📖 BOOK REVIEW⠀📚 One Italian Summer
AUTHOR: Rebecca Serle @rebecca_serle
Publisher: Atria Books
Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ + 🐰
Published: March 1, 2022
The Review 📚 One Italian Summer
✨ The Title/Cover Draw:
- I absolutely loved In Five Years and was hoping this one was just as good. Thanks to @netgalley and @atriabooks for the opportunity to read this ahead of publication.
💜 What I liked:
- Rebecca Serle’s writing style is beautiful. It made me want to be in Italy and experience Positano. You can almost smell the sea and the food. The main character, Katy, is lost without her mother. Will she find herself again during this trip?
😱 What I didn’t like:
- Despite the beautiful writing, I did not find myself connecting with Katy or understanding some of the choices she made, even in grief. However, this book has a magical element which made the ending very satisfying to me.
🚦 My face at the end: 🥰
💭 4 Reasons to Read:
- 1. Decadent food
- 2. Grief
- 3. Relaxing beaches
- 4. Italian landmarks
🕧 Mini-Summary:
- Katy’s mom was her best friend. So when she dies, she fights to find who her mother was and how she can cope with the loss.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Received from Netgalley.
💯 For more details on the books we read, be sure to follow me on TikTok (@zaineylaney) or check out our Podcast – Elated Geek!
📘 Summary 📚 One Italian Summer
When Katy’s mother dies, she is left reeling. Carol wasn’t just Katy’s mom, but her best friend and first phone call. She had all the answers and now, when Katy needs her the most, she is gone. To make matters worse, their planned mother-daughter trip of a lifetime looms: two weeks in Positano, the magical town Carol spent the summer right before she met Katy’s father. Katy has been waiting years for Carol to take her, and now she is faced with embarking on the adventure alone.
But as soon as she steps foot on the Amalfi Coast, Katy begins to feel her mother’s spirit. Buoyed by the stunning waters, beautiful cliffsides, delightful residents, and, of course, delectable food, Katy feels herself coming back to life.
And then Carol appears—in the flesh, healthy, sun-tanned, and thirty years old. Katy doesn’t understand what is happening, or how—all she can focus on is that she has somehow, impossibly, gotten her mother back. Over the course of one Italian summer, Katy gets to know Carol, not as her mother, but as the young woman before her. She is not exactly who Katy imagined she might be, however, and soon Katy must reconcile the mother who knew everything with the young woman who does not yet have a clue.