Gillian is on a trip to Lipari Sicily to spruce things up with her husband of a quarter center, give or take. She’s in for a surprise when her life is turned upside down, she’s forced to rethink her future.

This book was mehhhh for me for lack of a better word. While it’s set in Sicily so naturally the food talk is mouth watering, Gillian wasn’t my favorite. In many ways she was self-deprecating, especially when it came to her body; I can relate to self esteem issues especially post-baby but it was a bit over the top in my opinion. Something about her that rubbed me even more the wrong way were her excessive thoughts about Mattia being a “younger” man and her being a cougar. Under 4 years is NOT a big age gap for a relationship. In many ways Gillian seemed not her age to me. Sometimes she seemed like an old lady and others a very naive teenager, so it was hard for me to imagine her as a real person.

I did enjoy some of the motherly talk/her thoughts about her daughter and her relationship with her friends. I also loved Mattia and his non-stop helping hand attitude. I loved that he kept his personal secrets close to his heart for how wishy-washy Gillian was towards him.

All in all this was like one of the not great Hallmark movies where you think to yourself damn why do I watch these? Maybe someone a bit older might enjoy it more but it just wasn’t for me. It was too slow, didn’t have enough depth to the main character and a bit too much fluff for me. I found myself skimming many parts around the halfway point. I also wanted more heat!

Thank you Aria and Aries and NetGalley for a free eARC in return for an honest review!

This book is a nice tale of a woman who discovers her husband cheating on her, but ends up finding herself in the end. THe book takes place in Sicily, and the descriptions of the setting and the food made me feel like I was there (and left me wanting to go for real!). It was nice to read about a character who was overweight with body image issues, and who lost herself in her marriage and motherhood, because that is absolutely reality that many women face. However, I had a hard time believing that our hero is 39 years old, at the end of a 20-year marriage, with an adult child, I would have found it much more believable if the character was 50, rather than 40. Witnessing the character find her true self and living life for her, was a refreshing story that I was glad to read!

3-3.5 stars

I love reading stories that take place in Italy, and the synopsis for this one immediately grabbed my attention.

Gillian Dobson is determined to rekindle her relationship with her husband by surprising him on his business trip in Sicily. Little does she know he has been seeing another woman, and the devastating news sends her into such a frenzy that she narrowly escapes a car accident. But some good comes out of this messy situation in the form of a handsome local, Mattia Spadaro.

Mattia clearly showed an interest in Gillian, but she didn’t make it easy to let him in. She had her flaws, but not in the way one would think. Gillian was extremely insecure and critical of herself, especially her physical attributes. Her self-deprecating criticisms were so overdone that it became bothersome to me as a reader. With how negative she was, I was surprised that Mattia would still want anything to do with her, but he must’ve have seen there was more to her than just a bad attitude.

It wasn’t until she noticed her weight loss near the end of the story that she felt some self-worth and self-love, but it was so contradictory to the rest of the story and made her seem a little shallow. I think this book had a lot of potential, but the main character and her constant berating of herself was really off-putting.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Aria for providing a copy of this book to review.*

Beautiful book!!!


Thank you soooooo much netgalley, the author and the publisher for the advanced review copy if this book💗
"I voluntarily read and reviewed the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

This book had potential and I wanted to love it - as I was so ready for a nice romance with com turn that was set in Sicily (you know sun, handsome Italians, etc.), and unfortunately I could not get into it as much as I wanted.
Gillian is a woman that had spent a lot of years in her marriage that had lost the spice and the drive that it should have. So now she wants to bring it back while surprising her husband while on a medical conference... but this will go wrong, so so wrong - he's there with a lover! And this will set the story where Gillian stays in Sicily and wants to get something out of it and maybe even gain something.
Here she will begin a new journey where she meets new people and a man - a handsome man that will ignite something in her. I liked how this situation made her fight her demons and start something new while being in a completely new place. It had potential, but I could not get into it like the style was not a good fit for me, as I could not connect with Gillian as much as I wanted to.

I feel the reader really expressed the wonderful island and characters in a way that you could almost be there seeing it for yourself. I did enjoy the story, I just felt it was a little slow in places and could have moved at a slightly faster pace to keep the reader more engaged. The characters grow on you throughout the story.
I would recommend this book to others, just be prepared for it to take a little while!

I love reading books about Sicily and this one was no exception. The cover really sets the stage for a brilliant book by a talented author and I can't wait for my next read from her.

Romantic comedy that is set in Sicily, 'One Summer in Sicily' is the perfect easy holiday read that you are looking for. It's light hearted, romantic feel means you won't want to put it down.

