To Sicily with Love by Jennifer Probst

Thank you @netgalley and @berkleypub for the opportunity to read this book!

I liked the premise of losing yourself along the way and going on a journey to find yourself. This was a little eat, pray, love for me and I enjoyed that. I fell in love with her Italian family and all the food made me so hungry while reading. I actually enjoyed that this book was closed door, I don’t think explicit spice was needed.

I do have to say, I wanted to love this book more but I think there were some things that held me back. I think the FMC was a bit annoying and stayed with the ex wayyyyy too long…that relationship should have been cut a lot earlier to give her the opportunity to grow more on her own. I felt like the internal dialogue was a bit repetitive but understandable for someone whose whole life was turned upside down. The last thing I’ll mention is, the narrator for the audio mostly did a great job but sometimes the fake Italian accent was cringe.

Again, I try to be as positive as possible but I also want to be as honest as possible when it comes to my reviews and this one was just so so for me.

Just because it was not 100% for me, does not mean it won’t be for you.

If you love:
Finding yourself
Found family
Pastor trauma
Italian vacations
Closed door romance

Try this one out!

#tosicilywithlove #netgalley #bookreview #bookreviewer #romancebooks #closeddoorromance

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the arc copy of this book. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Aurora York from New York has everything she wants: a hot gym owning boyfriend named Jason, a life coach business, a shiny new podcast, an online following that adores her, and a book contract. The death of her father 5 years prior set her into work mode, serving as the motivation she needed to be a boss babe. However, when her mother dies unexpectantly, she falls apart. She loses all motivation to write the book, has a public freakout on the podcast that is broadcasted live, and just wants to hide in her apartment. To top it off, Jason wants to take a break.

On a whim, Aurora submits her DNA to an ancestry site. An email with her results indicates she has family in Sicily, although her mother told her she was an only child with deceased parents. Aurora receives an email from her matched cousin, begging her to come to Sicily and meet their large family. So she does, and it quite literally changes her life. At the end of her stay, Aurora must decide if she still wants the life she built back in New York or if the place her mother was raised is where she feel she belongs, with the family she never knew she needed.

This book is beautifully written, with descriptions of vivid imagery, interesting food, and supportive loving characters. I laughed and cried multiple times. I did find the book a tad slow / hard to get into prior to Aurora going to Sicily, but once she gets there the story flies by. I think this book gives a great message to those who have recently lost a parent, that it's okay to lose yourself and rebuild. Or really to anyone in general, loss or not.

I absolutely loved this book from start to finish. I think all readers will be able to relate to some part of Aurora’s journey through life. It may be from losing a parent, discovering who your family truly is, dating the wrong guy and then finding who you think is right for you, or trying to find true joy in life. This book made me want to visit Italy so badly as I have never been outside of the United States. Will need to get a physical copy so I can share this story with others I know will fall in love with it as much as I did!

This book is incredible - I laughed, I cried, and I want to read it all over again.

Aurora is life coach who loses both parents unexpectedly and takes a DNA test that leads her to long-lost family in Sicily. She feels like she had everything figured out - and as a life coach, she's often doing that for other people - and it was beautiful to see her story unwind. It reminded me to stop and take in the little things in life, take joy in food, family, and good friends. This will be one that stays with me for a long time!

I have read so many excellent books recently, and this one is at the top! I absolutely loved it. I actually used the highlight feature through the book, which I don't do often. It was so real, heartbreaking, and heartwarming all rolled together. I loved the characters, the extended family, the location. I wanted to be in Sicily with them, being a part of it all. The slow burn romance was perfection. My favorite of this series by far. Will read again.

4.25/5

Aurora is still coming to terms with her father’s death, when she is dealt another blow. As a popular life coach, motivational speaker/podcaster, She slowly becomes unhinged. Her hunky gym owner boyfriend is trying to support her thru but isn’t fully listening/understanding her. After a DNA test shows her a side of her life she never knew, she decides a trip is in order hoping this will answer a lot of her questions. This opens up a whole world for her and gets more than she hoped for.

