This book was so refreshing. My family is from Sicily and my mom went a year or so ago and visited almost the same area that this was written at. It was so neat to be able to envision what my mom had described and showed me in photos and also read it in a book.

When Aurora loses her mother, she has a hard time finding her love in her job and life. She feels alone and wants to find herself again. Taking a DNA test reveals family that she least expected. This is filled with found family, unexpected love, journey to find self and so much more. The Italian family is described absolutely perfect and reminded me of my own family gatherings. I love the adventure throughout this book.

Our FMC Aurora is a podcast host and life coach who is in the middle of working on writing her first book. Aurora thinks she has her life all figured out until she faces her mother’s sudden death. After her mother suddenly passed away Aurora fell into a deep depression which caused her to detach from her clients, and boyfriend. Although she thinks that her life is falling apart little does she know it is really falling together and she doesn’t even know it.

Aurora takes a DNA test that led her to discover family that she never knew she had. After discovering her family Aurora takes a trip to Sicily where she was able to connect with multiple family members and learn about why her mother kept them a secret from her. During this time Aurora starts questioning her relationship and starts to realize that who she once thought she loved and would spend her life with was really not her person.

I really enjoyed this book even though it was heavy on grief I felt that the story came together really well. This book touches on grief, love, healing and new beginnings.

Thank you Jennifer Probst, Berkeley Publishing & NetGalley for an e-ARC copy

This book made me cry several times! It is a book of love and loss and family.

I really enjoyed the main character, Aurora, finding herself and what makes her happy in life and i think the message was a very powerful message which is why i would recommend this book. I also enjoyed envisioning sicily and all its beauty.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC and Berkley publishing.

Aurora York had everything, including a social media presence and a podcast. However, she unexpectedly lost her mom several years after losing her dad and she was under the spotlight as she deals with grieving the lost of her parents. Aurora believed that she was an only child until she took a DNA test revealing that she has relatives in Sicily. She took her chances and goes to Sicily to meet the relatives that she never know and learns to stray away from perfection.

I was enthralled with the storyline from the start, including the quick loss of Aurora's mother and trying to deal with losing both parents. I loved how Aurora learns to embrace her Italian side, patches old wounds with family members including her maternal grandfather, and learns to let go of certain things. I love how she embraces the food cultural and having big family meals to build the connections, straying away from a strict eating regimen. A story with found family, but with a twist that the blood relatives reconnect with each other.

Thank you Berkley for the eARC!

Thank you NetGalley for the wonderful ARC for my honest review. Jennifer Probst did a great job with this book. She pulled me in and made me feel I was right there with these characters characters. It’s centered around Aurora who recently lost her mother and lost her father 5 years ago and this was the only family she had or so she thought. So as she works through her grief, her whole world seems to be falling apart. Even her boyfriend who thinks he’s being supportive…..isn’t. He is getting aggravated with her. So on a whim, she does a DNA test and she is in shock when results come back that she has a relative in Sicily and not just one……she has a lot. Against her so called boyfriends recommendation she packs her bags and takes a much needed vacation to meet her family and get some much needed answers as to why she is just now finding out why she never knew she had family. Mon what a great story. I loved it and would love to have given this more than 5 ⭐️.

If you loved the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, then this book is for you. This has the tight knit family and drama aspect but set in beautiful southern Italy. This was a short and sweet book that packed a punch. The complicated family dynamics were a treat to explore and Probst did a fantastic job in writing them. I love all things Italian and this was no different! The descriptions were so detailed and vibrant and the characters were really well fleshed out (apart from Jason which i believe was done intentionally). There was such an obvious contrast between the life and love of Aurora’s family and Jason who felt similar to trying to read emotions off a 2 by 4. Im still reeling that this was less than 300 pages! I need every book i read to give me this much investment, emotion, and joy AND have a length possible for me to read within 3 days.
The worst and best part of all was the descriptions of the FOOD. I was so hungry and jealous as i read this because i wanted to be eating everything Probst described. It all sounded so delicious 🤤.
And Quint!!! What a man. I loved his character. Extremely swoon worthy.
This is absolutely a new favorite i will revisit time and time again.
Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley for this early review copy!