"One Summer in Sicily" is a coming-of-age story, of sorts.

Gillian is flying to Sicily to surprise her husband and revive their marriage. Instead *she's* the one who is surprised... He's been having an affair with another woman! Having no reason to go home to England, she lingers in Sicily, forming friendships and gradually becoming more confident. But will she ever have the courage to risk her heart again?

This story is reasonably well-written, though quite predictable. I enjoyed the Sicilian setting and the chosen family story line. The "will they or won't they", in my opinion, goes on *far* too long with virtually no movement, until the conflict suddenly and conveniently resolves.

That's not my biggest complaint, though. This book is *riddled* with fatphobia. The main female character is *constantly* whining about her sausage legs and how fat she is and how the clothes that she wears look like tents, etc, not to mention her unending incredulity that the 36 year old male main character could ever *possibly* be interested in a 39 year old crone such as herself.

MINOR SPOILER AHEAD, for anyone who doesn't know how this formula always goes... Gillian finally gains the courage to pursue the man she wants, but what caused that growth? Did she realize her true worth and inner strength? No. Did she decide that life is for living, no matter the risk? No. Nope. SHE DID SOME MANUAL LABOR THAT CAUSED HER TO LOSE WEIGHT!!! THAT'S what made her finally decide she was worthy of love.

I read this book til the bitter end, but I'm *so* opposed to the insidious message that women's worth is determine by their size, and this book is just *dripping* with that messaging, from beginning to end.
For that reason, I cannot recommend this book.

Nonetheless, I appreciate the author, publisher, and #NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this ARC,
#OneSummerInSicily

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was an enjoyable book. I had fun reading it!

I enjoyed this book very much though I did find Gillian's obsession with her weight and body image annoying at times.
I loved Mattia, a perfect love interest with hidden depths.
Sicily was well described and I could picture myself there. The cast of supporting characters were great and I enjoyed Gillian's exploits and how she made the best of a terrible situation.
At times the pace was a little fast and lost me, but overall it was a great summer read and I would recommend the book and the author.

This is a dream, going to an Italian island for a 3 week vacation and finding yourself. Given the way the book started, I was very excited to read a different kind of romance, one about a married couple rekindling their relationship, but that is not how the story goes. I appreciated the amount of self-discovery, but I did not appreciate how much Gilly equates her worth to her weight.

I really enjoyed this book. It was quite fast-paced and it was very easy to get into. This is the perfect summer read, it is fun and light-hearted. I would definitely recommend giving it a go.

Thank you Netgalley, Nancy Barone, and the publisher for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book had so much potential at the beginning when Gillian showed up in Sicily to find her husband having an affair but that was as exciting as the plot got in my opinion. The cheating scandal peaked my interest but it was downhill immediately after that.

It seemed like fate when Mattia almost hit Gillian and I thought it would be an immediate fling and/or relationship but it was a VERY SLOW BURN. Any slower and I probably wouldn’t have finished this book. AND THEN, Gillian kept getting cold feet because of the age gap (OF ONLY 4 YEARS!!). Don’t call it an age gap if it’s less than 10 years, am I right?? That was a part of the book that I was looking forward to and was disappointed by for sure.

I love a destination romance and am here for the family drama and a woman rediscovering herself after heartbreak but this book seemed all over the place to me.

I really enjoyed the writing style of this book. It was conversational and relatable which made the book easy to read. A great book to read on the beach whilst you’re on holiday!

Loved the book! Perfect holiday read! Once I started it didn’t want to put it down! Had me wanting to be on first flight to italy!

What a fabulous beach read this book is. It was fresh, filled with summer sun, love, food and wine.
Mattia sounded delicious and Gilly was beautiful and it was wonderful to read and see her bloom and rise from her dowdy ashes!
I loved it so much
Thank you NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely loved this book, great read, made me laugh, and exceedingly well written. The characters are fabulous. although I was a tad irritated by Gillian thinking she’s too old and past it at 39…. but I get that that’s the mindset of the character. I really enjoyed reading this and finished it in two sittings.

I am so confused by so much of this book. I don't get why there's so much Italian featured in a book about Sicily. Surely the author knows that's not the language of the island, right? I found this book to be such a slog to get through, and the main character was just so unlikeable. She's pretty terrible to the characters around her and treats the main love interest so terribly.

Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Aria & Aries for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't particularly enjoy this book and found it very difficult to get into because of the writing style. Why was such a big emphasis placed on Gillian's weight? Ack... The whole idea that she's not good enough and undeserving was just wrong. And also... I really don't like cheating in books.