This book was such a pleasant surprise. One word of warning…don’t read this book if you’re hungry! Oh my, the food described is enough to have you looking up trips to Sicily, even if the scenery alone described doesn’t send you. I loved the Aurora’s development from having a singular focus to finding her own voice and putting herself first. Sweet coming of age story, ultimately finding family and love. Secondary characters are fun! I didn’t realize until the end of the story that it’s part of a Meet Me in Italy series, but each can be read as a stand-alone. I was in need for a different type of romance and this fit that bill.

Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for this ARC. This is my honest opinion.

I laughed, I cried, I smiled and kicked my feet. This was truly such a heartwarming story of a woman who thought she had it all together for reality to come crashing down. I thinks it’s safe to say we all have a little of aurora in us and that is what made this story so easy to sink my teeth into! I found myself crying with her through her loses and her smile and cheer for her as she grew through them and learned to love life again. Justin told her she can’t eat pray love through grief but think Quint and i beg to differ. Love this feel good story about self discovery and think it’s so worth the read!

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review!
#berkleypartner

This was such a treat. It has been years since I read a Jennifer Probst novel.

In this book Aurora, a life coach, believes she has her whole life figured out and that her career is all she needs to be happy. Life doesn’t always work out the way we think, Aurora’s life is shaken up after her mother dies and she realizes that she doesn’t have all she needs in life. During her time of grief she takes a DNA tests and realizes she has a family she didn’t know existed. She travels to Sicily to meet her long last family. During this time, Aurora realizes that there is more to life than her career.

I really enjoyed watching Aurora change and find herself after grief. So many times we lose ourselves and forget how to keep living and this was a good example that life keeps on moving and sometimes we need to start over to find happiness within.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a women’s fiction with a romance that makes you feel giddy.

Thank you #netgalley and Berkeley publishing for the ARC

Our FMC, Aurora, is a social media influencer/life coach that transformed her life after the death of her father five years before the story begins. When her mother suddenly dies and all of the tools she used for herself (and preached to her clients and social media following) suddenly don’t work, she takes off to Sicily to connect with her mother’s family that she only just discovered existed.

This is a beautifully written story of working through and accepting grief, in the stunning setting of Sicily. I had a great time reading this, and was rooting for Aurora’s development from the very beginning.

This is a perfect summer read for anyone looking for a closed door, slow burn romance!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

To Sicily with Love is a beautiful love story between a mother and daughter, a woman and a country and a woman who finds not only a family, but also a soulmate. The message of the story is so important...sometimes a woman's greatest loss can become her greatest strength in life.

Aurora York is a superstar! She can do it all! She has a popular podcast, is a life coach, and is writing a book. She has a wonderful boyfriend Jason who is just as busy as she is, and they both treat their bodies like temples. An only child and with her father's tragic passing, it is her responsibility to take care of her mother who continually tries to malign her lifestyle. She doesn't care for her boyfriend and feels Aurora starves herself. She reluctantly makes the trek to her house alone as little as possible, not realizing this visit where she tries to convince her to stay for dinner would be the last time she sees or speaks to her.

She is devastated at the loss of her mother. Now she is truly alone with no family or relatives, only Jason who himself is constantly busy. At first, she feels she is holding it all together, but as her emotions and feelings get the best of her, she begins to have breakdowns one in particular which is on air.

She decides to put her book on hold and seek help. One of the suggestions is to do a DNA test to see if she can find any relatives, she was unaware of. What she discovers will change the trajectory of her life forever!

Unbeknownst to her, her mother was born in Sicily and left her family behind to come to America. But the family she left including her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins all still live in a small seaside town in Sicily. Against the wishes of her boyfriend but encouragement of her therapist she decides to go meet them and stay for ten days.

She is of course overwhelmed by these people who pull her in and love her unconditionally even though they did not know she existed. Her grandparents, especially her grandfather does not have much to say to her still angry that his daughter abandoned the family all those years ago. But they refuse to tell her why.

