Surprised it was mostly set in Ireland vs Italy. Did enjoy the writing and at times snark. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers Copy of A Rosie Life in Italy by Rosie Meleady!

The author and her husband and children maintain a loosely focused relationship akin to the "hippie" lifestyle of the 60's. They crisscross from Ireland to Europe dreaming of owning a home in Italy. Plans are made and fall through, partially due to the outbreak of Covid and partially due to misunderstandings and deception. I particularly enjoyed her snarky, humorous asides that produced a lusty chuckle whilst reading. My thanks to the author and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of this book.

I was certainly not expecting this book to take place mostly in Ireland... or involve so many terrible decisions and events. But, I did appreciate the writing style and that it was an easy read. I'm not sure I will continue with the series but I was invested in what will happen with the move.
Thanks to NetGalley and Spurce Books for this ARC.

Thank you to Net Galley for a copy to review.

I visited Italy just over a year ago now, so the idea of packing up and moving to Italy really appealed to me, and I was interested to see it through another’s perspective. However, the actual move doesn’t take place until quite far into the book, and the first half seems to be a lot of back and forth, constantly changing minds and course.

I see that this memoir was originally a blog, and I can definitely see that in the writing style, especially during the COVID section.

That being said, it was still an enjoyable read, just not quite was I was expecting.

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.