Editing note: page 155 has the line “it had a happy floral pattern with bright red noses…”

“To Sicily With Love” is a beautiful story full of family drama and second chances, mixed with tears, laughter, love and forgiveness. I was terribly sad when, very early in the book, Aurora’s mother Serafina, suddenly passed away. This terrible tragedy changed Aurora’s life forever and opened up a Pandora’s box of secrets that she never saw coming. Growing up in an Italian family myself, I know how deeply we need to feel connected to our heritage. I was lucky to have many cousins who I saw on a regular basis at large and boisterous family dinners. Aurora was alone in the world with just her career and her boring boyfriend to keep her company. Her grief over losing her mother was overwhelming and a trip to Sicily to meet her relatives was just what she needed.

Sicily is a beautiful island rich in culture, delicious food, and close knit families who do everything together. Aurora had always wanted cousins and grandparents in her life and she never expected such a warm welcome from everyone upon her arrival. The only holdout was her grandfather who seemed to be a stern taskmaster, steeped in old world traditions who didn’t look happy to see her. Aurora’s Nonna hugged her tightly, not ever wanting to let her go, as tears streamed down her face. I became teary-eyed as well, as I recalled many warm hugs from my Italian grandmothers! The longer Aurora spent in Sicily learning Italian, cooking with her Nonna and cousins, and catching the eye of Quint, the most handsome man she had ever seen, the more she realized that there was more to life than work. Aurora missed her mother terribly, but she felt closer to her now that she was with people who knew her when she was younger. They shared pictures, stories, and shed many tears but Aurora’s heart was full and she was finally looking forward to the future. Whatever she decides to do, I know her mother will always be by her side, cheering her on.

This was a heartwarming and cute read, but I didn’t love it. It was #4 in a series (I haven’t read any of the previous titles) but it read like it could be a standalone. I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters, and Jason was immediately unlikable and unsupportive right from the beginning. It was relatable in the sense of single child household and the family dynamics, but other than that it was more about grief, loss, and life choices with limited romance.

Even though it wasn’t my style, it was very well written! I really enjoyed the vivid details of the scenery and food. It also allowed the reader to escape and take in the culture of Italy. As an American who has traveled to Rome, it brought back memories of carrying my own luggage up three flights of stairs and the experiences of afternoon feasts with the city shutting down, which I appreciated the accuracy of these details!

Overall, I could feel the emotion through words, but I wish it was shorter. It seemed to drag on and get repetitive. I also wished there were more romance since that’s what I was expecting going into the book. Instead, it was about life, sarcrifices, vulnerability and learning when to slow down. This would be a great read for someone who is looking for an uplighting and motivational book!

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

*Book publication date: February 18, 2025*
*Reviewed January 24, 2025*

This book wow’d me from the very first page. I have nothing but good things to say. I knew it would be a quick read.

Aurora lost her father a few years ago and unfortunately just lost her Mom.

She had no other family, so now it was just her- and a narcissist boyfriend who was always pushing her to do more, work more, exercise more- say no to bread and pizza more.

Feeling hopeless and lonely, she decides to do the genetic test and send it in.

She finds out she has LOTS of family over in Sicily and decides to go. And she learns family is life… and so are Italian men!

This look is about finding out who you really are. Are you trying to be who you were or who you are now?

Thank you to Netgalley, Berkley, and Jennifer Probst for the advance reading copy for an honest review.

Set to be published February 18, 2025.

Than you NetGalley and Berkeley publishing for letting me read this, and get the chance to review this. To Sicily with Love was beautiful. It was a story of grief, family, friendship, and love. We saw Aurora think that she lost everything, but then find out there’s a whole new girl waiting for her. Reading this felt so warm and cozy, and I always had a smile on my face reading it. Aurora and Quint deserve a happy and full life. Such a heartwarming book.