Aurora's light begins to shine as she spends time and many, many meals (and carbs) with her relatives, laughing, going to church and learning the language. The more time she is there, the more it feels like a home. And of course, there is a very handsome man who continually gives her sage advice.

As her time in Sicily draws to an end, she begins to feel a loss she never imagined. She still does not have the answers to all her questions, or even what the life she knew is even worth her time anymore, and there is the mystery as to why her mother left and never mentioned having a family to her at all.

To Sicily with Love is full of love and hope as well as guilt, but most importantly, it's about finding out who you really are in so many ways, slowing down and looking around for the beauty which can be seen through yours and other people's eyes as well, including the main character of this wonderful story, Sicily.

Thank you #NetGalley #Berkley #JenniferProbst #ToSicilywithLove for the advanced copy.

Aurora York is a successful life coach and is adored by her fans. She has it all together. A fabulous career, a gorgeous boyfriend and a home she loves. She has put everything into her career at the cost of not seeing much of her friends and family, but that is how it goes when you want to be successful right?

When her world comes crashing down, Aurora can not seem to keep it together. She could lose everything she has worked so hard for. Aurora decides to take a DNA test as she is an only child, and to her surprise, she finds a match in Italy. How could that be? When she connects with her match, she finds a whole family she knew nothing about. On a whim she flies to Italy and is soon embraced with not only family, but culture and tradition. Can Aurora leave her new family behind and return to the States?

I loved this book by Jennifer Probst. It was like cuddling up in a cozy blanket and going on an adventure to Italy. The characters were fabulous and the story kept me engaged throughout the book. My thanks to Berkley Publishing and the author Jennifer Probst for my advanced readers copy which I read and reviewed voluntarily. Grab a copy friends and go on a beautiful adventure to Italy.

To Sicily with Love is a modern fictional spin on Eat, Pray, Love when literally everything has hit the fan for Aurora.

Aurora is a social media influencer/life coach who seems to have it all together, the perfect life, the perfect boyfriend (on paper), but then her mom dies, and it seems like her life just crumbles to pieces.

Then she finds out some interesting things about a relative in Sicily, so when she has nothing else going on, and life is sort of a hot mess, she takes the leap. This is truly the part where the spin on Eat, Pray, Love happens. The Italian landscapes, the food, the people. Ugh it's like you are there, you can visualize the beaches, taste the food and see these people (and also see these dinner conversations happening in real time).

Jennifer has a writing style that just makes you feel like you are right there in the mix of it, and I love it. Her series of Meet Me in Italy is absolutely wonderful (and no you don't need to read any of the other books before to grab this one).

If you are looking for a feel good, slow burn, closed-door romance, beach read type book, this is your book.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for my ARC!

4.25 on Story Graph, 4 Stars on Goodreads

QueenZany 3.5 Star Review
To Sicily with Love
by Jennifer Probst




To Sicily with Love was a truly lovely unique read. That sent you on a journey of loss, love, and finding oneself.

This was another wonderful book. This author never disappoints. It has been a beautiful series from the first book to this one.

OH. MY. GOD. This was such a perfect read! It was the perfect balance of real life problems and romance. The characters were developed so well and everything was easy to understand, even the Italian quotes. I appreciate that she did the work to include Sicilian traditions and made it authentic to the place. The building of characters was perfect and you really could feel her pain. I could relate a lot with how she describes grief, especially with her mom. I have now accepted my grief and that it will always live with me but it sometimes can be a good thing. also the ending had me crying

Thanks to for inviting me to participate in the blog tour!

This is a lovely romance that makes me want to fly to Italy and eat pasta. The descriptions of Italy are beautiful, and I loved the characters. The character development and the family dynamics are beautifully done, to the point that they read like a story of an actual family. The romance feels very natural and I was definitely rooting for them as a couple!

