Great idea for a book and really well executed. A thoroughly good read. Highly recommended. .

The Italian Riviera. Money. Glamour. This book has it all as well as interesting characters with intriguing backstories that slowly unfold. This was a perfect holiday read as it was engaging but also a rather slow burn romance. Foley is a great writer and this a first for me so I may have to look her up again as I enjoyed the dark but sensual undertones that ran throughout her narrative. I would certainly recommend this for lovers of historical and romance fiction.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It's basically a story of how people changed after WWII with the Italian coast as the backdrop. It was incredibly slow at times, but I did enjoy the unraveling of the character's stories. I was pretty disappointed in the ending.

great read and easy to follow story line. look forward to reading more from this author.

The Invitation by Lucy Foley for me is a mix on four stories - Hal's, Stella's, The old sea captains and then the story that includes those three stories.

It's an interesting story, an interesting and appalling story about war, how it affects relationships, families and hope, but I really did not understand the necessity of the old captains story and how come everyone on the yacht treated Hal, the journalist, as their confessor, and they all told him about their personal secrets and tragedy. True, Hal was a good listener, but he was an journalist! And the old sea captains story was also interesting, but it was Hal's fantasy! Do not get me wrong, it was a good story, it just had those small things, that did not make any sense to me.

This book was a real page turner. The characters were described with such great detail, I almost felt as though I knew them. The story was very suspenseful, I couldn't stop reading!

This was a fantastically written story that really makes me want to travel! The romance was engaging, and I could not help but get drawn into the loss and recovery the characters went through. I think that Foley did an amazing job of depicting post-war issues and describing some of the traumatic events that people lived through. Hal and Stella both have heavy baggage from the past, and it was wonderful to learn more about what makes each of them tick.

Also, I now really want to go on an Italian cruise. One of the things I enjoyed the most was the beautiful description of Italian scenery, and I can only hope to go and explore those areas myself in the future.

Unfortunately I was unable to finish this title, therefore I will not be leaving an online review.