Featured: Italy 🇮🇹, Ireland 🇮🇪, Spain 🇪🇸⁠
Review Score: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 (rounded up)⁠
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**I was given a version of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to @netgalley and @sourcebooks.

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the rest of the series! The struggles and hijinks leading up to purchasing a rundown Italian villa left me laughing and rooting for this slightly nomadic, somewhat impulsive family unit.

How can you make the larger-than-life people and culture of Italy dull? I was anticipating a vibrant adventure similar to A Year in Tuscany. Instead I slogged through a very dry account that has been dragged out to create a series. What made it even worse was the fact that much of this part of her story took place during the worldwide COVID pandemic. Living through that once was enough.
I will not be reading the rest of this series.

When Rosie’s landlady without any warning doubles the rent on her shabby home in Ireland, Rosie without hesitation decides to up sticks and move with husband, son and daughter. Her initial choice was Spain but things changed and it was to Italy they went. Rosie has a way of turning her decisions into very reasonable explanations as to their necessity and is like a whirlwind once she decides on something.


Being a wedding planner hoping to offer sunny climes, romantic villas and backdrops Rosie is a typical digital nomad. Buying a derelict 22 roomed castle complete with eight squabbling cousins did not fall into her plans. Neither did she take into account the vagaries of Italian property laws, all of which had to be undertaken by different masters of the law. Finally no one took into account COVID, the quarantine, the long long closure of neighborhoods and countries, cutting people off completely from family and friends and economic disaster for many like Rosie.

The story goes from one incident to another (home ownership is hard and be prepared to slog it out), but Rosie and her husband soldier on. The end seems in sight despite so many hiccups on the way. Humorous but informative, descriptive and emotional, the book had it all.

This book had great storytelling! Whether it was good or bad times for the family the story was always interesting and easy to relate to. It had a similar feel to Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes which I also enjoyed. I wanted to know more about the renovation so I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series available on Kindle Unlimited. The discussion questions included will be helpful for book clubs.

Thank you to NetGalley and Source Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

My husband and I took our honeymoon in Italy. I can't say that I didn't consider moving to Italy and buying a house in the countryside. It was so enlightening to read about the not-so-glamourous side of moving abroad. This is a great read for an airplane.

So delightful! Laugh out loud while you follow this Irish family through the ups and downs of life. Addiction, moving to another country, Covid, and home renovations make for a great story and Meleady manages to find humor while she continues to work hard to make sure her family is happy and healthy. Released Oct 15, a great memoir!

. Rosie Meleady has a way of writing that’s escapist and uplifting, a perfect holiday read. I loved this book based on the unlikely purchase of a grand old house in Italy and accompanying dramas that ensued as the family go through times of grief, the uncertainty and upheaval of a move, an ongoing pandemic and financial issues. For me it was a nostalgic read having purchased our own property in Spain and all the highs and lows that such a purchase entails and the crazy times of Covid that’s already becoming a distant memory. Looking forward to reading other books by this author.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publishers for an ARC in return for an honest review.

This book begins with the main setup and then goes back in time to give us a wider picture about all the things that have happened in Rosie’s life pertaining to the home she began the book with.

Memoirs of this type work well if the author’s writing style personally appeals to me and I enjoyed the tone from the very first page.

Rosie is a hard working person with a sense of humour and some setbacks in life. I did not ( but should have) seen the COVID section coming. It was hard to see the precautions talked about again but also strange as if it was almost fictional. It seems near impossible to think that such dramatic things happened so recently!

Unlike fiction, this book talks of bureaucracy that impact lives of people who want to make a life in a new country. It is not a very exciting topic but it is presented in an entertaining manner.

In the midst of the humour, the enormity of the pandemic is treated with the respect and seriousness it deserves.

This book is a personal journey, one that continues on with more books. I would love to try the rest in the series to see what happens next.

Highly recommend this book to anyone who finds the blurb interesting.

I received an ARC thanks to Netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

I liked this book! It was fun and entertaining. I think it was a bit dull in some moments being a memoir, but it was still very entertaining other than the few slow parts

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complementary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

alcohol-issues, England, Tuscany, family-drama, family-dynamics, family-expectations, situational-humor, verbal-humor, laugh-riot, relatives, relationships, relocating, pandemic, panic-attacks, bridezilla, wedding-madness, compromise, memories, memoir, bureaucracy, grieving, grief, unpleasant-neighbors, unputdownable, nonfiction, travel, travel-with-family*****

This is the first in a series. This is the story of Rosie (who develops a business as a wedding planner), her family (including the untimely death of her sister), marriage to Ronan (professional photographer) and their family (two kids and two dogs) together up to the time they actually take possession of said rundown villa near the end of the pandemic tight restrictions. Theirs is a peripatetic and somewhat chaotic lifestyle that is also way too much fun! I laughed my way through it and plan to read the rest as well!
I requested and received a temporary uncorrected proof copy from Sourcebooks via NetGalley. Thank you!
#ARosieLifeInItaly by Rosie Meleady #NetGalley @Sourcebooks #Nonfiction #Humor #Relocating