Blurb:
Aurora York had it all loving parents, a steady relationship, and a promising career. But after she loses both parents unexpectedly, she can’t seem to stay on track any longer. Lonely and lost after a public meltdown that threatens her professional credibility, she’s shocked when DNA test results show a blood relative in Sicily. When her cousin reaches out online and begs her to come to Italy to meet everyone in person, Aurora makes the leap.

Aurora arrives in Sicily for a month, and there she meets a colorful, dynamic family steeped in tradition. The younger generation is fascinated by her social media fame in America, and even though her grandparents have more traditional viewpoints, Aurora begins to heal from her grief…and enjoys the attention of a kind and handsome Italian man.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley, I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

To Sicily with Love
Jennifer Probst
🌟🌟🌟🌟

✨ Pub date Feb 18 ✨

🏖️ This book is the perfect beach read for your upcoming spring break or summer vacation. I really did not like Aurora (FMC) in the first half of the book and I get why she wrote her to have lost the meaning of her life as a life coach but thinking Jason was worthy of her love is insane. 🤯 I hated the fact that it took Aurora so long to figure that out for herself. Then, we didn’t get enough time and scenes with Quint to really feel emotionally connected to him like Aurora does. 

I loved all the descriptions of the food, the setting of Sciacca, and the scenes with her family, especially Catena and her grandfather. What I found relatable about Aurora was her grief and search for belonging.

Read if you love
✩ Travel Romance
✩ Slow burn 🔥
✩ Descriptive storytelling
✩ Found family
✩ Closed Door Spice 🤫

Jennifer Probst has a knack for taking her readers to beautiful places with characters you grow to love!

To Sicily with Love is book four in the Meet Me in Italy Series and I think it is my favorite one! All the women in these books are struggling with something hard and embark on a journey of self discovery to Italy. In this story we get to meet Aurora. She has just lost her mother, and her father five years before and is drowning in grief. Aurora is a character I immediately connected with and I think you will too. She is fierce and vulnerable, soft and hard, and looking for what we all are looking for, people to love and support her no matter what. One lonely night she decides to do a dna swab test to see if she has any other family out there and what she finds is so much FUN!

Probst brings us to Sicily in this story and I really, really felt like I was there with Aurora, hanging out in her beautiful apartment overlooking the marina or driving down the crazy Italian streets or having a drink with her in Bar Sciacca. The way Probst describes her locations transports the reader right there!

Probst also crafts all the intricacies of family dynamics beautifully. Aurora is struggling with so much heartbreak but there is so much hope in this story. So much fun and messiness, honesty and realness. I wanted to be a part of this story so much!

This is the perfect read to get you out of a slump and not feeling those winter blues! I really enjoyed this one so much!

To Sicily with Love is an immersive and beautifully written escape to Sicily. Jennifer Probst masterfully conveys the sights, smells, and flavors of the region, making it feel as if you’re experiencing it firsthand. The characters are relatable and well-drawn, with authentic relationships and emotions that resonate. Themes of grief, family bonds, and self-discovery are woven seamlessly into the story, adding depth beyond just a travel romance. While there is a romantic element, it’s handled with just the right balance—believable and heartfelt without being overly sweet. A wonderful, feel-good read that transports you to the heart of Sicily. A vacation to Italy without the bother of having to get on an airplane. This was the first of Jennifer Probst books that I have read --I’ll definitely be reading more!

This is a perfect vacation read! To Sicily with Love is sweet story full of beautiful locations and food following a grieving daughter who sets out to find out more about her family roots. I enjoyed following Aurora as she heals from some very difficult events in her life. There were so many fun side characters and a sweet romance. I loved visiting Sicily with her. It makes me want to go as I have distant family connections in Sicily and I could relate a bit to Aurora's story. Overall a fun, sometimes emotional read that I would recommend! I look forward to reading more of Jennifer Probst's books set in Italy!

Thank you to Berkley Publishing and Netgalley for the advance read copy. The book releases Feb. 18, 2025!