Aurora York's last words to her mother haunt her since they were somewhat unkind and adversarial. Suddenly her perfect world seems to be crumbling.  After she has two public meltdowns, not only is her career in jeopardy but it seems her fiancé wants to create some distance between them as a benefit to her.  When she discovers relatives in Sicily that she knew nothing about it's unclear if this is a manna from heaven or just another death knell in her crumbling life. 
Why did her mother lie and tell her that she has no family when it turns out Aurora has grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins.  She decides to go to Sicily to check out the story and learn more about this family and why her mother lied to her. 
As Aurora is reluctantly sucked into the heart of the family and creates bonds and friendships the only hold out is her grandfather who is the person responsible for laying down the law and forcing her mother to make choices. As is the case in situations like this, both sides waited for the other to make the first move and now it's too late.  Even as Aurora heals, she heals her grandfather as well. 
Aurora's sterile life is suddenly full of color. Boy! could I empathize with her as she slowly succumbs to the lure of carbs and the rich goodness of the Sicilian food. But holidays must end and Aurora's life in New York is calling her back.  How can she reconcile love, career and family. 
What a beautifully written story of life's choices and love.

What a beautiful book about family, love, and loss. Aurora is a high powered life coach with a fitness mogul boyfriend living her best life near NYC. She loves the high powered life she has built for herself, and is so annoyed her mom doesn’t understand her drive to succeed and is so annoyed at being called over to her mom’s place all the time. That is until one phone call changes her life leaving her all alone. As she powers through her grief she starts having break downs and everyone around her wonders if she is qualified to be a life coach anymore, including her boyfriend. But then a DNA test taken on a whim reveals this whole secret family in Sicily and she decides she must go there for answers. Once there she finds family, pleasure, and the possibility of the love of a lifetime. All she has to do is open herself up to the possibilities, and decide what she wants out of life. This was a beautiful look at love and loss and the ways that grief shapes us. I received an ARC, and this is my honest review.

I loved the cover of this book which was a big factor in me wanting to read it as its been so bitter cold here in North Carolina, I wanted something warm to read. This book touched on the feelings of the character was dealing with her grief and was struggling, I felt it, in some ways, although this was fiction, I actually felt it helped me deal with the death of my father. I truly enjoyed her journey. It seemed realistic and not a hallmark movie. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did, thank you for an enjoyable read

I wasn't sure to expect with this read, but it turned out to be such a lovely, wonderfully written story. I loved Aurora and really felt for her as she dealt with the grief she was experiencing. It was so fun to read about her travels and watch her get to know the family she hadn't known about previously. Such a beautiful read.

This was a sleeper book, just came out of nowhere to be such an emotional read!

This book follows Aurora, a life coach/podcaster, who must navigate grief, reinventing yourself, and finding family in Sicily. While some parts were a bit slow/repetitive, the time we spent in Sicily with Aurora’s family was fun! Navigating a new culture and family dynamic were fun elements to Aurora’s journey to find herself after her parents passed. It was a four-star read for me, and will be a book I recommend to my book club/friends once published!

The descriptions of locations and family interactions really come alive and I genuinely found myself smiling reading much of the dialogue between characters. DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THE FOOD.

Such a fun “stay in and dream about Italian summer” book. Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the e-ARC!

I enjoyed this book overall! It did start pretty slow and it wasn’t until about 30% of the way where i felt invested. Also, jason is the worst.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing this e-ARC copy!

I've enjoyed this book so much! It was so inspiring! And I loved the cover!
The story about finding yourself, dealing with grief and life issues.

Characters are great! And you grow on them. There is a splash of romance with sloooow burn and humor as well. I love how Quint understands Aurora, her needs on some primal level.

The book is written brilliantly. Perfect summer escape book.

While there were romantic aspects to this book, it was more about finding one's self while struggling with grief, and I thought it was almost PERFECTLY executed. Aurora wasn't a perfect character, but her growth was so evident throughout the book that I was still rooting for her the whole time. And as soon as I finished reading the book, I FaceTimed my mom because all I wanted was to hear her voice.

Aurora York has lost her parents unexpectedly, her job is faltering, her boyfriend is not very loving. She takes a DNA test, thinking she has no relatives, and finds a whole family in Sicily. This books follows her journey to meet her family and find herself.

I very much enjoyed this book by Jennifer Probst. She writes Aurora with true life problems. As someone who has aging parents, it was a tough to read about her grief but it was well-written.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for an advance copy of this book.

To Sicily with Love is a beautiful story about love, loss, forgiveness, and self-discovery. This story takes readers on an incredible journey and will leave them hanging on each word. I loved everything about this book from beginning to end.